Readercon 9 program
(M) = Moderator (+M) = Participant Moderator
FRI. 06:00 PM: Fiction As Alternate Personal History.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Esther M. Friesner, Ellen Kushner (+M), Katya Reimann, Jasmine Sailing, Allen Steele, Cecilia Tan
Often, when we write fiction, we are writing alternate versions of our own lives. This may be less obvious in f&sf, but is it any less true? To what extent is this conscious or unconscious?
FRI. 06:00 PM: Werehumans: Transformation As Theme.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Algis Budrys, Hal Clement, Angela Kessler, Joseph Mayhew (+M), Elizabeth Willey
It is very common in fantasy and science fantasy for humans to transform themselves into animals, but what about the reverse? In _The Last Unicorn_, the title character is for a time transformed into a human, and is terrified by the loss of her essential nature. What are the uses of animal-to-humanoid transformation and to what extent can we find this theme going back through the history of these genres?
FRI. 06:00 PM: The Art of Memory.
Chautauqua (60 min) (Empire)
Jennifer K. Stevenson
Soup up that old brain pan with this ancient scholastic pedagogical method. Find out why the Art was banned, and how Freud reinvented its mechanism by turning it inside out.
FRI. 06:00 PM:
Reading (60 min) (Nugget)
Eleanor Arnason
Eleanor Arnason reads from her work.
FRI. 07:00 PM: Treating Films and Comics As Text.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Severna Park, Samuel R. Delany (+M), Connie Hirsch, Jonathan Lethem, Teresa Nielsen Hayden
It's the latest rage in academia: literature doesn't have to be written and read. Films and comics can be regarded as texts, and subjected to the same sort of analyses as written literature.
FRI. 07:00 PM: Out of Print But Not Forgotten.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Bryan Cholfin, David G. Hartwell (+M), Lissanne Lake, Edward McFadden, Kim Stanley Robinson, Gordon Van Gelder
Grania Davis has informally instituted the Avram Davidson Award for the genre book which most deserves or needs to be back in print. This seems like a good excuse to discuss a favorite topic.
FRI. 07:00 PM: The Gendered Panel: How Gender Affects Our Perceptions of SF.
Discussion (60 min) (Empire)
Delia Sherman, Sarah Smith
FRI. 07:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Michael A. Burstein
Michael A. Burstein reads ``The Spider in the Hairdo.''
FRI. 07:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Candas Jane Dorsey
Candas Jane Dorsey reads ``Turtles All the Way Down.''
FRI. 07:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Donald Kingsbury
FRI. 07:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Lawrence Schimel
FRI. 07:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Paul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo reads from his forthcoming novel, _Ciphers_.
FRI. 07:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Ann Tonsor Zeddies
Ann Tonsor Zeddies reads from ``Riders of Leviathan,'' a work in progress.
FRI. 08:00 PM: The Science Fiction of Cyril M. Kornbluth.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Algis Budrys, Andy Duncan (+M), Michael Kandel, Barry Malzberg, Mark Rich, Tim Szczesuil
FRI. 08:00 PM: Happily Ever After.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Charles Oberndorf, Esther M. Friesner, Ellen Kushner (+M), Paul Park, Robert J. Sawyer
Happy familes may all be alike, but happy endings are not---some are definitely more satisfying than others. To what extent must a happy ending be earned? How does an author make the ending appropriate to the book (or is it the other way around)?
FRI. 08:00 PM: David Foster Wallace's _Infinite Jest_.
Discussion (60 min) (Empire)
Cecilia Tan
FRI. 08:00 PM:
Reading (60 min) (Nugget)
Geary Gravel
Geary Gravel reads from his novel in progress, _The Changelings_.
FRI. 08:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson reads from her forthcoming novel, _Brown Girl in the Ring_.
