Balticon50 Part 4: Panels and Convention Highlights

I will start off by saying we did A LOT at Balticon. We took advantage of a lot of the kids activities, we sat in on some gaming panels, Jeremiah attended a podcasting tips panel, and my neighbor Jen and I ditched our Men and the kiddos to attend the Masquerade CosPlay contest. It was a great few days of general geek stuff and I had a blast.

Panels Saturday:
George R.R. Martin Interview-Moderated by Balticon50 Toastmaster and Author, Mark Van Name: I thought this interview was too generic. I don't need the "loaded questions" effect but I would have liked a little more substance. The interview questions  were okay if you knew absolutely nothing about GRRM but my bets were that the audience had been long time fans of George and had heard most of these responses before. It was great to see George but I think the interview questions could have been a lot better.

Special Highlight: While standing on line to get into the Panel room, I heard someone behind me who's voice I distinctly recognized as one of my absolute favorite 'ASOIAF' theorists that I follow on YouTube, Preston Jacobs. We spoke for quite a bit about some of his theories and I told him that while I am not a subscriber to his R+L=D theory (I believe R+L=J), his ideas were still quite compelling. He told me about his experience at the Balticon50 Feast of Ice and Fire dinner with George R.R. Martin (a charity event that cost $1000). We talked for a bit about his conversation with GRRM and how Preston felt a bit disappointed when George told him he might be over-reading his interpretation between Plato's 'The Republic' and GRRM's Tuf Voyaging (a story in the1000 Worlds universe)  I won't pretend I am an expert on 'The Republic' but I can see why Preston made the connection. Interpretation of literature takes on a life of it's own according to each reader and sometimes connections are there whether they were intentional by the author or not. Preston was really great to talk to and it was a unexpected surprise to run into him at Balticon.

Me and Preston Jacobs

Games of GOT: This was a fun panel hosted by folks from one of my favorite podcasts, History of Westeros. Moderators included: Aziz Al-Doory, Ashaya, and Jeff Hartline. They mostly talked about the many GOT games available on PC and tabletop. I even got to pipe in from the audience about how awesome the Game of Thrones Living Card Game is. It can be very competitive but I enjoy it on a casual level and had a lot of insight to offer on why it's not only a great game but also why it's a great time to get into it. After the panel I got to chat with the hosts and tell them how much I enjoyed their podcast.

Other Fun Things: 
Hoola-hooping, learning a couple of Medieval dances, meeting Peter S. Beagle, attending the Masquerade contest, having a delicious Sheppard's Pie for dinner, Mad Hatter Tea Party, and Fairy Gardens.


Panels Sunday:
Liars Panel with authors, George R.R. Martin, Jodi Lyn Nye, Joe Haldeman, Mur Lafferty, and moderated by Mark Van Name: This was a charity panel to raise money for children's literacy. The rules were: Each panelist answers a set of questions. All answers must be the truth—except three. After each answer, anyone in the room can challenge the answerer. After there are no more challengers, the panelist tells whether the answer was the If it was true, each challenger puts $1 in a bucket that runners pass. If it was a lie, the panelist puts $10 in the bucket. The panel was just fantastic and laugh-out-loud hilarious. I cracked up when Mur Lafferty discussed 'impolite promises' and Jodi Lyn Nye demonstrated that she was double-jointed. Some things that are surprisingly true about George R.R. Martin include, he once got a gift certificate for a nipple piercing that has been re-gifted to other sci-fi/fantasy writers, one of his favorite shows was 'My Mother the Car', and he loves the theme song to the old show, 'Petticoat Junction'.

George R.R. Martin Reading:

We were offered three choices and the wild majority of us hooted our assent for a chapter from GRRM's anticipated novel, 'Winds of Winter'. It was an Aeron Damphair POV chapter that hadn't been previously released on George's website nor read out loud before. I won't give too much away but it starts, "It was always midnight in the belly of the beast..." and that set the tone for an incredible and shocking chapter. George received a standing ovation when he finished the chapter and he took time to answer some questions from the audience. When someone asked, "Who are Jon Snow's parents?" George replied to our delight, "Some Kardashian and Justin Bieber." He also talked about Brienne and how she was sort of his improvement to the Fantasy cliche of women fighting in chain-mail bikinis. He said with a chuckle, "She is one of my favorite characters but that doesn't mean she is safe." He also confirmed that Brienne was a descendant of Duncan the Tall from the 'Dunk and Egg' stories. The reading from Winds of Winter was the perfect ending to an awesome convention and I was ready to go home.

George R.R. Martin reading an Aeron Damphair POV chapter from Winds of Winter