My ReaderCon Schedule
Jun. 29th, 2014 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiI'll be at ReaderCon in July! And for the first time evar, I'll be on panels there! ReaderCon is awesome, and you should totally go there if you're able to! It's a little more narrowly-focused than a lot of cons, but that's part of what I love about it (especially since the Boston area isn't exactly suffering for attention to movies, comics, anime, and games). It's blissfully laid back compared to Arisia and even Boskone, and it's out in Burlington (MA), so there are things like parking available easily enough (although getting there by mass transit requires one particular bus that runs a touch infrequently).
Since there's no boardgaming at ReaderCon, my usual statement that you'll find me in the gaming room doesn't apply here. You'll probably find me at LobbyCon, or even attending panels, because ReaderCon's the rare con at which I go to a ton of panels, because they're all fucking amazing. The full list of programs can be found here.
That said, here are the four panels I'm guaranteed to be at, since I'm supposed to talk and stuff:
Friday:
1:00 PM Book Recommendations from Professional Readers. Adam Lipkin, Sofia Samatar (leader), John Stevens, Liza Groen Trombi. Booksellers, librarians, and book reviewers specialize in helping readers find and appreciate books new and old. This panel will let such folks tell you about the recent and upcoming titles they're excited about, and help you discover books you'll likely love. Do you adore Octavia Butler, "Sherlock" fanfic, and Tolstoy ... but don't know what to read next? Let these professionals help you find your next favorite book!
6:00 PM Can Heroes Be Happy?. E.C. Ambrose, K. Tempest Bradford (leader), Cecil Castellucci, Adam Lipkin, Sarah Pinsker. In defense of DC Comics's policy that superheroes can't get married, Dan DiDio says, "Heroes shouldn't have happy personal lives. They are committed to being that person and committed to defending others at the sacrifice of their own personal interests.... It's wonderful that they try to establish personal lives, but it's equally important that they set them aside." In response, at The Mary Sue, Susana Polo wrote, "[Gay] kids need heroes who do the things that their environment tells them are impossible. They need gay heroes who grow up to be loved by the men and women that they love, in stable, healthy, and, yes, legally sanctioned relationships. They need heroes, as well as real people, to show them that it gets better. That. Is what heroes. Are for." Let's use this as a jumping-off point for discussing different concepts of heroes and heroism.
Saturday:
11:00 AM How to Write for a Living When You Can't Live Off Your Fiction. Leah Bobet, Barbara Krasnoff (leader), Adam Lipkin. You've just been laid off from your staff job, you can't live on the royalties from your fiction writing, and your significant other has taken a cut in pay. How do you pay the rent? Well, you can find freelance work writing articles, white papers, reviews, blogs, and other non-SFnal stuff. Despite today's lean journalistic market, it's still possible to make a living writing, editing, and/or publishing. Let's talk about where and how you can sell yourself as a professional writer, whether blogging can be done for a living, and how else you can use your talent to keep the wolf from the door. Bring whatever ideas, sources, and contacts you have.
Sunday:
11:00 AM Readercon Recent Fiction Bookclub: Ancillary Justice. Francesca Forrest, Adam Lipkin, Natalie Luhrs, Sarah Pinsker (leader), Sonya Taaffe. Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice is gender-bending space opera with a thriller pace and sensibility. Critics are hailing Leckie's worldbuilding in the story of Breq, the remaining ancillary consciousness of a formerly great warship. We'll explore Leckie's themes of humanity and justice, as well as the way the book's use of nearly exclusively female pronouns shakes up or affirms our notions of a gender binary.
Since there's no boardgaming at ReaderCon, my usual statement that you'll find me in the gaming room doesn't apply here. You'll probably find me at LobbyCon, or even attending panels, because ReaderCon's the rare con at which I go to a ton of panels, because they're all fucking amazing. The full list of programs can be found here.
That said, here are the four panels I'm guaranteed to be at, since I'm supposed to talk and stuff:
Friday:
1:00 PM Book Recommendations from Professional Readers. Adam Lipkin, Sofia Samatar (leader), John Stevens, Liza Groen Trombi. Booksellers, librarians, and book reviewers specialize in helping readers find and appreciate books new and old. This panel will let such folks tell you about the recent and upcoming titles they're excited about, and help you discover books you'll likely love. Do you adore Octavia Butler, "Sherlock" fanfic, and Tolstoy ... but don't know what to read next? Let these professionals help you find your next favorite book!
6:00 PM Can Heroes Be Happy?. E.C. Ambrose, K. Tempest Bradford (leader), Cecil Castellucci, Adam Lipkin, Sarah Pinsker. In defense of DC Comics's policy that superheroes can't get married, Dan DiDio says, "Heroes shouldn't have happy personal lives. They are committed to being that person and committed to defending others at the sacrifice of their own personal interests.... It's wonderful that they try to establish personal lives, but it's equally important that they set them aside." In response, at The Mary Sue, Susana Polo wrote, "[Gay] kids need heroes who do the things that their environment tells them are impossible. They need gay heroes who grow up to be loved by the men and women that they love, in stable, healthy, and, yes, legally sanctioned relationships. They need heroes, as well as real people, to show them that it gets better. That. Is what heroes. Are for." Let's use this as a jumping-off point for discussing different concepts of heroes and heroism.
Saturday:
11:00 AM How to Write for a Living When You Can't Live Off Your Fiction. Leah Bobet, Barbara Krasnoff (leader), Adam Lipkin. You've just been laid off from your staff job, you can't live on the royalties from your fiction writing, and your significant other has taken a cut in pay. How do you pay the rent? Well, you can find freelance work writing articles, white papers, reviews, blogs, and other non-SFnal stuff. Despite today's lean journalistic market, it's still possible to make a living writing, editing, and/or publishing. Let's talk about where and how you can sell yourself as a professional writer, whether blogging can be done for a living, and how else you can use your talent to keep the wolf from the door. Bring whatever ideas, sources, and contacts you have.
Sunday:
11:00 AM Readercon Recent Fiction Bookclub: Ancillary Justice. Francesca Forrest, Adam Lipkin, Natalie Luhrs, Sarah Pinsker (leader), Sonya Taaffe. Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice is gender-bending space opera with a thriller pace and sensibility. Critics are hailing Leckie's worldbuilding in the story of Breq, the remaining ancillary consciousness of a formerly great warship. We'll explore Leckie's themes of humanity and justice, as well as the way the book's use of nearly exclusively female pronouns shakes up or affirms our notions of a gender binary.