#diversicon

I'll be attending Diversicon, a cozy speculative fiction convention July 26-28.  This year's theme is "The Next Step."  

This year's guest of honor is Nisi Shawl, a Tiptree-award-winning author who excels at teaching speculative fiction writers about how we can reflect real world diversity in our work.

The special guest this year is Ben Huset, a photographer and life-long advocate of science and space travel.

My Programming

I will be moderating seven panels over the course of the convention (and I'm prepping for those right now). Given the size of the panels and the convention, most of these will likely be more along the lines of structured conversations.

Friday, July 26

4:00-4:55 p.m. - Editors and Authors S.N. Arly, mod.: Nisi Shawl

5:00-5:55 p.m. Good Blog/Bad Blog--Modern Technology and Artists. S.N. Arly, mod.; Conrad Zero ( @conradzero )

8:30-9:25 p.m. A Peek Into the Indie Writer World S.N. Arly, mod.; Conrad Zero

Saturday, July 27

Noon-12:55 p.m. Not My Beautiful Minnesota! S.N. Arly, mod.; Brian K. Perry, Conrad Zero

1:00-1:55 p.m. Resources for Spec Fic Writers S.N. Arly, mod.; Conrad Zero

3:00-3:55 p.m. Critique Groups--Functional and Dysfunctional S. N. Arly, mod.; Brian K. Perry, Conrad Zero. 

Sunday, July 28

My friend Blair was a world-class prop-maker and cosplayer. Today I went to his memorial. The service opened with the playing of the original Star Trek theme, followed by an hour and a half of people sharing funny and sweet stories about what a generous, joyful, and kind man he was. The service ended with a Klingon tradition: a loud and spirited yell, from the more than 100 attendees. Klingons scream at a funeral, but not in anger nor in fear—they scream as a warning to the other dead that a great warrior is coming into their midst. Then we toasted with Klingon blood wine.

The twinkle of joy in his eye when we talked about a shared fandom is something that will be difficult to replace for me. 

I’m up early, because that’s how my brain works, so here’s a quick look at yesterday’s brief adventure at the con.

The panel on fate and free will turned out a lot more Christian in nature than I’d expected. This is fine, but it’s not a topic that I consider myself remotely acquainted with. Fortunately the moderator and Bryan Thao Worra (who we drafted to join us) kept things moving, and once in a while I was able to contribute something.

Bryan is one of the writer guests of honor.  He’s an amazing poet and, as we say here in Minnesota, a heckuva nice guy.  If you ever have a chance to hear him talk about Laotian mythology, poetry, or cryptids in general, don’t pass it up. He’ll be on the Midwestern monsters of myth panel with me on Sunday afternoon.

@charliejane-anders is the other writer guest of honor, and I really enjoyed the interview with her.  She’s engaging and funny, but she’s also genuinely nice.  She shared a story about a past experience with the express desire that it not be recorded and shared online because she didn’t want anyone to feel bad.  Never mind that it says something about our culture that this kind of sensitivity is remarkable, this made me really happy.  She’ll have a YA trilogy coming out in the future, and I’m really looking forward to that.

I’m preparing for a small local convention this coming weekend.  There’s a little disorganization in the programming department, but I’m going to be on three panels. Friday, 6 pm -  Writing and Religion: A Cup of Coffee with God Saturday, 11 am -  Magic: Is it Both Witchcraft and Science?   Sunday, 4 pm -  Midwest Mythologic Creatures 

I’m not sure how I ended up on that Friday panel (other than the fact that I’m amiable and willing to pinch hit as needed).  From the description, there’s a chance we’ll be covering how religion works in fiction and how we write characters who have religions other than our own.  If it’s about Christianity in science fiction and fantasy it’s a doomed panel.

I’m moderating the Saturday and Sunday panels, and I’m freaking jazzed about the Midwest mythologic creature panel.  I realized last year, at this same con, that fantasy tends to lean on and borrow European and Greco-Roman mythologies, even when the writers are die hard Americans.  Some folks are starting to look at Asian culture for resources, but maybe it’s time to look closer to home as a way to avoid cultural appropriation while doing something new and different.

Originally planned to do this yesterday, but it was a good day for the paying gig, and I had LOTS of editing to do there.

I’ve been trying to attend a fiction reading by Rob Callahan for roughly five years.  He’s a really nice guy and we’ve been on panels together several times.  He was also  kind enough to talk to me about freelancing when I first started my own business. Once again, something got in the way, and I missed his 10 am reading, dangit.  I’m beginning to suspect a curse, and I will break it one of these days.

We had the honor of taking @charliejane-anders to lunch, which was a nice opportunity to get to know her better.  We picked up sandwiches from Nelson Cheese & Deli (if you haven’t been there, it’s a fantastic little local place) and found a table with some shade in the nearby, and mostly vacant, Minnesota State Fairgrounds. It was lovely time. In an effort to combat the odd genderfication of all things, we are trying to replace “guys” with “moops,” when used for groups of people not necessarily of a specific gender.  Eg: Come on moops, let’s get this done.  I’ve been trying to switch to “peeps” for a while, and it hasn’t quite stuck, so my brain clearly has some work to do.

I attended a panel on the use of fairy tales in science fiction and fantasy.  Much of this ended up being a platform for apologizing for past cultural appropriation and warning against future offenses.  Not quite what I was hoping for, but there were a couple of really good points that I hope to explore further in the future.