Continued from here.

Sunday
( music in SF&F )

After which I located Gary Lloyd in the bar [☼] and persuaded him to play me some of his music. I liked it a lot and am very much looking forward to the release of his next project. You can hear samples of Gary Lloyd's work at his MySpace site, including extracts from works based on Banks' The Bridge (T: "that reminds me of Debussy". GL: "whole tones!") and on the works of Alan Moore. Fun Fact: Mr Lloyd believes fervently that Led Zeppelin's music is the Best Thing Ever. This prompted me to listen to Led Zep on the second half of my Monday drive, and he is so very very right.

But I knew this already.

( Composers who write music for SF&F )

And so to the bar, the pool and some dinner.

( Why Fans Love Cats )
Hence to bar [☼] and cava [☼]

Monday
( How to Plot a Novel (Tim Powers) )
( Figures from History )
Closing Ceremony (3:30pm) -- including classic Bugs Bunny The Rabbit of Seville, and finally la_marquise_de_ receiving the Doc Weir Award for unsung services to fandom. [☼]

And so home: Bradford -> ☼ -> Cambridge -> Tonbridge -> ☼ -> Cambridge -> CAT.

Overall, fabulous convention, just the way conventions should be. (Tho' I wasn't in the mood to dress up much, and hadn't got my act together.)

Gripes: the overflow hotel was much too far for short breaks away from the convention (and yes, I did book early). There was nowhere obvious at the con to get some peace and quiet and recharge: that would really have helped.
- a plethora of programme. Yess, yes, this is the sort of problem that many con-goers wish for: but I missed Guest of Honour items because I was on items programmed against them; I missed items in the music stream because I was on other items in the music stream; at one point there were four different items I wanted to go to, and couldn't because I was on a fifth. I loved the programme -- it was full of new and innovative ideas -- but there was just too much, and I did occasionally get stressed about what I was missing!

Thought: perhaps this is the first convention programmed with time travel in mind: perhaps we will all be zipping back from the future to Bradford, April 2009, to catch those items we missed ...

bonus links:
- Ken MacLeod's write-up with the bit of the Powers talk that I missed out
- Inversion Layer on the making of the BSFA Awards

Average hours of sleep per night since Thursday: 6
Books purchased at Eastercon: 5 (well, 2 were free with purchase of third)
Meals taken outside con hotel at Eastercon: 0
Programme items participated in at Eastercon: 4
Programme items passively attended at Eastercon: 4 or 5
Charge for an hour of wifi at con hotel: £12
Photos posted from phone in order to liveblog Eastercon via Flickr: 28
Comments on said photos to which I've replied: 0
Con reports written (word count): 0
Miles driven yesterday: 325 (give or take the odd roundabout)
Hours before I can take another dose of painkillers: 2.5
Vacuum cleaners restored to functionality this morning: 2
Days by which minor medical thingy, scheduled for tomorrow, has been delayed: 7
Annoyance at this: [desire for perfect excuse to lie in bed reading Corambis] / [desire for lie-in] + [desire not to be wired for sound] = 0
Cat hairs located in keyboard: ∞ (approx)
Items I shall be ticking off to-do list for rest of day: 0

Executive summary: had a fab time at Eastercon, yay! and not feeling at all fab now, o noes!

edit: stoopid Flickr lost my little poem:

"For I have promises to keep
and miles to go before I sleep
and Led Zep on the stereo
It's Gary Lloyd's fault, you know"

Kari haz Doc Weir!!!

Her first convention as a Professional Author, but not as a Fabulous Icon.

Cava in main bar! And all my panels over! Fandom says: kitties CUTE furry killing machines...

Terrace outside the conservatory bar - early evening. I keep expecting to see a cat slinking past. Final panel later: it's about feline overlords...

Cool kitty tights from Legs Avenue. In background, small children with rubber swords, eek.

Super-secret subliminal message on Eastercon freebie carrier bag.

BSFA Awards, ably and entertainingly presented by Kim Newman and Paul McAuley. (Mr Newman is *singing*. Hopefully Mr McAuley will dance soon. ... No, he is channelling Arthur C Clarke, with a Zomerzet accent.) Ok! Winners! ART: Andy Bigwood, cover Subterfuge. NON-FICTION: Farah Mendlesohn, Rhetorics of Fantasy. SHORT STORY: Ted Chiang, Exhalation. NOVEL: Ken MacLeod, The Night Sessions. YAY!