I hope you’ll join in the fun at Conjecture/Concord starting tomorrow! Here is my complete weekend schedule:
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Panel 1: Fri 10/5 6:00 PM, 60 minutes.
Title: Believable Evil
Participants: Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
Lise Breakey
Robert Mitchell Evans
M Todd Gallowglas
Nancy Holder(M)
Robert Pritchard
Precis: What makes a good villain? How do you go about creating a
believable evil character? Authors will discuss their
favorite evil characters from their and other works and
discuss what makes them work.
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Panel 2: Fri 10/5 8:00 PM, 60 minutes.
Title: This is Horrible, Give Me More: The Appeal of Dystopias
Participants: Nancy Holder
Zak Jarvis(M)
Dani Kollin
Eytan Kollin
J.M. Perkins
Cynthia Ward
Precis: Why do we devour so many books and films set in grim
totalitarian states or post-apocalyptic wastelands? It’s
especially popular in YA literature, where it may be an
extension of one of the main themes of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, “high school is Hell”.
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Panel 3: Sat 10/6 1:00 PM, 60 minutes.
Title: Tell it in Letters (and Diaries): Epistolary Fantasy from Dracula to The Enchanted Chocolate Pot
Participants: Ellen Dawn Benefield
Samantha Henderson
Nancy Holder
Patricia C. Wrede(M)
Precis: The epistolary novel form has been with us since the 1600s
in English (the 1400s in Spanish), and offers a way to show
multiple viewpoints without requiring an omniscient
narrator. What are its advantages and disadvantages within
the fantasy genre? We’ve seen it deployed in The Moonstone,
Dracula, The Screwtape Letters, and our GoH’s Kate and
Cecelia series. (Also consider Emma Bull’s and Stephen
Brust’s Freedom and Necessity, which was written in a
series of letters exchanged between the authors. They never
discussed the book till it was finished.)
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Panel 4: Sat 10/6 2:00 PM, 60 minutes.
Title: Fannish Tail, Mass Market Dog
Participants: Belle
Jeff Berkwits
Ailene Marie Bonner [
Jean Graham
Nancy Holder(M)
Jason Lethert
Precis: Cult hits and specialized genres have a long history in the
popular media. How is the relationship between fan appeal
and popular success changing? Is fannish enthusiasm
becoming more important as a path to success?
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Panel 5: Sat 10/6 3:30 PM, 30 minutes.
Title: Signing: Nancy Holder
Participants: Nancy Holder
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Panel 6: Sat 10/6 4:00 PM, 60 minutes.
Title: What’s Worth Watching?
Participants: Ailene Marie Bonner(M)
Nancy Holder
Precis: For those interested in science fiction, what recent movies
and current television shows are asking those important
questions of “What If?” and which ones are simply using
sci-fi tropes without provoking thought. Is Doctor Who
really the only game in town these days? Does Syfy have any
sci-fi? Is space no longer the final frontier on TV?
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Panel 7: Sat 10/6 5:00 PM, 60 minutes.
Title: Reading: Nancy Holder
Participants: Nancy Holder
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Panel 8: Sat 10/6 6:00 PM, 60 minutes.
Title: Bring on the Weird
Participants: Ailene Marie Bonner
Patrick Connors
Nancy Holder
Zak Jarvis(M)
Jefferson P. Swycaffer
Precis: Davy Jones and his crew in Pirates of the Caribbean point
the way to a new way of envisioning and creating truly
bizarre beings on film. Will we see more of this, or will
Hollywood remain constrained by what’s safe and accessible?
Will there ever be hope for a China Mieville movie?
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Panel 9: Sun 10/7 12 Noon, 60 minutes.
Title: It’s Not Magic if Everyone Can Do It — Acceptance or Genocide?
Participants: David Brin
James Floyd
Nancy Holder(M) [
Precis: Today’s science would seem like magic to our ancestors —
but this “magic” is repeatable, and usable by anyone with
the tools/training. What if certain people had exclusive,
inborn abilities that only appeared in their bloodline?
Would that be magic? Could those without such powers
duplicate them with technology, or give them to their
children via genetic engineering? Does it only qualify as
“magic” if someone is able to change the rules by which the
universe operates? Would such people be worshipped,
tolerated, or exterminated? Didn’t Dr. Who destroy his home
planet over similar concerns? Consider King Uther
Pendragon’s genocide against magic users in the world of
the BBC’s Merlin — and the fear and hatred of mutants in
X-Men. If magic existed, could society tolerate it?
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Panel 10: Sun 10/7 3:00 PM, 60 minutes.
Title: Media Tie-Ins: Today’s Pulps?
Participants: Ellen Dawn Benefield
Jean Graham
Nancy Holder
J.M. Perkins
Gary Westfahl
Precis: Are the Star Trek, Star Wars, Buffy, and videogame novels
of today the equivalent of the pulp novels of the 40s and
50s?
** End Schedule **
