Chicon 7 - The Panels

Friday, September 7, 2012
We attended a number of interesting sounding panels while we were in Chicago, so I'm only going to talk about my favorites. Otherwise we'll be here all day, and I have other fish to fry this week.


One of my favorites was a "Military in SF" panel which was held in conjunction with a DragonCon panel via video. It was facilitated on our end by my favorite moderator of all time, Elizabeth Moon. The discussion included commentary about how authors should pay respectful attention to things like Murphy's Law, logistics, and the utter and soul-crushing boredom that comprises much of military life. Other revelations for aspiring military SF writers: Jargon matters to those with background, so make sure you get it right. Also: Marines have a tendency to shoot back.



This was taken during George R.R. Martin's reading. He's a funny guy, and he also has the patience of a saint. When some idjit in the audience asked him if a certain character was going to die (the Imp, for those that read TSI&F), he responded courteously as opposed to otherwise, which is probably what I would have done. We also attended Patrick Rothfuss' reading, who is a gracious and kind man, and also much funnier than his books would imply.



This is Sy Liebergot, a retired NASA Flight Director from the Apollo era. I attended a number of his talks, including the one on ethics in engineering,* the analysis of the Apollo 13 failure, and problem solving and teamwork. It was fascinating to listen to his memories of the events of that crisis, and how the culture of the Apollo era NASA was dedicated to problem solving and working with integrity.

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* In a nutshell: 1. Tell the truth, no matter what. 2. Document the truth as you see it, no matter what. 3. If you know the truth, refuse to sit down and shut up, even when told to do so.

5 comments:

Stacey said...

I know Sy from my days in Houston through Space City Ski Club. I always found him incredibly intelligent and entertaining. I did not know 'who' he was outside of that tho. Pretty cool to find this out after all these years.

CorvusCorax12 said...

I would have love to see George R.R. Martin's, I'm obsessed with the books.

Janiece said...

Welcome, CorvusCorax12. I'm probably the least fond of GRRM in my family, but The Smart Man went to his Wildcards panel, as well, and said it was good, too.

vince said...

I think the summary of the ethics in engineering is a good summary of ethics in all endeavors.

Janiece said...

You said it, Vince.