What did it look like when our ancestors created and wore costumes?
Heather Rose Jones
Event session
People always ask, "Where do your ideas come from?" Sometimes they do it because they want to find some of their own.
In works like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Thomas M. Disch's Camp Concentration, and Michael Swanwick's Jack Faust, we see modern reflections of the old Faust myth -- a tale that has a lot of resonance for SF and F, where knowledge is generally considered a virtue, or a noble goal, rather than something to be pursued only with great care. What other examples of the Faust myth do we have in the SFnal world, and how does our treatment of it over time change, and what does that tell us about who we are, and who we want to be?
Have you found yourself depressed lately, and wanting to read a book where you were guaranteed that the protagonist and their allies would survive the book in good cheer and all the villains would get their comeuppance? You might be surprised to learn that there's a genre for that--the misguidedly scorned (contemporary) romance novel. But what are romance novels really like? Why should you start reading them if you're not already? What does toxic masculinity have to do with the perception of romance novels and their enthusiasts?
Among many other qualities, Shakespeare was a master of using plays within his plays to amplify his themes and plot arcs. This technique of self-reference has been used for dramatic and comedic effect in many works. Orson Scott Card had Ender Wiggin playing through a story game that ultimately tied into and reflected his "real life" story; P.C.
This panel discusses what asexuality is and is not, and proposes ways for authors to explore this overlooked orientation in their characters. Is it enough that a character has no on-page sex life, or should asexuality be more positively portrayed? Asexuality in real-time fandom and asexual characters in fiction and media may also be discussed as time allows.
Excerpts from "Gifts Tell Truth", a story that will be appearing in the next Lace and Blade anthology edited by Deborah J. Ross and coming out in February 2018. This is an Alpennia short story about Jeanne de Cherdillac's adventures with a French spy during the Napoleonic occupation of Alpennia.
This comment about Elizabeth Warren's refusal to be silenced during a Senate session were meant as an explanation for how Warren's behavior was unacceptable. Instead, they quickly became a feminist battle cry, celebrating women who never gave up in a system stacked against them. In this panel, we talk about the badass women in history who Got Shit Done.
Research is a key ingredient in good storytelling, as many writers tell you. When the character knows something you don't or the world works in a way that's beyond your current knowledge, accurate details are a must. What do you do when your character knows the ins and outs of a subject when you can only absorb the cliffnotes? How do you build a world's political climate when you flunked government class? Where do you even start researching, and how do you know what you're looking for?
Participants and moderators-to-be will consider how to help foster discussion, guide a conversation, avoid a runaway panel, and bring more voices into the discussion when it comes time to share the mic. Keeping yourself organized, queuing up comments and questions, and discouraging premature audience participation will also be discussed.
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