FRI. 08:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
John Crowley
FRI. 08:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Jeff Hecht
FRI. 08:00 PM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Katya Reimann
FRI. 08:00 PM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Allen Steele
FRI. 08:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
F. Brett Cox
F. Brett Cox reads from his work.
FRI. 09:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. Delany reads various things.
FRI. 09:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer reads from his work.
FRI. 09:00 PM: How I Wrote _As She Climbed Across the Table_.
Presentation (30 min) (Empire)
Jonathan Lethem
FRI. 10:00 PM: Meet the Pros(e) Party
Special Event (Autumn & Viking)
SAT. 10:00 AM: How March the Morons?: Satiric SF.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Algis Budrys, Paul Di Filippo, Barry Malzberg, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Mark Rich (+M)
We recently overheard someone opine that the awful warning satirically inherent in C.M. Kornbluth's ``The Marching Morons'' had proven to be unwarranted. Funny, we had just been thinking exactly the opposite. And while there's no evidence that the average I.Q. has dropped significantly, something in Kornbluth's masterpiece rings true today. SF satire frequently lampoons things which haven't happened yet, and which may come ``true'' in ways unforeseen by the writer and contemporary readers. Kornbluth anticipated the ``dumbing down'' of America (i.e., the decline not in intelligence but in knowledge), but he got all the details wrong. Our panelists will discuss sf satire, beginning with this story.
SAT. 10:00 AM: The Moon Is No One's Mistress Anymore.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Michael A. Burstein, F. Brett Cox (+M), Ed Meskys, Allen Steele, Jean-Louis Trudel
There was a time when the Moon and Mars were both special settings for sf. But the recent resurgence of fictional interest in the Red Planet has not been matched by any similar boom in lunar fiction. Is there simply a ``been there, done that'' element intrinsic to sf? Or has Mars proven to be a genuinely more interesting place? Will the recent discovery of frozen water at the moon's South Pole help even the score?
SAT. 10:00 AM: The Suicide Club, or the New Arabian Nights.
Chautauqua (60 min) (Empire)
John Crowley
John Crowley speaks on divers topics of interest to the assembly, and of the smaller worlds within the large.
SAT. 10:00 AM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Esther M. Friesner
Esther M. Friesner reads ``Miss Thing.''
SAT. 10:00 AM:
Reading (60 min) (Wellington)
Rosemary Kirstein
Rosemary Kirstein reads from her novel in progress, _The Lost Steersman_.
SAT. 10:00 AM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Daniel P. Dern
SAT. 10:00 AM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Shariann Lewitt
SAT. 10:00 AM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Kim Stanley Robinson
SAT. 10:30 AM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Andy Duncan
Andy Duncan reads from ``The Map to the Homes of the Stars,'' from the forthcoming anthology _Dying For It_.
SAT. 11:00 AM: Critical Theory: Means or End?
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Samuel R. Delany, David G. Hartwell (+M), Ken Houghton, Shariann Lewitt, Lance Olsen, Kim Stanley Robinson
A lot of highly intelligent readers seem to get along without knowing any critical theory. Doesn't this suggest that knowing theory may not be necessary to understanding fiction? Do we practice critical theory because it makes us better readers, or just because we like to exercise our brains that way? How does knowing theory affect the experience of reading fiction?
SAT. 11:00 AM: Saturday Morning Live: Other Early Influences.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Delia Sherman (M), Scott Edelman, Esther M. Friesner, Craig Shaw Gardner, Geary Gravel, Robert J. Sawyer
In past panels we've explored the influence of both our early reading and early life experiences on our fiction. We thought that covered it, but what about Astroboy, Rocky and Bullwinkle, the Legion of Superheroes, or Mr. Machine? For many of us, our first exposure to the genre came from cartoons, comic books, or even toys. A possibly nostalgic look back.
SAT. 11:00 AM: Scientific SF: Hard Sciences and Life Sciences.
Discussion (60 min) (Empire)
Eleanor Arnason
SAT. 11:00 AM: A Kornbluth Family Home Video.
