Contrafibularities
Readercon 28. Gosh. Here's what I'm on:
Thursday July 13
9:00 PM
A Hero by Any Other Name.
Randee Dawn, Greer Gilman, Elaine Isaak, Kenneth Schneyer (leader), Tamara Vardomskaya.
Would Maleficent be less terrifying if her name were Suzy? Would Arthur Dent and Zaphod Beeblebrox have been able to have each other's adventures? In literature, names can serve as shorthand to imply a character's age, ethnicity, time or place of origin, and emotional and psychological makeup. This panel will explore the art and psychology of character names. Friday July 14
3:00 PM
Good Influences.
Scott Edelman, Greer Gilman, Elizabeth Hand (leader), Rosemary Kirstein, Ilana Myer, E.J. Stevens.
In contrast to the bad influences panel from past Readercons, these panelists will discuss authors who were positive influences on their writing during their formative years. Who showed them what good worldbuilding is, what strong narration looks like, and how to deepen a plot with social commentary? Panelists will share, discuss, and praise their problematic and unmitigatedly awesome mentors.
5:00 PM
The Deaths of Gods.
Martin Cahill (leader), Greer Gilman, Max Gladstone, John Langan, James Morrow.
In Philip Pullman's Golden Compass series, two children literally kill God. In Victor Koman's The Jehovah Contract, a hard-boiled PI is hired for the same job. Max Gladstone's Craft books and Robert Jackson Bennett's City trilogy explore the deaths of gods in polytheistic worlds. How do these narratives of mortals killing supposed immortals differ from ones where gods destroy one another? It's too simplistic to think of these as atheist narratives; how do they explore the power of belief, and the intrusion of incontrovertible fact into a belief system? Saturday July 15
10:00 AM
We Have Always Lived with the Magic.
Phenderson Clark, Greer Gilman, Victoria Janssen (leader), Kate Nepveu, Naomi Novik.
Guest of Honor Naomi Novik's Temeraire books take a slow and clever approach to a common issue with alt-historical fantasy: if magic has always existed, why have historical events gone essentially the same way that they did in our magicless world? Her focus on the familiar territory of Western Europe during the Napoleonic Wars gradually broadens to include other regions that look very different. This panel will examine this and other techniques for integrating magic into history, including using the appearance or reappearance of magic as a timeline divergence point, limiting magic or paranormal entities to a particular region of the world, portraying paranormal communities or magic-users as hidden and secretive, and entirely reinventing history from the Neanderthals on up.
2:00 PM
Reading: Greer Gilman.
Greer Gilman reads from a work in progress. Sunday July 16
12:00 PM
Sororal Friendships in Fantasy.
Greer Gilman, Naomi Novik, Julia Rios (leader), Tui Sutherland, Fran Wilde.
One of the central relationships in Guest of Honor Naomi Novik's novel Uprooted is between the heroine and her best friend. Agnieszka and Kasia were raised together and have a deep bond that is explored throughout the novel. This depiction of female friendship is unusual in fantasy fiction and gave rise to much discussion (and no small amount of fanfic from fans who either wanted to see more of the friendship or felt it ought to have been a romance). This panel explores sororal friendships in fantasy and the ways they can alter or comment on familiar tropes such as the maiden in the tower and the questing band of brothers.
Nine
Thursday July 13
9:00 PM
A Hero by Any Other Name.
Randee Dawn, Greer Gilman, Elaine Isaak, Kenneth Schneyer (leader), Tamara Vardomskaya.
Would Maleficent be less terrifying if her name were Suzy? Would Arthur Dent and Zaphod Beeblebrox have been able to have each other's adventures? In literature, names can serve as shorthand to imply a character's age, ethnicity, time or place of origin, and emotional and psychological makeup. This panel will explore the art and psychology of character names. Friday July 14
3:00 PM
Good Influences.
Scott Edelman, Greer Gilman, Elizabeth Hand (leader), Rosemary Kirstein, Ilana Myer, E.J. Stevens.
In contrast to the bad influences panel from past Readercons, these panelists will discuss authors who were positive influences on their writing during their formative years. Who showed them what good worldbuilding is, what strong narration looks like, and how to deepen a plot with social commentary? Panelists will share, discuss, and praise their problematic and unmitigatedly awesome mentors.
5:00 PM
The Deaths of Gods.
Martin Cahill (leader), Greer Gilman, Max Gladstone, John Langan, James Morrow.
In Philip Pullman's Golden Compass series, two children literally kill God. In Victor Koman's The Jehovah Contract, a hard-boiled PI is hired for the same job. Max Gladstone's Craft books and Robert Jackson Bennett's City trilogy explore the deaths of gods in polytheistic worlds. How do these narratives of mortals killing supposed immortals differ from ones where gods destroy one another? It's too simplistic to think of these as atheist narratives; how do they explore the power of belief, and the intrusion of incontrovertible fact into a belief system? Saturday July 15
10:00 AM
We Have Always Lived with the Magic.
Phenderson Clark, Greer Gilman, Victoria Janssen (leader), Kate Nepveu, Naomi Novik.
Guest of Honor Naomi Novik's Temeraire books take a slow and clever approach to a common issue with alt-historical fantasy: if magic has always existed, why have historical events gone essentially the same way that they did in our magicless world? Her focus on the familiar territory of Western Europe during the Napoleonic Wars gradually broadens to include other regions that look very different. This panel will examine this and other techniques for integrating magic into history, including using the appearance or reappearance of magic as a timeline divergence point, limiting magic or paranormal entities to a particular region of the world, portraying paranormal communities or magic-users as hidden and secretive, and entirely reinventing history from the Neanderthals on up.
2:00 PM
Reading: Greer Gilman.
Greer Gilman reads from a work in progress. Sunday July 16
12:00 PM
Sororal Friendships in Fantasy.
Greer Gilman, Naomi Novik, Julia Rios (leader), Tui Sutherland, Fran Wilde.
One of the central relationships in Guest of Honor Naomi Novik's novel Uprooted is between the heroine and her best friend. Agnieszka and Kasia were raised together and have a deep bond that is explored throughout the novel. This depiction of female friendship is unusual in fantasy fiction and gave rise to much discussion (and no small amount of fanfic from fans who either wanted to see more of the friendship or felt it ought to have been a romance). This panel explores sororal friendships in fantasy and the ways they can alter or comment on familiar tropes such as the maiden in the tower and the questing band of brothers.
Nine