The second day of OddCon 2012 began with a spirited conversation about steampunk. The discussion immediately delved into academic territory as the panelists debated the nature of literary canons. There was general agreement that steampunk is a very open-source canon that is open to a lot of different influences.

According to panelist Janice Bogstad, who has an impressive list of academic credentials including two Masters’ and a PhD, “Canon is not like a metal bell that prevents its constituents from touching other genres.” She even went so far as to describe George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones as a steampunk novel, though she did not elaborate on her reasons for doing so.

But although the canon is incredibly broad, there are limits. Eric Larson pointed to a recent poll on a blog that showed that the overwhelming majority of respondents did not want to see magic in steampunk novels. Gregory Rihn countered that argument by saying that steampunk often has its own form of magic. In the Girl Genius comic, the main character can bend the laws of physics with the ‘spark.’

After getting the theoretical stuff out of the way, the panel moved to the nuts and bolts of steampunk—literally. Rihn claimed that steampunk favored external combustion over internal combustion, and zeppelins over fixed-wing aircraft. “If it breathes steam, exudes steam, and goes “choo-choo-choo” when it walks, it is probably steampunk,” Rihn said.

But technical details are key. Because Jules Verne does not describe the power source of Captain Nemo’s submarine in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, it falls into the realm of science fiction rather than steampunk, according to Rihn.

A question from the audience led to a discussion of what the ‘punk’ means in steampunk. According to Rihn, the critical element is the violation of Victorian social norms. “It involves expanding not just tech possibilities but social possibilities,” he explained. Some of the panelists saw a divide between older writers, who preferred to merge technology with social graces, and younger ones who were more interested in ‘gadgets and punk.’

After the steampunk panel, Toonari Post went to a panel entitled “Just the Facts, Ma’am,” which focused on the importance of facts in fiction. Moderator Shane McCook was inspired to put the panel together after listening to an audiobook where a character living in prehistoric Europe went out to pick blueberries, which are native to North America.

Richard Chwedyk explained that he normally does ten times more research than will ever show up in the story. When teaching science fiction writing workshops, he advises his students to provide just enough detail for the reader to make sense of the situation, without bogging them down in facts or taking them out of the story.

Chwedyk also pointed out that most experts are more than willing to talk about their work, and so are valuable resources for writers seeking to get their facts straight.

Jeannie Bergmann also stressed the importance of handling human emotions accurately. She cited an example of a romance novel where a nobleman takes a girl from an orphanage and raises her to be a proper lady a la My Fair Lady. Despite having suffered horrific abuse as a child, the girl is able to transition from victim to aristocrat smoothly. Bergmann noted that, in real life, the child would not be able to bounce back from her misfortune so quickly.

She also slammed romance novelists who write books where a ‘bad boy’ is reformed thanks to the heroine’s love. According to Bergmann, these books can encourage women to stay in abusive relationships. “Authors have an obligation to write books that won’t damage people,” she said.

Perhaps appropriately, the day ended with a panel on death in fiction. As one might expect there was a great deal of discussion as to why we are fascinated with the subject. Jeannie Bergmann noted the “dichotomy between person’s consciousness and body. Fascination with the body is an odd peculiarity of humans.”

“Death is disturbing because we don’t know where consciousness has gone,” she continued.

The conversation also covered notable deaths, including Janet Leigh’s famous demise in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Eliminating a main character a third of the way through the movie is certainly unusual, and its unexpectedness helped to make it all the more gripping. This stands in contrast to George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, where death is quite frequent and the reader knows they cannot count on their characters to survive.

Stay tuned for yet more coverage of OddCon 2012!

Eli Parke contributed to this report.

Image Courtesy of   http://odysseycon.org

The article Odyssey Con 2012: Day Two appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Odyssey Con 2012 got off to a stimulating start, with a series of panels discussing everything from space combat to the morality of Amazon.com.

The convention, which is affectionately nicknamed ‘OddCon,’ has been held in Madison since 2001, and is dedicated to all things fantasy and science fiction. This year’s theme is ‘Apocalypse Cow,’ in keeping with the convention’s longstanding tradition of having a bovine mascot.

One of the first offerings was a panel on combat in sci-fi and fantasy. Moderated by Alex Bledsoe, the panel also consisted of Nicholas Beeson, Shane McCook, Patrick Tomlinson, and Lee Schneider. Bledsoe, Beeson, and Tomlinson are all sci-fi or fantasy authors, while McCook is heavily involved in stage production. Schneider is a military history buff.

