Just got my Readercon schedule…
Just got back from the Saturday shopping and found my Readercon schedule in my email. Here’s what I’m going to be involved in. Of course, we’re arriving on Thursday early evening hopefully in time to get our table set up in the Dealer’s Room. SFRevu usually has a table at Readercon and we’d love to have your stop by and say “Hello!”.
The discussions I’ve been put on sound like they could be very interesting. I’m already gathering some thoughts together. [But with my brain function lately once I’m there I’m simply hoping all my ideas don’t fall out my ear while I’m sleeping and get smashed into my pillow. This has been, so far, a very bad migraine month but I have hope of things getting better.] My schedule:
Sunday 12:00 Noon, RI: Discussion (60 min.)
You Got Spec Fic in My Romance! (And Vice Versa!) Victoria Janssen (L) with Nina Harper, Mary Kay Kare, Terry McGarry, Gayle Surrette, Nancy Werlin, …
One of the hottest romance sub-genres at the moment is paranormal, which encompasses everything from vampires to valkyries, werewolves to gargoyles, men who are cursed and women who carry demons on their skin. Many of the more recent paranormals, such as those by Patricia Briggs and Eileen Wilks, arguably have more fantasy than romance. Is paranormal “true” speculative fiction? How often do readers cross genres? Are paranormal romances and speculative fiction showing cross-genre pollination in their content?
Sunday 2:00 PM, ME/ CT: Talk / Discussion (60 min.) Magic and Myth in Human Culture and Fantastic Fiction. Judith Berman and Sarah Micklem with discussion by Andrea Hairston, Elaine Isaak, Michaela Roessner, Sarah Smith, Gayle Surrette, Sonya Taaffe, Ann Tonsor Zeddies, et al
Within our cultures, humans create consensus views of what is real and what is not, and these views are both explanations and operational (curses, oracles; germs, electricity). The modern scientific model of reality excludes the beliefs and experiences of many people around the world, not to mention in most of human history. How do we, as writers, step outside our own worldview to create imaginary cultures in which magic is a fact of life? Berman will talk about anthropological understandings of magic and myth, and issues of authenticity and appropriation, while Micklem will share some sources, primary and anthropological, that influenced her own fiction.
This means we’ll be staying on Sunday later than we usually do. We’re planning to stop and visit my son in Providence, RI on the way home — having dinner there and then heading out for Maryland. We’ll either drive straight through or stop somewhere on the way home to get some sleep. (Seems as you get older it’s a bit harder to drive all night after a day of excitement and adventure.)
I love going to Readercon. It’s got to be one of my favorite literary conventions. As usual, I’ll be blogging each day of the convention here. In August, there will be an overview report of the convention and a link to the daily blog on these pages. So, if you’re interested in Readercon — check these pages from July 17 – 20.
Tour de Fleece: This month I’m also taking part in Tour de Fleece and with the car full of books for the Dealers’ Room there is no room for my wheel. One of my goals was to spin every day. So, I plan to bring a drop spindle and continue to work on some sock yarn with that so I can meet the “spin every day goal”. My secondary goal was to spin up a one pound ball of variegated green wool top. I don’t think I’m going to make it since it’s started spinning up as lace weight and it’s going to look absolutely beautiful when done but there’s no way I’ll ever get a one pound ball of it spun by July 27th especially with several days away from the wheel.