75 World Science Fiction Convention | Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing

Archive for the ‘75 World Science Fiction Convention’ Category

Year in review – 2017

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, A writer's life, geekgirl, World Science Fiction Conventions, Year in review, tagged books, Indie Publishing, publshing, Writing, year in review 2017 on January 6, 2018| 2 Comments »

2017 was interesting year for me. I feel like I achieved a whole lot of things and dropped the ball on a couple of important ones.

Personal stuff

The big carryover from 2016 was a legal issue with the government’s workers compensation agency. Comcare wrote to me in September 2016 to tell me that a report that I had done on my neck was being used by them reverse their decision to accept liability for any injury to my thoracic spine. I was informed on the phone that I would then have a debt of $96,000. You can imagine that as I’d retired and had started a Ph.D. that this sent me into a stress coma. I couldn’t focus on my Ph.D. for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t get Comcare to listen to anything I said nor did they listen to my e-mails. I was advised to get a lawyer. I cried. I’d never been litigious. I only ever received treatment costs and time off work associated with that. It was a nightmare.

With a hanging over my head I started 2017. There was an appeal hearing set for January, which was then postponed to March. I just wanted it over. When the official debt notification arrived from Comcare the debt was $16,000 not $96,000 as I had been informed over the phone. (Note I have redacted this post-sorry).

I was very lucky that my daughter Beanie took away all the documents Comcare had sent to me from my file and went through them. It was very frustrating and dehumanising not to be listened to. I’ve audited in government for nearly twenty years and I’d never come up against anything like that. Luckily I had the skills to audit the documents and found a lot of issues with Comcare’s decision.

During early 2018 I took a least one month off my Ph.D. I was on stress leave although it was hard to focus at all for the whole six months. This whole business from September 2016 had derailed my Ph.D. as well is affecting my health and my mental state.

This isn’t the place to talk about the details but needless to say I won my appeal in that from the first hearing Comcare agreed to talk to me and asked me to put in a proposal to them.

So this six months out of my life didn’t earn me any great compensation payout or anything like that. All I gained was Comcare undoing their decision to undo their decision. The psychological trauma that they put me through needlessly in the time wasted I’ll never get back.

The upside to all of this is that one of the strategies for dealing with stress is doing tasks, like craft, or writing and editing too. So to forgot about all that crap that was going on in my life, I buried myself in edits and getting books ready to publish. it wasn’t my PhD but it was something. A lot of this I had put in train the previous year and stuff I had written years ago.

So what was good about 2017?

PhD

Despite everything above, I managed to get confirmed for my PhD. I had put in so much work when I started the PhD that it helped immensely here. This means I presented a paper on my research and it was found to be worthy of continuing. Big tick for me. That was in March, just after the hearing.

Fannish stuff

The day Comcare and I agreed on a proposal was the same day I heard I had won the GUFF. The Get Up Fan Fun which would send me to Helsinki and Worldcon 75. I had such a headache from all the stress I went straight to bed and it took a few days for it to sink in. As I only had a short time and needed to get the cheapest fares I had to start planning the trip. As I blogged this trip I won’t go into detail here. It was amazing and a once in a lifetime thing.

I also got to meet Paul Weimer and hosted him as DUFF delegate in June for a night. The highlight was feeding him roast lamb, pavlova and taking him out to meet kangaroos.

Publishing

I republished books that I had the rights returned to me.

Shatterwing, Dragon Wine Part One

Skywatcher, Dragon Wine Part Two,

The Sorcerer’s Spell by Dani Kristoff.

New works

I wrote Opi Battles the Space Pirates in November #NaNoWriMo. Great stress avoider! And that was published in April.

Oathbound, Silverlands Book Two was published, and

Ungiven Land, Book Three.

Oathbound had been previously drafted way back in 2002-2004 so only needed revision. Ungiven Land had 50,000 written but they were almost all rewritten during 2016. The edit for this was delayed while my editor moved house and then took time to deal with issues.

Deathwings, Dragon Wine Part Three and

Bloodstrom, Dragon Wine Part Four were published.

These books had been written way back when too but not really looked at. In 2016, I got some beta reader feedback, cut out 10,000 words from the beginning and started polishing them. I then had them edited and they were out.

That’s eight Indie Published books. I have blogged about that process during the year.

That took me up to July and then I was off for two months overseas. So technically no new writing at all except for the PhD.

Writing

Sihe is my PhD novel. I started working on it after the Comcare thing was sorted and my PhD was confirmed. I have about 30,000 words of fairly polished words because I keep going back over it rather than writing forward. I didn’t write much while I was overseas. I got one day in Bergen to write. I tried a bit when I got home but got stuck on a technical issue. I think that’s sorted. I worked on Sihe in October, thinking if I got the draft down I could work on something else during NaNoWriMo in November but I had an acute sciatica attack that put me out of action for two weeks. I would not wish this thing on anyone. I had not experienced pain like it. It was like extreme labour pains but it wasn’t giving me a baby at the end. I writhed and cried and moaned. My four lumbar discs are all bulging. The foraminal spaces have been narrowed, which causes the pain down the leg and my sacroiliac joint had degenerated. For godsake! What the hell!

So it was a Chinese medicine doctor that helped me and hydrotherapy that helped get me functional. I’m still deciding on how to manage this condition in 2018. Most of my spine is now stuffed. I am using a standing desk all the time now. I have degeneration in my left foot too so that’s not always fun.

But in November, I started writing Skyfire, Dragon Wine, Part Five, and it was so liberating to be writing again. My goal was to get that first draft down by New Year’s Eve. Guess what? I did. I’m now working on Moonfall, Dragon Wine, Part Six.

I’ll have to do the revision and edits of these around the PhD as that has to take priority this year. This is my last year. But I think that’s doable! So two books in the works for publication in 2018.

Academic activities

On the PhD side I presented two papers. One at PoPCAANZ in Wellington. I blogged about the weather /airport lock out saga in June. I also went to Adelaide at the end of November to deliver a paper on Penny Jordan’s Man-hater, 1984 Mills and Boon book. I haven’t published the paper. That’s on the to do list.

Family

Over Easter, Matthew’s mum came to live with us. This has meant some adjustment to our lives. I think it is all going along reasonably well. We are lucky enough to have a room and bathroom downstairs so she has her own space.

My immediate family are all well. I lost my younger brother in November to liver cancer. He was 52.

World in general

While we live in a Donald Trump world uncertainty continues. Personally, I think Trump heralds a decline in the USA in world politics. He’s trying to make America great but OMGerd!

My use of social media is less. This is mainly because my Twitter stream is left, Twitter doesn’t let me see the tweets as they come and everyone appears to be Trump depressed. I’m still on Twitter it just doesn’t do it for me as it used to.

Entertainment

Netflix (and streaming generally I suppose) has brought joy into our lives. At first we didn’t’ think we would have time for watching stuff because we both write. However, with Matthew’s mum in the house-she’s grown to like it. Me being incapacitated with my back and having to take lots of breaks from everything including housework, Netflix has been great. It has some really good content.

Matthew’s mum went through five seasons of House of Cards. I haven’t watched that myself. The Kevin Spacey controversy happened when she’d finished and she was so upset because she admired him as actor.

My favs for the year on Netflix. The Expanse, Star Trek Discovery, The Crown (both seasons), Victoria, Anne with an E, River, Lucifer, The Good Place, Continuum and Jane the Virgin (although I didn’t get too far). I like that there is some cool SF on there, but also shows that can lighten your mood. The Crown was gripping by the way. I don’t know how they did it. Great tension throughout, great acting, immaculate sets. Well done! And they released the whole season in on go.

Non Netflix viewing. We just finished Game of Thrones Season 7. Technically we did that in 2018, but hey I have to wait another two years to see the last season, maybe longer as we buy the DVD sets. I thought Season 7 was brilliant. I feel so vindicated and I’m not saying why.

Movies. The Last Jedi, Thor Ragnorok, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and I can’t recall the others. I’ll have to consult with Matthew because he has a mind and he can remember things. I also saw Pride Prejudice and Zombie on DVD. I borrowed the disc from Robert Hood. I liked the movie so much he gave to me. Isn’t that sweet! Best proposal scene ever. Much better than the book! Truly!

Books

I find this hard to remember as I didn’t keep a spreadsheet in 2017 so forgive me if I read your book and didn’t list it here. On Audible the Expanse series rocked. I have listened to the first two books and the writing is amazing. Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown, fan bloody tastic, regency fantasy. Right up my alley. That lead me to Mary Robinnette Kowal.

I got stuck into Stephen King’s Dark Tower series on Audible too. Totally mind blown. I’m about four books in.

I picked up The Dispatcher by John Scalzi for free on Audible. Great idea and wonderful execution.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline…not bad. Geeky! The movie should be interesting.

I also listened to all of the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold(also last year as well I think).

I read some Australian authors. Cat Sparks’s debut novel, Blue Lotus, Thoraiya Dyer’s Crossroads of Canopy, Jodi McAlister’s Valentine, Angela Slater’s Vigil and Corpselight, Keri Arthur’s Blood Kissed. I also listened to some of Keri’s audio books.

I read the first fourteen of JD Robb’s in death series and set about getting the whole set. I need to pick it up again. Very interesting. Also useful for the PhD perspective.

