Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The Chattanooga Meetup and Chattacon
Where do I begin? Ah, yes—the Chattacon science fiction and fantasy convention. We (neutral observer and I) arrived on the Thursday before the convention, which ran Friday through Sunday. We like to do this so we can charge our batteries and be fresh for the excitement to come the following days. I’m going to talk about the convention first, then get to the Meetup.
Randy & Sarah Weivoda showed up the next day. We had lunch at the Conga Latin Food restaurant, which featured South American as well as Mexican fare. Next came a visit to the Tennessee Aquarium. Now, I had already visited the Aquarium a couple of times, having gone on separate school field trips with my two youngest daughters. One of the unique features at the Aquarium are tanks where you can touch the fish (no more than two fingers!) . I passed, as the thought of touching a shark or sting ray didn’t sound all that appealing. Here we are at the butterfly exhibit (in an aquarium?):
Randy & Sarah.
neutral observer.
Afterward, we returned to the hotel for registration (Randy & Sarah also had to check in). We all attended the opening ceremony, after which I attended the following panels:
o We Ruin Everything – Why popular science fiction tropes don’t really work that way.
o Writing for Anthologies – Tips and advice on writing short stories and getting them published.
There was an 11 PM session titled “Sex Toys of the Future.” It sounded intriguing, but it was well past our bedtime. On the other hand, I married my sex toy, so it didn’t really matter (clasping my hands in prayer that neutral observer doesn’t read this). I’ll let Randy fill you in on the sessions he attended.
There was a break in the schedule for dinner, so we walked to Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe. As you can guess, we had Mediterranean and Greek meals to choose from. The first day, while brief, was informative as well as a culinary experience!
Saturday was the big day for sessions. The 10 AM start meant breakfast at the hotel. I attended the following sessions:
o Writing Stories That Work — This session covered all the things needed (and not needed) to make good stories that sell. I picked up enough tips and reminders that I decide to rewrite the four novels I had ready for publication, based on what I learned. I played hookey for a couple of hours rewriting the first story.
o Writing in a Trademarked World — This session discussed writing stories using established literary characters. Did you ever wonder how a writer can use Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan in a story and not get sued by their estates? You learned that here.
Again, Randy can describe the sessions he attended
I went back to rewriting my novel until it was time for dinner. And man, was dinner fantastic! We ate at the Rodizio Grill, a Brazilian steakhouse. We’d never been to this type of restaurant before, where waiters come to your table with chunks of meat on skewers, slicing off slabs for your plate. It was a novel experience! And neutral observer really liked her fancy Pina Colada:
The extra glasses contain more of the drink that couldn’t fit in the pineapple. It was like getting three cocktails for the price of one!
Sunday began later, at 11 AM. This was a good thing, as the first session I attended was hosted by three authors who had partied the night before. The title was “Killing the Wicked Witch of the West,” which asked the question, “Heroes – who are they, and why do we write them?”
I also sat through “I Am Not a Robot,” which discussed AI and robotics in reality, as well as in sci-fi.
Again, I’ll punt to Randy for the sessions he attended. We all attended the closing ceremony, which was surprisingly short. Now it was time to get ready for the actual Meetup.
We drove across the river to Bela Lisboa, a Portuguese restaurant. We had reservations for eight, but one couple had to cancel, leaving only six of us: myself & neutral observer, Randy & Sarah Weivoda, and the Goddess of Discord & her husband (Chip? I can’t remember his name. I plead age!). The restaurant was mostly empty because the place had water issues (that was all we were told). Only folks with reservations got in. I shared an appetizer of seared scallops with NO, and had surf and turf—filet mignon and shrimp—for my meal. However, there was a twist. The meat was served “on the stone,” which meant you cooked the food yourself on a heated slab at the table. Although I slightly undercooked my steak, it was delicious. I’ll let the other attendees describe their meals, if they can remember what they had.
Much of the conversation centered around exchanging information about ourselves, as well as thoughts on events in the world, and Ricochet. Because I had a brain fart and forgot to take a picture at the table, I hired a graphic artist to render a drawing of what we looked like:
I never said the artist was any good. Anyway, the convention was fabulous, and even thought the Meetup was short, it was very, very sweet. As a reminder, a Meetup doesn’t have to be a four-day, multi-event program with 20+ people. A nice meal with Ricochetti who live nearby counts!
Published in Meetups
Fine art. Every meet-up needs a portraitist.
Did this seminar address Marvel’s latest Superhero, that almost checked off every box? (Boxes Missing were bi, trans and gay)
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1746926238784975113?s=20
OK, pictures first. I didn’t take many, but I have a few to share.
Conga Latin Food
That was really good. I got the Salvadorian Bandeja and had my first pupusa.
Tennessee Aquarium – Rays
Tennessee Aquarium – Butterfly
Bela Lisboa
I took a photo of the outside while it was still daylight out — but then forget all about taking any photos when @goddessofdiscord showed up. I had paella and a Portuguese Martini.
As for the program at the SF convention, I’m not going to list every program we went to, but I will list a few that Stad has not. We did not go to the panel, “Sex Toys of the Future” but we certainly thought of @henrycastaigne when we saw the title. We instead tried to go to a science fiction trivia game scheduled at that time, but couldn’t. The Irish acoustic band that had the room to be used for trivia would not give it up. We waited for 20 minutes past the time they were supposed to be done and they still didn’t look like they were going to stop.
