A weekend of sci fi and fantasy book lovers! Scalzi and Tchaikovsky autographs!

John Scalzi kindly agreed to a selfie with me

Norcon 30. An annual convention of sci fi and fantasy lovers in Oslo. I didn't know what to expect, having never gone to a single such convention. But John Scalzi posted on his blog Whatever that he would be there. My little nerdy heart leapt for joy. I immediately booked the weekend. I found the place after asking directions from many people on the street. It was in the science library building on the University in Oslo campus. Never having visited UiO, I was hours early and no signs had been placed outside, yet. I helped the organizers set up the book sale tables - 4 of them, completely covered with fantasy and horror books - that would be for sale for 10 or 20 kroner. A good deal. Then the doors opened, we got our nametags and the schedules, and we were off!

"How do you write funny SF?" was the first speech/interview. Guest of Honor Scalzi introduced us to his personality for 45 minutes, and the classroom full of people lapped it up. We still don't know how to write funny SF, but who cares?

Guess who came with John Scalzi. His daughter Athena! She is a writer on Whatever, too, and a delightful person. 

The other Guest of Honor, Adrian Tchaikovsky, arrived in time to join in a panel discussion on fantasy. 

Tchaikovsky talks, audience member crochets

Crafting among the audience was a thing. There were a couple of knitters, a woman crocheting, and a woman embroidering a Christmas runner. Costumes were not a thing. My Star Trek shirts were about the limit there.

Day Two. The Day of Autographs at Outland Oslo. Of course, I was there early, as is my wont, watching them open the doors. I bought Tchaikovsky's new book, Service Model, for him to autograph. I have read all of Scalzi and several of Tchaikovsky's books, but all on my Kindle. Finding a book that could be signed was hard in Bergen. In preparing for the weekend, I had found a paperback by Scalzi: The Android's Dream. It was fun to read it again, then pack it to get signed. Outland Oslo was ready with stacks of their books, and an organized numbering system for lining us up outside. 

Lots of people lined the sidewalk to get autographs

 Scalzi and Tchaikovsky are experienced autographers. Scalzi added "Sheep!" in my Android's Dream, and Tchaikovsky added a tea cup and saucer drawing in my Service Model. Outland also had free tea for us. Loved it!

At Norcon, Tchaikovsky just signed that stack of books

Speaking of autographs, I spent some time talking to an author, Øystein Runde, selling his Norwegian graphic books. I bought one, and he autographed it while we talked. He drew the head of one of his characters, including color! Wow.

The convention was not just fawning over authors. We had a role-playing game about the eco-crisis. We had panel discussions on the future involving AI and gene-splicing. How to get published (very different between the US and Norway). The evolution of the science fiction and fantasy readers and authors (not just white men anymore). World building (just add a spaceship or a dragon?).

The Norwegian author and Guest of Honor, Siri Pettersen, was a great panelist. She doesn't have a dragon, incidentally. I can't wait to read some of her fantasy to see if she is as good at writing as she is at verbal jousting. 

It was an exhausting weekend. What sorts of scifi conventions have you attended? 

Nice to be home again!