The Jerusalem Rennaissance Festival

Yesterday was the last night of the Renaissance festival, in the Old City of Jerusalem, and I was determined to go. I don't really get out much because finding a babysitter is just so difficult, and my husband works at night and therefore can't stay with the kids while I go out. But I'd never been to a Renaissance festival before and didn't want to miss out on this one, particularly since it's unusual for such an event to take place in the Old City. So my husband got permission to go in to work a little late and I made arrangement to meet up with a friend to go to the festival together. And so I was free...for six whole hours...




The festival turned out to be a lot more low-key than I had expected. Participants were led through the narrow, cobble stone streets of the Old City where actors in costume played out different roles along the way. At the entrance there was a human statue that everyone watched closely, to see if they could catch her moving. Further down was a ragged hunchback with a wooden cart and then three women in Renaissance period dresses, lined up on a set of stairs, singing. When we came to the "slave market" the "merchant" threw a rope around my friend and tried to sell her, but my friend stormed away in a huff when no one was willing to pay more that 25 shekel for her (and I wasn't buying her- I needed my cash).

It continued this way, with different Renaissance characters along the way, leading the audience to an open area with a lighted fountain. There, there was some dancing and a performance with fire and then we were led away towards the Arab market where vendors hawked there wares loudly, trying to take advantage of the surge of potential customers.

I was disappointed that there wasn't any festival food or any booths selling interesting products, other than the usual stuff you would find in the Arab Shuk (pomegranate juice, loaves of bread and glittery knickknacks). But I did still enjoy myself. The best part, though, was actually getting to walk around the Muslim area of the Old City. While I've spent a lot of time in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, which is one of my favorite places in Israel, I've never gotten to go into the Muslim area because it's not safe for Jews there. The Jews that do live in that area are often accompanied by body guards. But tonight everyone was freely walking through all areas of the Old City and I loved getting to look around the parts that I've never gotten to see before. I was particularly surprised to see that there was a large, beautiful fountain in the middle of the Muslim quarter, which I had never known about and was a bit sad to think that it is unlikely I will get to see it again.

All, in all, I had a good time, even though the event didn't quite live up to my expectations. And after my friend and I finished we went to grab some food and I had schwarma for the first time ever (I know, it's crazy. Seven years in Israel and I've never had a schwarma- but I just usually prefer to go with falafel).

Every time I go to one of these Israeli festivals I come away wanting to put together one of my own; an American style one with good food and lots of interactive activities (isn't there supposed to be jousting?) So if anyone reading this wants to join forces with me in putting together a festival here, in Israel, let me know.

And if you have ever attend a Renaissance festival, can you tell me what your favorite thing about it was? I should start taking notes if I want to put together one of my own.

My last night at the ICon

After two wonderful days of book selling fun it was time to pay the piper.

As a volunteer at the ICon I had received a special vendor's discount which meant that despite my less then positive experience as a volunteer earlier in the week, I was still committed to another day of volunteering. That is why, despite only getting four hours of sleep for the past two night, I was up bright and early this morning, and heading once again to Tel Aviv.

But I'm happy to say that today I actually really enjoyed myself. Since I had expressed an interest in the children's events, today I was assigned to the room where these events took place. To my relief, my duties were pretty simple. All I had to do was collect the tickets at the door and help tidy up the room between events. The rest of the time I was free to observe.

When I first entered the room, before the event started, I found a group of young men and women dressed in various costumes milling around and laughing together. But as a group of children was ushered in, each of these girls and guys went to their individual tables where they magically transformed into the characters of pub owner, pirate, drunkard, assassin, thief and strong silent man.

The children were each given some "coins"

by the wizard who was guiding them and were told that they had a mission to complete, which they must do by speaking to each of the figures in the room and fulfilling the tasks assigned to them. Once the children received their instructions, most of them gravitated to the "pub" where they were able to

exchange their coins for a slice of bread with chocolate spread and a cup of juice. Chocolaty bread in hand, the children moved from table to table where they got to gamble with the thief, learn tricks from the pirate, arm wrestle with the strong man and have their fortune told by the gypsy.

The children rushed around the room purposefully, earning coins and picking up clues. Outside of the room, the wizard sat with a group of kids, narrating for them an exciting adventure in which they got to participate, with just the use of dice and some imagination. I watched fascinated, as the costumed ICon volunteers created for these children a world of fantasy and adventure in which each of the kids emerged a hero. One group even came bounding into the room with the head of a beast on a stick, that they had vanquished in battle. The energy and excitement was infectious and I was glad that I had the opportunity to witness it.

