On Saturday night, the convention had a Chessboxing exhibition. It's exactly what it sounds like. They had a boxing ring set up on the stage, and the two contestants would box for a set period of a few minutes, then when the bell rang, they moved a chess board into the center of the ring and played chess for a set period of a few minutes. Apparently this is just getting started in France, and the two guys were more chess players than boxers. (I think one was an internationally ranked champion.) Anyway, the boxing was so-so but the chess was rockin'.

marycrawford wanted me to talk a bit more about the food, and basically it was everything it was cracked up to be. Incredibly flaky croissants and pastries in the morning, huge selection of cheeses, duck for lunch, etc. The convention had a catering area for guests and con people up on the second floor, with a big selection of salads, deserts, hot vegetables, and usually three or four main courses. They also had wine, which they served in little casks, and you just got an empty bottle and filled it from the cask. The big food ecstasy occurred Friday night, when I got to go to dinner with my publisher (l'Atalante) and the authors and translators. (They had authors from three continents, which was pretty cool.) It was at a restaurant across the square, and I had scallops with a custard-souffle thing, a truly wonderful fish main course, and a desert that was the most incredible chocolate. It was a solid bar of dark chocolate, with layers of different textures. Yummy.

My photos and the rest of the trip report is under this tag, for Utopiales.

So relieved about the democrats taking control of the house. :fans self:


Okay, more pictures:

( More Nantes Photos )

Now the con:

Utopiales was held in the Cite des Congres, which is the Nantes convention center. The con included a big film festival, and the center had a few theater spaces, including one with 800 seats. At one point on Friday it was so crowded that big theater was full.

On the second floor was a huge bookstore area that had tons of French editions of US and British SF and fantasy, with beautiful covers, plus French SF and fantasy and comics that we can't get over here. I got to meet and talk to James Morrow and his wife Kathy at both the group signings, and that was really cool. They had been to the festival several times, and told me about the time that you used to have to crawl under the table to get to you signing space (it's very crowded) and James cut his head on something under the table and had to go to the local hospital. Everything, including the emergency room visit and stitches etc, was only 44 euros. It would be weird to live in a country where there was not only lots of mass transportation but that you could actually afford to go to the doctor.

The panels were held on a huge scary stage in the middle of the main hall, with a big video screen behind it. Since there were writers from all over Europe, they had a simultaneous translation system. The panelists, and anybody in the audience who wanted one, got a little base unit with a headset, and you could select the channel for what language you needed (fortunately before our panel Kirsten Bishop figured out how to do this and showed me). The translators were up in a booth in the wall.

Our panel was "The 22nd Century will be Magic or it won't happen" (it makes more sense in French). It was kind of about the difference between religion and magic in culture. It was me, Kirsten Bishop, James Morrow, Stephane Beauverger (who was an excellent moderator), Juan Miguel Aguilera, and Xavier Maumejean. Juan Miguel only spoke Spanish and had a translator on stage.

( Con Photos )

Next post, chessboxing!

Oh, one more bit, this is the description of my books from the program book: "...takes place in Ile-Rien and it's capital Vienne, unchronic city halfway between Glorianna London and a swashbuckler Paris." I love that.

These are chateau and surrounding area photos. I'll post the con photos later.

( Nantes Photos )

I'm back, and the trip and Utopiales was completely fabulous. I love France a lot, and Nantes especially. The people were wonderful, and my French publisher is wonderful, the food is OMG wonderful, and I had a fantastic time. I just hope my pictures come out.

( trip report 1 )

I'll post more later, but I want to tell one story really quickly. I was talking to Jean-Francois Le Ruyet, who translated K.J. Bishop's book The Etched City for l'Atalante, and he was telling me about a translated noir/detective novel he was reading that had a bar in northern California with no roof. And he was trying to figure out what that was about, since it rains so much there and the idea seemed so weird and impractical. When he finally read the original English edition, he found a lot of other problems with the translation, but that bar wasn't a bar with no roof, it was a topless bar.


Oh, and someone had asked about getting the French editions (I'm incredibly behind on answering comments) but here's the links for Amazon.fr: The Element of Fire, The Death of the Necromancer, and The Wizard Hunters.

And I know Reliquary has been sold out on Amazon US and UK and Barnes and Noble for a while, but Amazon.fr has copies of the English edition in stock.