It’s been a relatively eventful time for this Renaissance Dork, so I thought I’d recap a few developments from the past several days.  Seems like a good way to get this cold, dark Monday started…

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The Pure Speculation Festival was a lot of fun this past weekend; those of you who made it out know what I mean.  A highlight for me was the Saturday Morning Cartoon panel with Joe Wos, the man behind the Toonseum.  He dropped a little knowledge on us about the origin, rise and decline of the Saturday Morning Cartoon, and it was great to watch some clips of old favourites as well as a few I’d never heard about.  Great presentation by a super-friendly and knowledgeable guy; very glad I took it in!

The Dungeons & Dickens panel with Mike Perschon was well attended by an enthusiastic crowd of steampunkers and RPG enthusiasts.  Though I got the sense the crowd was there more for the Steampunk than the RPG, I think I managed to hold my own talking about my old Eberron and Cthulhu campaigns and how steampunk informed them.  In any case I had a blast, so thanks again to Mike Perschon the SteamScholar for allowing me to take part!

Most of the rest of Pure Spec for me was Pathfinder-related.  Sadly, my scheduled Saturday game was cancelled when all the players decided to go home.  But that just meant I had more energy for Sunday, much to the delighted chagrin of my table.  With their characters in mortal danger right from the start the group had a fun ride as they tried to prevent devilish hordes from destroying the city!  Amid much cephalopodic shenanigans they finally succeeded in saving the city and received their just reward.  A good time had by all!

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I’ve spoken before about the Aurora Awards, and may have mentioned that I was nominated for one.  Well, the award ceremony happened yesterday at SFContario/Canvention 31 and…I didn’t win.  But it was honour enough to be nominated and have Pure Spec acknowledged for the fine Festival it has become.

Here are your 2011 Aurora Award winners, my geeks!

• Best Novel – English: WWW: Watch, by Robert J. Sawyer
• Best Short Form – English: “The Burden of Fire,” by Hayden Trenholm
• Best Poem/Song: “The ABCs of the End of the World,” by Carolyn Clink
• Best Graphic Novel – English: Goblins, by Tarol Hunt
• Best Related Work – English: The Dragon and the Stars, edited by Derwin Mak and Eric Choi
• Best Artist: Erik Mohr
• Best Fan Filk: Dave Clement and Tom Jeffers
• Best Fan Organizational: Helen Marshall and Sandra Kasturi for Toronto SpecFic Colloquium
• Best Fan Other: John Mansfield and Linda Ross Mansfield, Aurora Award pins

I recommend picking up some of the winning works, you won’t be disappointed.  Thanks to everyone that voted, your support of excellent Canadian SF is appreciated.  Keep your eyes open for next year…

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My Venture-Captain duties are ticking along nicely; I’ve already fielded requests from several people for help starting PFS in their areas including Calgary.  I can see a great deal of fun busyness in my future, spreading the good word of Pathfinder (Can I get an Initiative roll!?).  But keep it coming; if you are a store looking for a great organized play game event, track me down.

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That’s it for this Monday.  It is dreary and cold out there today, perfect weather to huddle indoors and work on my freelance projects.  Of course I’d still work on them if it was sunny and bright, but this way it seems like less of a sacrifice.  So until tomorrow, my tens of readers, when I will regale you with  daring tales of browser games!  Cheerio!