I also read some Mills & Boon of course. I’ve been interested in Penny Jordan’s work and Amanda Carpenter ( have all but one of her books) also Charlotte Lamb (She managed to surprise me with some feminist content!).

I’ve also been close reading, Reading the Romance by Janice A Radway (the 1990s version). I haven’t finished that because I go into flights of rage but I will. Also other stuff. Too much to recall here.

I have rabbited on long enough. Just have a great 2018 everyone. I have to come back to you about goals if I have any. I think I do.

I have the first two books of Dragon Wine on discount in a box set. Amazon.com only for $2.99. Click the link if you are interested. Warning. It’s dark, nasty fantasy so don’t read it if that’s not your thing. I mean really!

PS this blog was mostly dictated. It appears that my RSI has kicked off, just because I wrote 24,000 words in five days! I will conquer the world…ehem…maybe I’ll just dictate more words.

Read Full Post »

GUFF post #16-London, Brighton and Home

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, Fan Funds, Fandom, GUFF, Uncategorized, tagged Brighton, Fanfund auction, Fanfunds, GUFF, London, SF fandom, travel on October 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

This is the last in my series of GUFF blog posts. The trip is done. I am home and I’ve recovered mostly from jet lag. I still randomly fall asleep and I was out cold by 8.30am last night.

After Bath and London fan meet ups, I went to Brighton, well close by, to stay with my partner’s cousin, Nick. It was a lovely place to base ourselves in. And Nick spoiled us so much with meals and outings and his lovely home that we didn’t want to leave. He also had a love slut for a cat, a ginger British Long Hair called Gus. What can be more welcoming than a cat who comes when called and has his purring bellows going before you even scratch under his chin. The grooming brush sent this fellow into raptures-an amazing thing to see.

So in Brighton I went on the sewer tour which I covered previous post. Later we went to Eastbourne to see the Ravilious exhibition and then for scampi and chips on the pier and then high tea with scones and jam on the Eastbourne Pier too.

Other excursions include the Bluebell steam railway, and Firle. My daughter was due to go to Morocco so I had time to myself. I also met my long, lost cousin, Christine, who came to Brighton and took us out for lunch.

Here is a photo of Firle, Nick at Firle and my long lost cousin, Christine and her husband Robert.

London SF fan Patrick McMurray organised a day for me to go in to London and take me walking about and to some museums: The Wellcome and the Soane and we met up with a dozen or so SF fans at the Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub.

After a bit of wrangling, I managed to go from London to Baldock to meet former Australian fan friend but now British fan friend and buddy, Barbara on the Thursday night, but also managed to meet up with my cousin Christine again in Greenwich during the day. This required a massive amount of train mojo btw. Only thwarted twice when I got on the wrong train and then in the evening when the train I was on decided it couldn’t stop in Baldock and Barbara had to come rescue me. It’s a bit of a theme, me being rescued by SF fans. I wish some would come right now and save me from the coconut biscuits I am stuffing into my gob as I type.

Patrick met me at the St Pancras Station and then showed me St Pancras International and the amazing building that had been restored to Victorian splendour.

IMG_0823-1

We then walked through London as you do to see the sights and to meet Julie, his wife for lunch, and to go to the Wellcome Museum. Apparently the guy who set up this big Pharma company was originally American and then moved to Britain. He collected stuff. Heaps of stuff and you can see it at the museum as well as the temporary exhibitions. The exhibition was about graphic design and how it has been used, in particularly with packaging medics and implied instructions to medical staff. It also covered AIDS advertising among other things. The old collection was really interesting. I took a few photos, but it included sunken heads, sex aids, a dead body from South America, birthing models, bizarre paintings of surgical procedures and births. There was also another exhibition about the human body. I took a photo of this sculpture. I was feeling rather displeased with my body at the time. Also, a library which had other weird stuff in it.

In the gift shop I bought a few items that I figured would go down well in a fan auction. I was due to conduct a fan auction at Conflux in Canberra a few days after I arrived home. I purchased a glow in the dark tentacle and a periodic table tea towel. I would have bought more things but I had decision paralisis.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We then went for lunch at the Fleet River Bakery and met Julie. It was quite nice there with the salads and excellent coffee. Then there was an unpleasant altercation between some clients of the establishment that put a damper on things. After farewelling Julie we trotted off to the Soane Museum which wasn’t far away at all at Lincoln Inn Fields. Here is the Wikipedia Link to the Museum.

Lucky for me, Nick had given me a book to read about the museum and it’s collection. It is a very eclectic collection. John Soane was an architect and the buildings themselves are a piece of art, add that to the amazing amount of stuff he collected, he has Seti 1’s sarcophagus in the basement, the art and the arrangements which have tried to represent how it was, and you have a unique establishment. To visit the museum is free. No photos unfortunately. We missed the tour of the private apartments but we did buy a guide. It is proving to be popular and it’s very tiny inside because it was basically three houses combined with stuff in it.

At the Olde Cheshire Cheese just off Fleet Street, is a very old pub. It is also deceptive. The bar you walk into is tiny, but it has many more floors below. It was apparently destroyed or damaged during the Great Fire of London but some parts of the pub are meant to be older. We discovered this when we went down the stairs. Patrick and I arrived early so we could grab a table and cider and beer! Patrick had worked up a considerable thirst and as much as I love walking the streets of London my feet needed a break. We table hopped until we had just about enough room for us all. Claire arrived and then the others came along. About a dozen all up. Some people I met before and some I didn’t. I took a few shots. Newly weds. A couple planning to migrate to NZ. An ex Aussie and her British beau, who drew me a dragon! Julie was unwell unfortunately so she didn’t end up joining us. I was staying over with Patrick and Julie so I was hopefully going to see her again. She picked us up from the train station so yay!

Caroline, her husband whose name escapes me! and so on. And there we were emerging at night to catch the train.

It was lovely to have them all come for a meet up with me, the GUFF delegate. I can’t thank Patrick enough and all the gang who came along. It meant a lot to me. Food was good too.

I took the train with Patrick to his local station and Julie collected us. I was introduced to the cats and then went up to the top floor to the guest bedroom. This was such a comfortable bed. It was so comfortable that I didn’t get up to say goodbye to Julie. Such bad form. I did get up to go get breakfast with Patrick in town and then to catch a train to my cousin, Christine. I left a little present. When I saw Patrick and Julie’s place I knew my present to them would fit right in. A stuffed wombat. My last! Patrick took a photo and sent it to Julie and she loved it too. I was so pleased.

Patrick and I walked into town and had an excellent breakfast. It was really good. Then I caught the train across London, beyond the castle…etc until I reached Lewisham quite by accident as I’d taken the wrong train. Thank god for mobile phones. Christine introduced me to Greenwich, where I’d never been before. We walked under the Thames along this tunnel and came up on the other side, I believe in the Isle of Dogs and then walked back. We shopped at Greenwich Markets and ate lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern. We had a Ploughman’s lunch. It wasn’t bad but the Ploughman’s lunch I had at the Rams Inn in Firle was heaps better. I guess it annoys me when a pub says hand cut ham and you get sliced ham from a packet and commercial pickles and not home made ones etc. But the cheese on the platter was amazing. And the views. Right on the Thames.

From Greenwich I took a ferry to Westminster Pier and walked to Kings Cross Station. I had my phone app to guide me. I got off track a couple of times. It was a long walk. I kept telling myself I could stop and have a coffee and rest but the other part of my brain said don’t because it’s going to rain. I didn’t stop and it started raining just as I was across the road from Kings Cross Station. I count that as a win.

Here are a few shots from the the view of Greenwich from the Isle of Dogs, Trafalgar pub to the Thames, and the Tower Bridge from the Thames, the Tower of London and the Shard.

I made it to Baldock because Barbara picked my up. We ate Indian takeaways and talked about Britain, Australia, SF fans and our mutual friends. Next morning I did a walk around Baldock, had morning tea at the Costa at Tescos there and bought a new carry on bag in the mega Tescos. Then we sat around all day watching telly, talking books and and writing etc and then around 7pm it was time for me to take off again.

A few photos from Baldock. And none of Barbara! Oh dear!

Yes, another long train ride to Gatwick Airport from Baldock to collect Beanie who was coming in from Morocco. That all went to plan except Bean’s plane was delayed and it was already a late arriving plane. After a conversation on messenger with Nick, he said he’d drive to Gatwick to pick us up. Bean’s plane was even later than expected and it would have been very hard to catch a train to Brighton. So Nick, wonderful, lovely Nick drove to Gatwick and we waited together for Beans to emerge then we drove to Brighton. We arrived home around 2 am I think. It’s a bit of a blur. Saturday was to be our last full day this UK trip.

Saturday night was the last night. We had a arranged a lovely meal at Terre A Terre in Brighton that is a vegetarian restaurant with vegan options. We had to do lunch because it was booked out in the evening. So Saturday morning was a late start due to coming home at 2 and then going to this fabulous meal. Then we did a spot of shopping in the Laines and then went home. That evening we watched telly and ate a sort of tapas meal. It was very yummy.

Some shots around Brighton. Little laneways between buildings etc.

My stepson lives in Brighton so Beans and I caught up with him on the Sunday for breakfast. We had a lovely vegan meal and then did some more shopping. We really wanted to get presents for family etc. There was a protest that went right by us as we ate breakfast. It was the Labour Party conference in Brighton that weekend.

