This weekend, my husband, The Gryphon, and I attended Philcon as panelists.

After the key note presentation, I headed for my next panel:

The panel actually ended up being just me, Richard Stout and Stephanie Burke. We only had a few people in the audience, about four or five when we started. By the end, we only had two!

We began by sharing some general observations about Poe's poetry. Richard and I agreed that we weren't overly fond of his poetic work but that it did bear certain literary merits. Then we took turns reading and discussing our favorite poems, including "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," "To Science -- A Sonnet," and "A Dream Within a Dream," among a few others. In addition to discussing the meaning, I had scanned the poems and could discuss how that influenced the way the poems were perceived: such as the very uneven lines and meter of "Annabel Lee," lending the narrator a suspicious air.

Both Richard and I had done research into Poe's life and talked about some of the interesting aspects as it related to poetry, such as the fact that he began his writing career as a poet and maintained ties to literary magazines his entire life. I also shared a pointed satirical piece he'd written about the literary world, entitled, "The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq." In it, he excoriates critics for being clueless about poetic form and about writing their reviews just to make themselves sound good.

Stephanie primarily discussed his poetry in terms of reader appreciation, although she also provided some interesting tidbits about Poe's life, such as a new theory about how he died: that he was conscripted into voting for an election by hired thugs whose practice was to hit people on the head, disorient them, and then walk them around to various polls in order to force them to vote under false names.

I think that our low attendance had a lot to do with the time: 5 p.m., which is typically dinner hour. Also, I would recommend that Philcon stay away from poetry panels in the future unless they have a broader focus or include other genres as well. The attendees at Philcon simply don't tend to be poetry fans!

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When I was done with my Poe panel, The Gryphon and I went to dinner. We headed first for a Moroccan place he used to enjoy when he worked in Cherry Hill, but it's closed. So we tried a Thai place he also used to like. There was still a Thai restaurant there, but under a different name. Still, we enjoyed the food. I had some Thai iced tea and a dinner that featured lots of vegetables.

After dinner, we headed for the launch party The Anthology Editor was holding for her new book. It was being held in the Con Suite, and there was lots of food. If you bought one of the books, you could get a ticket for the door prize raffle. I bought two books from her, as well as a few additional tickets.

When I walked in the door, a guy in a cowboy hat with a long, brown coat called out, "Alyce!" I was just about to go see who he was when he friend said loudly, "Stop reading people's names off their name tags." So immediately, I assumed he didn't actually know me, and I kept walking.

The Gryphon and I selected some food, mainly some of the little squares of cake and such, and placed our tickets in the bags in front of the items we wanted to win. We started talking to Andrew Ely, who had been on the "Versus" panel with me that morning. I'd met his wife that morning, as well, but didn't realize until I saw her in her makeup that she's a member of the group Patient Creatures, the group of storytellers whose dark humor I had so loved when I'd seen them at Philcon several years ago.

I told them how much I'd enjoyed their performance of a few years ago and regretted not catching them this year. We had a nice time chatting, out of character, which is a bit unusual when she's in makeup.

The Gryphon and I wanted to hang around at least until the raffle drawing, which was a good thing, since he ended up winning a hand-bound limited edition of The Evil Gazebo by Bernie Mojzes, who also signed it for him.

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(from left) Norda, David Silverman, Nikki Cohen and Terri Osbourne

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(from left) Norda, David Silverman, Nikki Cohen

At the close of the launch party, I headed to another panel, featuring an online friend:

I had met Norda through LJ Idol, and I got there early enough to say hi to her and give her a flyer to the LJ Idol anthology that's coming out soon from Fey Publishing, which will feature four of my pieces.

We got a chance to chat for a little while before it started. Aside from being shorter than me by a few inches, which surprised me since she's such a big presence, she looked exactly like the photos she's posted on her blog.

The panelists pointed out that the show, both the new and old versions, draws heavily on British culture, so that sometimes references are obscure or night unintelligible to American fans. One such reference to East Enders, for example, a panelist admitted flew right over her head.

Norda pointed out that much of the visual style of the original show was typical BBC house style, as evidence from prior shows such as The Aztecs. Similarly, the sounds of the classic show were influences by the Radio Workshop, which also influenced many other shows and movies, so that console sounds used on Dr. Who also are reminiscent of those in early James Bond movies.

As far as the current series is concerned, Nikki Cohen said that, based on the behind-the-scenes shows she's watched, the current producers hold "town-hall meetings" for the entire crew to discuss upcoming productions and to brainstorm for ideas. Influences vary from historical references to locations, such as the Acropolis.