Presentation (Con Suite)
Mark Rich
This video will also be shown at other times during the convention without commentary.
SAT. 11:00 AM:
Reading (60 min) (Wellington)
Joseph Mayhew
Joseph Mayhew reads ``Rufus Kane.''
SAT. 11:00 AM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Yves Meynard
Yves Meynard reads from his forthcoming novel, _The Book of Knights_.
SAT. 11:00 AM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Katya Reimann
SAT. 11:00 AM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Hal Clement
SAT. 11:00 AM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Gregory Maguire
SAT. 11:00 AM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Darrell Schweitzer
SAT. 11:30 AM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Greer Gilman
Greer Gilman reads from her work.
SAT. 12:00 N: The Career of Algis Budrys.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Daniel P. Dern, Thomas A. Easton, David G. Hartwell (+M), Barry Malzberg
SAT. 12:00 N: Updating Your ``Real Year.''
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Jeffrey A. Carver, John Clute, Kathryn Cramer, John Crowley, Donald G. Keller (+M)
In the Jan. '91 _New York Review of Science Fiction_, John Clute posits that every sf text, regardless of the year it claims to be set in, has an underlying ``real year'' which shines through, the secret point in time that gives the work its flavor. The closer the ``real year'' is to the present, the more cutting-edge the fiction reads; but most authors have a characteristic real year, one often based upon key childhood or adolescent experience and concerns. Is it possible to forcibly update your real year, in order to write sharper fiction? Doesn't the real year actually have two different elements, a scientific/technological one and a social/cultural one, differently amenable to updating and requiring different revision techniques?
SAT. 12:00 N:
Reading (60 min) (Wellington)
Catherine Asaro
Catherine Asaro reads from _Catch the Lightning_.
SAT. 12:00 N:
Reading (60 min) (Nugget)
Michael Kandel
Michael Kandel reads ``Wading River Dogs and More.''
SAT. 12:00 N:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Samuel R. Delany
SAT. 12:00 N:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Andy Duncan
SAT. 12:00 N:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Jonathan Lethem
SAT. 12:00 N:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Paul T. Riddell
SAT. 12:00 N: How I Wrote _Wind From a Foreign Sky_.
Presentation (30 min) (Empire)
Katya Reimann
SAT. 12:30 PM: How I Wrote _The Tranquillity Alternative_.
Presentation (30 min) (Empire)
Allen Steele
SAT. 01:00 PM: The Emotional Palette of Horror.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Don D'Ammassa, Ellen Datlow, Craig Shaw Gardner, Elizabeth Hand, Darrell Schweitzer, Stanley Wiater (+M)
Terror and horror are not quite the same thing, and they just scratch the surface of the emotions the horror writer can choose to elicit. There's also creepiness, spookiness, apprehension, and disgust, for starters. We will look at some classic and contemporary horror fiction in terms of the emotions they favor. Is it possible for horror writers to wield conscious control over these different effects, evoking one or another as deemed appropriate?
SAT. 01:00 PM: Tea for Three (or Four, or Five...): Marriage in F&SF.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Algis Budrys, Shira Daemon (+M), Candas Jane Dorsey, Donald Kingsbury, Shariann Lewitt, Cecilia Tan
Imaginative literature is a wonderful venue for exploring alternate formal or official relationships among partners. It's hard to resist the opportunity to write about power, economics, sex, love, various genders, and aliens. What are the trends and where is the literature headed? Unlike most issues that sf has explored, however, there has been almost no normative change in the real world. Has this stasis affected fiction?
SAT. 01:00 PM: Bad Craziness: Society, Subversion, and Speculative Fictions.
Discussion (60 min) (Empire)
Jasmine Sailing (+M), The Joey Zone, Paul Di Filippo, Lance Olsen
SAT. 01:00 PM:
Reading (60 min) (Nugget)
Anita Dobbs
Anita Dobbs reads ``Gomez'' by C.M. Kornbluth.
