Timekeeper
02/09/2007
Yesterday somebody called me “Denni-san”. And somebody else called me “cool”.
Wow!
I got savvy about signing up for time-keeping slots and reserved the space on Ted Chiang’s interview panel today.
The queue stretched around the corner. Apparently, while Greg Egan is regarded as a god here, Ted Chiang is regarded as a demi-god. I love this country.
When we’d advanced to the room, I broke off and walked up to the front doors.
“You know there’s a queue,” one of the organisers grunted.
“I know.” I flashed my time-slips.
“Oh, you’re the timekeeper! There’s a seat reserved for you in the front row.”
Result.
I won’t bore you with details, except to say that I’m a complete fan. Ted Chiang has only written nine stories (ten by now), but his first sale won the Nebula.
Why so few?
“Writing for me is very hard.” An idea has to really interest TC, taking hold in his brain for months or years. Nevertheless, he made his first sale while still at Clarion.
“It’s embarrassing for me to say [that] what I’ve written can be read in one afternoon.”
What was that about writing less crap and getting it right?
Take ‘Story of your Life’. Chiang wrote it after watching a play about a wife dying of cancer; it’s a story about facing a pre-determined fate with acceptance, feeling both incredible pain and incredible love…
The organiser crept up to me, bowing low to avoid obstructing the webcast, and tapped his watch. I tapped mine in return. I know. Last two minutes.
In the kerfuffle, I managed to hold up the ‘Finish Now’ sign in error. The chairman hurridly wrapped up the session when he still had a minute to go, leaving me feeling guilty about stealing a minute of Ted Chiang’s time.
The parties wound down that night, and once again we found ourselves at the harbour lounge, attending the Montreal Anticipation 2009 Bid thank-you bash which (even though I didn’t pay to vote) everyone was invited to.
But further down the hall there were people in labcoats. Café Scientifique was, sadly, just winding up, but they let me sample some of their delicacies: pickled bee pupae and wasps served in petri dishes.
Perfect.
Denni