Terri Osbourne noted that the sound of the current series is approached different, however, perhaps because we are no longer accustomed to the days of radio, when sound was used to provide a complete picture. Norda agreed, saying that in the original series, since the producers were limited in terms of the visual field, they emphasized the sound.

Near the end of the panel, they discussed how Dr. Who might influence future television shows. Cohen hypothesized that, as geek culture becomes more prevalent, we'll see references to Dr. Who becoming more mainstream. The family dramas Robin Hood and Merlin are similar attempts, she said, to produce a family-friendly drama with fantasy or SF elements.

At the close of the panel, David Silverman announced, "Panel's over. Time to party!"

I headed up to Norda and said, speaking of parties, that I was about to go to one a friend, Systris, was holding. Turns out Norda was planning to go to that, too, so after she put her Dr. Who collectibles away, we headed up together.

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Our party hostess, Systris, done up in a Goth outfit.

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Stephanie Burke wears perhaps her most extravagant costume yet, featuring stilts!

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A college friend, whose name tag read "Tequila Matt"

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A Philcon volunteer wears a reproduction of a vintage baseball uniform.

Systris was a great hostess. She'd been careful to provide some nonalcoholic drinks, which I greatly appreciated. I had some orange juice with some club soda, then some lemonade with a different club soda (this one exploded all over, spraying some nearby people, and I quipped, "What gets out club soda?")

While Norda was there, I sat near her and we chatted until she had to go, saying she was going to turn in.

I talked for a while with a guy in a steampunk troubadour costume, with a guitar slung across his back. I asked him if he played, and he said that he did but he was waiting to play until later in the filk rooms.

At 11:30 or so, Systris handed out door prizes by drawing out names she'd been collecting as guests arrived. I won a book. Of course, people found my response funny: "Oh, another book." I had to explain that I'd bought three that night alone.

At about that time, The Ghost Captain arrived with some female friends, and they very kindly gave me a comfy chair to sit in. Then in walked the guy in the cowboy hat and long brown coat I'd seen earlier in the day. When I saw him, I said, "That's the guy who was reading people's name tags at the launch party!"

"That's the guy?" he said, and marched across the room towards me. As he got closer, I looked in his eyes and realized I knew him from college. I'd been thrown off, not only by his friend's comment, but by the fact that under his real name he's written in large letters, "Tequila Matt." I explained what had happened, and he told me that what I'd missed hearing when I continued across the room was that he turned to his friend and said, "No, I actually know her."

We got a chance to catch up a little bit. He was in great spirits, amusing us all by producing almost anything we could ask for out of his pockets. In his pockets were various tools, including a cigar trimmer, a lighter, cigars (of course), and I think even some snacks. If we'd continued to ask him for things, I think he would have kept producing them. I told him it reminded me of Harpo Marx and his bottomless pockets.

After we'd been at that party about an hour and a half or so, Tequila Matt's friend, who had won a pirate bear and was wearing it on a lanyard around his neck, told us he knew of another party. He told us it was for the SF Writers Guild, but Philcon participants and their guests, as well as Philcon staff, could attend. About half of us were participants or staff, and we took the others as our guest, having no trouble getting in.

There was a bar at this party, but I stuck to water instead of asking for more juice. I spoke for a while with a guy who had helped with Masquerade. He was wearing a hand-made reproduction of a vintage Philadelphia baseball uniform. We also spoke for a while with a guy dressed as a tarot card who was clearly in his cups.

My friend the Browncoat was there, too, so I got to spend a little time with her. But mostly, The Ghost Captain, me and a few other women got chairs and talked over to the side. Near the end of my time there, DJ Rock came in with his girlfriend. She was wearing the same costume she'd worn to the Halloween party, and getting just as many compliments.

DJ Rock told us about seeing Catherine Asaro's concert earlier, which unfortunately, I'd missed.

Since it was getting late, I kept pulling my phone out to see if The Gryphon had tried to text me. I had it on vibrate, and I'd been having trouble feeling it: possibly because of the extra layers of cloth in the pocket of my maternity jeans. If I didn't hear from him, I figured he was happy spending time with friends, since I'd texted him my room number and he hadn't joined us.

Just about the time that The Ghost Captain said she was going to head back to her room, The Gryphon walked in, telling me that he'd run into DJ Rock downstairs who told him it looked like I was ready to go home. I guess it was obvious I was getting tired.

On the way out, I was telling The Gryphon about Tequila Matt when who should we run into but him! I introduced them to each other, and as we headed out, Tequila Matt headed back inside, presumably for more partying.

(to be continued after the Thanksgiving holiday)