Day four at Aussiecon Four is the penultimate day of Worldcon. The Hugo Awards ceremony is held tonight. Unfortunately for me it is also my last day at Worldcon. Somehow, when I'd organised flights and got time off work, I'd forgotten Aussiecon continued to Monday. Stupid stupid boy. When I first realised I'd made a mistake I was quite philosophical about it. But as the con has gone on I came to regret my doofussness even more. I should have realised I was a big enough geek to be totally sucked in by the whole Worldcon experience. In my defence this was the first con I've ever been to so I wasn't totally convinced I was going to have as great a time as I had up until this point.
The final day couldn't even be a full day either. I had to leave the con by 2pm at the latest to have enough time to pick up Michelle in Ivanhoe and get to the airport for our flight to Sydney.
I still couldn't get to the con on time though. Stupid Sunday train timetables. As long as I could get there before 11am for the kaffeeklatsch with Mur Lafferty I would be satisfied. Yes, I was finally able to get onto a kaffeeklatsch. Today's kaffeeklatsch was opened for registrations at 3pm the day before. Because of a panel, coincidently with Mur Lafferty, it was after 4pm before I got a chance to sign on. I was number 9 out of a maximum of 10 registrants. Close.
As wandered into the lobby of the convention centre I happened to glance over to a quiet corner to see Mur Lafferty interviewing, she had her microphone out, Howard Tayler. Mur was probably interviewing Howard for her I Should Be Writing podcast. I Should Be Writing is Mur's podcast for wannabe fiction writers by a wannabe fiction writer. She is actually a little better than a wannabe writer these days. She has actually published a couple of novels and is also, since May, the editor for Escape Pod. Escape Pod is a Science Fiction podcast that presents SF stories in audio format and it is awesome. I've been listening to ISBW and EP since they both began.
A kaffeeklatsch is an informal round table meeting hosted by the author or otherwise famous person where you usually discuss... well... anything. Usually it is a question and answer session with the host. Why would you go to listen to other attendees? A free coffee is part of the deal. We all sat down and started the chat with Mur. After a few minutes everybody was served their coffees or chai lattes or hot chocolates. Except, that is, for me. The one morning I needed my coffee and I was actually expecting one and it didn't arrive. Bugger. The volunteers were pretty helpful though. They did promise that if a coffee didn't turn up I'd get a free coffee voucher to use after the KK. But this is a kaffeeklatsch dammit I was thinking. What I did say was thank you very much that is very kind. Luckily I had a packet of Smarties in my pocket. About 10 minutes before the end of the KK my coffee arrived. Finally I could concentrate on what was being discussed. I could even participate in the discussion. We talked about podcasting and writing and awards and cons and giggled about yesterday's Just A Minute panel. I asked Mur how it felt to come from being a little known podcaster to a guest a major convention. She thought it was surreal. And that was it for the kaffeeklatsch.
Mur Lafferty and some bloke.
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