Orbital 2008

Orbital pictures

2008-07-02T12:39:48Z

I didn't take as many pictures at Orbital as I usually do at conventions, and it has taken me ages to get round to putting them on my web page, but I've done so now and they are here:

http://homepages.poptel.org.uk/steve.rogerson/orbital.html

Tee Shirts Are On The Way!

2008-06-12T21:08:32Z

Some of you may even have them by now. Scott and Jane posted them on Monday and Tuesday from beautiful East Cambridgeshire. The address on the package is mine. Please let us/me know if you have any problems.

Show Me the MonQee

2008-05-22T14:49:02Z

He’s met some top talent, been through twenty-two episodes of adventures and has had every part of his anatomy scribbled on… hey, hey he’s the MonQee, and he’s finally come to rest in the art toy cabinet at the Forbidden Planet London Megastore.

In addition to the host of names from the previous MonQee post, a thank you to the kings of UK space opera, Neal Asher and Alastair Reynolds. And a huge thank you, too, to Terry Pratchett himself for his approval for and support of the project: the fact that his email arrived on my birthday had to be a coincidence!

The MonQee Project is now live here. This completely unique piece of urban vinyl will be auctioned through MissionFish on eBay as part of the Forbidden Planet’s thirtieth anniversary celebrations. To find out more: watch this space!

All proceeds, of course, go to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. The MonQee, we hope, will go to a very good home – he deserves nothing less.

Ook!

Odyssey 2010 Forum.

2008-05-19T13:42:21Z

As a central point of contact and discussion we have set up a forum over on the Odyssey 2010 website. This not just for announcements but as a place where our attendees can tell us what they want to see at the con, and also as a way we can keep in contact with our various volunteers and helpers.

Please note however that to keep the spam bots etc. away we are activating forum users manually. Please do bear with us if you don't get activated immediately. gaspodia and I will process activations as fast as we can, but let me know here if you're still on hold after 24 hours.

You can get to it either form the odyssey2010.org and click the forum link or else directly at odyssey2010.co.uk/forum

Paul Cornell will be a Guest of Honour at Redemption

2008-05-08T16:41:25Z

We are pleased to announce that Paul Cornell will be a guest of honour at Redemption 09.

Paul is best known for his work as a Dr Who writer, but his experience is much wider, and we will be making the most of that on the Redemption programme.

Those of you who saw him at Orbital, will know he is an entertaining panellist and we are sure he will make a great guest. A biography of Paul will be going up on the Redemption web site in the next couple of days.

Odyssey 2010 Registration Live.

2008-04-27T16:43:15Z

Hi all ...

Just a quick note to let you know that the Odyssey website is starting to go up and most importantly the online registration form is live and available.

Given the time it has taken us to get all the memberships we took at con processed we have decided to keep the at con price for a short while longer - until April 30th in fact. The prices will change from the 1st May.

So check out www.odyssey2010.org to join up and keep an eye on the website for a major announcement later this week

Weapon Wobblevision

2008-04-27T15:19:20Z

It was a happy Easter for the Wobblevision team at Orbital when they discovered just whom was pleased to see whom as they made a Blake's 7 production of Weapon:

http://blakes-7.co.uk/wobblevision/weapon/weapon.shtml

Souvenir book query

2008-04-24T09:40:20Z

Does anyone know the cut-off date for placing ads in the souvenir book?

Dr Who Rumours

2008-04-20T14:57:54Z

Hi All

Been a big Dr Who fan I enjoyed last nights episode and was intrigued by the comment at the end from one of the Ood characters who said "all dreams have to come to an end" Are the telegraphing the departure of David Tenant as the Dr or am I just imagining it.

it would be a shame if he left as I believe him to be one of the best Drs we have had in a long while.

Comments and views please.

John in Wakefield

Redemption on LJ

2008-04-16T20:50:50Z

For those who are going to follow up Orbital by going to Redemption next year, we have our own LiveJournal group at redemption_con and the web site is:

http://www.smof.com/redemption

I'd like to thank......

2008-04-10T23:25:26Z

In accordance with "pished post" regulatins, I will not be correctig any spelling mistakes.

Tonight is the first post-Orbital Trout whose LJ home id glasgow_fen and as you know Trout is "like the bar at a really good con." All my best pals are there including Cairnsy who I haven't seen in donkeys..........anyway back to the story.........

And no sooner am I settled with a nice glass of red, but dalg taps his pint and announces that ksimes has an announcement. I immediately think that he's about to announce the immanent arrival of another "next generation" fan member, but no. There he is looming over me with an exquisitely poly bag wrapped package. He says that at the closing ceremony of Orbital (which I was unable to attend due to having to catch a 3pm flight) the winner of the caption competition was announced and it was me, but i had gone and he had to get tanngrisnir to vouch for his good intentions and collect my prize of an organic EasterEgg from Green and Blacks. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather (a big feather admittedly).

