sirens and strong fantasy heroines

last weekend i spent four days in vail, colorado
for the sirens con, which focuses on strong
heroines in fantasy. it was an intimate conference
with about one hundred attendees in a beautiful
setting with wonderful staff and volunteers. i couldn't
have had a better time!

there was an author tea with signing on
friday and saturday afternoons. it was one of
my favorite part of the conference as i got to
meet fellow readers, other authors, and even
had awesome gifts from Silver Phoenix fans to
show off. rachel made a clay figure of ai ling
with a giant dumpling and an entire dim sum spread
including chicken feet. too cute! (for those who
haven't read Silver Phoenix, my heroine likes
to eat. =)

and larry folded a chinese origami dragon for
me during our Fey Folklore Around the World panel.
he folded and gifted various creatures during the
entire con, spreading origami happiness!

had a lovely long rowdy dinner with
juliet grames (soho editor), holly black
(White Cat), sarah rees brennan
(Demon's Covenant) and malinda lo (Ash)
at kelly liken in vail village. it was a very
good meal!
on saturday, i went back into vail village
earlier with friends, to take in the gorgeous
views. me, shveta and andrea were 3/4 of
the panel we held on friday morning. i focused
on fox spirits as my main topic of discussion:
beautiful women who are part human and part
fox, dangerous or romanticized, depending on
the narrator's moral for the story.

there were these meese statues throughout
vail village. this one was huge, a little scary
actually. and we figured, perhaps life size.

we decided on a cozy german restaurant
for dinner and i was in heaven! i very rarely
get to indulge in german fare. i had a wiener
and a bratwurst over saurkraut with all the
accompanying cold salads. it was delicious.
looking at this foto makes me both wistful
and happy. =)

sunday morning was the last morning of
the con and i took the time to take a foto
with two authors whose books i really love
and who are just delightful in person:
sherwood smith (Crown Duel and Inda series)
and ellen kushner (Swordspoint and Privilege
of the Sword). they've both written more
extensively and if you love fantasy with strong
heroines, you really should check them out!

next year's theme will be MONSTERS and the
guests of honor are justine larbalestier (Liar),
nnedi okorafor (Who Fears Death) and laini
taylor (Lips Touch). women in fantasy as monsters.
how cool of a theme is that? i definitely hope to
be there!!