Here are some final shots of Brighton, the lovely vegetarian tapas plate from Terre a Terre. The boutique decorated with the sewing machines etc.

After much discussion where Nick didn’t really listen to us, he drove us to Heathrow Airport. It was a slow wind down from the trip and the traffic was slow too. Nick had planned it well and good and we made it to the airport and said our goodbyes.

Then apparently, I am reliably informed, I had a personality change. I became a shrew with no thought in my mind but to check my bags in. Until then I would brook no diversion, no toilet stops, nothing. Even though I had two hours before the train left. Poor Beans.

The long trek home involved a few little spats with Beans, usually to do with spilled water or boarding the plane after a stop over. I managed to pour hot tea down my front in Singapore. When Beans pointed it out, I managed to pour some more into the crotch of my pants. Ow! It was hot.

We arrived home safely to Sydney, but there was the bus. Yes, the bloody bus takes 3.5 hours and it took more like four. After a day on a plane you really don’t want a bus. I think I passed out on the bus and by the time I arrived I could hardly stay awake.

Matthew was there to collect us. Lovely, adorable and cuddly Matthew. The mighty darling Dweeb!

We were actually home.

Then I had a day or two before I had to prepare for Conflux SF convention. I had a table. A book launch and a fan auction to prepare for.

Fan auction was amazing folks. We made good money! Thank to the generous fans who attended and paid through the nostrils for Finnish sweets. The tentacle and the periodic table tea towel went down like a treat so did the Finnish sweets and Moomin coffee and biscuit tin. Aussie fans are crazy for the Finnish sweets! We also auctioned off a world con souvenir book as it was marvellous and some Finish weird anthologies.

Here are some snaps of the auction goodies. PS I bought the Darth Vader, breathing lolly dispenser.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Reflections

I think I learned a lot about myself on this trip. I think I’m extroverted but at times it was hard to reach out to people I didn’t know, particularly ones from different cultures. When you travel you are often stressed but you may not be aware of it. I think that is true for me. I was excited to be there, but there was a stress there too from being out of my comfort zone, away from home. I am so happy to have met some wonderful people who reached out to me or me to them, who shared their homes or their cities with me. I love the feeling of community I get. I thank those who went to extra mile to meet me and say hello. I’m very grateful to my daughter, Beans, who came with me and offered support. She did my hair! I think it was hard for her given she doesn’t identify as a fan (though she really is!) and she had to put up with me, my demands, the demands of fandom on my time and the times I just needed to zone out when she really wanted me to be present and attentive. I don’t think I could have done it alone, Beans. Thank you.

Thank you fandom for a wonderful time, a wonderful trip and a fuller, more detailed report is the next thing on my agenda.

Here is a pic taken by Fionna O’Sullivan, one of our GUFF hosts in Dublin, Ireland. She thought it was the author shot. I think it shows me reflecting.

Here is a photo by Cat Sparks of my book launch, featuring the wonderful Craig Cormick, launcher extraordinaire.

The 2017 Australian GUFF delegate is signing off now. So long and thanks for the scampi. (I’m allergic to fish).

Read Full Post »

GUFF Report # 8- Helsinki to Stockholm

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, A writer's life, General excitment, GUFF, Travel, Vikings, tagged Fan Funds, Finland, GUFF, Helsinki, travel, worldcon75, Writer's life on August 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

We were sad to be saying goodby to Helsinki. If a city has a spirit then Helsinki has a gentle and kind one. It is a very pretty place too.

We booked a sauna at our hotel for after breakfast on our last day. We felt we should experience a Finnish sauna in Finland. I’m not keen on saunas but I think I coped with this one quite well. It was a lovely clean room with shower, sauna with glass door and it’s own toilet. I think we were supposed to be quiet in there but we chatted and relaxed.

As we had to check out by 12 and our ferry didn’t leave until 5pm we had the old travellers’ dilemma about what to do with our luggage. We toyed with the idea of leaving it at the hotel and going sight seeing. We discussed taxi versus pushing the damn things to the marina to using the trams. In the end we had the brilliant idea of taking the luggage to the terminal and putting it in a locker. We asked directions about which tram to take and headed off with our bags on wheels. My daughter’s bag is new and the wheels work really well. My bag has temperamental wheels, which means they randomly stop working. We went to the tram stop in front of central station. We waited for a while and realised the rumoured tram number 5 was not appearing on the schedule. We had out our maps and were discussing things and arguing as tourists do when someone took pity on us. We were at the wrong tram stop and we needed tram #4. So this woman pointed us to where we needed to go.

All the trams we’d been riding on had wide doorways with little or no stairs. The tram to the ferry terminal had narrow doorways and three or four stairs. Eek! So we made it on the the tram but where we thought it would be obvious to get off, it wasn’t. Luckily some people on the tram asked us. “Boat? Or No Boat?” We then realised it was our stop so I quick as a flash dragged the bags off. My daughter keeps commenting: you did that so fast!

We walked the bags to the terminal only to find that all the big lockers were taken. We had hours until we were due to board. We used two smaller lockers to put our hand luggage and pushed our suitcases back up the street to the markets and stalls. We thought we could sit with our bags in the lovely sun. Then we got the idea we could do a ferry trip. I did a scout around and the ferry company let us take our bags on so we managed to get the tourist 45 minute tour.

Here is me with our bags in the back of the ferry.

It was an amazing day. The weather was warm, the sky so blue. I took some lovely shots. Here is a shot of the ferry we were going to take to Stockholm.

We got to see some of Suomenlinna from the seaward side. Here are some shots. King’s Gate I think.

Then when we made it back we sat by the wharf and ate burgers. I had a reindeer burger and Beans had a vegetarian one without mayo or cheese. She was very impressed with the vegan food options in Helsinki. The seagulls are very aggressive so we had to guard our food from being stolen away. I spied someone eating a plate of meatballs and potatoes and gravy and I had food envy. My burger was fine, but I didn’t taste much difference in the reindeer meet.

Some shots from when we were sitting down, just chilling with the seagulls.

We also took turns checking out the stalls. I found some Finnish yarn! I’m so happy, I bought a mitten kit. It was 27 Euros, a bit pricey but it’s Finnish!

Soon it was time to say goodbye to Helsinki. Picture sad faces. Then we went to check in to the ferry. Upstairs sitting down having a coffee was Sara Lindberg, who we had met at the Welcome to Finland party at Worldcon. So we sat with her and chatted, learned some Swedish and agreed to meet for drinks. She told us about the buffet on board so we planned to get tickets to that.

It wasn’t long before we got on board the massive ferry, Gabriella, run by the Viking Line. It’s a very big ship from my perspective. Then there was the queue for the lifts to reach the berths. We discovered we were on level two, that’s the bottom of the bottom deck! We were under the cars and trucks. Funny! We had a four berth room but luckily we didn’t have to share. Despite the fake window, we were quite comfortable.

Here is a shot of me being silly. Except for the terrible feelings of foreboding and death I slept well.

There was onboard WiFi. I discovered it didn’t work on Deck Two so no morning internet browsing for me. I had to go up to the higher decks to log on. Also, every time I went to the loo or out of range I had to relog on to the internet. We managed to buy buffet tickets for the 6 pm seating. The ship took off and it was so smooth I didn’t even feel us embarking. We took some lovely shots leaving Helsinki from the ship.

The restaurant couldn’t seat us together saying our table was full. However, we had two seats next to us that weren’t used at all. Poor Sara had to eat on her own.

The buffet was an interesting experience. I liken it to starved zombies who had access to five day old corpses. It was if they hadn’t ever been fed and thought that the food would disappear. A lot I couldn’t eat as there was fish of all kinds, fresh, smoked, pickled, tar flavoured, fermented. I got some meat but it was very smokey and salty for a roast meat. Beans said she paid 35 euro for a salad. She found some things to eat, but yeah pricey if you don’t eat most of the things on offer. She was saddened they didn’t have anything vegan and hot.

Later on, we found Sara and she joined us at the table. We had some wine (the buffet included wine and beer on tap) and chatted. Then we went for a stroll and found our way to the bar at the back of the ship. I had a cocktail which was vodka and campari based. We talked some more and then the day’s toil weighed on me and I took myself to bed. Beans stayed up with Sara for a bit. I was woken later by my daughter banging on the bathroom door. Let me out. Let me out.

Me being half asleep it took me a moment to realised she locked the door from her side. I’m saying. I can’t let you out. You need to unlock the door. Panicked sounds. Oh, she says, I locked the door. I went back to bed. It was a long night but perfectly comfortable despite not being able to check the internet in bed.

Next morning, I got up and ready and went upstairs to get an Internet fix. Then I saw the islands! It was so pretty coming into Stockholm. I took photos.

And then some more photos. Beans and Sara joined me and we watched the scenery and then went to breakfast. It was a lot more calmer at breakfast than the buffet the previous night. A full array of food was available. I had crepes, bacon, scrambled eggs and I forget now what else. Some fruit I think.

Because we were on the very bottom of the ship and there were queues when we were getting on, we packed up and were at the front of the line to disembark. It got pretty packed behind the doors, with screaming babies and barking dogs and people saying let us out. I was once again thinking of zombies trying to get out the door. I am not sure my imagination is helpful. Being down in the lower decks I thought that if there was a crisis on the ship we would be the first to die! Anyway, all good.