I was also amazed by how many incredibly talented individuals there are within the scifi and fantasy community here. One young woman that I met makes beautiful Renaissance style gowns, just for fun, and which her and her friend displayed last night at the ICon. And one guy that I met makes the most amazing foam masks of beasts; a skill that he taught himself. It was one of his beasts that was slayed at the hands of the children and impaled upon a sword.

I returned home tonight tired but satisfied. I had had some reservations, when I had signed up to participate at the ICon, both as a seller and a volunteer. I wasn't sure if it would be worth the time and effort that I would have to put into it, but now I'm really glad I took the chance. I met a lot of great people, sold a lot of great books and I got a revealing glimpse into the Israeli SFF community.

My second day at the ICon, much better then the first

I just got back from my second day at the ICon, where I had an awesome time!

Selling books is much more fun then volunteering (or waiting around to volunteer)

I got to spend a whole day surrounded by books and talking to people about books. I met a lot of new and interesting people (with an emphasis on interesting- this is a con after all) and I even made some money! Nir Yaniv also stopped by my table and signed his book, so now I have an authographed copy of the Tel Aviv Dossier to give away.

Overall, I had a really great time and I look forward to doing it again tomorrow.

Though as I had predicted, I did end up spending a considerable amount of time driving aimlessly around Tel Aviv trying to find my way. For some reason there are no signs around Tel Aviv helpfully pointing drivers towards the freeway. It's as if they don't want anyone to leave. When we stopped to ask for directions people seemed baffled by the fact that we wanted to go to Jerusalem. One conversation went like this (honestly):

"Excuse me sir (OK, I'm not sure about the "sir" part), can you please tell me which direction I would go to get to Jerusalem?"

"You mean the street?"

"No, the city of Jerusalem"

"The city? That's very far away. Are you sure you want to go there?"

"Yes, can you please tell me in which direction to go?"

"But you would have to drive and hour and a half to get there..."

Eventually we convinced the man, despite his better judgement, to point us in the right direction. And it only took us 40 minutes to get to Jerusalem.

Very strange

My Day at the ICon

Yesterday was the first day of the ICon and I was scheduled to volunteer from 6 Pm to 8 PM.I took a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and got to the ICon at 5 PM, which I figured would give me enough time to look around and see if there was anything interesting going on. Ten Minutes later I had determined there nothing interesting was going on.

I had received five free event tickets but none of the lectures interested me and the workshops were all centered on gaming and comics, which don't interest me either. Aside from these events, which took place in closed off rooms throughout the building, there was not much else happening. Groups of teenagers were sprawled all over the place focused on the colorful cards spread out in-front of them. I'm not too familiar with role-playing games, but that seemed to be what was going on here.

I then walked around the vendor area a bit. There were mostly Hebrew books, comics and roleplaying games for sale. And only one person was dressed in costume. Very disappointing.

So I went on the Cinameteque where the film

festival portion takes place, to see if there was anything happening there. But it was mostly just people milling around and more vendors selling games.

I did see the Guest of Honor, Bill Willingham, and I took his picture. I didn't bother to introduce myself since I'm not too familiar with his work as a comic artist and if I talked to him he would probably figure that out pretty quickly. There was some other guy with him who looked vaguely familiar and it wasn't until I got home that I realized I recognized him from my Twitter account, though I have no idea who he is or why I am following him.

As it was now close to 6, I headed back to the

main ICon building to the room I was told to it was my duty to supervise. I peeked in at the five people inside, quietly sketching a drawing that was on the blackboard and wondered what exactly I was supposed to be supervising. But I guess it didn't matter because a moment later I was told that I would not be needed until 7 so I can run along and have fun .

So I retraced mysteps and ended up back at the cinamateque where a small stage had been set up with two fairies, one dancing and one playing the harp. Another fairy stood by a table, to the side, mixing potions.

This was a bit more like it. Though a strange boy in an elf costume made me a little nervous. Outside a couple of people were exchanging blows with plastic swords in front of a small audience. It wasn't the DragonCon but things were looking a bit more interesting.

With nothing else to do, I sat down to read until 7:00, at which point I returned to my assigned post only to be notified that the event I was to supervise had been canceled and my services were not needed after all. Sigh. So I got back on a bus and headed to the bus station and arrived home in a rather foul mood with nothing but a few pictures to show for the day. On the plus side, I did get a lot of reading done.

I'll be back at the ICon tomorrow to sell books though I'm curious to get a look at the children's events that are scheduled to take place.

