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WaspSting of Zenith
Jul. 10th, 2017 08:58 pmPacking for Readercon! Packing brings out my anxiety. I'm leaving home! What if I don't bring the stuff I need?? What if I forget something important . . . . What if I bring EVERYTHING on the list, and then my bag is too heavy to carry! It always seems too heavy, anyway, by the time I schlep it from one side of the airport to the other. I've been traumatized by too many weather systems on my way home from Readercon. On the most memorable occasion, lightning struck the runway minutes before I planned to depart, shutting down the whole place for a couple of hours and making everyone miss their connections. Last year was the debacle with United Airlines. I think I'm due for a calm, pleasant trip. I will certainly do everything in MY power to have one.
And then there's the usual piteous cry of "I'm not ready!" Because I'm not. I'm leaving many things undone, plus I'm not half as ready for my panels as I wish I were. Speaking of Readercon panels, here are mine, just in case anyone is going. Aside from the anxiety, I'm looking forward to them, because there are all kinds of smart, great people on them, and I know the ideas will be so interesting and fun.
Thursday July 07
8:00 PM C Secretly About Writing: Books That Are Not Obviously About Writing Books. Erik Amundsen, Gillian Daniels (moderator), Chandler Klang Smith, Cecilia Tan, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. In a 2013 Twitter conversation, James Francis Flynn wrote, "Lots of great movies are secretly about what it's like making movies. Trick is to hide it well." Books about writing books are usually pretty unsubtle—we're looking at you, Stephen King—but presumably some more subtly metaphorical novels are out there, including certain books in our genres. Is Dune really about the arid publishing landscape? Did Lovecraft's eldritch horrors begin as rejection letters? Our panelists will discuss works that they know (or guess) to be about writing, or possibly attempt to portray every single book as being secretly about writing.
Friday July 08
12:00 PM BH Sorting in Young Adult Literature. Steve Berman, Tom Greene, Lauren Roy, Tui Sutherland, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. Young people in YA fiction (usually but not always dystopian fiction) are encouraged, born, or forced into identity-establishing groups, from childhood and sometimes from birth: factions in Divergent, houses in Hogwarts, and districts in Panem. Teen readers of these books are beginning to figure out who they are while being told that the decisions they make now will last forever. How do different works handle the tensions between choice and societal dictation, and between individual identity and group identity? What are the authors trying to say about these different aspects of finding one's self both within and separate from community? What makes a sorting scheme work for the reader rather than feeling wholly artificial and implausible?
2:00 PM A Reading: Ann Tonsor Zeddies. Ann Tonsor Zeddies. Ann Tonsor Zeddies reads a section from "Angel Bait," a newly completed unpublished fantasy novel.
6:00 PM BH Higher, Higher: Flight in Fiction. Susan Bigelow, Andy Duncan, Barbara Krasnoff (moderator), Nnedi Okorafor, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. From Greek myths to superheroes, humans have been captivated by the dream of flight. What about the concept is so appealing? Why has it appeared time and time again in science fiction and fantasy genres? Panelists will discuss how recent fiction has revisited the human obsession with flight, and where it might go next.
Saturday July 09
10:00 AM 5 Settlement Strategies: Adjust, Adapt, or Mutate. Susan Matthews (leader), Paul McAuley, Cameron Roberson, Eric Schaller, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. Space is a harsh environment for living creatures, and most known planets are little better. Adapting to life off of Earth could well involve much more than improved technology. What new technologies are being considered for space travel and habitation? If we can't terraform a planet to our needs, could we instead engineer humans to suit the planet? And if we start altering ourselves, how would that affect life on Earth?
And then there's the usual piteous cry of "I'm not ready!" Because I'm not. I'm leaving many things undone, plus I'm not half as ready for my panels as I wish I were. Speaking of Readercon panels, here are mine, just in case anyone is going. Aside from the anxiety, I'm looking forward to them, because there are all kinds of smart, great people on them, and I know the ideas will be so interesting and fun.
Thursday July 07
8:00 PM C Secretly About Writing: Books That Are Not Obviously About Writing Books. Erik Amundsen, Gillian Daniels (moderator), Chandler Klang Smith, Cecilia Tan, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. In a 2013 Twitter conversation, James Francis Flynn wrote, "Lots of great movies are secretly about what it's like making movies. Trick is to hide it well." Books about writing books are usually pretty unsubtle—we're looking at you, Stephen King—but presumably some more subtly metaphorical novels are out there, including certain books in our genres. Is Dune really about the arid publishing landscape? Did Lovecraft's eldritch horrors begin as rejection letters? Our panelists will discuss works that they know (or guess) to be about writing, or possibly attempt to portray every single book as being secretly about writing.
Friday July 08
12:00 PM BH Sorting in Young Adult Literature. Steve Berman, Tom Greene, Lauren Roy, Tui Sutherland, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. Young people in YA fiction (usually but not always dystopian fiction) are encouraged, born, or forced into identity-establishing groups, from childhood and sometimes from birth: factions in Divergent, houses in Hogwarts, and districts in Panem. Teen readers of these books are beginning to figure out who they are while being told that the decisions they make now will last forever. How do different works handle the tensions between choice and societal dictation, and between individual identity and group identity? What are the authors trying to say about these different aspects of finding one's self both within and separate from community? What makes a sorting scheme work for the reader rather than feeling wholly artificial and implausible?
2:00 PM A Reading: Ann Tonsor Zeddies. Ann Tonsor Zeddies. Ann Tonsor Zeddies reads a section from "Angel Bait," a newly completed unpublished fantasy novel.
6:00 PM BH Higher, Higher: Flight in Fiction. Susan Bigelow, Andy Duncan, Barbara Krasnoff (moderator), Nnedi Okorafor, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. From Greek myths to superheroes, humans have been captivated by the dream of flight. What about the concept is so appealing? Why has it appeared time and time again in science fiction and fantasy genres? Panelists will discuss how recent fiction has revisited the human obsession with flight, and where it might go next.
Saturday July 09
10:00 AM 5 Settlement Strategies: Adjust, Adapt, or Mutate. Susan Matthews (leader), Paul McAuley, Cameron Roberson, Eric Schaller, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. Space is a harsh environment for living creatures, and most known planets are little better. Adapting to life off of Earth could well involve much more than improved technology. What new technologies are being considered for space travel and habitation? If we can't terraform a planet to our needs, could we instead engineer humans to suit the planet? And if we start altering ourselves, how would that affect life on Earth?