The journey to our AirBnB was eventful of course but not as eventful as other people. I bought a 24 hour metro ticket and was given the general direction of the bus and a number ’50’. It took us a bit to figure out which direction we should go. There were a lot of busses to Slussen, but we were told to go to Central Station. I asked one bus driver and he said “no’ when I asked if he was going to Central. Another tourist just took any bus. She said that it was bound to put down near a metro stop. She probably had the right idea because Slussen does have a metro stop. So we waited with our huge suitcases. Then a 53 bus came and it did go to central station. Another couple from the ship got on but they had no ticket so had to get off and go find one. Thank heavens we bought our ticket on the ship. We had help finding Central Station and then we followed the signs to the metro. Our instructions were pretty straightforward. We are out in the burbs. Unfortunately, we got lost trying to find the apartment. We started to get stressed and had to ring our host. It did work out, but it was funny. He said I’ll go on the balcony and look for you. So we followed instructions and saw a shirtless guy jumping up and down and waving his hands. Okaay.

After that it was pretty straightforward. We were tired. We had a short break and then went grocery shopping. Sweden don’t use the Euro so we had to do quick mental gymnastics to figure out what things cost. This is the view from where we are staying out in suburbia.

Next blog post is our stay in Stockholm. Warning this next blog post will contain Vikings!

Read Full Post »

GUFF Post #7-Saturday and Sunday

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, geekgirl, Geeking out, general excitement, Science fiction conventions, tagged dead dog party, Helsinki, SF cons, stockholm, Worldcon 75 on August 14, 2017| 2 Comments »

After partying at the Hugo Losers party, it was a slow start to Saturday at Worldcon. Thank you to WorldCon 76 and George RR Martin for a great party. Saturday for me was a panel on Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. I received an email from program ops saying the moderator for the panel was sick and could I take over as moderator. I said yes, but then put myself in stress mode. It is much easier to answer questions than it is to ask them. So while we had slept late and I did the blogging for post #6 I was hard pressed to get to Mesukeskus in time for my panel. I managed to get on the tram and brainstorm. Then I realised I left my bag of koalas and chocolates at the hotel.

The panel went really well I thought. I went to the green room first but couldn’t see any fellow panelists and we hadn’t talked beforehand. When I got there the panelists were already assembled. They were Delia Sherman (USA), Russell Smith (UK) and Elina Rouhiainen (Finland). The panel were mixed in their writing on paranormal romance and Urban Fantasy. Only Elina and I wrote paranormal romance and urban fantasy. It was interesting but in my brainstorming I came at the topic from a romance side of things and it was good that Delia and Russell reminded me there was/is a different style, genesis of Urban Fantasy starting from Mary Shelley, but also, Charles De Lint an more recently Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series. I was able to clarify the paranormal romance/urban fantasy divide from the romance perspective. It was an interesting panel for me, particularly learning about the other panelists’ work but also Elina, whose work is not translated/published in English. It was sad for me because her work sounded so interesting. Apparently it is in Finish and also translated into Chinese.

We finished that panel on time and my next assignment was the Fan Fund Auction, which as GUFF delegate I needed to attend and I had donated quite a bit of stuff. First up I have to say the fan fund auction did not go off as I expected. I had expectations that it would be fun and entertaining as they are done in Australian conventions. I also thought it would be more organised. But a few things went wrong, particularly the last minute change of venue. Jukka Halme did take time out of his busy schedule to do some auctioning but he couldn’t stay long and as there were 4-6 auctioneers it was a bit chaotic from my perspective. However, we did sell at lot of stuff and that makes it a success! I did hear that the Brits do auctions differently. I thought it was odd that I had culture shock, but that’s my fault for having expectations. A learning experience all round. As the auction took a few hours and I was on my feet, I had serious issues with my feet.

IMG_8423[1]

A shot of Paul Weimer selling stuff for the Down Under Fan Fund.

IMG_8426[1].JPG My daughter had come to bring me my Koalas and chocolates and she urged me to go back to the hotel. By the time I got there I could hardly walk and my feet were so sore and swollen I was in agony. This meant that I could not go back into worldcon in the evening for the parties. I really should have sat down instead of standing up. Again, my own fault!

My daughter made me lie down and she went out to get us take away dinner. However, just after she stepped out a massive storm hit. It was the weirdest thing. The air just went horizontal and swept over Helsinki bringing rain and lightening and wind and thunder. A nice Finish man on the tram warned us the storm was coming and told us to stay safe, but we could hardly see it and then it just hit. There were sirens and trees were blown down. I turned myself around on the bed so I could lie down and look at the sky.

My daughter came back safely but wet. She said it was rather dramatic being out in the storm. Anyway, I had an early night but was rather sad about missing the last night of parties.

The next day, the last day of WorldCon75, was walking stick day. My only seeming duty on Sunday was to be at the closing ceremony as it was on my schedule, but I had not been informed if I was to do anything so I sent a query to Events. Eventually I found out that I didn’t have to do anything, but I was invited to sit up the front in the reserved seats.

My daughter and I did the hop on hop off tour around Helsinki, before heading to the con. I got to sit on my butt which was good for my feet.

So I spent my time meeting some fans in the fan lounge and checking out the dealers room before it shut down. We caught up with our Finish friends, Thomas and Alex 11, Craig Cormick (Aus) and Robert Hood (Aus) and Lawrie Brown (Aus). I also caught up with and said goodbye to Paul Weimer and met Cora (Germany) again. I met another lady but I’m sorry to say I can’t remember her name. Forgive me!

This meant that I didn’t get to any panels as the last couple were few. I caught up with Sam Hawke as she was taking some Finish coffee and sweets back to Canberra for me. They will be sold in the Fanfund Auction at Conflux when I get back. She sent me a message this morning that she made the allowable weight by .14 of a kilo. She just scraped in.

We have weight issue because two of our flights have 15 kilo limits. One to Iceland and one to Ireland. To get some stuff home we had to beg space in other Canberran’s luggage. I was lucky that Rob Porteous and Sam Hawke came to my rescue. Now that I have been raving about Finish Blueberry flavoured coffee my daughter wants to buy some.

When the time came we went to the closing ceremony. It appears someone didn’t get the memo about being invited to sit up the front and we were tossed from our seats. My daughter went outside and I found a place somewhere else. They were very pressed for space again. The closing ceremony was full. The numbers were so encouraging because usually a lot less people go to the closing ceremony.

There were dead dog party details which was to be held in a nearby hotel. It was being sponsored by another convention. Well that was a really sad thing because we walked over there and were refused entry. Some not quite nice guy had the tough job to tell us to bugger off. It was a mistake he said. The venue was only expecting 400 people and we couldn’t go in. That’s it. So the plans to say goodbye, to celebrate a wonderful convention were destroyed. It was a sad, brutal cutting off of a lovely convention. What was said to us and how we were treated was not good. I don’t know who he was but it was so badly handled. I can’t begin to express how hurt I was feeling and how upset people were.

Really bad planning. If the closing ceremony has 1000 people then clearly you are going to have a lot of people come to the dead dog party. So heartbroken we trailed off into town.

Then I had the absolutely brilliant idea to try the Viking restaurant that Thoraiya had recommended. We found it once we had wifi access and we got in. You see there was only one waitress when we turned up. Another came to help out. We had a fab meal. We had picked up some other fans along the way but getting a table for six wasn’t going to happen quickly. So three of them peeled off leaving Lawrie Brown, my daughter and me.

Some pics of the Viking meal. Haralds was very cool. We had cider with cranberry in these cool mugs. I had beef stew in bread (like a trencher I suppose), ligonberry relish, baked garlic in tomato, parsnip mash and baked root vegetables. It was delicious and rich. My daughter got a vegan vegge/bean thing. We tried two desserts and shared them. There was also a vegan dessert by my daughter was too full. We tried tar and bramble ice cream. I will tell you a secret. It tasted like tar, or how tar smells.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Later on Twitter I saw that the venue for the deaddog opened an upstairs bar and people were allowed in and they had a wonderful time. I am trying not to feel bad about this. I’m glad people got to go and have fun but I’m said we were turned away so callously, with no information no alternative, just go away. This was not the Worldcon 75 people doing this by the way. They were awesome. I messaged Jukka Halme about it and he was very sorry and distressed to hear what happened.

Now this morning, we are packing up. We had walk in the gardens and then a Finnish Sauna, which was quite nice. I don’t normally do sauna but I managed okay.

I’m sad to be leaving Helsinki today. Such a great place, such lovely people, such a fantastic convention. I’m really looking forward to going to Stockholm on the ferry. I am not looking forward to moving our luggage from the hotel though. Who likes moving their luggage while on holiday? No one.

Read Full Post »

Guff # 6 -The Hugo Awards

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, GUFF, science fiction, Science fiction conventions, Uncategorized, tagged Fanfunds, Finland, GUFF, Helsinki, Hugo Awards, Loser party, worldcon75 on August 12, 2017| 3 Comments »

Friday was a big day at World con. For me it was all about the Hugos as I was so honoured and delighted to be invited to co-present an award. And my daughter came in with me and also did my hair for World Con. We went with an Austenesque style but we had to do it in the morning with the hope that it would hold until the evening.

We were going to take the tram, but another tram had broken down and we couldn’t see how our tram was going to get through as there was only one track. After thinking about it for like 30 seconds we decided to catch the train in instead. The train and tram are so convenient from our location.