More ICon pictures:

Guy dressed up as ogre

Bloody stump created at the makeup corner

Picture from the exhibit outside of the Cinameteque

Infiltrating the ICon

The ICon is Israel's big science fiction and fantasy festival, which takes place each year in early October. In past years the ICon has hosted some pretty big names, including Orson Scott Card, Neil Gaiman and Guy Gavriel Kay. This year someone name Bill Willingham will be the Guest of Honor. I've never heard of him. I think he draws comics.

In order to learn more about the inner workings of the Israeli SFF community I've decided to infiltrate the ICon as a "volunteer" which will put me in a position to meet some of the active member of the SFF community who I will discreetly observe. Hopefully this should help me determine what I need to do to get these people to buy books from me. It should be a great learning experience.

I have attended one meeting so far during which I understood nothing of what was said (my Hebrew just wasn't up to task) so I actually have no idea what I am volunteering for. But I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go along. I'm hoping I get to wear a cool headset, or maybe I'll even get a walkie-talkie (even cooler then a headset).

I've never actually been to a SFF festival, even when I lived in America, so I'm really eager to see what they are like. Though I'm sure this one will be a lot more modest in scale then the ones in the US. I expect a lot of craziness and people making fools of themselves in strange costumes. Should be fun.

This coming Sunday is the first day of the ICon, which runs thru Thursday, though the film festival part ends Saturday night.

I'll try to take some pictures of the ICon to post here so that those of you not attending can see what you are missing out one. I'll also be selling books on Tuesday and Wednesday so if you do come, make sure to stop by (and maybe buy a book or two....) .

Tonight also begins one of my favorite holidays, Succot, which runs until Thursday.

The husband and kids are all busy decorating our awesome succah. I'll try to post a picture of the completed results.

Book-A - Day Giveaway (Only in Israel)

In honor of the upcoming ICon 2009 (Oct-4th to Oct. 9th) I will be giving away one free scifi or fantasy book on each day of the festival.

The books in the giveaway include:

Warbreaker
by Brandon Sanderson
Published: June 2009

Synopsis: Epic fantasy heavyweight Sanderson (the Mistborn series) pens a powerful stand-alone tale of unpredictable loyalties, dark intrigue and dangerous magic. To keep a treaty made long ago, the king of Idris must send his daughter to marry Susebron, the God King of Hallandren. Loath to part with his eldest daughter, Vivenna, King Dedelin instead sends his youngest daughter, tomboyish 17-year-old Siri, who struggles to make sense of the schemers and spies in Susebron's court. Hoping to rescue her sister, Vivenna joins a group of Idrian operatives with questionable motives. As Vivenna comes to terms with her magical abilities, resurrected hero Lightsong questions the role of the undead Returned Gods, who command Hallandren's mighty army of zombie soldiers. Sanderson melds complex, believable characters, a marvelous world and thoughtful, ironic humor into an extraordinary and highly entertaining story.

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker -
by Leanna Renee Hieber
Published: Aug. 2009

This book was won by Revi

Synopsis: What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Hidden in the dark heart if Victorian London, the Romanesque school was dreadfully imposing, a veritable fortress, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met its powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadows, of the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She saw simply that she as different, haunted, with her snow white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gift. This arched stone doorway was a portanl to a new life, to an education far from what could be had at a convent-and it was an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death.

Read a review of Strangely Beautiful here

The Tel Aviv Dossier
by Lavie Tidhar and Nir Yaniv
Published: Sept. 2009

Synopsis: Into the city of Tel Aviv the whirlwinds come, and nothing will ever be the same.In a city torn apart by a violence they cannot comprehend, three disparate people—a documentary film-maker, a yeshiva student, and a psychotic fireman—must try to survive, and try to find meaning: even if it means being lost themselves. As Tel Aviv is consumed, a strange mountain rises at the heart of the city, and shows the outline of what may be another, alien world beyond. Can there be redemption there? Can the fevered rumours of a coming messiah be true?

As the city loses contact with the outside world and closes in on itself, as the few surviving children play and scavenge in the ruins, can innocence survive, and is it possible for hope to spring amid such chaos?

A potent mixture of biblical allusions, Lovecraftian echoes, and contemporary culture, The Tel Aviv Dossier is part supernatural thriller, part meditation on the nature of belief—an original and involving novel painted on a vast canvas in which, beneath the despair, humor is never absent.Experience the last days of Tel Aviv...

