m. c. de marco

Via Universal Hub: derspatchel posts mini-reviews of all the movies scheduled for this year’s Sci-Fi Marathon at the Somerville Theater the thing people do instead of (or after) Boskone. The 34th annual marathon will be happening on President’s Day weekend, February 15th and 16th.

I stopped by Boskone 45 on Sunday and saw some folks and some panels. There was no premature desperate flight from an approaching blizzard this year, yet the con looked small in that big space (the Westin Waterfront, and by extension the waterfront itself, which retains its essential concrete desertness despite all the new development).

Apparently Charlie Stross is still in town; he’ll be at Pandemonium tomorrow night.

Another cool game I learned at Arisia was Tesserae by Jonathan Venezian. It’s a tile-laying game with shapes resembling unmarked rhombuses for a Penrose tiling. Since actual Penrose tiles are so hard to come by, I’d be tempted to mark up the backs and have two toys for the price of one.

I attended more of Arisia last weekend than I expected to, saw some people, attended some panels, and learned some cool games. Here’s a game that comes with the novel that inspired it: IceTowers. Get it soon because it’s out of print.

Readercon 17 was this weekend. I popped up to Burlington today, but managed to miss the "Bad God! Bad God!" panel. On the bright side, I did hear about Tinderbox and an intriguing new space opera anthology:

Today is the last day to get a Boskone 43 membership for the eponymous rate of $43 at the NESFA online store.

The schedule is up for Readercon. I’ll probably be there; I haven’t been before so I’m curious how it compares to the other local cons.