We had packed all our gear in case we needed to change on site. My first item was to go to the Hugo rehearsal session. I had arrived in good time but was so directionally challenged I couldn’t find the hall. In an act of desperation I ran up to a security guard. She said you can’t go there as it is shut. After I explained I was going to the rehearsals she directed me to an inconspicuous door. I would not have found it without help.

I made it in good time and watched a few of the run throughs, met people and then John Purcell turned up and we were able to go through some minor edits I made to the text and then it was our turn. Things were a little rushed and we had marks to move to. John and I did a vocal run through off stage just so we knew we could say it all. We needed one name, and Irish one, to be tutored. Lucky the Hugo Award administrator is Irish and could help out.

After that, there wasn’t much to do. We had lunch and hung out with Robert Hood and then Cat Sparks briefly. Cat has donated a signed copy on her Blue Lotus book for the fan fun auction.

The pre-Hugo reception was to start at 5.30 so my daughter suggested we take the tram back to our hotel and come back again. We were having vigorous discussions about shoes and in the end she decided to go to buy some.

I was going to rest but by the time we got back there wasn’t much time. My daughter went out to buy shoes and a big hand bag. We needed extra shoes because we couldn’t stand in high heels all night!

We made it to the reception with the aid of directions. This is the closest I’m ever going to get to a Hugo so it was a pleasure to be there. It was really quite crowded. I guess you can’t experience the impact of all those names until you see them gathered. There was rumours of food. I did see people eating but by 6.15 there was no more food, but some chocolates out for sweets. Lucky I wasn’t too hungry.

I was handed a cocktail/drink when I arrived. I think it was a long gin with Lingon berries (sp) and I had to make sure that was all I had. On an empty stomach too much alcohol is not a good thing.

I caught up with Carrie Vaughn, Paul Weimer, Nalo Hopkinson, Mihela and others. I met CE Murphy, from Ireland via Alaska she tells me. Then it was photos. I was going to get a photo with Jukka Halme, but I lost Paul Weimer so I had to scrap that idea. Then I lined up with Beans for a photo but just as it was nearly our turn, they announced they were taking official photos of the different categories of nominees so there went our chance.

Later though, Jukka grabbed me and said, come and have a photo with my official photographer and so I got my photo after all.

Then it was time to go in and take our places. We made sure to sit with John and Valerie Purcell (TAFF delegate and his wife) as we were presenting together.

This is the shot from inside the auditorium.

There was type written script on the screen. It was for the hearing impaired I think but it had problems at times and some of the mispelt words were hilarious.

“I am slighted to be here” etc. I forgot most of them but really, 6000 delegates from 6000 countries. Hahahaha.

Then it was our turn to go on stage. The ceremony is on You Tube I believe and was webcast. We were in the beginning section. There was an International group of people presenting, South Africa, Poland, China, US and Australia. We had to sit on a sofa on stage and then after we presented we had a short interview. Amazing, John and I got to plug the fan auction to like 5000 people! They had John’s name wrong in the script so Karen Lord called him Jeff. We gave John a hard time. So Jeff what did you do with John etc.

After the awards ceremony we were invited to the Hugo Losers’ Party. There was a shuttle bus (a small one) so a lot of people took cabs. We waited with C E Murphy and ? (I’m sorry I forgot your name again) and Nalo Hopkinson, George RR Martin, Pat Catigan and others. A Finish fan guy leaped on the bus and Nalo can I come with you and did.

The venue was Helsinki’s steam punk nightclub. It was crowded by the time we got there. Winners turn up and are boohed and made to wear ridiculous head gear. There was an amazing steampunk cake. Lots of booze. Lots of food and desserts in mini containers. The music was good at first but then we tried to dance and the music went to shit. Go figure. I had a blast but wanted to go home. Beans, my daughter, wanted to party and dance and I didn’t get out of there until around 2 am. But I met people, talked to people. John and Valerie turned up late dressed in their steam punk gear. So cute.

Here is a collection of shots, including the steampunk cake. The steampunk couple are John and Valerie Purcell.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

And well today is Saturday and I must get out of here.

Read Full Post »

GUFF #5 Thursday Worldcon 75

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, geekgirl, Geeking out, General excitment, GUFF, Science fiction conventions, Uncategorized on August 11, 2017| Leave a Comment »

I thought this post would be delayed. My head is not feeling too good. It may have something to do with the two long gins I had last night while I was at a party. I think it was the Dublin party but it was hard to tell. Or it could be the dreaded con lurgy.

Thursday I went to Messukeskus on my own. My daughter could not be brought to attend. However, she did do my hair for me. I love it. She took a photo while I was blogging yesterday and I said ‘Don’t I have resting old bitch face.’ Here are some shots of my hair. Totally frivolous of me. Usually I just have boring hair and I’m not an elegant person, but I felt it after this.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I had two panels that I was appearing on so I made sure I arrived in time for those. I decided to try the tram. From our hotel it is route 9. I waited on the wrong side because that’s what my daughter and I thought was the right direction. However, I saw people with worldcon name tags on the other side so I skipped over the tracks to the otherside.

I managed to tag on with the free transport card that the city has given to all the worldcon attendees. This is a wonderful thing. Kiitos Palion to Helsinki!

I was sitting there staring into space (as you do) when I hear an Australia voice at the next stop. “How do you use your ticket?” Or something like that. I recognise the voice. It’s Cat Sparks and Rob Hood. We greet each other and then I face forward and see Janeen Webb tottering down the aisle as the tram had pulled away. So we had more greetings and I met Janeen’s friend Dena. It was a happy little group setting out to Worldcon. The tram drops us right out the front of Messukeskus. It’s a wee bit more convenient than the train, but the train is great too.

I had arranged to meet Paul Weimer before our Fan Fund panel, but first up I sat down and put my feet up in a lovely collection of easy chairs. There was an American woman doing the same so I joined her. My feet are still swelling but are thankfully not too painful.

I met some Danish fans while I was waiting for Paul by the bear. We chatted about fanfunds, I gave away chocolate koalas and I also told them about my other panel, Romance and the female gaze in science fiction. They were very keen to see that panel. I did see them there and they waved. My Finish geekgirl ribbon continues to be of interest. I think they have run out.

Paul showed up so went to grab something to eat and a coffee. We tried this little cafe, Street Food I think it is called. It had a few options and all seemed to be regional/Finish. I had a baked potato stuffed with shrimps in a dill mayonnaise. Paul had the crum chicken drumsticks with a coleslaw and the other option I saw was potato salad with bratwurst sausage. These were about 8 Euro each. Coffee was 3 Euro. The coffee (Kahvi) was filter I think. Sometimes that stuff is like sludge. My daughter tells me that Fins drink the most coffee per capita in the world. She reads the guide books. Well I think that means that Fins have caffeine in their blood. You would think that would make them quite tense but they appear quite laid back.

Paul chatted about his DUFF trip report. (He visited Australia from the USA and visited us in Canberra). He pulled out this massive document with great pictures, including the kangaroos near my place and the yummy pavlova. The fanfunds require a written report and these are sold to raise money for the fanfunds. Paul is selling his for $7US. I thought that was too cheap because it is a massive document, really. I mean really big. So I paid $15US for it as I had some money in my Paypal and it’s for a great cause and I’m really, really looking forward to seeing all those pictures of waterfalls etc. If you see Paul you should ask him how to get a copy.

We went to the Green Room to meet our other panelists. It’s a smallish room and I found it a bit overwhelming because it has people in it, people I don’t know and you are there to meet people you don’t know and that can be hard when you don’t know what they look like. However, Paul knows people and we met some people and Jonathan Strahan and then we met Ben, our chair and then the other people. We had a bit of a run through of the order of business and went to our panel. Luckily, this panel had a small audience and that made it cosy instead of daunting.

You know I’m an extrovert but maybe I lost my extrovertness somewhere. No that’s a lie! I had no trouble talking on the panel. In fact I had to stop myself from grabbing the microphone. I met Claire, who I am meeting up with in London and also Marchin from Poland who wants to run for GUFF. He said he was disappointed I did not choose to visit Poland on my GUFF trip. I said I’d like to visit Poland in my next visit to Europe.

Here is a selfie shot of the fanfunds panel, Paul, Mira, John, John and Ben.

We were chased from the room after the panel as there was a huge crowd waiting to get in. With such a large number of people it is a huge job moving people in and out of rooms and you need to queue early if you want to get into a panel. I had another panel around three and now that I’m writing this blog post I fear I have lost time. I had more books and chocolates to drop off for the FanFund and I was lucky enough to bump into Kylie Ding who took them off my hand.

Oh now I remember, I went to the dealers room and the fan lounge because I saw there was NZ ribbons. I caught up with Maree, who I haven’t seen for years who is representing the NZ 2020 worldcon bid. As an aside, I’ve met people who are looking forward to coming to NZ 2020 worldcon and who would like to visit Australia too, so we need to have a convention just before or after NZ 2020. I also picked up a mini Whittakers Hokey Pokey slab. Eat your heart out Russell!

I gave away more chocolates and clip on Koalas during the day. However, it was a bit of a whirl so I don’t recall. I saw some kids in costume and gave them one each. One had a Kylo Ren costume and at the Welcome to Finland Party last night we met Nina who said she had been commissioned to make two costumes. I asked if the costume had been made by Nina and the girl said yes. I think she thought I was rather strange…but that is okay.

