Readercon 2012 Schedule
"Subversion Through Friendliness"
Friday July 13, 11:00 AM G
Glenn Grant, Victoria Janssen (leader), Toni L.P. Kelner, Alison Sinclair, Ruth Sternglantz.
In a 2011 review of Vonda N. McIntyre's classic Dreamsnake, Ursula K. Le Guin quotes Moe Bowstern's slogan "Subversion Through Friendliness" and adds, "Subversion through terror, shock, pain is easy-instant gratification, as it were. Subversion through friendliness is paradoxical, slow-acting, and durable. And sneaky." Is subversion through friendliness a viable strategy for writers who desire to challenge norms? What are its defining characteristics? When do readers love it, and when does it backfire?
"Sherlock Holmes, Now and Forever"
Friday July 13, 4:00 PM, Room G
Ellen Asher, Michael Dirda (leader), Victoria Janssen, Fred Lerner, Veronica Schanoes
Sherlock Holmes is everywhere right now: in TV series like House, BBC's Sherlock, and the upcoming Elementary; in the Robert Downey Jr. movies; and in books and stories being written about Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. What accounts for the endless appeal of this character? Are we ever going to get tired of brilliant and slightly mad detectives? Or is it all really about Watson, as suggested by our collective urge to keep telling and retelling Holmes's stories?
"Guess Who's Coming to Fairyland"
Friday July 13, 7:00 PM, Room F
Gwendolyn Clare, C.S.E. Cooney (leader), Victoria Janssen, Kate Nepveu, Robert V.S. Redick
Many fantasy and SF novels struggle with an issue that, at first glance, looks downright old-fashioned: interracial marriage. The races are non-human, and some of their problems are unique; for example, in Cheryl Brooks's Cat Star Chronicles, the near-extinct Zetithians must breed with other species or die out. Others face very familiar concerns such as being rejected by their families or peers. Their risk-taking is often rewarded with the birth of children who display enhanced or unusual abilities--though those children have their own concerns about not fitting in. How do these themes reflect and interact with real-world tensions around race, marriage, and culture?
Sunday July 15, 12:00 PM CL
Kaffeeklatsch
Victoria Janssen, Scott Lynch.
"Little Orphan Mary Sue"
Sunday July 15, 2:00 PM, Room G
Marilyn Brahen, C.S.E. Cooney, Victoria Janssen (leader), Mikki Kendall, Delia Sherman
What would Freud say about Harry Dresden's daddy issues? Urban fantasy seems to have swiped the parentless, childless protagonist notion wholesale from epic fantasy and given it the extra weight of the noir hero's impenetrable solitude. Is the general absence of mothers, fathers, and children in UF just a way to dodge their tendency to put the kibosh on adventures? When characters' parents and children do show up, what roles do they play in the urban fantasy narrative?
Friday July 13, 11:00 AM G
Glenn Grant, Victoria Janssen (leader), Toni L.P. Kelner, Alison Sinclair, Ruth Sternglantz.
In a 2011 review of Vonda N. McIntyre's classic Dreamsnake, Ursula K. Le Guin quotes Moe Bowstern's slogan "Subversion Through Friendliness" and adds, "Subversion through terror, shock, pain is easy-instant gratification, as it were. Subversion through friendliness is paradoxical, slow-acting, and durable. And sneaky." Is subversion through friendliness a viable strategy for writers who desire to challenge norms? What are its defining characteristics? When do readers love it, and when does it backfire?
"Sherlock Holmes, Now and Forever"
Friday July 13, 4:00 PM, Room G
Ellen Asher, Michael Dirda (leader), Victoria Janssen, Fred Lerner, Veronica Schanoes
Sherlock Holmes is everywhere right now: in TV series like House, BBC's Sherlock, and the upcoming Elementary; in the Robert Downey Jr. movies; and in books and stories being written about Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. What accounts for the endless appeal of this character? Are we ever going to get tired of brilliant and slightly mad detectives? Or is it all really about Watson, as suggested by our collective urge to keep telling and retelling Holmes's stories?
"Guess Who's Coming to Fairyland"
Friday July 13, 7:00 PM, Room F
Gwendolyn Clare, C.S.E. Cooney (leader), Victoria Janssen, Kate Nepveu, Robert V.S. Redick
Many fantasy and SF novels struggle with an issue that, at first glance, looks downright old-fashioned: interracial marriage. The races are non-human, and some of their problems are unique; for example, in Cheryl Brooks's Cat Star Chronicles, the near-extinct Zetithians must breed with other species or die out. Others face very familiar concerns such as being rejected by their families or peers. Their risk-taking is often rewarded with the birth of children who display enhanced or unusual abilities--though those children have their own concerns about not fitting in. How do these themes reflect and interact with real-world tensions around race, marriage, and culture?
Sunday July 15, 12:00 PM CL
Kaffeeklatsch
Victoria Janssen, Scott Lynch.
"Little Orphan Mary Sue"
Sunday July 15, 2:00 PM, Room G
Marilyn Brahen, C.S.E. Cooney, Victoria Janssen (leader), Mikki Kendall, Delia Sherman
What would Freud say about Harry Dresden's daddy issues? Urban fantasy seems to have swiped the parentless, childless protagonist notion wholesale from epic fantasy and given it the extra weight of the noir hero's impenetrable solitude. Is the general absence of mothers, fathers, and children in UF just a way to dodge their tendency to put the kibosh on adventures? When characters' parents and children do show up, what roles do they play in the urban fantasy narrative?