SAT. 01:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Jeff Hecht
Jeff Hecht reads ``The Saucer Man.''
SAT. 01:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Esther M. Friesner
SAT. 01:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Ellen Kushner
SAT. 01:00 PM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Eleanor Arnason
SAT. 01:00 PM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Paul Park
SAT. 01:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Felicity Savage
Felicity Savage reads from her forthcoming novel, _The War in the Raw_.
SAT. 02:00 PM: History and Fictional History.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Ellen Asher, John Crowley, Leigh Grossman, Alexander Jablokov (+M), Kim Stanley Robinson, Delia Sherman
Certain things in fiction are, by convention and for good reason, not strictly realistic---dialogue, for instance, is a highly edited version of real speech. Is history one of these things? When we devise a fictional history (either an alternate past or a history of the future), can and should it represent the way history really works (choose your own theory), or is doing so antithetical to good fiction? Isn't the dramatic structure we look for in most novels absent from real history?
SAT. 02:00 PM: The Influence of Magazine Editors.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Bryan Cholfin, Ellen Datlow, Scott Edelman, Warren Lapine, Gordon Van Gelder (+M)
Once upon a time John W. Campbell was arguably the most influential person in the entire field. How much influence do magazine editors have today? Why have things changed?
SAT. 02:00 PM: The Contemporary New York Rock Scene.
Chautauqua (60 min) (Empire)
Donald G. Keller
Don Keller, author/publisher of _The Still Point_ music criticism zine, will play ``drop the needle'' and hold forth on trends and remarkable new voices in the New York rock scene.
SAT. 02:00 PM:
Reading (60 min) (Nugget)
Charles Oberndorf
Charles Oberndorf reads a novella in progress, ``Jennifer Jules.''
SAT. 02:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Katya Reimann
Katya Reimann reads from her work.
SAT. 02:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Geary Gravel, Cortney Skinner, Ann Tonsor Zeddies
SAT. 02:00 PM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Jeffrey A. Carver
SAT. 02:00 PM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Thomas A. Easton
SAT. 02:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Severna Park
Severna Park reads from _Speaking Dreams_, her new novel.
SAT. 03:00 PM: Reality and Dream in Fiction.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Richard Bowes, John Clute, Elizabeth Hand, Jonathan Lethem, Katya Reimann (+M), Jennifer K. Stevenson
``It seems almost like a dream that has slowly faded.'' ``Not to me,'' said Frodo. ``To me it seems more like falling asleep again.'' Some books create a world so engaging and convincing it seems more real than reality. Others (e.g., Gene Wolfe's _There Are Doors_) seem like dreams from which we awaken. What elements in fiction create these disparate effects? Are they mutually exclusive?
SAT. 03:00 PM: The Declining SF Readership.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Fred Lerner (M), Eleanor Arnason, David G. Hartwell, Barry Malzberg, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Charles C. Ryan
Readership of speculative fiction is in decline. Actually, readership of just about everything is in decline. Is sf suffering more, because its special appeal is being uniquely met by the media? If this is so, does it also provide unique opportunities to reverse the trend? How could we do this?
SAT. 03:00 PM: Me---You Got a Problem With That?: Appropriateness or Lack of Appropriateness of Identity Politics in SF.
Discussion (60 min) (Empire)
Samuel R. Delany
SAT. 03:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Hal Clement
Hal Clement reads a chapter of _Close to Critical_.
SAT. 03:00 PM:
Reading (60 min) (Wellington)
Paul T. Riddell
Paul T. Riddell reads ``An Assemblage of Gibberish.''
SAT. 03:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Kim Stanley Robinson
SAT. 03:00 PM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Esther M. Friesner
SAT. 03:00 PM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Lance Olsen
SAT. 03:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Kurt Roth
Kurt Roth reads from his forthcoming story ``The Gest of Sir Brandiles.''
SAT. 04:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Ellen Brody
Ellen Brody reads ``The Luckiest Man in Denv'' by C.M. Kornbluth.