The Romance and the Female Gaze panel was full. There were probably 10 seats vacant. That was an interesting panel. I met Carrie Vaughan beforehand in the Green Room, but we didn’t spot the other panelists or more importantly the moderator. We had not chatted via email about what we were talking about so there were a few anxious moments until Fiona turned up. She was a great moderator and had some hard and interesting questions. The panel sessions are only 45 minutes long so there wasn’t time for questions after. I had some lovely feedback afterwards and one lady came up to me and said thank you. The gist of my argument is. Why can’t we imagine a world where women can initiate sex as equals? Where there isn’t slut shaming. Maybe I was a wee bit passionate!

And the deed was done!

I went for a walk and took a shot of Gillian Polack doing her book signing. I didn’t get a chance to say hi as she was talking to a reader. I met Houston, a fellow Australian, in the queue.

I met up with Robert Hood in the small collection of comfy chairs and he was going to see Cat Sparks in an Australian literature panel. I thought I’d join him and support my fellow Aussies. We were amazed that there was already a line forming and we were about number 70 for a room with 100 people and it was half an hour before. As the queue kept growing, I realised that I was taking the space of someone who really wanted to hear about the Australian scene and I already knew about it. So I left to go back to my accommodation and to see my daughter. On the tram, Robert said hello. He’d also had the same idea. We had fun on the tram. We didn’t have a clue where to get out. We struck up a conversation with a Belgian who was married to a Fin and they gave us advice. It all turned out well, Robert spotted his hotel and I found my stop.

I managed to convince my daughter to come back into the convention centre to the parties. An essential part of Worldcon for me is the parties. They are fun. You meet people. You perhaps drink a little or eat strange foods. At first my daughter was no, I’m not coming. I’m tired, she said. So I resigned myself to going alone and said. I really wish you were coming with me. And she changed her mind.

On the way to Messukeskus we saw a police bust. We were quite surprised. A man was stopped and pulled out of a car and placed on the ground and more police arrived. It was strange. People in the street were drinking coffee and gawping at the goings on. Helsinki, according to my daughter, is the safest city in Europe and one of the safest in the world. We had not seen a police bust before.

I thought I should take steps to meet Einar, the Icelandic fan I had made contact with. As it happened we got there early. The parties hadn’t started. We bumped into John Morris and watched him eat dinner while we drank tea. Then we hit the parties. Like the panel sessions you need to get in early. There were lots of people, the free vouchers for drinks and the food was gone. The bar started running out. Apparently there was only one type of beer left and the queue was so long.

After a bit of phone tag, I met Einar and he joined Thomas and my daughter. Einar and I went to get a drink and it was surprising the but the queue moved quickly. The bar staff were very efficient. Then John Morris and Sara Lindberg joined us so we were very multicultural. So with all the crowd around us we talked stuff. I talked convention running and Iceland with Einar. Then when it came time to leave, I called Thomas, James. OMG! Then he told me I called him something else earlier in the day. I’m so embarrassed.

Here is a shot of us.

I must remember to call him by the correct name. Einar had left and it was then we realised it was 11.30 and there was a mad panic about whether the trams were still running. All was good though, as there were people waiting and the board said the number 9 was due.

We made it home in good time and went to sleep. I’d had two long gins and maybe…that was too much. I am slightly hungover or at least have a headache today.

My daughter asked if I mentioned the green smoothies she makes every morning. You see she had this goal of making me slimmer, healthier and possibly converted to veganism on this trip. As I normally gain weight when I travel I did not fancy her chances on any of her goals. But I do drink the green smoothies she makes. Actually, she stands over me until I drink the last drop.

Here are some photos of the smoothies my daughter lovingly prepares. They contain baby spinach, cucumber, broccoli, apple and banana and water.

I told my daughter about my blog post. She says. ‘I don’t want you to become a vegan! I want you to go on a plant based diet of six months and lose weight.’

I laughed so hard. A plant based diet is vegan!

Before shot because my daughter says it’s pretty.

The after shot

The me drinking the smoothie, in bed, in my nightie with my normal hair. The normal, raw me with hangover.

Also, I should mention that one of my books, Argenterra, an epic fantasy, is free on all eretailers (Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble etc) so if you want to try some of my fiction then help yourself.

And if you see me today at Worldcon 75, stop me and I’ll give you a koala or chocolate. Until I run out. Also, if you see me with glamour hair, that’s because I’m presenting a Hugo Award later on tonight.

Read Full Post »

GUFF # 4 – Worldcon 75 begins

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, geekgirl, Geeking out, general excitement, GUFF, Helsinki, sf conventions, SF fans, Uncategorized, tagged Australians, George RR Martin, Helsinki, SF convention, SF fans, Worldcon 75 on August 10, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Today was the big day. Time to find the way to Messuskeskus (the convention centre) on the train, register and then hang around a meet people while waiting for the opening ceremony.

We had another hotel breakfast, but this time I went for the porridge instead of meatballs, franks and eggs. I also indulged in one of the bread rolls. The Fins really do bread in a big way. So many kinds of bread. Also, this morning there are more fans here at the hotel. Beans and I made the train okay. It is only one stations and all the trains go to that station (Pasila). We could have taken a tram too.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As part of our registration we were given a travel pass for free travel for the week. So excellent! First up, I didn’t have a membership. Somehow wires were crossed and it wasn’t processed whatever. It was sorted pretty quickly after I chased down Jukka Halme who was able to vouch for me. All my program stuff was fine so just a glitch. Registration was pretty efficient and I was able to get my badge printed out how I liked.

There are many Australians at this conventions and also many Canberrans. You could say that there was an infestation of Australians here.

I was pretty overwhelmed at first at the con today. My job as GUFF delegate is to meet people. Preferably people I don’t know. So I can’t just hang with people I know although I can chat and stuff. It was good to have the support network there from the Australians and I really appreciate them and also my daughter to look out for me. Eventually I settled down and was able to meet people. I have a bag with the Australian flag and I have caramel koalas, cherry ripes and clip on Koala bears to give away. They make a nice ice breaker I guess.

So after registering we went in search of tea. Not much was open before 10 am but we found a place and I drank tea. Tea is my life’s blood so I’m finding the lack of tea disturbing. I may have mentioned this in a previous post. Then we walked about checking out the place.

I pointed out George RR Martin, who was just sitting there by himself to my daughter. I think of myself as an extrovert, but I have fits of shyness. I’ve seen George around at all the worldcon I’ve been to. I’ve not been introduced so I can’t just rock up and say hi. Although I did work up the courage to give him a clip on Koala and then slink away.

I caught up with Paul Weimer, the DUFF delegate, and handed over some books I promised and a bag of caramel koalas, a few NZ chocolate fish. We also took a bag full of books, Tim Tams and NZ chocolate to Gillian and Kylie’s room so they can be auctioned off on Saturday at the Fan Fund auction. Must earn back the $ spent on bringing me here. Then we had lunch, checked out the dealers room and met people.

I met Rikka, who told me there is a Geekgirl group in Finland. She have me a Fake Geek Girl ribbon and a Feminist ribbon and told me I could get a Finish one. I had to find it and after tweeting and asking about I found their table next to the Dublin World Con Bid table. I was so pleased.

Meanwhile I was chatting up Finish people and asking how to say things like…how do I say I come from Australia? Olen kotoisin Australiasta.

After checking out the place, I met up with Joshua, who is involved with running the Hugos and with John Purcell, who is the TAFF delegate. We are presenting a Hugo together and Joshua wanted photos for the Hugo Booklet. Also, Joshua wanted to make sure we had the script for the ceremony and our Hugo’s ribbon. We chatted for a bit and then as John and I were involved in the opening ceremony we had to make our way there. I was making my way to the prep room and I was stopped by a woman who demanded I get to the back of the line. I had to explain that I was participating in the ceremony. I can understand people’s frustrations in queues when people seemed to be pushing in. As it was we were sorta in the wrong place. However, it couldn’t be rectified because the section reserved for us was full anyway so we missed most of the performances as we were backstage.

Here is a shot of Jukka Halme in horns backstage.

I talked to this Finish lady called Vanessa and she taught me out to say ‘I love Helsinki’ and I gave her chocolate. Then it was our turn to be called out on stage. The Fins have been lovely to us fan fund delegates. They included us in the opening ceremony so we got to stand up there in front of a thousand people with the guests of honour. Amazing. Then we got to say a few words.

I have to admit as soon as I got the email saying we were expected to say a few words it worried me. What few words should I say? My daughter had been teaching me to say “Good day, my name is Donna Maree Hanson, pleased to meet you in Finish. She suggested I say that. During the day and last night we added more Finish to my repertoire and rearranged it. So I was pretty nervous and Finish is a hard language but I gave a little speech in Finish. (I was told I was understandable!). I was supposed to translate it too but forgot as I was nervous.

This is the English version of what I said.

Good day. My name is Donna Maree Hanson. I am from Australia. Pleased to meet you. I am happy to be here. Thank you very much. I love Helsinki!

Pretty standard but I practiced and practiced it. There was cheering. I hope I did not say anything rude!

