FOGcon is coming!
Originally published at Vylar Kaftan. You can comment here or there.
Hey folks! It’s almost time for FOGcon 3!
FOGcon is an annual sf/f convention in the San Francisco Bay Area. It takes place from Mar 8-10. Our honored guests are Terry Bisson and Susan R. Matthews. Our theme is Law, Order, and Crime.
FOGcon is a seriously awesome convention. We’ve got a focus on writers and story-so if you write, this is a great place to come for networking and improving your craft. There’s also excellent panels (people keep telling us our programming is amazing), and this year the focus is on mysteries and crime in speculative fiction. We have karaoke, a writers’ workshop, and special presentations by our honored guests.
Registration for the weekend is $85 and you can get them at the website. Daypasses are $35 for Friday, $40 for Saturday, and $30 for Sunday, and will be available at the door.
I would be very grateful if people could link to this post and help promote FOGcon! If you have friends in the Bay Area, please make sure they know about the event.
Here’s a sample of the program items (you can see them all here):
It’s All About the Gravy
How do you thicken the plot in your fiction? What techniques can you use to increase tension? How do you change your story from a string of unrelated events into an exciting story? Writers talk about the craft of building a strong plot.
Liars’ Panel
Four experienced liars will sit on this panel and lie their butts off-solely for your entertainment. We might be lying about there being four of them. Ask them anything! See what they say.
Let’s Build a Legal System
Most of the time, if law gets involved in speculative fiction, it’s either an imitation of the legal system of the author’s home country or a kangaroo court - but there are so many other options for how to handle matters of guilt and innocence. How does the legal code change in a world where uploading is possible? Or psychic compulsion? How do you balance the rights of methane-breathers and oxygen-breathers? Let’s explore.
Anarchists! Innnn! Spaaaaace!
Outside of the law can mean outside of the city. The classic justice systems offered exile as an avoidance of fatal sentencing, considering exile equally terminal. But what happens when all of Earth is girded with awareness and broadcasting, how far do you go to find exile? How do you opt out from the water you’re swimming in?
Working-Class Heroes
Far too often in F/SF, the protagonist is Lord (or Lady) McSpecial of Bluebloodia, or else King Plotdevice’s long-lost child. Or, they’re just rich enough to have access to the Cool Toys that the author wants them to have on their travel through space. Terry Bisson, Lucius Shepard, Pat Murphy, and Joanna Russ are among many authors who present us with working-class heroes. What advantages do those heroes bring to the telling of useful stories, and how do the stories themselves change when we have protagonists without big bank accounts and high-brow accents?