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I return from Germany and Greece and Turkey. Today will feature the joys of decoding attachments I sent to myself from someone else's iPad over wonky internet to a non-Apple device, or, let's salvage the writing I did abroad as some of it is (sigh) unavoidably over deadline. Today will also feature sitting down on this couch a lot.

Sent a fair number of people a fair number of postcards, but as the one home to my wife was the earliest sent and it hasn't got here yet, I assume no one else's have either.

Travelblogging begins tomorrow and will feature B.'s pictures. It was a lovely trip, a great way to spend our anniversary, and I miss him extremely painfully.

If anything major and/or interesting happened to you over the last two weeks and you mentioned it on the internet, it is at least even odds I did not hear about it and you may wish to drop me a comment or line if it is something you want me to know.

Readercon schedule also coming presently.

back

I return from Germany and Greece and Turkey. Today will feature the joys of decoding attachments I sent to myself from someone else's iPad over wonky internet to a non-Apple device, or, let's salvage the writing I did abroad as some of it is (sigh) unavoidably over deadline. Today will also feature sitting down on this couch a lot.

Sent a fair number of people a fair number of postcards, but as the one home to my wife was the earliest sent and it hasn't got here yet, I assume no one else's have either.

Travelblogging begins tomorrow and will feature B.'s pictures. It was a lovely trip, a great way to spend our anniversary, and I miss him extremely painfully.

If anything major and/or interesting happened to you over the last two weeks and you mentioned it on the internet, it is at least even odds I did not hear about it and you may wish to drop me a comment or line if it is something you want me to know.

Readercon schedule also coming presently.

You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost. There are comments over there.

readercon schedule

Friday July 12

12:00 PM F Of Gods and Goddesses. Richard Bowes, Lila Garrott (leader), Greer Gilman, Sandra Kasturi, Patricia A. McKillip, Sonya Taaffe. Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light used gods and goddesses as modern characters. Powerful, imperious, vulnerable, gods seem to be everywhere again these days. In American Gods, Gods Behaving Badly, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms et seq., Discord's Apple, Going Bovine, and other recent works, we meet familiar and unfamiliar deities who behave more often than not in recognizably human fashion rather than with a god-like dignity, power, and majesty. What draws writers to bring gods to earth and readers to the adventures in the modern world of characters as old as storytelling? And why is this trend increasing at this particular time? Proposed by Patricia A. McKillip.

This is an interesting trend, especially in urban fantasy, where familiar deities from many pantheons tend to be subsumed into an unspoken-yet-evident Judeo-Christian cosmology. Also, I think this is the first time Sonya, Greer, and I have all been on a panel together? Also, McKillip! Yay!

1:30 PM VT Reading: Lila Garrott. Lila Garrott. Lila Garrott reads an excerpt from a novel in progress.

I have no idea whether I hope people will come to this. Well. Please come to this. It is my first fiction reading. Ever. Terrified is not even the word. It's a fantasy novel. I will be reading a set piece from the middle, which should be interesting without needing context. Seriously, please come.

5:00 PM RI Readercon Classic Fiction Book Club: Tam Lin. Gwynne Garfinkle, Lila Garrott (leader), Caitlyn Paxson, Sonya Taaffe. Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, which reimagines the Scottish ballad as an account of young, bright Janet Carter's tumultuous time at college in the 1970s, was lauded upon its publication in 1991 and has endured as a classic since. We'll explore its resonance and relevance to present-day readers and writers in the context of real-world events that recall Janet's experiences— lengthy wars, challenges to reproductive rights, and activism and tensions on college campuses— as well as the increasing popularity of folk tale retellings.

Tam Lin seems to have functioned as a reading list for a lot of fans of my generation. The number of people I know who were introduced to Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning by it is quite large.

Saturday July 13

1:00 PM G Authorial Metanarrative. Leah Bobet (leader), Lila Garrott, Theodora Goss, Glenn Grant, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Sonya Taaffe. A number of authors build in subtle links between otherwise unconnected works. A link may not be something as literal as a common character or name; perhaps, instead, there's a repeated trope or event. Leah Bobet, discussing Patricia A. McKillip's works in a 2011 blog post, described this as writing "epic poetry, and the whole of [McKillip's] output is the poem." How do such links affect a reader's interpretation of or approach to a body of work, and what motivates authors to link their works together? Suggested by Leah Bobet.

