Panels, Signing, and More - Dublin Day 6

On Sunday Morning there was a panel starting at 10:00 that I really wanted to see, so we left early to get breakfast. I spotted this doggy sign along the way.


The breakfast place with the really good oatmeal wasn't open yet, but we finally found a bakery that also had yogurt and tea.


After breakfast we said goodbye to Jeffe and David who went on another day trip and we walked to the convention center. We saw these cranes during our walk.


And this building with a beautiful sky above it.


We were in time for the first panel and expected a queue, but there was no one waiting in line...

It turned out the room where the panel was, was already open and people had already gone inside! Luckily there was still a chair left for us to sit. Most of the panelists were already there, including:


Seanan McGuire.
She posed with me for this amazing picture and I can tell you I'm officially in love with Seanan.

Then the panel started:

Down the rabbit hole: the appeal of portal fantasy
In portal fantasies people are transported from our world to another, which allows the reader to learn about this new world at the same time as the protagonist. What is theappeal of portal versus secondary world fantasies? Why are portal fantasies so often written for children and teens rather than adult readers? The panel will discuss the appeal of portal fantasy and its place in the fantasy genre.
Kathryn Sullivan (M), Seanan McGuire, Vina Prasad, Genevieve Cogman

I love the idea of traveling to another world, so I took lots of notes.

Vina Prasad explained that Japanese Portal Fantasies are a bit different than Western Portal Fantasies. Some examples: people die and end up in a High School, or people get trapped in a computer game.

They talked about how almost all tv shows in the 90's were Portal Fantasies: Care Bears, My Little Pony, Fluffy Dogs, Dungeons & Dragons. Even Doctor Who can be seen as a Portal Fantasy.

Portal Fantasy stories reflect what the protagonist wants. In Narnia world has to keep changing to be interesting, while Dorothy in Oz wanted stability.

If there's easy access to a world it isn't a Portal Fantasy, It must be difficult.

When people grow up for many it's not popular anymore. They have thought about it, and contemplated what traveling to another world would mean in the long run. That's why Portal Fantasy is more intriguing for children.

Portal Fantasy is wish fulfillment. Seanan remarked that you could argue Clan of the Cavebear series is almost a Portal Fantasy: Ayla is perfect and invents everything!

For adult Portal Fantasy you need a specialized hero/ine to make it believable that they know specific things. Children will more easily accept that the lead character knows everything.

On the question "I've been told Publishers don't want Portal Fantasy":
People saying this might be talking from their own prejudice. There are also cycles where things go out of style and get back in style again.

Seanan on selfpublishing vs tradional publishing:
There is nothing wrong with self publishing, but traditional publishing can help you see when you're ready/good enough. She herself thought she was ready long before her publisher thought the story was good enough. And if you have a story with a small audience you might consider Small Press.


After the panel we had an hour to spare until the next panel, so we sat down and read the paper.

The next panel was about another favorite topic: Time Travel!


The human cost of time travel
Time travel is a popular and well-explored element in science fiction, but there is more to time travel than science. The cool timey-wimey tech may broaden a story’s scope beyond the here and now, but there is always a price to pay. What is the mental, physical, emotional, and social impact on people in time travel stories? Is the gain worth the price?
D.B. Jackson (M), Edmond Barrett, Brenda Clough, Eliza Bentley

It was an interesting panel.
They talked about the hubris of time travel: "I know what's best for the world!" and how it depends on how the author structures the time travel theory on what probable costs would be.

Like meeting yourself: it would depend on the rules if this creates a paradox, or if the world would eat itself, or if staying in the blind spot of your earlier version would avoid a paradox, etc...

Then there's the problem of you maybe bringing your viruses to the past and infecting people with a future cold or something.

All in all a fun discussion.


Next I went to another couple of signings.


This is Kim ten Tusscher.
She's a Dutch author and her books got translated to English. I'm going to read the first book of her Lilith series soon!


Rebecca Gomez Farrell signed my copy of Wings Unseen for me.

We were pretty tired, so we decided to slowly walk back to the cottage and have a nice relaxing late afternoon and evening in.


I did spot this statue which is some kind of famous woman named Molly.


And this dude. I have no idea who he is.


It turned out that Jeffe and David were also planning a relaxing evening, so we all ordered Thai food.


And we lit a nice fire in the fireplace.


As the fire warmed the the room and made it cozy we watched the live stream of the Hugo ceremony. None of the books I voted for won a Hugo, but we had a really fun evening.


Coming next: Last day of the Convention.