Bryce Moore's Blog, page 296

Newsweek, The Washington Post, and Mormons

Newsweek is worth picking up this week just for the great photoshop of Mitt Romney on the Book of Mormon Musical poster that graces its cover. But the article inside is pretty read-worthy in and of itself. According to Newsweek, Mormons rock, and we're all having a "Mormon moment" right now. This, of course, is in addition to the moment we had during the Salt Lake Olympics, the moment we had last time Romney ran for presidency, the moment we had when HBO decided to do its Big Love series, and many other moments that have popped up over the years. For better or worse, though, it seems that there are getting to be more and more Mormon moments.



(Michael Otterson, Head of Public Affairs for the church, just posted an op/ed letter in defense of Mormons running for office in the US--it's a letter I highly recommend reading.)



What's really interesting to me is how social media seems to have brought Mormons out of hiding in many cases. Maybe that's just because I follow Mormonism more closely than other "lesser known" religions. People are discussing their faith online more, and sticking up for what they believe in. Thankfully, I haven't seen too much of the "we're right and you're all wrong" variety, which I worried might happen if/when Mormons flooded the internets. Perhaps some of this has to do with the self-selecting process of who actually blogs or goes on line frequently. You've got a group of younger generation of Mormons blogging and writing about their beliefs. Then again, I might just be getting a warped view of the internet landscape, since I tend to be limited to see only stuff that pops up in areas that I frequent. Is someone else out there seeing something else?



The church is really trying hard to establish itself as being more normal. Less fringe. There's the mormon.org ad campaign going on right now, where members are encouraged to create profiles of who they are and what they believe, in an attempt to show some of the diversity of backgrounds and personalities of the membership. (In case you're wondering, yes, I've made a profile, but for some reason it has yet to be approved. Maybe it's the beard. There's diversity, and then there's *diversity*.)



In any case, if you haven't read those two articles, I encourage you to do so. The Newsweek one because I think it gives a fairly balanced view of Mormonism today, the Post op/ed because I think it's an excellent defense of religion as it relates to politics.



Other than that, I don't have a whole lot of time to discuss the two articles today. But if you have any points that pop up as you read and want to post them for some discussion, I should be able to come back in a while and add any thoughts I might have.

Dark YA, the Wall Street Journal, and Censorship

Saturday, the Wall Street Journal made some waves in the YA lit world by publishing an op/ed piece focused on how dark YA literature is becoming. Twitter erupted, with many quick to criticize the author of the piece, Meghan Cox Gurdon. Some excellent discussions of the topic can be found here, here, and here. But you're not here to see what others had to say about the subject--you're here to read my take on it (I assume).



So here goes.



First off, I agree with the basic premise of the op/ed--the idea that YA is trending darker and darker. I don't think it's a debatable point. You read things today in YA that you would not *ever* have dreamed of reading before. Explicit sex scenes of every flavor, violence, self-mutilation--you name it. I think a lot of people who don't follow the YA scene would be very surprised to know what's out there these days, and for that, I think Gurdon's article does a good job of bringing it to light.



As an op/ed piece, it certainly was effective. It's gotten people talking about the subject, and it's no doubt gotten her a lot of eyeballs. (Which would be cooler if they were literal eyeballs, considering the subject matter.) Of course, she did so by resorting to a gross overreaction and oversimplification of the genre--one which I think was unnecessary and may even prove to be harmful. Leading with this quote is perhaps the most misleading item of the article:

 Hundreds of lurid and dramatic covers stood on the racks before her, and there was, she felt, "nothing, not a thing, that I could imagine giving my daughter. It was all vampires and suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff." She left the store empty-handed.

So there are hundreds of books available, but one mother felt like she couldn't find a single non-disturbing book. This was at a Barnes & Noble, mind you, so we can't assume she was at Gothic & Gruesome, Inc. No--this was one mother's experience and dismay with the current state of affairs of YA fiction. Gurdon goes on to name specifics and get nitty gritty about what exactly she means by "dark YA." And her examples prove her point. I don't think the internet would have exploded if she'd just been a tad less overarching. Starting with the quote from the mom seems to say that what Gurdon's point out applies to all YA these days.



And that just ain't true.