The Apex Book of World SF
Edited by Lavie Tidhar
Published: Sept. 2009

Synopsis: The world of speculative fiction is expansive; it covers more than one country, one continent, one culture. Collected here are sixteen stories penned by authors from Thailand, the Philippines, China, Israel, Pakistan, Serbia, Croatia, Malaysia, and other countries across the globe. Each one tells a tale breathtakingly vast and varied, whether caught in the ghosts of the past or entangled in a postmodern age. Among the spirits, technology, and deep recesses of the human mind, stories abound. Kites sail to the stars, technology transcends physics, and wheels cry out in the night. Memories come and go like fading echoes and a train carries its passengers through more than simple space and time. Dark and bright, beautiful and haunting, the stories herein represent speculative fiction from a sampling of the finest authors from around the world.

Dead Until Dark
by Charlaine Harris

Synopsis: Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome- and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life...But Bill has a disability of his own: He's a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs out with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of-big surprise-murder. And when one of Sookie's coworker's is killed, she fears she's next..

Hunting Ground

by Patricia Briggs (Please note: This copy of the book is an early addition that I received from the agent and did not yet have the cover image put on it. As such, the cover only contains the title and author, not the image that you see on the left. This can be a definite advantage if you are reading it in public and don't want strangers peeking over to see what you are reading)

Synopsis: Mated to werewolf Charles Cornick, the son -and enforcer -of the leader of the North American werewolves, Anna Latham now knows how dangerous being a werewolf is, especially when a werewolf opposes Charles and his father is struck down. Charles's reputation makes him the prime suspect, and the penalty for the crime is execution. Now Anna and Charles must combine their talents to hunt down the real killer -or Charles will take the fall.

Read a review of Hunting Ground

The Warded Man
by Peter Brett
Published: March 2009

Synopsis As darkness falls each night, the corelings rise–demons who well up from the ground like hellish steam, taking on fearsome form and substance. They possess supernatural strength and powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards–symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and mystery, and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile.

Night by night the demons grow stronger, while human numbers dwindle under their relentless assault.
Now, with hope for the future fading, three young survivors of vicious demon attacks will dare the impossible, stepping beyond the crumbling safety of the wards to risk everything in a desperate quest to regain the secrets of the past.

The Dreaming Void
by Peter Hamilton

Synopsis: The year is 3589, fifteen hundred years after Commonwealth forces barely staved off human extinction in a war against the alien Prime. Now an even greater danger has surfaced: a threat to the existence of the universe itself.
At the very heart of the galaxy is the Void, a self-contained microuniverse that cannot be breached, cannot be destroyed, and cannot be stopped as it steadily expands in all directions, consuming everything in its path: planets, stars, civilizations. The Void has existed for untold millions of years. Even the oldest and most technologically advanced of the galaxy’s sentient races, the Raiel, do not know its origin, its makers, or its purpose.

But then Inigo, an astrophysicist studying the Void, begins dreaming of human beings who live within it. Inigo’s dreams reveal a world in which thoughts become actions and dreams become reality. Inside the Void, Inigo sees paradise. Thanks to the gaiafield, a neural entanglement wired into most humans, Inigo’s dreams are shared by hundreds of millions–and a religion, the Living Dream, is born, with Inigo as its prophet. But then he vanishes.

Suddenly there is a new wave of dreams. Dreams broadcast by an unknown Second Dreamer serve as the inspiration for a massive Pilgrimage into the Void. But there is a chance that by attempting to enter the Void, the pilgrims will trigger a catastrophic expansion, an accelerated devourment phase that will swallow up thousands of worlds.

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The winners of each day's drawing will get to choose which book they would like to receive, from the books available.

Winners will be chosen through Random.org

This contest is open to Israeli residents only.

To Enter the Book Giveaway

To enter the book drawing all you have to do is sign up for my mailing list
which, in addition to giving you the opportunity of winning one of these awesome books, will also inform you of updates to my website and provide you with interesting scifi and fantasy news.

Additional Entries

To receive a second entry into the book drawing, help promote the giveaway through Twitter. The message should say something like this: "Book-A-Day Giveaway. Win free Scifi and Fantasy books. In Israel only! #42SFF" Make sure to include a link to this blog post and the hashtag #42SFF so that I will know you Tweeted the message. You can also leave me a message, here on the blog, letting me know that you tweeted it, just to make sure.

You can receive a third entry into the drawing by visiting my table at the Icon, on Oct. 6th and 7th, where the books in the contest will be displayed, so that you may view them in all their glory. I will also be selling second-hand science fiction and fantasy books there, most of which you can browse through on my website 42SciFi-Fantasy.com.

The Book drawing will begin on the first day of the ICon, October 4th though you can enter the drawing up until October 8th, though I suggest you don't wait so long because you will miss out on winning from the full selection of books.

For more information about the ICon, visit www.42scifi-fantasy.com/ICon.html