Readercon
"Readercon always makes me want to write," Linda says as I'm chopping the cilantro.
"That's why they call it Readercon." I answer.
It was especially good this year to have a long talk with Kathryn Cramer, whose babe is somewhat more in arms (and less in crisis) than last year. And with Sarah Smith, whose new novel Chasing Shakespeares I am enjoying immensely. And Cathy Asaro, with whom I went to grad school and hadn't seen for a long time.
Readercon always hosts the James Tiptree Jr. Award Bake Sale to support the annual prize for science fiction that explore gender roles. (Shelley Jackson's Anatomy of Melancholy was short-listed). The Tiptree Award also supports a wonderful idea:
In addition to presenting the Tiptree Award annually, the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council occasionally presents the Fairy Godmother Award, a special award in honor of Angela Carter. Described as a "mini, mini, mini, mini MacArthur award," the Fairy Godmother Award strikes without warning, providing $1000 to a deserving writer in need of assistance to continue creating material that matches the goals of the Tiptree Award.
What a fine idea! How does it work? Do we need a Fairy Godmother Award for hypertext?