I was still shaking ten minutes later. The room was packed out and I understand people missed out on the opening ceremony, which is sad. It is also strange I think because often people don’t come to the opening ceremony.

After the opening ceremony was a tea and chat session with George RR Martin and Peter and Emma Newman. It was called Live Tea and Jeopardy. It was fun and clever. Emma was hilarious.

After that for me it was catch up with people, then have dinner, then hang around for the parties, which I did. We met more Fins, chatted, drank a long gin and then folded pretty early and was home by ten. Tomorrow I might be later. I’m not sure.

Read Full Post »

GUFF #3 Welcoming Helsinki

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, GUFF, tagged Fanfunds, GUFF, Helsinki, SF, Worldcon 75 on August 9, 2017| 2 Comments »

The con starts today, but this post is about yesterday. It maybe shorter because I was sleepier than normal this morning and I played with my phone at 5 am instead of blogging. My bad. Also, forgive typos I haven’t proofed these posts yet.

Yesterday I was hoping to volunteer and stuff bags etc, but the bad foot put me off that idea. Loaded with anti-inflammatory meds and painkillers I slunk down to the port and took the ferry over to Suomenlinna (sp) the fortress with my daughter Beans. I figured I could find a restaurant and plonk myself down and take it easy. By the time I got walking and after a lot of therapeutic stretching I could walk without looking and sounding like Igor.

Helsinki put on a beautiful day. It was so lovely and warm and bright. The trip over to the fortress is pretty quick,a bout 15 mins. There were lots of tourists. Lots more than the weekend. I think the city is filling up with SF fans. So walked over this beautiful and interesting place, which has been used for military defense over the years. Built by the Swedes, used by Russians etc. Now it is a lovely picnic spot. There are heaps of cafes and restaurants, some like Cafe Piper that have lovely views. They do coffee and cake and a few sandwiches. Not good for a vegan. So we had a coffee and looked at the view and then went in search of a place to eat. We walked to the end of the island and found a pizza place. Not that good for vegans either and it was about 14 Euro for a pizza. So we went to look for another place we passed situated near the bridge called Cafe Chapman. This was the place. They had a buffet lunch for 14 Euro, but there was salad and vegetables and stuff that both of us could eat. We felt it was good value compared to a pizza and the building is lovely too. We sat out in the garden.

Then we caught the ferry back and Beans made me shop for a t-shirt. I only bought one with me (Yoda) and it was dirty and she said ugly. So we spent sometime in the shops, went back to the hotel to rest before the City Hall bash. Some delgates were invited to a welcome event at City Hall. It was so well attended. The city hall was once a hotel, built in the Neo-classical style. See photo fest. It was great to see so many attendees in their finery. I caught up with Cheryl Morgan, met Kevin Roche (chair of the next Worldcon in San Jose) and his husband Andrew, then we met Phillipa from Glastonbury and the we introduced ourselves to a young person standing alone. It turned out that Alex was a first time Worldcon attendee, a local too. We got to chat about stuff and I practiced my Finish and learnt a new expression. Then we saw Cat Sparks and Rob Hood, then got to catch up with Jukka Halme and Sari (sp), Craig Cormick, who helped me spell the new Finish expression. Then I met Kylie Ding and saw Gillian, who is amazed how Canberrans tend to flock together. I also met PRK and Tori in the queue. David Gallagher and Emma. I spotted Charlie Stross, but he would not remember me so I didn’t say hi. Also I caught sight of Joe and Gay Haldeman and a few other familiar faces.

There was wine and softdrink and a cold buffet. As I’d eaten so much for lunch I didn’t have much room for more food. However, I did try some. Kiitos Palion to Helsinki for the warm welcome.

Then we walked with Cat and Rob to find a supermarket, which we did. And Kesburger! I’m dying to try their haloumi burger. And thence to our hotel and rest and then sleep.

Read Full Post »

GUFF #2 Helsinki/Jetlag/Sites

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, Fan Funds, geekgirl, GUFF, Helsinki, Uncategorized on August 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Sunday we moved from the wonderful Hilton at the Airport (with its tea and coffee making facilities) to Hotel Arthur via the train. But first, the buffet breakfast at the Hilton was to die for. My daughter who is vegan was amazed. They had seeds and nuts and she was over the moon about them. I discovered a local specialty-rice pancakes.

So to prepare for out trip to the city we did a reconnoiter sans luggage. Pushing and carrying that much stuff is exhausting to getting the lay of the land first was a good plan. Also we didn’t need to check out to 12 and we were awake and in need of exercise. We walked back to the airport terminal and spotted one of the little supermarkets I had read about in the Progress report. There I bought a SIM for my phone that gives me phone and internet access. Yay! I did not need to sign a register or give out all my life secrets to obtain a SIM card. So different to Australia.

Then we went looking for the train. We had to get directions being brain dead with jetlag. We discovered we needed to use the lift to get down and found that too. Then we had more tea before doing the deed. The trip into Helsinki was lovely and smooth on very new looking trains. Our accommodation was within walking distance of central station. I admit to getting lost but fortunately my daughter, Beans took control. The Hotel Arthur is a quaint old place. Our room was ready early and we negotiated the lifts, which looked like fridges and were as big as a fridge too and found our way to our room.

Lift that doubles as a fridge

The room is as cute as a cupboard. Inside is just right for us and the shower is really good once you figure out the handwaving technique to get it started (it has a sensor switch) and stop crying when it turns itself off.

Our little room at the Hotel Arthur

The only downside is there is no hot water jug or tea making facilities. I find the lack of tea making facilities disturbing…

We went downstairs and begged for some hot water which we transported in paper cups to our room. I feel now that I am getting acquainted with my uncaffeinated self. I’m telling myself while I sip water that I shall be improved in health after I have totally got used to not being able to sip tea in bed in the mornings. Meanwhile, I’m pouncing on coffee as I find it.

Our big plan was an outing to Tallinn, Estonia, which is a couple of hours by ferry from Helsinki. Our first plan was to look around but at the same time work out where the ferry left from and time how long it would take to walk there. So we headed off. It was quite a walk, around 35 mins. Longer going there because we didn’t know where we were going.

Helsinki is so lovely. We walked down to the docks and we bought giant mutant black cherries grown in Holland. Actually, probably not mutant but so big, they were like small plums and so yummy and also blueberries. There were lots of things to buy but we didn’t. Mostly because our flights to Iceland involve 15 kilos checked bags and it’s going be tough with what we have. Looks like no shopping until UK in the last two weeks of this odyssey. I’ll put up some photos of the walk. We found the Viking Line Terminal and then timed the walk back with some adjustments for time out for photos. We figured we needed 30 mins to walk to the ferry, allowing half an hour for check in time.

Cue photos of Helsinki

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Then we went for dinner at a Nepalese place close by. It was so good and so much food I was fit to burst. Then we went to bed early. Like 9 pm. It was still light outside.

Man, that night was the longest of the longest nights. I woke up at 1.30am thinking it was 5 am. Then I woke up on the hour and couldn’t really sleep. By the time Beans woke up I was exasperated. We had breakfast at 6.30am so we could start our journey on time. We had booked breakfast on the ferry so we planned two breakfasts, mostly because we didn’t know breakfast came with the room.

The hotel breakfast is not as luxurious as the Hilton but it is still pretty good. Rice pancakes, little franks, meatballs, scrambled eggs etc. Loads of bread of all kinds. You could seriously eat yourself to death with the bread. Coffee. Tea! Cheese, salami, fruits, yogurts, porridge etc. I took a food photo so beware.

Then we set off at a quick pace for the ferry. It was faster than we expected, but it was weird. The terminal was pretty quiet. We arrived to find our ferry cancelled. OMG! Cancelled? Something we had not anticipated. Technical fault the Viking Line said. And the next trip was 11.30 am and already fully booked. So we were told to find one of their competitors. So we sat in terminal thinking up what to do next. In the end we went walking on the other side of the docks looking for an alternative. It did not help that there were no people. Everything was closed. Then we realised that you need to book online that people did not come at 9am. We also couldn’t read the signs so we just couldn’t work it out. It was very frustrating and disappointing. Finally we tried booking online as there was a 10.30am ferry. But the Direct Ferries site wouldn’t let us book for a ferry leaving that day. Then we tried direct to the provider site but it wouldn’t let us book that one, only the 1.30pm one and we tried that but didn’t work either. Then I googled Catamaran and found the Linda Line. We’d been at the Linda Line terminal earlier but didn’t understand the signs and didn’t think they did Tallinn (but they all do we realised later). So we tried booking a 10.00 am trip and we got it almost booked then my bank wanted a netcode to authorise the transaction. I was on my Finland sim. Oh no! We were so close.

Spotted this while searching for a ferry to Tallinn. Thank you Helsinki!

We decided to hurry to the Linda Line terminal to book in person. Only one person there doing check in. No sales booths. I’m nearly in tears, Beans tries to book with her credit card. Meanwhile people are queuing to board the 10.00 am and we are in the check in line. The transaction goes through and we could line up.

Yay! Celebrations. We were on our way to Tallinn and we could meet up with Cat and Jonathan and Aidan after all. It was a bit choppy. The catamaran is small. All was doing fine and I checked the time 11.18am. I thought it will be over soon as the advertised time was just over 1.5 hours. That was highly optimistic. About this time, the catamaran turned into vomit fest. Kids puking and the poor parents. Then a guy behind us starts to go and the smell hits us. Beans and I leap out of our seats. Me being sympathetic and all start to feel unwell. Beans can’t sit down. I go out the back. It’s a bit bumpy and wet but it was better than heaving. I spent the rest of the journey clinging to the rail and watching the horizon. I visited the loo before disembarking and there was vomit on the carpet and the walls. Oh dear.

