Sounds Like Weird
12 June 2005
I’m horribly overdue in writing this. I know. ::hangs head in shame::
Sunday morning, we had a great panel about Villainy, including Neil Zawaki, author of entertaining books about villainy, and Ed Muller, who is way more devious than I’d ever given him credit for.
Easily the highlight of Sunday (being one of two panels I got to sit in the audience for) was BayCon’s traditional “A Shot Rang Out” panel. It’s a simple concept and it depends so much on the people involved. This year, we had Hilary Ayer, Jane Mailander, Martin Young, Writer Guest of Honor Jay Lake, and Lee Martindale.
The concept: The story begins with “A shot rang out.” Each panelist must draw a slip out of a box and end their turn with that line. Anything in the middle goes. Jay Lake, when pulling one of his slips, asked, “Does this have to make any sense at all? The other panelists assured him not.
A few moments were especially worth noting.
Once, Martin ended his turn so spectacularly that Jay Lake, master of improv writing, couldn’t find a way to follow him. Jay ran across the stage and kissed Martin on the head, saying, “I have come to pledge my love for you, for no man has ever left me in such a hard place.”
Later, Martin pulled a slip and said, “Oh, f*, that’s a long one!”
Jay quipped, “Are you sure you said those words in the right order?”
For a few moments, no one could continue on, they were laughing so hard. Perfect retort.
During one of Martin’s turns, Jay’s daughter Bronwyn said something from the front row. Martin turns to Jay and says, “that’s yours, isn’t it?”
My sides ached.
By the time the themed reading rolled around at 7, I’d almost completely lost my voice, so I only read a page and a half.
On Monday, we had the now-traditional Tiki panel, joined by Chris Garcia as the panel newbie. He definitely has a love for things Polynesian. I’m sure we’ll have it next year, because James Stanley’s the toastmaster.
Maybe we’ll figure out a way to get that inter-dimensional rift to WisCon up for next year….