Because of these several impediments, as well as other technical difficulties, you will find typos and occasional replication of text. In our humble opinion, typos show that the logs are of *live* chats, not canned interviews, and minimal editing of these logs has taken place.

McGarry is currently the vice-president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Terry McGarry's Home Page

[Terry] Hi, folks!
[Cybling] Folks...welcome Terry McGarry!
[Helen] hi, terry. :)
[Cybling] Terry...how has the con been treating you so far?
[Terry] Is that Helcat?
[Terry] Cybling, i t's been wonderful!
[Helen] yep!
[Cybling] Hi Helen, glad to see you again.
[Terry] Hi, Hel. :) (Helen's a friend from sff.net.)
[Cybling] Terry...so far what's been the best thing about this 58th WorldCon?
[Cybling] It doesn't have to be one thing, lol.
[Helen] It's pouring here in philly. not sure how long i ccan stay, lightning is threatening.
[Terry] I think what strikes me about this one is the delightful intensity, everyone more or less in one place, the feel of Things Happening.
[Terry] Great conversations in the air all around, interesting discussions in all the meeting rooms around you...it's intense and really jazzes me.
[Cybling] This is wonderful. I hear the parties have been great as well.
[Cybling] If you have questions for our guest, please just ask. But please, let the guest answer one before asking another. Thanks!
[Terry] They've been fantastic (the parties)
[Cybling] Terry...you're currently the vice president of the SFWA. What's that job like?
[Terry] Well, my primary responsibility is coordinating volunteers. SFWA runs on the great efforts of its volunteers. I make sure they're all doing okay and getting enough support.
[Terry] The talent pool is substantial, and they're fun folks to work with. :)
[Cybling] And you do use a lot of volunteer work for you website I know...what other jobs does the SFWA need done?
[Terry] We have people working on model contracts, and watching for illegal distribution of copyrighted works online...
[Terry] Others arbitrate grievances between writers and publishers, and work on getting our Nebula anthologies out.
[Terry] A lot of work on behalf of writers, protecting our rights and making sure the membership is informed.
[Terry] There are a lot of issues surrounding electronic publishing now, so there are whole new worlds to explore, as it were.
[g]
[Cybling] Hmmm....they watch for illegal distribution via web surfing to varous SF sites around the world. Do you have your own spiders to do that or is it a manual job?
[Terry] It's almost entirely manual right now. A lot of folks putting in hours of their own time.
[Cybling] Sounds like a worthwhile, and probably enjoyable volunteer job.
[Terry] I think it is. That's one nice thing about SF writers...many of them love computers and love to play. Makes a lot of this work extra enjoyable.
[Cybling] Terry, are all of your volunteers made up of the membership of the SFWA?
[Helen] Notsofun when you find a renegade site, though.
[Terry] Probably 98 percent. We have some great folks from the fandom community who help at events like the Nebula weekend.
[Cybling] May I ask what steps the SFWA takes when it finds one of these renegade sites?
[Terry] Helen, true. But the searching can be a challenge that's right up an sf writer's alley.
[Cybling] Hi Mike, have a seat.
[Mike_Glyer] Hi!
[Cybling] Welcome to Chicon!
[Cybling] We're with Terry McGarry right now in the green room.
[Mike_Glyer] Aha! Behind closed doors!
[Terry] SFWA's attorney has a set of steps that she goes through to let the site's owners know that what they're doing is illegal. Our response can go so far as litigation, and has, but we hope that education (the first step) will be enough in a lot of cases.
[Terry] People don't always realize that what they're doing is wrong, and they're appalled to realize that they're harming the writers whose work they love.
[Cybling] Last question on copyright infringement here from me, though folks don't let that stop *you*.
[Terry] :)
[Cybling] Where are most of these renegade sites found? Here in the states or offshore?
[Terry] Both, actually. I'm not certain of the percentage breakdown, tho.
* Helen has a question.
[Terry] Hi, Mike
[Cybling] That's bad news then. Surprising that folks don't understand about copyright.
[Cybling] Helen...go right ahead and ask.
[Cybling] If you have questions for our guest, please just ask. But please, let the guest answer one before asking another. Thanks!
[Helen] When is the book due out?
[Cybling] Ah yes...!
[Terry] My novel ILLUMINATION (my debut book! woohoo!) will be out in the spring. I don't know the exact month yet.
[Terry] hi Tomb
[Cybling] That book is coming out from Tor, correct?
[Terry] Yup! They're great folks to work with, and I'm excited to be on this side of the production process. (Normally I'm on the other side, as a freelance copyeditor.)
[Helen] are you still copyediting?
[Terry] The book is a fantasy...a little commercial, a little literary. We'll see how the combination goes over with readers.
[Terry] Helen, yes. I divide my time equally now between writing and copyediting.
[Terry] (I worked at The New Yorker magazine till last May, so I'm still getting used to the freelance life. Love it so far.)
[Cybling] Terry, you've been writing in the genres for some time now, Fantasy and Horror as well?
