Brandon Worldcon 76 signings, Lightweaver Foundation, Moshe Feder

[Thousandarms97]

Hi,

This is Sharon. I kind of joined the fandom when I realized that Brandon Sanderson would be at Worldcon 76. I joined 17th Shard to find people to go with, was asked to record signing sessions, which I did: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/356-worldcon-76/

I then started doing research into The Lightweaver Foundation. Findings here: 

I also met Moshe Feder, Brandon's Tor editor at the con. He has graciously agreed to be interviewed in a series of "scrolls". There will be Brandon-related stuff of course, but everything will be from Moshe's POV and of course there will be non-Brandon related stuff too.

Here is the first scroll: http://shazarose.blogspot.com/2018/08/moshe-man-behind-copper-mind-scroll-1.html

A future planned "scroll" will document half of Brandon's twin inspiration for including characters like Kaladin, Shallan and Dalinar, who all suffer from various mental health issues, in his Stormlight Archive series. Moshe himself is one half of this inspiration, and I will be documenting Moshe's bout against bipolar disorder that he wants to share in order to help raise awareness about mental health issues.

When I asked him if it would be a painful thing for him to share, he had this to say:

"Not painful to share. It’s a duty to help fellow sufferers and to work on reducing stigma. When I was Corflu (fanzine fan con) GoH, it was a major part of my speech."

Hope you do enjoy the series if you decide to check it out! 

Warmest Regards

Sharon Hooper

 

Edited September 2, 2018 by Thousandarms97

[+ElephantEarwax]

Many Welcomes and thanks. I will offer you a cookie, and an upvote. 

Would you say, "My life to yours, my Breath become yours"?

What was the best part of the con?(besides Moshe)

[Thousandarms97]

Not sure if there can be a best, but if I were to choose, it would be after the Hugo Awards, where Moshe actually spent about 40 minutes circulating the ballroom trying to help me find Brandon so I can give the latter something before I left for home. We never did find Brandon because apparently he immediately headed over to the parties right after the ceremony and was nowhere to be found. But Moshe introduced me to people like Brandon's agent Joshua Blines, saw Scott Edelman approach Moshe to chat and was basically struck dumb because of course previously his name was something I would only see on the front of a book cover (then Moshe tells me of his friendship with Scott), see Lois's representative approach Moshe and ask him who she should ask about the logistics of getting Lois's Hugo back to her, see how delighted Nora Jemisin look when Moshe congratulated her on her Hugo (I was able to chime in immediately after him to offer my own congratulations and she remembered me from earlier in the day). Nora's speech was also awesome. I think I did the human version of a pop tart in a malfunctioning toaster and gave her like three standing ovations throughout the course of her speech. I also chatted with someone Moshe introduced me to, who told me that she copy edited the paperback version of Warbreaker as a favor.

Other highlights: 

1. Had tea with Sharon Shinn Saturday morning of the con for 90 minutes. Complained to her that I couldn't bring her any books to sign because Brandon's books took up all the real estate in my bag. She expressed interest in reading something of his.

2. Listen to George R. R. Martin and posse talk about Wild Cards

3. Warfare panel. Asked question about whether the placebo effect has been documented to cure wounds of varying severity. Brandon chimed in to say that he has done research on the placebo effect because he was interested and he found an interesting tidbit: a placebo works even when the person is aware about the placebo effect.

4. Listen to reading by Brandon of an excerpt of Skyward. Also interesting reading of a short story by Marie Brennan. I was however quite befuddled by Martha Well's reading because it was a short excerpt from a complicated long-running series.

5. Saw Brandon do a speed mode signing. Found out that I am not the only one who loves Gattaca because when I mentioned Gattaca, 4 people chimed in saying that they love the movie too. Decided there and then I need a bigger circle of friends.

6. Listen to Brandon moderate panel full of famous authors. Robin Hobb was MIA for some reason.

7. Second Brandon signing. Interacted with him for between 10 minutes to 12 minutes because I had to keep going back to the line to get various stuff signed. I decided to get one book set aside for Sharon Shinn, got him to personalize it to her, mentioned that I couldn't bring her any of her books to sign because of his books. Unbeknownst to me, he wrote a cheeky personalization for her which I only saw after I got home. Shared it with Sharon Shinn and we both found it quite funny: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/356-worldcon-76/

8. 2-hour workshop with Nora Jemisin on Sunday. Made a mention about Tolkien elves and asked question about Handmaid's Tale, which she answered. 