I've done scholarship about the way authors do this in anime and manga. Kind of hope we do talk about McKillip, too, because yes, that. Also, a lot of awesome people on this panel.

6:00 PM ME The Tropes of Tresses. E.C. Ambrose, Lila Garrott (leader), Greer Gilman, Liz Gorinsky, Veronica Schanoes. Hair has shaped the lives and destiny of Samson in the Bible, Rapunzel (in all her iterations), and blue- and fire-haired heroines of recent YA fantasy. Hair can be a source of power, a means of communication, and a signifier of identity. Why is hair such a potent element in speculative fiction? What cultural and literary antecedents give hair its significance, and how does it connect modern SF/F with the world of religion and myth?

My own hair has been blue since 2004. It's fascinating seeing how people react to that, since blue hair does not have a specific culturally defined meaning, other than 'punk', which is not how I otherwise read. This is the sort of manipulation of signifiers I would love to discuss in fiction, and which generally goes entirely unmentioned in criticism.

8:00 PM F A Most Readerconnish Miscellany. Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, Lila Garrott, Andrea Hairston, John Kessel, Daniel José Older, Caitlyn Paxson, Sonya Taaffe. C.S.E. Cooney and Mike Allen emcee an extravagant evening of music, theater, and readings to benefit the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center and Operation Hammond. Bring cash or credit cards to make donations toward these very worthy organizations, all while being entertained by exquisite performers including Andrea Hairston and Pan Morigan, Daniel José Older, John Kessel, Sonya Taaffe, C.S.E. Cooney and Caitlyn Paxson, and a capella group Sassafrass. Don't miss this unforgettable event.

I'm listed as shorthand for the five members of Sassafrass Boston who will be there. I'm very excited-- this is the first time Readercon has ever had performances of this kind, and it's a great honor to have been invited. We will be doing "Somebody Will".

Sunday July 14

2:00 PM F Stranger Danger: Secrets and Discoveries in Urban Settings. Amanda Downum, Lila Garrott (leader), Maria Dahvana Headley, Stacy Hill, Patricia A. McKillip, JoSelle Vanderhooft. In folk stories the forest is full of dangerous secrets and the village is usually safe as houses. When the village becomes unsafe, it's because the forest has violated the sanctity of civilization, as when the wolf takes the place of Red Riding Hood's grandmother. However, a slew of recent books find their dangerous secrets within the confines of cities: the many neighborhoods in Kathleen Tierney's Blood Oranges, the occupied city in N.K. Jemisin's The Shadowed Sun, the monster-populated New York in Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon, the gas-filled walled Seattle of Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series. What is it about modern life that leads writers and readers to look for discovery and the unknown in cities? How do we cross the border from safety to danger when it's not marked by anything so concrete as the edge of the forest? Suggested by Josh Jasper.

This year's incarnation of the traditional Cities panel looks different, fun, and interesting-- and has a very good lineup, too.

readercon schedule

Friday July 12

12:00 PM F Of Gods and Goddesses. Richard Bowes, Lila Garrott (leader), Greer Gilman, Sandra Kasturi, Patricia A. McKillip, Sonya Taaffe. Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light used gods and goddesses as modern characters. Powerful, imperious, vulnerable, gods seem to be everywhere again these days. In American Gods, Gods Behaving Badly, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms et seq., Discord's Apple, Going Bovine, and other recent works, we meet familiar and unfamiliar deities who behave more often than not in recognizably human fashion rather than with a god-like dignity, power, and majesty. What draws writers to bring gods to earth and readers to the adventures in the modern world of characters as old as storytelling? And why is this trend increasing at this particular time? Proposed by Patricia A. McKillip.

This is an interesting trend, especially in urban fantasy, where familiar deities from many pantheons tend to be subsumed into an unspoken-yet-evident Judeo-Christian cosmology. Also, I think this is the first time Sonya, Greer, and I have all been on a panel together? Also, McKillip! Yay!

1:30 PM VT Reading: Lila Garrott. Lila Garrott. Lila Garrott reads an excerpt from a novel in progress.

I have no idea whether I hope people will come to this. Well. Please come to this. It is my first fiction reading. Ever. Terrified is not even the word. It's a fantasy novel. I will be reading a set piece from the middle, which should be interesting without needing context. Seriously, please come.

