Hey so this weekend is Capclave. This is this closest thing I have to a home convention, so I’m pretty excited to be on programming there this year. It’ll be a fun time.
Here’s my schedule (subject to change, but it’s been this for the last couple of weeks, so I think it’s good):
Friday 8:00 pm: No Means No
Panelists: Inge Heyer, Natalie Luhrs, Emmie Mears, Jon Skovron, Jean Marie Ward (M)
There is a great disturbance in science fiction and fantasy. As fans and writers you have the right to expect respect.
Saturday 5:00 pm: I Hate His/Her Politics But I Love His/Her Books
Panelists: Day Al-Mohamed, Paolo Bacigalupi, David G. Hartwell, Larry Hodges, Natalie Luhrs, Sunny Moraine (M)
Should a personal evaluation of an author be separated from how you view his/her politics? Many people refused to see the movie Ender’s Game because of Orson Scott Card’s statements on homosexuality and other writers charge that political views influence award nominations and who is picked for con programming. Is this true and if so, is it a good thing or a bad thing?
Saturday 6:00 pm: The Suck Fairy and Feet of Clay
Panelists: Barbara Krasnoff (M), Natalie Luhrs, James Maxey, Sunny Moraine
What do you do when you reread your beloved childhood classics and find they have been visited by the suck fairy and are now sexist, racist, etc? What do you do when you find out that that author that got you through junior high turns out to have giant size 30 clod-hopping feet of clay or was actually kind of evil? How do we deal with problematic works and authors?
Sunday 11:00 am: Romance and SF/F
Panelists: Victoria Janssen (M), Pamela K. Kinney, Natalie Luhrs, Sunny Moraine
A significant number of science fiction and fantasy books are reviewed in publications such as Romance Times and nominated for awards in the romance genre. Were the genre line distinctions always artificial? What are romance readers’ expectations with respect to the plot and its resolution? HEA vs. the tragic romance. Is romance handled better or worse in YA SF/F? Are certain types of romance plots (such as first love) more likely to show up in YA?
Sunday 3:00 pm: Reviews vs Literary Criticism
Panelists: D. Douglas Fratz, David G. Hartwell, Natalie Luhrs, Darrell Schweitzer, Gayle Surrette (M)
There are many different levels of reviewing. Publications such as Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times typically want only a couple hundred words, in SFRevu 500-1000 words is pretty standard, and the New York Review of Science Fiction publishes 3000+ word reviews. There are reviews that exist primarily to give readers a general idea as to whether they want to buy the newly published book without spoiling the book, and there are longer more academically oriented reviews which attempt to engage with the novel in a broader context to put the book in its place within the genre and which generally assume the reader of the review has already read the book. Do you write the review from the head or from the heart? How much of the plot should you discuss?
As always–if I’m in the public space of the convention hotel, that means I’m willing and happy to chat with people as I can. If I’m feeling anti-social, I’ll be in my room. Alone.
