So, so, how did our Utah ThiefCon go?

[magicsandwiches.livejournal.com]

Is it possible for only four people to talk about the Queen's Thief series for five hours straight and still want more? Like...NOW?

Why, yes. Yes, it is.

We met at 6:00. Everyone was on time 'cause that's how we roll in this fandom, you know? Or maybe we were all just super excited for mutual geeking out. We started walking across campus to the famous Queen's Thief Cafe *coughcough* and immediately began discussing how awesome and satisfying it is to read the books out loud; I read them to my husband over Christmas, Rosie is reading them to her roomie.


Here we are at the cafe in the coveted Thief's Corner. From left to right, magicsandwiches, rosaleeluann, Megan Whalen Turner, the_bon, and in_my_niteshirt. Megan, you look a little pale. We get that you're inside all the time, typing away furiously (RIGHT?!), but maybe you should get ouside a little.

We ordered our food and sat down. Out came two sets of the books and we started talking a mile a minute. There were too many things to talk about. We didn't go in order because...we couldn't. One thing led to another and another and another and...

“Oh, weren't you mad at the end of The Thief when you realized you'd been had?”

“You know that part when she says she didn't know if she wanted the shadows to be empty or not, that meant him, right?”

“How old IS Gen?”

“Notice how we never find out the Magus's name.”

“Even after the horrible thing she'd done, she was impossible to dislike. Those little hints all throughout Queen, about how obsessed she was with him, how she couldn't stop thinking about him. It made me like her.”

“When he goes to visit the oracle, he was mad for the same reason he was mad at the coin toss.”

“The bridge. Spontaneous brilliance or carefully calculated?”

“Notice how Gen never answers Irene's accusations, but replies with a question.”

“Isn't it funny all the times he actually tells the truth, but no one believes him?”

“The forgiveness...I love that.”

And so on and so forth. For five hours. With lots of scrambling to find the exact page and reading parts out loud and jumping around in our seats because we couldn't control our excitement and not even bothering to hide the goofy grins adorning our faces because we were just SO HAPPY to be able to actually discuss these amazing books with people who GET IT.

Some (but not all) topics covered:

--Gen as a character
--Irene as a character
--Gen and Irene as a couple (and all the little hints you get along the way)
--Gen vs. Francis Crawford of Lymond
--Eddis
--Gen and Eddis
--Costis
--Nahusaresh
--Releus
--the Magus
--how everything is right there in the books, but Megan doesn't insult your intelligence by spelling it out for you, and how very, very nice that is
--how much the books can cheer you up when you're having a crappy day
--Irene's perverse wish about shadows (we talked about this three different times!)
--which book is your favorite and why and when and how it changes depending on real life circumstances
--which character you identify with the most and why
--plotting
--favorite quotes (honestly, we could have done five hours of just quoting and been really, really happy)
--Gen's relations
--Gen and Irene's first kiss as husband and wife that you actually get to see, and how much it conveys without being descriptive
--possible titles for the new book
--speculation on the new book
--THAT ONE bookclub
--how Megan really should do a book signing in Salt Lake City

And while our discussion went on and on, we also added bits and pieces about ourselves and got to know one another as people, not just as readers. By the end of the night, we had become fast friends. I can't help smiling just thinking about these wonderful people; they're as amazing as the books are. I loved hearing their own stories as much as I loved talking about Megan's.

Interesting sidenotes about Sounis members:

in_my_niteshirt has two sets of the books, one to keep close at hand and one for loaning out, except she likes to keep both sets close at hand. She has notes in the margins that are pure gold. There are cross-references! All the parts from Irene's perspective are marked in green. Important parts, like moments of foreshadowing or when Gen calls Irene by her first name, are underlined and starred and marked. Also about Niteshirt? She's a math genius. You think sounis people are smart? You're right, they're wicked smart.

rosaleeluann can quote a lot of the dialogue verbatim. All you have to do is mention a scene and off she goes, quoting it perfectly. What an ideal person to have at a ThiefCon! Also? She's a wonderful artist. When she pulled her books out of her bag, her sketchbook came out as well. I was nosy and asked to peruse and looky what I found inside....


the_bon is an amazing seamstress (she makes crazy awesome eyemasks) and also has mad photo shop skilz (ahem). Also, she's my sister and she totally owes me for recommending this series to her. :P

Final note: If you can possibly manage having a ThiefCon in your town, I highly recommend it.

Comments

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! It's nice to SEE the people that we communicate so much with, isn't it? (This is a locked post, right? *looks around fearfully for axe-murderers*) What a nice post, with little tidbits about people, and the beautiful artwork (You rock, Rosie!).

Okay...options are: Philadelphia, NYC, New York state somewhere, PA somewhere, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, West Virginia...

Any takers?? C'mon, PLEASE???? *could be persuaded to travel farther with enough advance notice*

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Time it right, and I'll meet you in Philadelphia! (Around Thanksgiving is good...)

[annikah.livejournal.com]

Wow, sounds so fun! I used to live with another Thief fan, before we went to different grad schools, and we would go on and on. Though it never spread beyond the two of us, alas.

And, rosaleeluann: that's a great drawing!

[kaijuu-chan.livejournal.com]

I live in Winnipeg... *sad panda face*

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I...

*is speechless*

...cannot believe the awesomeness that is sounis. Really. I. Love. You. Guys.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

it sounds like a WONDERFUL way to spend an evening, and so glad to hear you're making plans to do it again. Thanks for posting the write-up, and thank you, Rosie, for letting the picture be included.

here I thought you were kidding when you said you had a cardboard cutout of Megan, magicsandwiches!