5:00 PM RI Readercon Classic Fiction Book Club: Tam Lin. Gwynne Garfinkle, Lila Garrott (leader), Caitlyn Paxson, Sonya Taaffe. Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, which reimagines the Scottish ballad as an account of young, bright Janet Carter's tumultuous time at college in the 1970s, was lauded upon its publication in 1991 and has endured as a classic since. We'll explore its resonance and relevance to present-day readers and writers in the context of real-world events that recall Janet's experiences— lengthy wars, challenges to reproductive rights, and activism and tensions on college campuses— as well as the increasing popularity of folk tale retellings.

Tam Lin seems to have functioned as a reading list for a lot of fans of my generation. The number of people I know who were introduced to Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning by it is quite large.

Saturday July 13

1:00 PM G Authorial Metanarrative. Leah Bobet (leader), Lila Garrott, Theodora Goss, Glenn Grant, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Sonya Taaffe. A number of authors build in subtle links between otherwise unconnected works. A link may not be something as literal as a common character or name; perhaps, instead, there's a repeated trope or event. Leah Bobet, discussing Patricia A. McKillip's works in a 2011 blog post, described this as writing "epic poetry, and the whole of [McKillip's] output is the poem." How do such links affect a reader's interpretation of or approach to a body of work, and what motivates authors to link their works together? Suggested by Leah Bobet.

I've done scholarship about the way authors do this in anime and manga. Kind of hope we do talk about McKillip, too, because yes, that. Also, a lot of awesome people on this panel.

6:00 PM ME The Tropes of Tresses. E.C. Ambrose, Lila Garrott (leader), Greer Gilman, Liz Gorinsky, Veronica Schanoes. Hair has shaped the lives and destiny of Samson in the Bible, Rapunzel (in all her iterations), and blue- and fire-haired heroines of recent YA fantasy. Hair can be a source of power, a means of communication, and a signifier of identity. Why is hair such a potent element in speculative fiction? What cultural and literary antecedents give hair its significance, and how does it connect modern SF/F with the world of religion and myth?

My own hair has been blue since 2004. It's fascinating seeing how people react to that, since blue hair does not have a specific culturally defined meaning, other than 'punk', which is not how I otherwise read. This is the sort of manipulation of signifiers I would love to discuss in fiction, and which generally goes entirely unmentioned in criticism.

8:00 PM F A Most Readerconnish Miscellany. Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, Lila Garrott, Andrea Hairston, John Kessel, Daniel José Older, Caitlyn Paxson, Sonya Taaffe. C.S.E. Cooney and Mike Allen emcee an extravagant evening of music, theater, and readings to benefit the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center and Operation Hammond. Bring cash or credit cards to make donations toward these very worthy organizations, all while being entertained by exquisite performers including Andrea Hairston and Pan Morigan, Daniel José Older, John Kessel, Sonya Taaffe, C.S.E. Cooney and Caitlyn Paxson, and a capella group Sassafrass. Don't miss this unforgettable event.

I'm listed as shorthand for the five members of Sassafrass Boston who will be there. I'm very excited-- this is the first time Readercon has ever had performances of this kind, and it's a great honor to have been invited. We will be doing "Somebody Will".

Sunday July 14

2:00 PM F Stranger Danger: Secrets and Discoveries in Urban Settings. Amanda Downum, Lila Garrott (leader), Maria Dahvana Headley, Stacy Hill, Patricia A. McKillip, JoSelle Vanderhooft. In folk stories the forest is full of dangerous secrets and the village is usually safe as houses. When the village becomes unsafe, it's because the forest has violated the sanctity of civilization, as when the wolf takes the place of Red Riding Hood's grandmother. However, a slew of recent books find their dangerous secrets within the confines of cities: the many neighborhoods in Kathleen Tierney's Blood Oranges, the occupied city in N.K. Jemisin's The Shadowed Sun, the monster-populated New York in Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon, the gas-filled walled Seattle of Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series. What is it about modern life that leads writers and readers to look for discovery and the unknown in cities? How do we cross the border from safety to danger when it's not marked by anything so concrete as the edge of the forest? Suggested by Josh Jasper.

This year's incarnation of the traditional Cities panel looks different, fun, and interesting-- and has a very good lineup, too.

You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost. There are comments over there.