SAT. 04:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Cecilia Tan
Cecilia Tan reads from her forthcoming collection, _Black Feathers: Erotic Dreams_.
SAT. 04:00 PM: How I Wrote _Celestis_.
Presentation (30 min) (Empire)
Paul Park
SAT. 04:30 PM: A. J. Budrys Interview.
Special Event (60 min) (Autumn & Viking)
Algis Budrys, Joseph Mayhew
SAT. 05:30 PM: Kim Stanley Robinson Interview.
Special Event (60 min) (Autumn & Viking)
Kim Stanley Robinson, David G. Hartwell
SAT. 08:30 PM: The Tenth or Eleventh Non-Annual Kirk Poland Memorial Bad Prose Competition.
Special Event (Autumn & Viking)
Rosemary Kirstein, Scott Edelman, Craig Shaw Gardner (+M), Geary Gravel, Eric M. Van (+M)
SUN. 10:00 AM: The Two Worlds of Fantasy.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
John Clute, Gregory Maguire, Yves Meynard, Lawrence Schimel (+M), Ann Tonsor Zeddies
There is a large body of fantasy fiction which can be regarded and marketed equally well as young adult/children's fiction or as adult fiction. Is this phenomenon unique to fantasy, or just more common to it? What makes a book work in both worlds? Are the best examples of this genre designed for both children and adults? Does everyone get the same thing from these books, and if so, why the distinction between them?
SUN. 10:00 AM: Rereading.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
John Crowley, Don D'Ammassa, Samuel R. Delany, Lise Eisenberg (+M), Elizabeth Willey
Why do we reread some books but not others? How is the rereading experience different from the initial one? How does it differ depending on how thoroughly we remember the text? Why do we want to revisit specific stories?
SUN. 10:00 AM: Bookaholics Anonymous Annual Meeting.
Discussion (60 min) (Empire)
Leigh Grossman (M)
SUN. 10:00 AM:
Reading (60 min) (Nugget)
Shariann Lewitt
Shariann Lewitt reads from her work.
SUN. 10:00 AM:
Reading (60 min) (Wellington)
Lance Olsen
Lance Olsen reads from _Freak Nest_, his novel in progress.
SUN. 10:00 AM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Algis Budrys
SUN. 10:00 AM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Andy Duncan
SUN. 10:00 AM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
John Morressy
SUN. 11:00 AM: The Science Fiction of Kim Stanley Robinson.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Charles Oberndorf (+M), Gordon Van Gelder
SUN. 11:00 AM: Work and Play: Inspiration vs. Execution.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Eleanor Arnason, Jonathan Lethem, Gregory Maguire, Rebecca Ore, Darrell Schweitzer (+M)
In the production of a new work, what is the core of the writing process? Is it hitting upon original ideas, doing the research, the actual wordsmithing, revising the manuscript, or lunching with editors? Which aspects of the creative process most engage and challenge each writer? Which of these are fun and which work? Do different attitudes stem from different approaches? Are there learnable techniques to make the work parts more fun? What turns a good idea into good writing?
SUN. 11:00 AM: Walt Kelly's Pogo.
Discussion (60 min) (Empire)
Daniel P. Dern, David G. Hartwell
SUN. 11:00 AM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Thomas A. Easton
Thomas A. Easton reads ``To Hurt the One You Love.''
SUN. 11:00 AM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Paul Park
Paul Park reads from his work.
SUN. 11:00 AM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Rosemary Kirstein
SUN. 11:00 AM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
John Morressy
SUN. 11:00 AM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Hal Clement
SUN. 11:00 AM:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Ellen Datlow
SUN. 11:30 AM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Donald Kingsbury
Donald Kingsbury reads a chapter from _Historical Crisis_.
SUN. 11:30 AM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Jennifer K. Stevenson
Jennifer K. Stevenson reads from _Trash, Sex, Magic_.
