Ain't it true I'm immortal when I'm with you?

Intermittent computer access precludes elaborate description, but it may not be strictly necessary: of this weekend I wanted most to say that it was a beautiful wedding. I joked to kraada that the reception was the first time I had seen him dancing (a) fully dressed (b) in men's clothing, but it was also the happiest I had ever seen him; and although I know her less well, I suspect norimbrie, too. They looked like they wanted to be nowhere but with one another. That kind of gravity and shining, that should be what's meant by radiant. They said their vows with nothing resembling hesitation. And before and after, I got to hang out a host of people I hadn't either seen or spoken with in (some cases) years: dgr8bob, nuqotw, skotodes and salmonpi, shirei_shibolim and terriqat, strange_selkie and darthrami, captainbutler; former college-mates whose livejournal names I have no idea, if they have them at all. The usual crowd that I need to see outside of tragedies or marriages, for God's sake. My mother was invited also; we stayed with one of her oldest friends from college and her husband, which made its own kind of symmetry. I had sung at their wedding seven years ago. An Abyssinian cat named Giselle, the color of ground nutmeg with the slender lines of a bronze statue, made herself a nest out of the clothes I took off when I went to shower. I slept very little, and I wouldn't have traded the day for anything else. Both of you, be blessed.

Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!

I now have my schedule for Readercon. It's kind of exorbitant. As follows:

Friday 12:00 Noon. Group Reading (60 min.)
Not One of Us Group Reading
John Benson (host) with Mike Allen, Erin Hoffman, Anke Kriske, Cassandra Phillips-Sears, and Sonya Taaffe

Friday 8:30 PM. Reading (30 min.)
Sonya Taaffe reads her short story "The Mirror of Venus."

Saturday 12:00 Noon. Panel
Fantasists as Modern Philologists
Debra Doyle, Greer Gilman, Lissanne Lake, Faye Ringel (L), Sonya Taaffe

Philologists believe that the study of an ancient language is inseparable from the study of its classic texts in their historical and cultural contexts—that understanding a language, the people who spoke it, and the stories they told in it are ultimately the same thing; there is no doing one without the others. It strikes us that this fascination with the interplay between language, culture, and story is reflected in the works of some of the best writers of fantasy, beginning of course with Tolkien, himself a philologist of renown. Who are these writers? How do their works reflect this attitude even when they're not actually inventing the languages of their imagined societies?

Saturday 2:00 PM. Panel
Sing Along With Text
Greer Gilman, Matthew Jarpe, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Allen Steele, Sonya Taaffe (L)

More and more often writers are providing their readers with soundtracks to stories. Sometimes they are actual playlists, posted online at the author's website or blog or cited in a book's prefatory material; or they may be collections of song quotes, appearing as chapter titles or epigrams or squirreled away within the text itself. Often an author will simply list the music they were listening to while writing the text, but they can also construct the soundtrack after the fact. What do authors gain from making these "extras" available or referencing music so insistently in the text? How many readers are following along, and how does this change the reading experience? Are we moving towards a new mixed medium, or is this just a fad?

Saturday 3:00 PM. Event
The Rhysling Award Poetry Slan
Mike Allen (MC) with Leah Bobet, Richard Chwedyk, Andrea Hairston, James Patrick Kelly, Joy Marchand, Hildy Silverman, and Sonya Taaffe

(A "poetry slan," to be confused with "poetry slam," is a poetry reading by sf folks, of course.) Climaxed by the presentation of this year's Rhysling Awards.

Sunday 2:00 PM. Talk / Discussion (60 min.)
Magic and Myth in Human Culture and Fantastic Fiction
Judith Berman and Sarah Micklem with discussion by Andrea Hairston, Elaine Isaak, Michaela Roessner, Sarah Smith, Gayle Surrette, Sonya Taaffe, Ann Tonsor Zeddies, et al

Within our cultures, humans create consensus views of what is real and what is not, and these views are both explanations and operational (curses, oracles; germs, electricity). The modern scientific model of reality excludes the beliefs and experiences of many people around the world, not to mention in most of human history. How do we, as writers, step outside our own worldview to create imaginary cultures in which magic is a fact of life? Berman will talk about anthropological understandings of magic and myth, and issues of authenticity and appropriation, while Micklem will share some sources, primary and anthropological, that influenced her own fiction.

Yes, that's me with leader after my name in "Sing Along with Text." The title is not my coinage, but the panel was my invention—l just didn't expect to be made responsible for it! I shall treat it like a Latin class, thereby answering the question about philologists.

See as many of you there as may be!