The Karolin-Catamaran

Tallinn

What a lovely place! I could have bought such cute souvenirs but as stated previously baggage allowances prevented it. Here we had lunch in middle eastern food.

Me at the restaurant

It was so good. Beans enjoyed hers and I had beef with peanut sauce. I tried to contact Cat but my internet didn’t work in Estonia and there was no wifi as far as I could tell.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The old town in Tallinn was so pretty and quaint. Cue photos. Then near the Tourist Information Centre I found free wifi and found Cat and the location of the public loos. OMG! The loos from hell. They weren’t quite the worst in the world, but they public loos consisted of two Portaloos with like an open container of sewerage. There was no water to wash your hands. I’m so white privileged. When Beans had to use them it was hilarious. She went in and came back out again, hyperventilating. She couldn’t but then the other one with a broken lock was in better form so it got sorted in the end.

We met up briefly with Cat, Rob, Jonathan, Francis, Aiden and Alex and walked around with them for a bit.

IMG_8291[1] By then my foot was paining me so I had to get out my walking stick. I haven’t quite worked out how to use it yet. We went up to get a good view and then parted ways. Our catamaran was leaving at 5.00 pm. Our previous plan was to catch a 8 pm ferry back and have dinner there. We were grateful for our time in Tallinn. Even though it was an adventure and a half getting there.

The trip back was smooth as anything and no vomit! So the weather must have been bad then in the morning. I heard that it rained in Helsinki but it was very pleasant weather in Tallinn.

Finally, we made it back to Helsinki and then walked back to our rooms. There we both discovered we had swollen feet, mine sore foot was really swollen. It is probably just the flights combined with cobble stones. We bandaged up my foot and crashed out.

Pear shaped ankle

I can say that we both slept really well and our body clocks have caught up with us.

Read Full Post »

Publishing results for July 2017

Posted in 75 World Science Fiction Convention, A writer's life, Australian author, Book launch, Digital Publishing, general excitement, GUFF, Helsinki, Hybrid Publishing, Indie Publishing, Instafreebie, Newsletters, Publication news, Uncategorized, tagged Fanfunds, fans, GUFF, Indie Publishing, Newsletters, publishing, SF fans, Worldcon 75 on August 1, 2017| 1 Comment »

Last month I posted about my Indie Publishing experience from a beginner’s perspective. That post is here.

There I discussed coming close to earning $100 in that month from my Indie publishing efforts. I did notionally make $100.

Well this month I’m over that amount. Earnings figures are notional by the way, because the money comes in at a different time. For instance Kobo calls them estimated earnings. So this month notional earnings are around ~~$140~~ $150.

Mind you I had to work hard for those few dollars!

I also gave away heaps of books this month but more on that later.

Sales

I used Kobo promotions a lot this month and that where I had most of my sales. Kobo are really easy to deal with and they offer a wide range of promotions, about half have no upfront costs just percentage of takings. I wasn’t successful in getting all that I bid for but I did okay. It takes time and I think getting my name seen will mean eventually people will buy. It also helps to have a number of titles.

Next biggest sales were iBooks, surprisingly. It is not easy to promote on iBooks. There is no easy way for Indies to promote on iBooks. I hope one day they will adopt the Kobo model. Then Amazon was the next chunk of sales. Nothing earth shattering but better than a big fat zero! You cannot bid for promos on Amazon. Amazon put together their Daily Deals by themselves.

Promotion

As mentioned above I have a promo tab on Kobo. I directly list with them to access this. I had two or three promos with different books through the month: paranormal romance and dark fantasy.

I tried for a Bookbub a couple of times through the month with different titles and met with rejection so I decided to do something with another provider. It can be dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket, particularly when the basket holder is swatting your eggs away!

I used Freebooksy to get the word out that Argenterra was free on 28 July. I made it free earlier than that and it’s currently free. Interestingly, this means I won’t be able to tout for a Bookbub for this title for three months as Bookbub exclude books that have been discounted for three months. Freebooksy is not cheap. It was $100 US to list for a day. However, they are a great group to work with and they have been very considerate of my other efforts with Bargainbooksy.

I find it interesting that Amazon doesn’t let people promoted except by AMS ads which I don’t find effective at all because these email services are making heaps of money from marketing specials and freeboots to their subscribers.

Listing Argenterra for free is a loss leader tactic used by many vendors since forever. Technically I don’t like giving books away for nothing. I think it lowers the value of your work. On the other hand, giving away book one with the hope that:

the person downloading will read it (preferably sooner rather than later);
having read book one they will like it enough to buy book 2 and 3;
after reading books 2 and 3 will like my writing enough to try another series, and
after reading my work they become a fan of my writing and stick to me like spat gum to a shoe!

I don’t know if there are any figures out there, but from past experience and my own behaviour I know that free books downloaded may never get read, but as I said before I’m looking to find my audience so one must take a chance.

Before the Freebooksy promo I let people know it was free. Not in a big way. Patty Jansen put it on the Facebook page for Ebookaroo and I asked some people to include it in their newsletter. I don’t know if people did but about 60-70 copies had been downloaded before promo day. On promo day, I got about 1700 downloads on Amazon and about another 100 on iBooks. No figures from Kobo as their freeboot counter is out. But I had a tail, next day more books downloaded. This could have been due to late email opens and people clicking and finding the book still free, or because with the 1700 downloads I had reached #123 overall Amazon freeboots and #1 in three sub categories of Epic, Sword and Sorcery and Coming of Age. Then Patty Jansen included Argenterra in her regular newsletter and then more downloads happened. So far maybe an extra 300-400. I just had another look at the figures, maybe that’s closer to 500 downloads from a newsletter. That’s so fab. I’m so grateful for the little leg up.

I didn’t see a lot of buy through to the rest of the series. Maybe one or two. If only one percent of those 2400 people (maybe more) go on to buy the series that’s still 24 people who might go on to buy the series. The promo will pay for itself eventually. Also, people have my book so there is always a chance.

Newsletters and Instafreebie

Technically sending newsletters and listing books on Instafreebie are promotion too. Shatterwing was included in a group Instafreebie/Bookfunnel promotion and wow! It was the best yet. Probably 700 new subscribers who downloaded Shatterwing, Dragon Wine Part One over four days. I think the covers have something to do with that.

I think some of my sales come through my newsletter subscribers. Not heaps as yet, but I get a lot of people checking out the buy links on my website.

I also had a few deals going for newsletter subscribers. Not exclusive to them but being a subscriber allows them to find out about it.

Escape Publishing kindly discounted Rayessa and the Space Pirates and Spiritbound (Dani Kristoff) to 99 cents. The announcements for these were included in my newsletter and there were some sales. I don’t know how much because I can’t see because the books are controlled by the publisher. These books were included in Ebookaroo (Patty Jansen’s general newsletter) and there were some sales as a result. I was happy to give something to the newsletter subscribers and I don’t often get discounts from my traditional published books.

Also, to broaden things a bit and have something new to keep my subscribers interested, I published Beneath the Floating City, a sci fi, short fiction collection and put it on Instafreebie, mostly with a private link for my subscribers but it is also there for anyone to download. All bar one story has been previously published over the 17 years of my publishing life. I’m going to put together other collections. The next will be Compost Juice, magic realism and fantastical tales. I won’t do that until I get back from overseas. Maybe for Christmas. I also published this collection to all the eretailers.

Print versions

A major suck for my energy, time and dollars this month has been laying out books for print. Indesign gave me a kick up the butt and my photoshop skills are Neanderthal level, but I managed.

Shatterwing, Skywatcher, Deathwings, and Bloodstorm are out in print with the new covers. These are available on Amazon through Createspace and elsewhere as distributed by Ingrams. So yes, technically the library or your books store can order them in.

books Also, Oathbound and Ungiven Land join Argenterra, in print.

The Sorcerer’s Spell is in print too, but just through Createspace. It will appear in bookstores as well as Amazon over time, such as Book Depository. Opi Battles the Space Pirates was already in print, same deal through Createspace. You can buy a copy on Book Depository no problems.

This means that for the book launch at Conflux over the long weekend, 29 Sept to 1 October, I have books all to hand.

I have done all the things!

Phew!

Now to take off on Friday for nearly two months. Worldcon 75 and Helsinki here I come. I am the GUFF delegate, taking Australian fandom to Europe. See previous post for where I’ll be.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing

(We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites)

Archive for the ‘75 World Science Fiction Convention’ Category

Year in review – 2017

GUFF post #16-London, Brighton and Home

GUFF Report # 8- Helsinki to Stockholm

GUFF Post #7-Saturday and Sunday

Guff # 6 -The Hugo Awards

GUFF #5 Thursday Worldcon 75

GUFF # 4 – Worldcon 75 begins

GUFF #3 Welcoming Helsinki

GUFF #2 Helsinki/Jetlag/Sites

Publishing results for July 2017

Top Posts

Follow Blog via Email

Donna’s Tweets

My facebook page

Blogroll

Stat counter