My Other Guest of Honor Gift at Capclave
Posted on October 14, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 23 Comments
This is very cool: A hand-blown ornament showing a green-skinned alien taking aim at a redshirt (who has the head of a dodo, because Capclave’s mascot is a dodo bird, to go with their motto, “Capclave, where reading is not extinct!” Fellow guest of honor Nick Mamatas also received a hand-blown ornament, his having Cthulhu in it. Not the actual Cthulhu, mind you. That would be disturbing. But a hand-blown glass representation.
Yesterday’s events went very well, I have to say. All my panels and presentations went very well, and folks who came to my reading seemed to enjoy the snippets of The Human Division I read to them, including one part which I had not read out loud to anyone before, so it was a Capclave debut and (so far, at least) exclusive. See? This is what happens when you show up where I am. You get special treats.
Today will be a relatively relaxing day at the con for me because I don’t have any specific events; I’ll just be loitering about and saying hello (and, as it is the last day of the convention, also goodbye) to folks. If you’re at the con and seeing this, remember to say hello (or goodbye) to me today. If you’re not at the convention and reading this, weep for what could have been between us. That is all.
WAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
*snif*
That is an amazing gift! Wow! Happy CapClave.
Oh sure, you promise us special stuff but apparently Minneapolis was the exception! I’m gonna have to get to one of these events some day, sure miss paid vacations.
BTW – it would have been a whole lot cooler if it was really Cthulhu & not just a glass representation – THAT would have led to some real excitement but would have put your reading to shame 8-{D
I loved it. If you ever get bored with writing, you’ve got a great future as a performing monkey!
Saw this just now on the Jacket Copy blog at the LA Times:
Goodbye, Oxford comma? Hello, Shatner comma!
Rumors of the death of the Oxford comma have been greatly exaggerated.
The Oxford comma, thought by some to be an annoying punctuation foible, appears in a list of multiple items before the “and.” Here’s how the Oxford comma looks in a sentence: “Scotty transported Spock, Kirk, McCoy, Sulu, and a redshirt down to the planet’s surface.”
[W]riter Everett Maroon, was quoted by the Atlantic: “Professor friend o mine is against losing the Oxford comma, but wishes his students would lose the Shatner comma. You, know, what, he means.”
I agree that the real Cthulhu would have been sort of cool, but he must remain free in order to further my goals of electing him as President! “Why choose the lesser evil? Cthulhu for President!”
Nick: do not break the glass.
“See? This is what happens when you show up where I am. You get special treats.”
So, you’re encouraging stalking then? ;)
*weeps*
Long life to the Oxford comma. DEATH, to, the, Shatner, comma.
Very cool, indeed. An extremely talented artist, or art team, both for the idea and the execution. You should probably pack it and ship it, lest TSA break it open for being more than twelve fluid ounces in volume.
“If you’re not at the convention and reading this, weep for what could have been between us. That is all.” Oh, fudge … another golden opportunity missed. Will I NEVER learn? Guess not. Meantime I’ll just keep on enjoying he heck out of your books … and your Whatever comments! God bless y’all!
@katyasozaeva
Nice idea, but there’s a problem:
I doubt Cthulhu was a citizen in 1789, and I’m pretty sure Cthulhu wasn’t naturally born, at all. So I suspect they’re ineligible. Sorry about that.
Very cool.
I’m sure Cthulhu could present a birth certificate. Whether you’d survive reading it ….
SWAG.
I will note, as the person who commissioned these pieces, that it’s just not Cthulhu in a glass sphere, but it’s Buddha Cthulhu drinking sake under a cherry tree; he’s very mellow.
The funny thing is is that the piece was very hard to photograph; the camera just wouldn’t focus correctly. Cthulhu not wanting to be photographed, who knew?
Shrike58@8:39 am Cthulhu not wanting to be photographed
You just need a non-Euclidean camera angle…
Both the ornaments were beautiful, but I especially liked the cherry tree. Plus, it’s a holiday ornament with sanity loss!
I don’t know if these links will work, but they are my two views of the Cthulhu ornament:
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/429304_3261435234522_1709554124_n.jpg
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/47877_3261434674508_980460598_n.jpg
And on Friday the Library of Congress Recorded Books for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, located deep in Capclave territory, released their version of Redshirts to make it available to a whole new audience. I like to think it was in honor of your visit to Capclave.
Does anyone (John, someone else that was at Capclave) know the name of the artist that created these ornaments?? They’re marvelous and I would love to talk to the artist about an idea these have given me. . .
“Does anyone (John, someone else that was at Capclave) know the name of the artist that created these ornaments?? They’re marvelous and I would love to talk to the artist about an idea these have given me. . .”
At the risk of being hammered for spamming, plug “Steve Scherer glass” into your favorite search engine to get to the artist’s website.