“Watch the Glass Master at Work” had nothing directly to do with science fiction, but it’s not unusual for people to show off their arts & crafts at a convention and we found this interesting.
We attended the interview with Mary Robinette Kowal, the Literary Guest of Honor. MRK isn’t just well known as a science fiction writer, she also has done a ton of podcasts and is a master of puppetry. I think she has done the narration for some of her books that are also available as audio books.
The Artist Guest of Honor was Sarah Clemens. It so happens that the only piece of artwork we’ve ever bought (maybe ten years ago) was a print of one of Sarah’s Clemens’s paintings. She talked about her art while going through a slideshow.
The Masquerade (costume contest) was fun, as usual. The Dealer’s Room did not have as many books as I would typically see at a convention. The Art Show had some really nice stuff.
“Do You Grok Spock? Religions that Came from Science Fiction” was a panel on how religion has been used in science fiction and how SF has altered the way some people think about religion in real life.
“Dune and Philosophy: Sandworms and Spice” was of course on the topic of the novel, its sequels, its prequels, and the film adaptations of the original book. There wasn’t really that much philosophy in it, but it was a good discussion.
It was a good convention in a nice hotel with plenty of good restaurants in the immediate area. I’m sure my wife and I will go back to ChattaCon again.
Oh, wait! There was one more program I wanted to mention, “Trailer Park 2: Crazy Genre Trailers.” This was a collection of trailers for terrible, low-budget horror films. It was pretty funny when it wasn’t disgusting. And I won a free t-shirt for remembering the tag line for the first Alien movie, although some other speed-talker tried to jump in and beat me after I said 3/4 of it.
Chattanooga is a great place. That aquarium is amazing.
Glad you two didn’t attended and report on the sex toys seminar. I’m trying to not speculate what a sex toy for sci-fi fans looks like.
George R. R. Martin. It’s the automaton/android version. Every woman’s fantasy.
See that famous scene in “The Naked Now”, Star Trek: The Next Generation S1E2 ( I think). Among the dumbest episodes in that season (which is saying something) but amusing for this one scene.
I should have mentioned there were other things going on besides panel sessions. There was cosplay (costume play) where folks dress up as sc-fi/fantasy characters, there was a mead making class, as well as a beer making class, gaming, and of course – people selling books! I bought two novels, and so did neutral observer. Wait – she got a signed free novel from the literary guest of honor. My two books were also signed by the author, a very
hot chickscholarly lady, and I can’t wait to read them!Did I mention there was a burlesque show?
No, the discussion mentioned some examples, but stayed away from anything political. Randy told me conventions in other parts of the country don’t hold back on leftism, but here in the South? They risk losing a large number of participants if they strayed into the dirty political waters.
Aside: I’d love to know if there was a counseling session for participants on how not to offend conservatives. If so, I’d pay to be a fly on the wall . . .
We will too, but we’ll take neutral observer’s car next time. It’s an all-wheel-drive SUV, and we were concerned about the snow coming in before we left. Turns out it was a nothingburger, but I’d rather have her car than my Camry in the snow . . .
Go ahead. It’ll be fun!
I have a fantasy I don’t ever know about?
Yep. It comes from the future.
As usual, Montgomery County, Maryland leads the way:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jan/11/montgomery-county-libraries-seek-inclusiveness-wit/
That seems clearly illegal. I don’t know about comic conventions, but at literary science fiction/fantasy conventions it does certainly seem to be a predominantly white person thing. Even in a city like Chicago where you would expect to see a lot of black fans, the attendees are still overwhelmingly white. I do not believe for a second that it is because non-white people are made to feel uncomfortable at conventions. I do not have an explanation or even a theory, except to say that a tiny percentage of people of any stripe ever go to a convention. There are many people on Ricochet, for instance, who read science fiction and/or fantasy, but very few who have come to a science fiction convention.
The Rodizio Grill? The downtown one? The wife & I ate there a couple of years ago. We, too, thought it was totally excellent!
Our only trip to Chattanooga, btw.
Yes, it was in the building just across the street from the convention hotel.
Not a nothingberger a little bit North! Knoxville got blasted Monday with 10 inches of snow! (which is still here because its been around 10 degrees since. )
Hate I wasn’t here to meet with you guys since you were so close! We were actually in Galveston TX on that weekend and didn’t get back until Monday. Even more I hate Randy Webster isn’t around anymore to go to this one. He loved meetups AND Science Fiction, this was right up his alley. :(
I know. I feel the same way.
Hey,
Also sorry that I missed the meetup as I live close as well. I was in Florida trying to finish my fourth novel. I did get through the first draft but would have loved to meet everyone.
Finishing novels is important. What will the others have to meet about without them?
I did some rewriting and proofreading of my next novel during the convention. Sometimes, you hear something in a session that makes the light go on . . .
That’s me on the left. The Goddess’s husband’s name is Jim. I can’t remember what I ate, but I remember they were out of the salmon.
There was a river nearby. We could’ve gone there and caught some for you . . .