[Terry] Yup. My short fiction is a little space adventure, and the rest dark fantasy (horror) and epic fantasy.
[Cybling] Wonderful. Now perhaps you can tell me what the difference between Dark Fantasy...
[Cybling] and Horror is to you.
[Helen] LOL.
[Terry] To me it's actually an important difference. I don't set out to horrify. I'm interested in the supernatural and the frisson of the unknown, not in portraits of cruelty that could and do occur in the real world.
[Cybling] 8^D It seems to be one of those nebulous things Helen, and I'm trying to pin it down.
[Lawrence] Hi folks, greetings from Philadelphia
[Terry] Hi Lawrence
[Tomb] What do you consider your best dark fantasy(Horror) work and what is it about ?
[Helen] I write in the genre as well, so I understand the question all too well.
[Cybling] You did your senior thesis at Princeton about dystopian works, didn't you Terry?
[Helen]
[----in rainy philly too
[Terry] Tomb, my favorite is either "Taibhse" or "Cadenza" (you can read both on my Website!), and both are about how interacting with troubled ghosts helps lonely protagonists solve their own problems.
[Terry] Cybling, I did, back in '84
[Helen] You must have liked sixth sense then. :)
[Terry] I did!
[Cybling] So you're concentrating more on fantasy these days, instead of teh darker SF sub-genres?
[Terry] In novel-length fiction, I am. ILLUMINATION has some very dark elements, and some sfnal worldbuilding, but it's heroic fantasy. I'll still be writing sf and horror short pieces, tho.
[Cybling] Do you have any short pieces scheduled for publication in the near future...
[Cybling] or on the shelves now?
[Cybling] I know you have work on your website, and thanks. Love getting a taste of people's work.
[Terry] "On the shelves" is tough in this industry! But I do have a story, "Mistweaver," in SWORD & SORCERESS 16, which is still in print (an anthology)...
[Terry] ...and I have an SF novelette in the latest issue of *Terra Incognita* magazine, which I highly recommend (the magazine, that is...tho I like the story, too
[g])
[Cybling] Good...that's what I mean. And yes, it is tough these days.
[Terry] I love getting a taste of folks' work, thru the Web and especially at live readings at conventions like this one
[Cybling] Did you get to do a reading this convention?
[Cybling] Of your work?
[Terry] I didn't! It was a sad moment of cross-programming. I had to be at the SFWA business meeting when my reading was scheduled. But the wonderful Lynn Flewelling (I hope I'm not misspelling her!) got my spot.
[Terry] (sigh) the sacrifices we make for SFWA
[G]
[Helen] Will we be hearing something at WFC?
[Cybling] I see you were on one panel... The Physics of Fantasy. From talking with Watt-Evans earlier this weekend I take it the title was a bit misleading.
[Terry] Helen, I sure hope so! I love to read, only second to loving to be read to
[Helen] I'll be there. In the meantime, I do have to run, have a goth event to cover tonight.
[Terry] It was a bit misleading, possibly because dammit, Jim, we're fanasists, not physicists! :)
[Cybling] lololol.
[Terry] nite Helen!
[Helen] I'll read the log.. and see you next week I hope!
[Cybling] Night Helen. Drop by tomorrow morning for more chats here from the Green Room.
[Tomb] i need to go to
[Terry] But I thought a lot of fascinating descriptions came out on the panel, of the fantasy worldbuilding process, and how much you have to explain or justify of "magic."
[Terry] nite Tomb! thanx for stopping by
[Terry] hi cmdr
[Cybling] LOL, I love that line Terry. Dammit Jim, we're fantacists. That's something else I've noticed about this world con...
[Cybling] the mix of fantacists and SFers.
[Cybling] It seems to be more of a 50-50 thing than at local cons.
[Terry] It does, now that you mention it!
[Terry] I love just looking out over the atrium area here, and seeing the variety of writers...all the imagination in those minds, the variety of worlds inside these people...
[Terry] And the readers discussing their own varied interests, among all the social trappings of this wonderful culture and community.
[Terry] It rocks, dude.
[g]
[Cybling] Terry, are you going to be attending the Masquerade tonight in person, or will you be watching it on the closed circuit channel from your hotel room?
[Terry] I hope to attend in person. I love Masquerades, and it's not the same on tape or closed-circuit.
[Terry] The play of light on the costumes is best live.
[Cybling] The detail on some of these costumes is just breathtaking, I agree.
[Terry] The hall costumes are terrific too, and at the Hugos they had the presenters escorted by people in costume. It was a great touch.
[Cybling] Terry. We've kept you duct taped to the hot seat for 1/2 hour now. Thanks so much for joining us out here in chat.
[Terry] LOL! I enjoyed it so much. Thanks for having me!
[Cybling] Hope you enjoy the Masquerade and what's left of the convention!
[Terry] I will! Thanks, all you folks, for coming by.
* Terry smiles and waves
[VeronicaMatrix] Hey cyvling whats the page for the interview schedule??
[Lawrence] oooh, good question