Capricon Panels as a Spectator

as promised, here are my thoughts on Capricon panels I attended as a spectator.

Friday

BSG: What the Frack?!?! This was the first panel I attended, having just arrived. Basically, this was rather sparsely attended panel (maybe 12 folks all told, including the panelists) and turned into a "where the frack are the writers taking this story?" furball. My vote was that the Final Five from Earth couldn't be all the survivors from the war, else how the hell did Starbuck get back?

Saturday

Seven Deadly Sins of SF This was a pretty crowded panel, led by Steven Silver. (They had him in like eight panels back to back - it's a wonder the man found time to take a leak.) This was a discussion of bad plotting, writing and other screwups that knock folks right out of a science fiction story or performance. It was quite lively. While in the audience, I got drafted to defend (by the aforementioned Silver) military SF. Of course, Steven's exemplar was David Weber, to which I said of Hornblower Harrington, "any writer who spends four books building up to the point where somebody signs their name 'Robspierre' should have their book thrown across the room."

Trivia for Candy Silver's eighth panel of the day. I got about 20 questions, mostly by deducing what language (other then English) a book's title was in. I got skunked - the winner got 50+ right answers.

BDSM Fandom. Good concept, okay execution. The panel as programmed would have been several graybeards (literally) showing how to suck the life out of a titillating topic. Fortunately, some young man (mid-20s) who was Lee Darrow (the hypnotist's) nephew came and hijacked the panel with some BDSM demos. (All clothing remained on, worse the luck.) If they do the panel next year, I suggest getting the kid to arrange for some demos with pre-selected victims volunteers and call it done.

I left the hotel for some much-needed rest Sunday, so I skipped the panels and programming thereof.