CatCons

[shewhomust]

So, as desperance says, it was late, wine had been taken, Eurovision had been watched, there was silliness in the air and cognac in the glass, and inspiration struck.

There are crime fiction conventions, there are SF conventions, there are fantasy conventions - what we need is a CatCon. It spans crime and SF and so much else besides - if it's capable of supporting a fandom, it almost certainly involves cats. (Indeed, a key panel might well be: The Cats of the Chalet School - conspicuous by their absence. All those staff, single women or women in pairs, and not a cat among them, it's not natural...).

Panels on cats in SF: their ability to bilocate, to pass through walls, the alien that dwells among us, the secret master race, Schrödinger's cat, the quantum cat - all these are obvious.

Cats in crime fiction: the perverse sub-genre of cat detectives, when it's obvious that cats are not on the side of the law (just think of cat burglars, Catwoman and the Black Cat - oh, no, wait, that'd be the cats in comics strand: Krazy Kat and Maxwell, obviously, rather than Garfield), that they are the master criminals, the Hidden Paws...

There would be filking - valydiarosada, I'm looking at you. There would, inevitably, be costuming and masquerade. There would be educational sessions: First steps in LOLcat (language) and First steps in LOLcat (how to add humorous captions to photographs). There would be a panel on the Naming of Cats.

Where might such a convention be held? I think Tobermory would be appropriate; durham_ramblersuggests Catford; desperance comes over all practical, and argues for cyberspace (think of it as Einstein's cat): "If we build it," he says, "they will come..."

And if we talk about it, it will turn out to exist already. There is a fantasy convention whose mascot is Puss in Boots: it's the Imaginales festival, held in Épinal, and cherylmmorgan was there and sends back a full report: it sounds great. Not this year, then, or next, but maybe in 2011, Épinal, the Moselle, a little walking, Trier...

Comments

Cattiness

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

May I possibly link to this??
Ca(n)´t stop laughing, see?
(Cheshire smile icon, there)

Re: Cattiness

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Of course - linking is free! I'm glad you like it.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Cats in poetry, of course (which shall not exclude Data's Ode to Spot...).

"Waiter? I'd like whatever wine she's having, please."

[artistatlarge.livejournal.com]

It would be most excellent for you to come to a con in beautiful Tobermory, especially seeing as how it's so close to me!

Re: "Waiter? I'd like whatever wine she's having, please."

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

That does look wonderful.

Alternatively, we could meet in Tobermory (http://www.tobermory.co.uk/).

[cellio]

There would, of course, have to be panels for cats, like Establishing Your Superiority Over Your Humans and The Art of the Cat-Nap.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

desperance was very firm that cats were not invited; not having a cat of my own, I bow to his expertise. Of course, if cats were present but asleep, we might just survive...