the owl and the olive tree

Saturday I overslept a bit, and made it a little late to the first session of the day: Female Friendships in Fantasy. After that I went to the Faerie DNA panel, which I didn't take good enough notes on to post as such, but I'll recount what I can remember ( under the cut ) I then attended a Q/A session with a publisher at Random House, Mallory Loehr, that was fascinating and full of good information (unfortunately I did not get notes on that either).

The lunch keynote for Saturday was by Terri Windling: she called it her "why fairy tales are important" speech, and it was very interesting, especially as someone with an interest in the evolution of folklore. We explored the history of Red Riding Hood, which began as a coming-of-age story in which the girl (with help from older women) defeats the wolf by her own cleverness and skills... and eventually became a cautionary tale about vanity and interest in men, in which the girl must be rescued. She also talked about a very creepy earlier version of Snow White, in which the prince took a while to wake the princess, and, uh, there was some... implications of their relationship while she was comatose—and how that became the much tamer version we known now. She also talked about the way that fairy tales came to be considered children's stories, when they did not begin that way at all.

After lunch, I attended the Golden Age of YA panel, had a relaxing afternoon, went to an early dinner, and then got dressed for the A Star Shall Fall launch party and the Faerie Ball.

For this part, I need pictures, so: under the cut!

( The 'A Star Shall Fall' Launch Party )

After the launch party, we made our way to the faerie ball for more chatter and dancing.

At the faerie ball we were given glowsticks to give it that appropriately sparkly demeanor. There was a murder mystery plot (I didn't take part in it, but it sounded like a lot of fun), and lots of chatting, storytelling in the lobby, and dancing, dancing, dancing. I loved the ball from last year, and it was even better this year: a wide variety of people took part in the dancing, from those who could dance with great grace or passion or both to... uh, me, whose idea of dancing is to flail in an uncoordinated yet joyful manner. I am very often too embarrassed by my dancing to do it in public, even though it makes me happy, because of the 'uncoordinated' bit, but Sirens is one of those places where I feel pretty confident that everyone will appreciate the 'joyful' more than they will mind the 'uncoordinated flailing,' so I danced until I was soaked with sweat, and had a great time.

I also took pictures: people wore everything from jeans to elaborate faerie costumes, and the combination was enough to make the ball seem like actually a pretty darn magical place.

( Faerie Ball )

The next day, we got up for the farewell auction and breakfast, where I won the handpainted version of the con symbol for the year (a girl reading a book with a faerie rising up behind her). It will be mailed to me. Squee!

They also announced the theme for next year, about which I am very, very excited: Monsters. Literal monsters, the monstrous, monstrous women (literally and figuratively), and the way that women have been imagined as monsters—for good and for ill. I already have several ideas for panels. And the guest lineup is pretty fantastic: Justine Larbalestier, Nnedi Okorafor, and Laini Taylor.

Anyway, after breakfast and many goodbyes, my traveling companions and I packed up and hit the road for Horse Camp, about which more later!

This was one of the panels I was looking forward to the most, because I really think that non-Western European fantasy is a topic and inspiration that has not been much tapped (in the Western market, anyway). Also, I was curious how the panelists were going to define "faerie" in a non-Western context. I wasn't disappointed: the panel was fascinating.

Moderator: Shveta Thakrar (shvetufae)
Panelists: Cindy Pon (http://cindypon.com/blog/), Andrea Horbinski (ahorbinski), Valerie Frankel (http://frankelassociates.com/calithwain/author.htm)

For privacy reasons, I'm only including LJs/blogs of people on the panels if their LJs or blogs include their names in some kind of clear fashion, on the principle that the connection is therefore already public. That said, if I have miscalculated and you want me to remove either your real name or your blog link, or if you want me to use a different link, please let me know and I'll do so immediately.

Notes behind the cut. People are attributed by initials; Q/C indicates an audience comment or question. As always, transcribed fast and edited only glancingly, misattributions and errors are my own, assume everything outside of quote marks is a paraphrase. ??? indicates a name I missed; if someone else can fill that in, I would be forever obliged!

Note: As Shveta disclaimed at the beginning of the panel, the terms "mythology" and "folklore" are used in the technical sense of "sacred stories" and "knowledge of the people," and not in the colloquial sense of "untruths." Use of the terms is not intended to cast any aspersions on the credence or truth of the ideas and beliefs. Some of the things being discussed are still part of a living religious tradition, and are respected as such. That being the case, I've preserved the terminology used in the panel itself.

( Panel Notes )

EDIT: A link to the presentation handout.