The panelists started by discussing some of the most egregious examples of inaccurate portrayals of combat, before elaborating on the nitty gritty of combat. Although there are plenty of instances where authors did not do their homework (fiery explosions in space, for example), there are also authors and directors who get it right. Schneider singled out Babylon 5 in particular as an example of excellent ship design, and Tomlinson praised David Weber’s Honor Harrington series for its realistic space combat.

After mulling lasers and spaceships, the panel took a technological leap back in time to discuss fantasy combat. Tomlinson, who has a plethora of real-life combat experience (including two knife fights), explained that swords are much heavier than they seem, and so it would take an extraordinarily fit person to swing them around as energetically as we see in the movies.

The panelists also reminded the audience that, in real life, combatants try to defeat their opponents as quickly as possible, without the elaborate thrusts and parries that are depicted on the silver screen. “If your opponent sees your knife blade before it’s in them, you’re doing it wrong,” said Schneider.

The next panel Toonari Post attended was about the suspension of disbelief in speculative literature, which included Shane McCook, Alex Bledsoe, and Monica Valentinelli. Unfortunately, this one proved to be less well organized than the others, and the discussion meandered around quite a bit. In essence, the panelists believed that the key to suspending disbelief was the reader’s ability to identify with the protagonist. But if that connection is severed, everything collapses.

Valentinelli cited the example of the ‘midi-chlorians’ from the Star Wars universe. In the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker was just an ordinary young man who had greatness thrust upon him. But the advent of the midi-chlorians in the second trilogy turned the Force from something mystical to something biological. In essence, being a Force adept was no different than being left handed or having red hair. According to Valentinelli, this makes it difficult for viewers to identify with the Jedi, since the Jedi are now superhuman from birth.

The panelists also agreed that general believability can also help foster a connection with the reader/viewer. According to Valentinelli, one of the reasons Dan Brown’s work is so phenomenally successful is that it is grounded in just enough fact that it seems plausible. The line between fact and fiction can be hard to see: Valentinelli cited a survey in Britain that showed a 20 percent rise in the number of people who believed that Christ had children, following the publication of Brown’s books.

By far the best panel of the day was the one about Amazon.com. It asked a simple question: are they an evil empire, or a writer’s best friend? Sitting on the panel were Benjamin Billman, Anna Black, Lori Devoti, Fred Schepartz, and Kimberly Gonzales.

Although all the panelists were broadly supportive of the online superstore, they voiced a certain ambivalence about its effect on readers and authors alike. While Amazon offers readers access to a dizzying array of goods, every dollar spent with Amazon is a dollar denied to main street retailers.

Because of Amazon’s vast buying power, they are almost always going to be the cheapest option. Yet brick and mortar stores do have one thing going for them: atmosphere. As panelist Benjamin Billman explained, “when I want something specific, I go to Amazon. But if I just want to browse, I go to Frugal Muse [a bookstore in Madison].”

But while Amazon’s business practices may generate controversy, many panelists believed that the company had done a great deal to help authors. For example, Amazon offers royalties of 70 percent on books published through the Kindle, which is far above what an author can expect to receive from a traditionally-published book.

Also, Amazon offers authors whose work is aimed at a niche audience (and is therefore ill-suited to traditional publishing) a chance at publication. According to Lori Devoti, Amazon also makes efforts to ensure that the books they publish are free of typos, and they will even go so far as to take books down if readers complain of errors.

Given Amazon’s dominance of the book trade, it is not hard to see them becoming a monopoly. Overall, the panelists were quite sanguine about the prospect. Billman said that it did not matter, provided they maintained the same high quality that they have now. But, as Devoti pointed out, consolidation in the publishing industry reduced overall selection. Anna Black said that the internet, which allowed Amazon to rise to power, could ultimately prove to be its undoing, by ushering in the next wave of technological progress.

Paradoxically, the evening ended with the opening ceremonies. The main event was a playful skit performed by OddCon’s organizers. This being Wisconsin, much of the humor was cow-themed. After a group sing-along to REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It,” the conference goers dispersed for some late-night fun, including a sci-fi poetry slam and a wine and chocolate reception.

Stay tuned for Toonari Post’s continuing coverage of OddCon!

Eli Parke contributed to this report.

Image Courtesy of    http://odysseycon.org

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