SUN. 12:00 N: Critical Theory: One or Many?
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Lance Olsen (M), F. Brett Cox, Kathryn Cramer, Samuel R. Delany, Michael Kandel, Donald G. Keller
Some readers adopt a single critical approach to literature and then apply it to everything they read. But one can argue that Darko Suvin's Marxist analysis of ``Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' is just plain wrong---in fact, really stupid. This implies that different books are variously subject to analysis by different approaches or theories. Is it possible to learn a variety of approaches, and to use the right one with each new book? Or are we better off mastering a single approach, and risking the occasional misprision?
SUN. 12:00 N: My Version of X.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Paul Di Filippo, Alexander Jablokov, Paul T. Riddell (+M), Robert J. Sawyer, Felicity Savage
Sometimes the genesis of a novel is no more complicated than ``it's my version of ________.'' (Two classic examples are Brian Aldiss's _Non-Stop_, his version of Heinlein's _Orphans of the Sky_, and _The Forever War_, Joe Haldeman's version of _Starship Troopers_.) Writers who've used this shortcut will share their experiences, and discuss the special challenges and advantages of this approach.
SUN. 12:00 N: New Directions in Painting from the Past.
Presentation (60 min) (Empire)
Cortney Skinner, Geary Gravel
SUN. 12:00 N:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Connie Hirsch
Connie Hirsch reads ``Wonderland Express'' from _Fantastic Alice_.
SUN. 12:00 N:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Mark Rich
Mark Rich reads ``Ashes of Penis Thrown to Sea'' and other short, weird pieces.
SUN. 12:00 N:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Scott Edelman
SUN. 12:00 N:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Paul Park
SUN. 12:00 N:
Autograph (60 min) (Baldwin/Chandler)
Algis Budrys
SUN. 12:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Jeff VanderMeer
Jeff VanderMeer reads from his novella ``Dradin, In Love.''
SUN. 12:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Elizabeth Willey
Elizabeth Willey reads from her work.
SUN. 01:00 PM: Landscape As Character.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Hal Clement, Greer Gilman, Rosemary Kirstein, Rebecca Ore, Kim Stanley Robinson, Sarah Smith (+M)
In certain fiction, the landscape plays such a prominent role that in effect it has the status of a major character. This is an element that cuts across genre, important in the western as well as in sf. How does this use of landscape differ among genres? What are the risks and advantages to giving the landscape such a prominent role, and what are the techniques of doing so successfully?
SUN. 01:00 PM: Nanotechnology and Clarke's Law.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Catherine Asaro, Michael A. Burstein, Daniel P. Dern, Glenn Grant (+M), Daniel Hatch
When Arthur C. Clarke wrote that ``any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,'' he anticipated by thirty or forty years the explosion of stories using nanotechnology. To what extent has nanotechnology become a catch-all explanation for devices that border on the magical? What techniques can be used to maintain a hard-sf feel in a story with such miraculous gizmos?
SUN. 01:00 PM: Serotonin and Its Friends: How Brain Chemicals Determine Personality and Conscious States.
Chautauqua (30 min) (Empire)
Eric M. Van
Eric M. Van previews his Ph.D. thesis (due circa 2004). Learn which extant personality system actually bears some relationship to neurochemical reality (all its competitors being completely bogus---the psychiatric profession will not be pleased) and the real reason opinionated people talk loudly.
SUN. 01:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Steven J. Frank
Steven J. Frank reads from his forthcoming novel, _The Uncertainty Principle_.
SUN. 01:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Ellen Kushner
Ellen Kushner reads from her work.
SUN. 01:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Ellen Datlow
SUN. 01:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Joseph Mayhew
SUN. 01:30 PM: The Native Vampire Belief: No Revival in Sight.
Chautauqua (30 min) (Empire)
Faye Ringel
Apparently the belief in vampires was current in New England between the period of arrival of immigrants and the period of the many theatrical productions of Stoker's novel. Faye keeps digging up more examples of Lovecraftian backwoodsers who took vampires seriously.
