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Report on My Norwescon Experience.
I knew it was going to be a busy weekend, since I had scheduled 7 panels and a reading. That doesn’t sound like much: 7.5 hours over three days. In the context of a science fiction convention, it’s a lot.
First panel was “Broadsword Basics” for which I was the moderator. We had 60 (sixty!) attendees. I was not prepared for a Thursday night panel to draw like that. I had three other panelists. (Bill Gruner, Norman Moss, Joseph Malik. More on that guy later.) We had to rotate through the attendees in three groups, both because of the size of the room and because of the # of wasters we had on hand. (For the uninitiated: a waster is a wooden broadsword) I invited Sir Daniel and Randal the Redoubtable and set them to work helping with teaching and marshalling. There was no time for any fancy stuff: I was pleased that we managed to teach something *resembling* proper stance and footwork plus the mechanics of a flat snap to a significant number of the attendees. Between setting each group up, getting them moving correctly, and making sure that they were all (barely) a safe distance apart, I got a good workout in. I was sweating and puffing pretty good by the end.
Next, I had my turn to read some of my fiction to random strangers. In this case, one random stranger. Marian came along to the reading, and at the end I was reading to a few people who came to hear the next guy. But my original audience was Marian and one random fellow. I read the partial chapter from Saráyi about Peter the Bastard in the aftermath of a battle, and the fragment from Saltarae II bearing Arrenji’s analysis of modern America. Then I read the duel scene and the Birth of Saráyi from “Medusa”. Everyone applauded politely at the end.
The next day, Friday, I assisted at ‘One on One Combat for Writers’ and ‘Universal Rules of the Fight’. I contributed my fair share to the success of both of those panels. Later that day: ‘History of Jousting’. My knowledge base is the pre-joust era, about 1100-1300. I did my fair share of the lifting in that panel as well.
Saturday I had three panels: ‘Norse Sword, Shield, & Spear Tactical Combat’. I was a safety marshal in that one, except for a couple fine points that I inserted into the instruction. ‘Roman Legionary Tactical Combat’ was a similar panel, but I got to be a “barbarian” and attack the trainees’ testudo.
WELL. Not really, of course. Nobody was in armor, so we barbarians were mostly hitting shields and ‘touching’ open targets with the wasters. We did this twice, with two different sets of trainees. Both times I grabbed Sven Redbeard and we flanked the formation, ‘killed’ a bunch of archers and then...yeah, I bet you’ll have figured this next part out. At the exact moment when, in a real battle or an SCA fight I would have become a spinning and running tornado of steel death, I had to say: “Stop. You can’t actually hit these people.” So I got ‘shot’ by tennis-ball-throwing ‘archers’ both times.
That was a little frustrating, but there you go.
My final panel of the weekend, later that day, went well, I think. That was ‘Adding Authenticity to Historical Fiction & Fantasy’. I actually learned a few things in this panel. Lots of stuff from all the panelists about distances traveled in a set time-frame, the potential weight of backpacks, (How much weight *could* Sam Gamgee have carried?’) And interesting cultural tidbits and food related customs. Inns and hostels in various countries. Very Etc. What to serve at the Inn. How much can various animals carry and how fast can they travel, and how much food and water do they need. Et cetera.
For that last bit, it turns out that the US Army has a pamphlet you can get for free, and it has all that info in it.
The most interesting person I met all weekend was the above-mentioned Joseph Malik, who is a US Army special forces guy. He is currently serving in a unit which goes to crazy-ass places and tries to stop wars before they start. THAT was a fascinating fellow to chat with. He got a five-day leave to come to the con “as a liason to the highly intelligent geek and nerd community”. His words. He pitched it that way to his CO and got paid leave. “I’m here on your dime,” he said, not really joking.
He told me a story about a mission to Mongolia that involved goats. I intend to tell that story only in taverns and pubs, where I expect to get free drinks as a result.
I knew it was going to be a busy weekend, since I had scheduled 7 panels and a reading. That doesn’t sound like much: 7.5 hours over three days. In the context of a science fiction convention, it’s a lot.
First panel was “Broadsword Basics” for which I was the moderator. We had 60 (sixty!) attendees. I was not prepared for a Thursday night panel to draw like that. I had three other panelists. (Bill Gruner, Norman Moss, Joseph Malik. More on that guy later.) We had to rotate through the attendees in three groups, both because of the size of the room and because of the # of wasters we had on hand. (For the uninitiated: a waster is a wooden broadsword) I invited Sir Daniel and Randal the Redoubtable and set them to work helping with teaching and marshalling. There was no time for any fancy stuff: I was pleased that we managed to teach something *resembling* proper stance and footwork plus the mechanics of a flat snap to a significant number of the attendees. Between setting each group up, getting them moving correctly, and making sure that they were all (barely) a safe distance apart, I got a good workout in. I was sweating and puffing pretty good by the end.
Next, I had my turn to read some of my fiction to random strangers. In this case, one random stranger. Marian came along to the reading, and at the end I was reading to a few people who came to hear the next guy. But my original audience was Marian and one random fellow. I read the partial chapter from Saráyi about Peter the Bastard in the aftermath of a battle, and the fragment from Saltarae II bearing Arrenji’s analysis of modern America. Then I read the duel scene and the Birth of Saráyi from “Medusa”. Everyone applauded politely at the end.
The next day, Friday, I assisted at ‘One on One Combat for Writers’ and ‘Universal Rules of the Fight’. I contributed my fair share to the success of both of those panels. Later that day: ‘History of Jousting’. My knowledge base is the pre-joust era, about 1100-1300. I did my fair share of the lifting in that panel as well.
Saturday I had three panels: ‘Norse Sword, Shield, & Spear Tactical Combat’. I was a safety marshal in that one, except for a couple fine points that I inserted into the instruction. ‘Roman Legionary Tactical Combat’ was a similar panel, but I got to be a “barbarian” and attack the trainees’ testudo.
WELL. Not really, of course. Nobody was in armor, so we barbarians were mostly hitting shields and ‘touching’ open targets with the wasters. We did this twice, with two different sets of trainees. Both times I grabbed Sven Redbeard and we flanked the formation, ‘killed’ a bunch of archers and then...yeah, I bet you’ll have figured this next part out. At the exact moment when, in a real battle or an SCA fight I would have become a spinning and running tornado of steel death, I had to say: “Stop. You can’t actually hit these people.” So I got ‘shot’ by tennis-ball-throwing ‘archers’ both times.
That was a little frustrating, but there you go.
My final panel of the weekend, later that day, went well, I think. That was ‘Adding Authenticity to Historical Fiction & Fantasy’. I actually learned a few things in this panel. Lots of stuff from all the panelists about distances traveled in a set time-frame, the potential weight of backpacks, (How much weight *could* Sam Gamgee have carried?’) And interesting cultural tidbits and food related customs. Inns and hostels in various countries. Very Etc. What to serve at the Inn. How much can various animals carry and how fast can they travel, and how much food and water do they need. Et cetera.
For that last bit, it turns out that the US Army has a pamphlet you can get for free, and it has all that info in it.
The most interesting person I met all weekend was the above-mentioned Joseph Malik, who is a US Army special forces guy. He is currently serving in a unit which goes to crazy-ass places and tries to stop wars before they start. THAT was a fascinating fellow to chat with. He got a five-day leave to come to the con “as a liason to the highly intelligent geek and nerd community”. His words. He pitched it that way to his CO and got paid leave. “I’m here on your dime,” he said, not really joking.
He told me a story about a mission to Mongolia that involved goats. I intend to tell that story only in taverns and pubs, where I expect to get free drinks as a result.