I had entered he contest during a trip from the real ale bar to another bar to get a glass of red and spotted teh photos of B5 nad B7 and other such truly wonderful shows and although the other "first lines" contest was way too hard for me I thought I'd have a wee go at the captions. The other trouts asked me what I had put that was worthy of winning such a prestigious competition and I couldn't remember. Except one. There was a Dr Who one with Martha and the doctor looking out of the Tardis door and I put something like...."Oh look they've painted the ceiling." That sounds pretty crap now doesn't it? Maybe there weren't many entries and mine was most legible being written in big letters with a crayon. Anyway, it was an utter suprse and a great honour and I may have a wee cry, but then I have had a lot to drink and frankly anything would give me a sniffle right now.

So I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me, and all the trouts for honing my SF "piss ripping" skills, ksimes and tanngrisnir for collecting my prize, my mum for letting me watch TV and giving me lunch money so that I coud not buy lunch but save it up and spend it on books instead and everyone who knows me. I just wish I could remember what captions I'd actually put down..............

Blog on Orbital for the Guardian

2008-04-10T18:50:40Z

Peter Wright, who has published on Gene Wolf, TV SF and SF film writes a blog for the Guardian Online. Usually he is found in the film section, but he has been unleashed to do this post on Orbital and the misconceptions about sf fans...

After the poly meet-up...

2008-04-09T15:20:03Z

Those who were around on the Monday of the con may have noticed an extra item slipped into the programme, a meet-up for polyamorous fans which was held at 3pm on the Monday. This arose because of a chance discovery that several people waiting for an item the previous night were poly and that some had felt a little isolated, not realising how many others were around. (It was very I'm Spartacus!) The poly meet-up went well. There were several poly fans who couldn't make it because they had to be at other panel items or had to leave (one guy turned up to say, Thanks for organising this! and had to dash off), but even so we got twenty people along.

One of the things we decided to do was set up an LJ community for poly fans who go to UK cons (not just the ones who managed to get to the meet-up), so I've done this and it is at poly_fen_uk.

Match it for Pratchett

2008-04-09T09:38:15Z

Does anyone know what the final figure raised for MIFP was at Orbital? And if this has been handed over to the Alzheimer's Research people yet? I was just wondering if it was included in their most recent figure for donations - by the 3rd of April past the £50.000 mark - or not.

ISO Orbital Discussion Leader

2008-04-09T07:16:49Z

Hey, folks--

I'm interested in getting in touch with the lady who facilitated the discussion about writing romance for the small press at Eastercon. I took some flyers and info away from that discussion but didn't get anything with her contact inforation on!

Any information appreciated. :-)

Just noted...

2008-04-08T18:14:11Z

Cheryl Morgan explains why there are problems with Heathrow Terminal 5 (and, yes, there is an Orbital 2008 connection - she also explains a few things not connected with Orbital)

Web Comics

2008-04-08T14:41:33Z

I'm slowly working my way through my notes from Orbital (might even do vague report someday), and one of the things I missed that I was interested in was the webcomics panel.

Does anyone have a list of comic names, or links, or hints, or something? I already do xkcd, sinfest, wondermark, multiplex, nemi, dorktower and unshelved. These all have lj feeds, which is what I'd prefer, I forget to go and look otherwise.

Terry Pratchett

2008-04-08T13:07:05Z

Hi All

I saw an interview on Morning TV today with Terry Pratchett. I was both surprised and moved by the news and the way Terry is dealing with the situation. To have Alzheimers is difficult enough but to show the strength and determination he is showing is an example to us all. I know my partner is saddened by this news as she is a big, big fan of Terry and is work. I do know all of fandom will be with him as he deals with this life changing situation, we are and I also hope that fandom can do something to celebrate terrys contribution to our world of Science Fiction/fantasy.

We need him as GOH at a con soon.

Best wishes from John and Diane in Wakefield

yet another con write up.

2008-04-06T15:54:51Z

I was writing a brief note about eastercon then it became something slightly larger. only slightly mind. :)

http://rjw1.livejournal.com/48652.html

A reminder: HAL 9000 photos

2008-04-05T20:04:44Z

Hi again,

During the con I posted here asking if anyone had photos of my HAL 9000 hall costume. Some of you said you did, but so far I've only got one posted by user popplestone on flickr.

If you do have any photos could you please comment here with the URL or comment asking for my email address (I'll reply with it in a screened comment).

Thanks again,

Nat.

Book Quiz Answers

2008-04-04T16:58:36Z

Feel free to 'boo! hiss!' number 2, (film novelisation, was in as a tie break) but I think everything else is reasonable :-) and I'm pushing number 6 in the interests of nationalism.