SUN. 01:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
John Morressy
John Morressy reads a chapter from his new novel, _The Apprentice and the Wizards_.
SUN. 01:30 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Lawrence Schimel
Lawrence Schimel reads ``Take Back the Night'': an all-night feminist bookstore, werewolf lesbian avengers, and a hot summer night...
SUN. 02:00 PM: Sympathy for the Doubtful.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Samuel R. Delany, Andy Duncan, Ellen Kushner (+M), Barry Malzberg, Jeff VanderMeer
Sometimes our protagonists have potentially dislikable personality traits, e.g., Bron in _Trouble on Triton_, Severian in _The Book of the New Sun_. How do you create the necessary reader sympathy for (or identification with) a character whom we might not even want as a friend?
SUN. 02:00 PM: Driven to Tears.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
F. Brett Cox, Paul Di Filippo, Lise Eisenberg (+M), Ann Kennedy, Yves Meynard
Most of us are moved literally to tears (or other intense emotional reaction) by the books we read. But by which parts of which books? Many a Tolkien devotee, for instance, will admit to crying at the end, but which page -- which paragraph, even -- is the one that gets you every time? It's different for everyone and potentially very revealing.
SUN. 02:00 PM:
Reading (60 min) (Nugget)
Algis Budrys
Algis Budrys reads from his work.
SUN. 02:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Wellington)
Barry B. Longyear
Barry B. Longyear reads the opening of his forthcoming novel, _The Last Enemy_.
SUN. 02:00 PM: How I Wrote _Memento Mori_.
Presentation (30 min) (Empire)
Shariann Lewitt
SUN. 02:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Paul T. Riddell
SUN. 02:00 PM:
Kaffeeklatsch (60 min) (York)
Warren Lapine
SUN. 02:30 PM: How I Wrote _Glimmering_.
Presentation (30 min) (Empire)
Elizabeth Hand
SUN. 03:00 PM: Explicit and Implicit.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Teresa Nielsen Hayden (M), Catherine Asaro, Steven J. Frank, John Morressy, Paul Park, Paul T. Riddell
Writing is what you don't say as much as what you say. Are there rules of thumb for what one ought to leave out, and what one must include? (You'd have a fat chance of winning the best-novel Hugo if you left out the protagonist's name, but the Nebula---no problem.)
SUN. 03:00 PM: Mystery Fiction for SF Readers.
Panel (60 min) (Autumn)
Alexander Jablokov, Barry Malzberg, Felicity Savage, David Alexander Smith (+M), Sarah Smith
Certain elements which occur often in mystery fiction have an intrinsic appeal to readers of speculative fiction. Examples include the use of cultures foreign to the reader and/or protagonist (e.g., the novels of Tony Hillerman), and the use of conceptual breakthrough structures, in which layers of corruption or deceit are peeled away, each bringing with it a complete re-ordering of reality (e.g., Dashiell Hammett's _Red Harvest_). Using these insights, can we identify which mystery writers will be most enjoyed by sf readers?
SUN. 03:00 PM: Science and Science Fiction.
Discussion (60 min) (Empire)
Kim Stanley Robinson
SUN. 03:00 PM:
Reading (30 min) (Nugget)
Delia Sherman
Delia Sherman reads from her novel in progress, _The Freedom Maze_.
SUN 04:00 PM: Readercon Critique.
Panel (60 min) (Viking)
Readercon Staff
Come tell us what things about this year's Readercon were stellar, even galactic, and what things earned your undiluted floccinaucinihilipilification. Opinions and comments between these two extremes are also welcome.
SAT. 10:00 AM: Spacecraft Writers Closed Workshop.
Closed Writers' Workshop (2 hrs) (Alexander)
Jeff Hecht
SAT. 08:30 AM: Closed Workshop.
Closed Writers' Workshop (3.5 hrs) (Cortland)
David Alexander Smith