Lo and behold, here is my schedule for ConFusion later this week! I’m from the Detroit area but this is my first time attending this con–and I get to see family for a few days afterwards. So I am really, really excited. Despite Michigan in January.

Friday

Justice for Ancillary Perspectives. 8 pm, Saugatuck. Ann Leckie’s now-complete trilogy of the Radch Empire has been critically and commercially praised for its exceptional blend of high concept space adventure and quiet contemplative look at identity and cultural constructs. Why has Leckie’s work succeeded? (Annalee Flower Horne (M), Jason Sanford, DongWon Song, Jenny Thurman, Natalie Luhrs)

Saturday

Any Similarity to Real People is Completely Coincidental. 2 pm, Isle Royale. It’s easy to pretend that made up worlds shrug off the bias and stereotypes of our reality. Orcs and Elves, Drow and Ogres, and dozens of other constructs grounded in bigoted world views say different. What can we learn from these mistakes? How do we keep these stereotypes from bleeding through into our made up worlds?(Steve Buchheit, Andrea Phillips, Mark Oshiro (M), Natalie Luhrs, Anna Carey)

The Princess Problem. 3 pm, Petoskey. Are princesses actually the problem? Does shaming the idea of princesses and the femininity they represent push girls out of the narrow marketing confines of the pink aisles, or does it harm them in other ways? What about girls of color who so rarely see themselves represented as princesses, or cis boys who want to be Elsa, or trans girls who want to see themselves, too? How do we combat the confining box that is “princess culture” without shaming kids who enjoy princesses and the positive traits they’ve come to represent? (Jim C. Hines, Merrie Haskell (M), Jen Talley, Natalie Luhrs, Navah Wolfe)

SciFi Disaster Movies. 6 pm, Keweenaw. What are the specific convention of science fiction disaster stories? What kind of stories can we tell with disaster tropes in SF? Does post-apocalyptic/dystopian SF count as disaster SF, and when does disaster SF become straight up horror? (Kentaro Toyama, Natalie Luhrs, Alex Kourvo)