Worldcon Notes: The Sasquatch Has Sung

Saturday: Yesterday's post came before the Hugo award ceremony, for which I was invited to a room party with streaming video and leftover party refreshments. Despite a sometimes cranky video feed, we were able to enjoy the fabulous MC work of David Gerrold and Tananarive Due, accompanied by the witty stylings of Robert Silverberg and Connie Willis. From the very beginning of the ceremony, the absence of the full set of Hugo statuettes on display was a "tell" that Mr. Noah Ward was going to take home a few trophies. And being in a private party meant that we could indulge in unseemly glee as the Sad/Rabid Puppy slate candidates fell to Mr. Ward. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry.) I think I began the party only knowing the hostess, among the seven or so people there, but I ended up the evening going off with a couple of them to finish the evening at the Davenport Grand bar to have enthusiastic if noisy conversations with all manner of second and third-hand acquaintances until well after midnight.

Sunday: The morning began with the writers' workshop session for which I'd been tapped as an "industry professional", which went far better than I'd been afraid it might. (I had some rather strong things to say about one of the manuscripts.) That let out early enough for me to take in the final parts of the WSFS business meeting (which was far more exciting than the name might suggest), though it turned out my vote would have been irrelevant to the motions I was most interested in. After that I took in a panel on "long fantasy series" which was interesting but not particularly pertinent to my own situation. For closure I went to the closing ceremonies. Lots of appreciations and thank-yous. Another farewell message from our Space Guest of Honor, which I have to say was one of the utterly cool things about the convention. (Kjell Lindgren, currently resident on the International Space Station, was one of the official guests and in fact was the presenter for the Best Novel Hugo. At the closing ceremonies it as pointed out that he was the one who contacted the convention about participating, not the other way around. We truly live in the future where geeks have prevailed.) I had a final dinner with some friends from the Making Light blog and how, having packed as much as possible, I'm about to head upstairs for some final (but not to late) revelry.

Tomorrow, it's on the road as soon as I'm up, so I'll be posting the Monday blog now as well.

Lesbian Historic Motif Project: Guest Contribution – The Comfortable Courtesan

ursule has taken up my challenge for contributions to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project by suggesting another blog that might be of interest to those researching historic sexuality issues.

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The Comfortable Courtesan on dreamwidth, or madame_c_c on livejournal, is the fictional memoir of a Regency-era courtesan, in episodic form. The narrator introduces herself thus:

This narrative sets out to encourage a rational and prudent approach to the profession of harlotry and to dispel the notion that a 'fallen woman' is bound to die in the gutter, penniless and diseased, before her 30th year.

Madame C. is exuberantly & exclusively heterosexual, but her friends and associates have diverse sexual identities. Like a less-respectable and more-effective Emma, Madame C. does her best to help all of them find wealth and happiness. The ongoing story is a tour of early nineteenth-century sexuality, and its intersections with class:

I hear Miss L- say with some bitterness that women such as we are not in a situation to retire into picturesque Welsh seclusion.

Readers of the LHMP will be particularly interested in the saga of Lady J- and her romance with a prominent actress.