Debra Doyle and James MacDonald (known universally as "Doyle and MacDonald") are a husband-and-wife writing team who do sprawling space opera and high fantasy books. Friendly, intelligent, and witty, they were excellent GOHs.
Don, Lisa Barnett, and Melissa Scott got to play on a Carl Cipra-moderated panel entitled "Is Writing Obsolete?" and again on "What is a Valid Role Model?" with the same cast. In addition, Lisa and Don were joined by Michael Short to discuss "Writing and Editing -- Two Sides of the Same Coin?" Don moderated a panel called "Celtic Influences on Fantasy and Science Fiction," with Christie Golden, Katherine Kurtz, and Scott MacMillan. Don also appeared on "Stereotypical Villains" with Doyle, MacDonald, Katherine Kurtz, and Melissa -- again moderated by the ever-popular Carl Cipra. (The panelists began by saying that they were here to talk about the topic, not to serve as examples of the topic.)
The real fun of this con, though, came at halftime of the Masquerade. Costumer Deborah Feaster, aided and abetted by Don and some other friends, presented songs from a Darkover version of West Side Story (they were billed as "The Thendara Street Players.") The parody lyrics were hilarious, and enough lyric sheets were distributed to allow the audience to sing along (just as good, since none of it had been practiced.)
One song that was vetoed, at least from public performance,
was Don's Mercedes filksong. There
were, however, several spirited renditions of the song later at
the Cedar Grove Movement Soiree and Sock Hop.
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