During break in workshop, reminded her of this 

when someone else couldn't stop gushing about The Fifth Season. Nora said she couldn't remember because it was years ago.

After workshop, went and got The Inheritance Trilogy signed by Nora. Showed her the tweets she said she forgot and also showed her this: 

Basically wanted her to know that not everyone on Reddit/Twitter is against her. Apparently she got hazed for saying something about epic fantasy that people decided to take the wrong way. She looked tired, having had a parent die on her in the past year and all, I offered her my condolences and told her that the platitude that time heals all wounds isn't true so I won't say that to her, but that I hoped she it would get better with time, even though it is unlikely. Expressed my hope that she will win Hugo for best novel for a third year in a row.

9. Got A Game of Thrones and game card gruffly signed by George R. R. Martin. Asked him if he would sign the card right after signing the book or if I should rejoin the line; he thought about it for a full second, then sighed and then changed to a marker to quickly sign the card. Saved me time in line so I didn't care. 

10. Got The Last Unicorn signed by "Sir" Peter Beagle. Told him I was going to be at his panel later on. He said he didn't know when or what it was. I told him it was about killing characters. He turned to someone next to him and expressed bafflement about inclusion to said panel because he isn't known for killing his characters.

Honestly, someone like Martin would have been a better panelist for a topic like that.

11. Went to Paths to Publishing panel. Wesley Chu was hilarious. Left 20 minutes early to get to Judaism and Roots of Science Fiction panel. Managed to find seat at front and then also managed to ask a question about where popular Jewish fiction fits into the whole canvas of Jewish literature.

12. Met Moshe, got him to sign my books, he regaled me and another lady with stories and we had a discussion about all sorts of things, from idolatry, to a concept of Alien as God, a small mention of Mistborn and Stormlight (Shattering being inspired by the Kabbalah) etc. I asked if he was meeting Brandon later, but he said no, and I was like I wanted to give Brandon some stuff before I leave, and he told me I could try after Hugo. I told him this was my first con, don't know if there will be security separating nominees from fans, and he tells me to name drop him to get past security if any security was indeed present. I think I blanked out for a second there and told him I wouldn't have the temerity to do that in a million years because who on earth would believe me?

13. Managed to get to end of Urban Fantasy panel and gave Sharon Shinn the personalized Brandon book

14. Listened to fascinating killing characters panel starring Sir Beagle. Everyone hung onto his every word. After the panel, I went up to him and asked him if he figured out why he was on the panel after all. He said it made more sense because the panel was more about death than anything else. Followed him out of room until he said he had to use bathroom.

15. With nothing to do until Hugo, randomly walked around. Spotted Sir Beagle heading to the hotel and basically stalked him while trying to be as uncreepy and unobvious as possible. When he got to the hotel lobby I entered through a different way so I could pretend to have accidentally run into him. He told me a story about him basically acting as the personal chauffeur for the German translator of The Last Unicorn. Basically floated on a cloud of sheer happiness from hotel lobby to the Hugo line.

Then this happens on the first day of class after Worldcon: 

 

Edited September 1, 2018 by Thousandarms97

[Thousandarms97]

http://shazarose.blogspot.com/2018/09/through-mind-darkly.html

Here is the scroll that documenting half of Brandon Sanderson's twin inspiration for including characters like Kaladin, Shallan and Dalinar, who all suffer from various mental health issues, in his Stormlight Archive series. Moshe Feder himself is one half of this inspiration, and I also interviewed a fan who struggles with depression, who found that reading his Stormlight Archive books help her cope with her depression.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Thousandarms97

[Thousandarms97]

Now for something more light-hearted.

Here's the "You Think You Can Moshe?" Quiz: http://shazarose.blogspot.com/2018/09/so-you-think-you-can-moshe.html which is a fun quiz to test how well you know Moshe having read about him in the last two scrolls. =P

[Thousandarms97]

Here is the fourth scroll: http://shazarose.blogspot.com/2018/09/two-men-manuscript-how-i-got-moshe-to.html which documents a conversation I had with Moshe on why he decided to acquire Elantris. It touches on other topics as well, but I have kept those in because some readers might be interested in them. If you are not, you can always skip around to just the Elantris parts. =D

[Thousandarms97]

 

Edited September 8, 2018 by Thousandarms97

[Thousandarms97]

Dear moderator, I can't seem to delete this post, so please don't come after me. Thanks!

Edited September 8, 2018 by Thousandarms97