[magicsandwiches.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, the_bon really is a whiz at photo shop, isn't she? I especially love the pictures up on the wall.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

THE SHADOWS

I

LOVE THAT LINE

OMG THE SHADOWS LINE

like, my heart breaks when I read that scene and sometimes you know like I create AU fanfics in my head of what-if-he-had-been-there because you're just--oh, Attolia. She wants someone to be there because she's all alone but at the same time, like, what would she do if he was there?

I

love that line.

SUPER JEALOUS OF THE MEETUP GUYS if I ever make it out west you can count on me being there. :-D

[sgwordy.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, me too! I love to think about what she would have done which gets me all distracted with WHY she wanted him there. What did she want to say? (do?)

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

Anyone else here from MAINE?

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Oooh, oooh, I've never been to Maine. I'd love to go. (please send money)

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I am so excited for September. :D


I hadn't shared that picture because there are things I don't like about it. Mostly how neither of them look how I imagine them, and the somewhat awkward anatomy, and Gen has neither hook nor false hand, just a kind of scribble.

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

But the coins are really, really good. And Gen and Irene's postures look very natural.

[harlyn.livejournal.com]

Phoenix, anyone?

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

I'd love to've been there but I'm, um, too many states away.

However...

Everyone was on time 'cause that's how we roll in this fandom, you know?

Or maybe because Utahns get accustomed to what I've heard called "Mormon time"? (As opposed to what we Jews call "Jewish time": "six o'clock" would start sometime, oh, between 6:30 and 7 maybe?)

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Haha, Mormon Standard Time. My family definitely lives by that ;-) But no, we were actually on time according to the clock. Well, actually, truth be told I walked up about twenty seconds after the bell tower started ringing for 6 o'clock.

[bookaddict88.livejournal.com]

I'm in the OC! And I'm already planning athanarel meet-ups for this month, and a sounis one would be icing on the cake! Only, it'd have to be soon (as in this month sometime), because my summer is incredibly busy after that, and I go to school in Texas.

[hershey-fan.livejournal.com]

That sounds like so much fun! I have to reread for the shadows part. I just finished rereading KoA and found myself loving how Gen wins Costis over.
Also, I recommended Thief to the librarian at my school - she was fascinated...but I'm torn because if it's in the library, the kids might read it and then I can't use it as a read-aloud!!! Oh, the trials.

[magicsandwiches.livejournal.com]

The long process of winning Costis over. So, so good when it comes to fruition.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Yes... I second Peggy's statement.

I wouldn't have believed you had a Mrs. Turner cardboard cut-out either, but this is undeniable visual proof. Where did you even find such a thing, or did you make it yourself? I wonder if Mrs. Turner would be thoroughly disturbed or flattered. I can't decide.

Sounds like you had some very stimulating conversation. I'm glad it went well.

[magicsandwiches.livejournal.com]

It's all the_bon and her photo shop skills. If I had a real cardboard cutout, it would be of Gen. Hee!

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

So who wants to have a meet-up in Southwestern Ontario?! :P

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

How far west?

[in-my-niteshirt.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the fabulous write-up MagicSandwiches! Such accurate reporting -- especially all the flattering parts ;)

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Well, you are a math genius. And your marked books=awesome. What else was she supposed to say? ;-)

[bookaddict88.livejournal.com]

That sounds like it was so much fun! I want a ThiefCon, now!

[lily7000.livejournal.com]

This is amazing! I can't wait for september! *goes to reread books so I can keep up with you guys* rosaleeluann, you look really familiar. Guess I've probably bought a book from you before :)

[magicsandwiches.livejournal.com]

We're excited for you to join us!

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

This sounds like the most awesomely fun way to spend five hours EVAR!
You guys are awesome :D

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

That sounds like the best outing ever. I love the photo with all the matching editions. And Megan of course.

[sgwordy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting the minutes. :) Sounds like a great time! I'm green with envy!

[the-bon.livejournal.com]

I had a great time at thiefcon. I had only read the books once though before going and of course I had to read them again right away! Luckily 'in my night shirt' was generous enough to lend me her set which was a treasure! Lots of important parts underlined and a very helpful time line written in the margins. It made my Mother's Day!!!!!

I really need my own set to drool over!

[in-my-niteshirt.livejournal.com]

Good job doctoring up our photo! I *loved* it! I'm glad you're enjoying my books. :D

[kulai-raito.livejournal.com]

omg I loveee the photoshop skills! good job the bon!! Sounds soo awesome! Envious indeed!

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

THIS IS FANTASTIC AND I AM JEALOUS

(and weirded out that Rosie looks exactly like I imagined her, but that's beside the point)

Washington, anyone???

[inkasrain.livejournal.com]

I'm in NYC, could probably make something in the area if it came about!

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Awesome. You know, we should commission a Thief Train to travel across the U.S. (was just thinking of the train into NYC). We could hit relevant areas of the entire country and see the sights and and and talk and talk some more and and and.

I'll put RRelf on it. He's a meeting planner and a train buff.

[ilysia-039.livejournal.com]

I. AM. SO. JEALOUS.

Really, guys, this is just too awesome. And almost ridiculously unfair. *pouts*

Heartland of America, anyone?

Where in the Heartland

[sclerotia.livejournal.com]

I am in Central Missouri