Cities and suburbs, real and imaginary.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

my schedule for armadillocon...

here's what's going down in A-town. This time, I won't be asking anyone for directions anywhere...

My Reading
Fri 8:30 PM-9:00 PM deWitt
J. M. McDermott
(I'll probably ask the room what they've heard and what they haven't heard. I expect I'll be reading either "Dedalus and the Labyrinth" again, or "Death's Shed".)

Literary Criticism

Sat Noon-1:00 PM deZavala

Hobson, Huey, Kofmel, McDermott, Webb*, Wagner
How does critique of sf differ from that of mainstream literature? Where should one look for the best analysis? Is this the domain of fans, or are academics taking over?

(This should be interesting. I have yet to encounter a single academic on par with a Renata Salecl discussing genre sf. Authors and bloggers, utterly dominate the feild. Maybe I'm wrong? We'll see...)

Autographing
Sat 5:00 PM-6:00 PM Dealers' Room
Leicht, McDermott, McHugh, M. Wells, S. Williams

(I am willing to sign other author's books, but I will only sign my own name. I'm not much of a forger, anyway.)

peculative Fiction in Computer Games
Sun 1:00 PM-2:00 PM deZavala
Duggins, Huey, McDermott, Salvaggio, W. Spector*, Tyler
Science Fiction and Fantasy are in computer gaming - from Bioshock to Final Fantasy to Warcraft to Fallout. Why is there so much talk about the science fiction and fantasy element in movies, when computer gaming has so many genre elements in most of its top games?

(I'm always about three to five years behind in my gaming for a variety of reasons, so I will likely bring a very different perspective to this panel than everyone else.)

SF Canon for Short Fiction
Sun 2:00 PM-3:00 PM deWitt
Denton, McDermott, Richerson, Rountree, Swenson, S. Williams*
Is there a science fiction canon for short fiction? Are there short stories and novellas that we all should have read, or is there no required reading in this form. Our panelists will try to determine if there is a canon, and talk about what to add to it or what should be in it.

(I expect I'll be spending a lot of my time saying, "I agree with what Sheila Williams said..." and "What do you think Sheila...." and "What did Gardner say the last time you spoke with him about it, Sheila Williams, head editor of 'Asimov's Magazine'?"

You know, stuff like that.)

3 comments:

Lola said...

I just looked at the schedule this morning too and am planning out what I'm going to.
I hope the writing workshop will be over by noon because I really want to go to the Literary Criticism panel. Since that's what I want to do!!!! Fiction is a side project. I'm interested to see what you all have to say about it.

IF marketing & advertising said...

Hey Lola,

The Writer's Workshop is all day on Friday. Should be over at 4:30-ish. So you should be able to make the 12:00 pm panel on Saturday. I'm int he writers' workshopp too. Stina put me on a group with Sheila Williams. How scared am I now?

Lola said...

Hi! Yay I love meeting people. I'm in a group with Don Webb and Phoebe Kitanidis. They sound like they'll be fun.
And that'll be perfect. It means I'll be able to miss another whole day of sorority stuff without consequence. Yes!
How cool is it that you'll be with her though? I wouldn't be scared usually those kinds of people aren't as bad as you feared. Then again I couldn't write Science Fiction to save my life so I don't have a reason to impress her. :D I'm glad I made a friend before I got there. Also at 8:45 in the morning.... I'm not very cheery I'll need a lot of coffee for this thing.