Newsletter/Patreon format and WorldCon updates
Hello, folks,
Happy Saturday morning, if it's Saturday and morning where you are.
I’ve just spent three days on the couch mostly doing nothing but watching television because I have post-cancer-surgery-sequelae mastitis again. (I’ve got antibiotics and everything is going to be fine and this shouldn’t interfere with my travel plans for worldcon.)
This is good timing, if it had to happen, because I’m between conventions and I’m not so deep in the deadline deadlands that a few days off to recover are unrecoverable. And honestly I feel a bit refreshed by the time off, even if they were sick days.
It’s also bad timing, if it had to happen, because I’m trying to get ready to head out to Worldcon and there’s a lot of prep work to do, so losing three days wasn’t really in the schedule.
Anyway now I’m caught up on Only Murders In The Building and The Muppets Mayhem.
I did get a little bit of work done, which I’ll be able to tell you about next week! I’m looking forward to that with so much excitement!
Things are proceeding with the Angel Maker (Karen Memory Adventures 2.0) self-publication plans.
Newsletter (as opposed to Patreon) subscribers, you may have noticed you’re not being charged for your subscription for the past few months.
I’ve been doing some thinking about this newsletter/Patreon, and some challenges I’m having with it/them. (The content is currently the same on both platforms.) The Buttondown paid subscriber function doesn’t seem to be working and I don’t have the time or energy to troubleshoot it right now. And I’m not doing a consistent amount of work on it, so after due consideration, here’s the current deal.
All (or nearly all) content is going to be free, and if you really want to support my work and get access to a fun and supportive little professionally-moderated Discord, please sign up for the Patreon here. (Discord access is at the $5 level. If you’re reading this via Patreon, well, congrats, you’re already there!)
If you just want to get newsletters and find out about news and occasional musing about art/life updates/cat and horse pictures (I’m pretty much off Instagram at this point because of AI bullshit so I’ll try to be better about posting cat pics here) then this is the space to be in.
(One person is for some reason still being charged by Substack even though I turned off monetization over there, and I can’t figure out who it is. So if you have any charges from throwanotherbearinthecanoe.substack in the past couple of months, please go unsubscribe over there! Argh, technology, and yet I don’t make enough money to just turn this all over to a web guru.)
Oh right, WorldCon! I’ll be on two panels, as follows:
Big Smart Objects: Sentient starships in SF Fiction
Participants:
Katherine Inskip (m) she/they, Aliette de Bodard she/her, Elizabeth Bear she/they, Gareth L. Powell He/Him, S.B. Divya she/any
Description
From Iain M. Banks' Culture-running Minds to Aliette de Bodard's mindships traversing the Xuya universe, through Anne McCaffrey's Ship Who Sang, Ann Leckie's many-bodied ships of the Raadch, and of course HAL 9000, the idea of intelligent starships pervades science fiction. But what is so attractive about a starship that not only steers, but thinks for, itself? And which authors have written the idea most interestingly?
Space/Time
Forth Friday, August 9, 2024, 5:30 PM GMT+1
Session Environment
In Person
and
"Bow Down Your Strong Heads..." Kelpies in Myth and Fiction
Participants
Regina M Hansen (m) she/her, Eliza Chan she/her, Elizabeth Bear she/they, Emilie Morscheck She/her, Emma (Em) Sterner-Radley She/her
Description
From the kelpies in the streams of Ken MacLeod's Selkie Summer, or thrilling, perilous rides through the surf in Maggie Stiefvater's Scorpio Races, to giant equine sculptures in Falkirk by artist Andy Scott, kelpies, or water horses, are an enduring and terrifying element of Scottish mythology. Appearing as both humans and large, black horses, kelpies lure weary travellers and drag them to a watery grave. The panel will explore the myths and fictions behind these fearsome shape shifters.
Space/Time
Staffa/Shuna Saturday, August 10, 2024, 1:00 PM GMT+1
Session Environment
In Person
I don’t have a formal signing but I’m happy to do a book or two if you grab me after a panel or in the bar/hallway!
I hope to see some of you there!
I think that’s quite enough for one newsletter, don’t you?
Best,
Bear