First Line	Book	Author
Testimony of Bill Smith. My phone rang just before one o’clock on the morning of December 10.	Millennium	John Varley
Here, in the living room of a peaceful house in the suburbs, a typical family sits quietly.	Back to the Future	George Gipe
For a week Mr R Childan had been anxiously watching the mail.	The Man in the High Castle	Phillip K Dick
When I was quite small I would sometimes dream of a city – which was strange because it began before I even knew what a city was.	The Chrysalids	John Wyndham
There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart’s Desire	Stardust	Neil Gaiman
Moarnan. No sure if it’s moarnan.	But N Ben A-Go-Go	Matthew Fitt
Mars was empty before we came.	Red Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson
“You fell out of the sky,” the coyote said.	Buffalo Gals and Other Animals	Ursula K Le Guin
A squat grey building of only thirty-four storeys	Brave New World	Aldous Huxley
The last drops of the thundershower had hardly ceased falling when the pedestrian stiffed his map into his pocket, settled his pack more comfortably on his tired shoulders, and stepped out from the shelter of a large chestnut tree into the middle of the road.	Out of the Silent Planet	C S Lewis
The crown grew heavier with each passing year	The Fountains of Paradise	Arthur C Clarke
“ninety-eight – ninety-nine – one hundred”	I, Robot	Isaac Asimov
The tall and dour non-com wore Imperial dress greens and carried his communications panel like a field marshal’s baton.	The Warrior's Apprentice	Louis McMaster Bujold

orbital_2008 @ 2008-04-04T02:58:00

2008-04-04T02:00:06Z

With a major update to my website now done, my con report is now online.

Pics are here

thanks

2008-04-03T15:41:29Z

Slightly belated thanks to everyone who made Orbital so much fun. I've finally got around to writing up a short note about my own experience of the convention, and posting a few photographs.

Thanks to everyone who came to my talk on knot theory, and/or the panel discussion on infinity a couple of hours later. I'd never been involved in a programme item before, and everyone was so nice and friendly about it all (even though I misjudged how much stuff I could usefully fit into an hour) so I'm quite tempted to have a go at doing something similar next year too. Also, a few people asked for copies of my slides from the knot theory talk, so I've put them online here. (Most of the knot pictures came from KnotPlot and the Knot Atlas, and most of the portraits came either from the MacTutor History of Mathematics site or from Wikipedia.)

MonQee MagiQ

2008-04-02T14:22:32Z

(Yes, I know I'd shut my LJ account - but I met so many of you at EasterCon, I just HAD to..!!)

Even at an EasterCon, a six-foot woman with a wacky plastic MonQee draws attention.

Spending his days at the front of the Forbidden Planet stand and his evenings escorting me to bars and parties, MonQee rapidly became a vortex of attention. Creepy-cute and sinister with his white body and featureless face, everyone wanted to know what he was, and why I was carrying him. I found myself being smiled at, stopped and spoken to all over the hotel.

After I’d shamelessly accosted the first few authors, the snowslide rapidly became an avalanche. Saturday morning, my friend Nik Butler aka Loudmouthman, took some MonQee footage in the Dealers’ Room – and we gathered quite an audience. Saturday night, the rumour went round the Scandinavian Party that ‘you were no-one at EasterCon unless you’d signed the MonQee’… and then the authors and artists started looking for me.

MonQee was in the Con newsletter; he had hisown membership. MonQee was in control tower central to meet the Guests of Honour before the Opening Ceremony. As MonQee continued his tour, he gained more fans, more signatures and more credibility.

And more humour.

Charlie Stross – quite unashamedly – signed MonQee’s arse. China Mieville sewed his lips together; Neil Gaiman gave him an eye – which freaked fans out for the rest of the Con. Bryan Talbot drew him a full back patch and Dave Devereaux went where no pen had dared go before and signed his groin.

A full set of MonQee pictures can be seen on my Flickr page.

Exhausted from partying, MonQee is home, safely tucked up in his box awaiting forthcoming FP signings and his invite to the Arthur C Clarke Awards. More of his adventures will come.

For now, I would like to thank: -

Chris 'Fangorn' Baker

Tony Ballantyne

Chaz Benchley

Holly Black

Ed Buckley

Paul Cornell

David Devereaux

Brianna Flynt

Neil Gaiman

Amanda Hemingway

Tanith Lee

Tom Lloyd

Kari Maund

China Mieville

Andy Remic

Justina Robson

Mark Robson

Geoff Ryman

Sarah`Singleton

Charles Stross

James Swallow

Bryan Talbot

Freda Warrington

Liz Williams

and

Frank Wu

MonQee’s travels continue: there will be more!

Ceilidh at Orbital2008

2008-04-01T15:08:19Z

People have been uploaded videos to YouTube (often without the permission of those *in* the videos), but if you want to have a look at people dancing in the ceilidh, here's your chance!

Orbital2008 Ceilidh

There are other videos on YouTube too ...