The thing is, Gurdon knows this. She's a regular children's/YA book reviewer for the Journal. In the sidebar to the article, she (or someone at the Journal) makes some recommendations for YA books that span the last 70 years).  I just read her review for Mockingjay, and it seemed to me to be fair and a pretty good evaluation of the novel. What I mean to say is that Gurdon has more to her name than just this article. She knows the YA scene, and she knows she's simplifying it. It doesn't help her case at all that she doesn't take any space in her article to discuss how not EVERY YA book being published these days is full of gratuitous sex and violence.



In the end, YA fiction is just like adult fiction. There's something for everyone. Like I said, I agree with Gurdon that YA is trending darker and darker. I wouldn't recommend some books to all readers. Then again, my time working in a public library proved to me that some people will be offended by anything. Literally. Do I think it's the responsibility of authors and editors to not offend people? No. It's the responsibility of people to know what they're getting into, and to decide for themselves what to read or watch.



Last night, Denisa and I were watching a delightful French romantic comedy (I Do, which I give a very strong 3 stars to and heartily recommend, with the caveat that there's an extremely foul mouthed parrot and a scene of comic S&M--that doesn't show anything.) In any case, we started talking about censorship and art. When I was at BYU, an exhibit by Rodin came to the art museum. It included his The Kiss sculpture. BYU didn't allow it to be exhibited, which was fairly ridiculous in my opinion. If they didn't want to show some of his best work, they shouldn't have paid for the work to come to the university in the first place.



This is just to say that you clearly can't please everyone. Such is life. I don't fault Gurdon with writing a piece on what I see as an important topic to discuss in YA literature. I do fault her for portraying it as a one-sided, black and white issue. It's more complex than that. Simplifying it no doubt got her more readers, but it does a disservice to the genre, and she should know better.



That said, I also believe people should do a bit more research before they seek to mob someone online. Gurdon isn't as clueless as some of the comments wanted her to be.



Which makes what she wrote worse, of course, not better.

Why the iPad is a (Mostly) Awesome Reading Experience

[image error] I have now read an entire book on my iPad. I'd started Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi and gotten a fair way into it, but I ended up getting distracted by other books and not coming back to it. (Great book from what I'd read, though--the fault in me not finishing that one is all mine.) But my library has this beauty of an offering: we have an account with Overdrive that lets patrons download audiobooks and ebooks from home. You get to keep them for a week or two, and then the file stops working. Better yet, there's an Overdrive app, so I can get the books really easily on my iPad. First up: The Fellowship of the Ring.



I have a confession to make: I typically only buy books by authors I know these days. I know many librarians who are absolute book-aholics, buying tons of them. I wish I could. But when I work in a library and have access to all those books every day, I just don't feel the need to personally possess them. It's a lot like how I've stopped buying DVDs now that I have Netflix. Yes, I still buy certain films, but for the most part, I don't. Why buy something when I can stream it instantly, or when I can have it in my home in two days anytime I want? But I buy books by authors I know because . . . well, I know them. I like to support friends.



Anyway. This is just to say that using my iPad as an ereading device wasn't going to happen if I had to shell out $15 for digital copies of books. But using it to get library books from home? That makes it a whole lot more reasonable in my miserly mind. Now that I've read a book on it, here are my observations:



ebooks don't really feel that much different than physical books. It's a tad harder to feel like you're making progress in the book (no physical feel of one side getting thicker while the other gets thinner), but other than that, I was reading, plain and simple. For me, when I'm really reading, the book disappears in my hand, and I'm totally into the story, somehow seeing and interacting with characters in a way that's hard to explain. (It's this sensation that served as the basis for an entire novel of mine: Ichabod.) As long as the medium doesn't get in the way of that sensation, then what does it matter what medium it is?
An backlit screen is awesome for reading in bed when you're married. I mean, epic awesome. For the past ten years, whenever I've really wanted to stay up reading, I have to go to another room eventually. Even reading lights are pretty light, after all. With my iPad, I just turn off my light and keep reading. That was pretty cool. I know some people have complained that an illuminated screen is distracting or something--I didn't notice that at all.
It took me a lot longer to finish the book than it would have if I was just reading the book. This is perhaps the biggest problem I have with my iPad as a reading device right now--and it's one I might be able to get over with practice. The thing is, each time I went to read, I had all these other distractions to get through first. My iPad can do so much, that I'd pick it up and do all sorts of other things before I finally got around to reading. Check email (work and mine), check Twitter, check Facebook, make some moves on Words with Friends, check the news, check the weather, check sports scores, check Twitter again, think about watching some Netflix, remind myself I want to read, check Facebook one more time--you get the point. With a physical book, picking that thing up is making a commitment. You're going to do one thing and one thing only: read. Doing something else requires putting it down. Not so with my iPad. I can go from reading to Twitter and back with just a few touches. I hope I can get over this. I love reading. I'd rather have read a book than check Twitter fifty times. And yet the distractions are so small and so omni-present that it's hard for me to resist them. This is perhaps one reason why dedicated ereaders like the Kindle might be better suited to ebooks. The fewer distractions, the better. Or maybe I just need to get better at will power. I will say that once I start reading, the distractions tended to slip away. It was just actually starting that was difficult.
I love how I never lost my spot. Ever. I would start the book up again, and I was right back where I'd left off--no need for bookmarks. That might seem like a silly perk, but it felt pretty nice to me.
I think reading an epic fantasy on my iPad would be great--mainly because it can be as long as it wants, and I don't have to lug the whole thing around. I mean, Way of Kings is a hefty book. It's sometimes hard to wield it in a comfortable fashion. With my iPad, I could have the entire Wheel of Time in my hands and there's no difference. That's a small thing, but noticeable.
I have no remarks about reading outside vs. inside. I rarely read outside. End of story.
If prices for ebooks drop enough, I could easily see me changing my mind about my reluctance to buy an ebook. I get apps on my iPad for $5 all the time (well--often). It's a small price for a lot of fun. Buying an ebook, I wouldn't have to worry about finding space for it--my bookshelves wouldn't have to be periodically cleaned off, there's no dusting involved . . . So the jury's still out on that. But $15 for an electronic copy seems awfully steep, even as an author who'd love you to buy his book for that much. I tend to think what will eventually happen is that ebooks will start at a high price point and then drop over time. Maybe that's the way it already is--I haven't really looked to see. Then again, I also see all sorts of opportunities for the platform: enhanced ebooks. Brandon Sanderson writes chapter commentaries for each of his books. It would be cool to buy an ebook of his books that comes complete with the commentaries hyperlinked to each chapter. With my own book Vodnik, it would be really cool if I could have an edition that included pictures of all the various places in the book--that sort of thing. Sort of like DVDs have all the extra features. I could see that being worth a higher price for the ebook. Time will tell what happens . . . 
So there you have it. All my observations for now. Will I read another ebook? Sure thing. I'm already in the middle of The Two Towers . How about you? Have you used an ereader? Which one, and what did you think? If you haven't, why haven't you? Do share.

Sudafed Up

On my way home from the conference, I got a head cold. Having a head cold while flying is not the most wonderful experience in the world. My right ear has been plugged up since Tuesday, and it feels like someone's trying to drill into my skull. To make matters worse, the head cold has blossomed into a full-fledged Sick. Coughing, runny nose, aching skin--the works. In an effort to combat the Sick, I'm taking some pseudoephedrine, that nasal decongestant you have to give your drivers license to the pharmacist to get, since people use it to make meth. Whatever. All I know is that it has the following side effects (taken from Wikipedia:

Common adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with pseudoephedrine therapy include: CNS stimulation, insomnia, nervousness, excitability, dizziness and anxiety. Infrequent ADRs include: tachycardia and/or palpitations. Rarely, pseudoephedrine therapy may be associated with mydriasis (blurred vision), hallucinations, arrhythmias, hypertension, seizures and ischemic colitis; as well as severe skin reactions known as recurrent pseudo-scarlatina, systemic contact dermatitis, and nonpigmenting fixed drug eruption. Pseudoephedrine, particularly in high doses, may also cause episodes of paranoid psychosis. It has also been reported that pseudoephedrine, amongst other sympathomimetic agents, may be associated with the occurrence of stroke.

This is all just a long way of saying, "I don't think I should be blogging right now." I might write something I don't mean to say. So have a great day, all--I'm going to go back to my paranoid psychosis.



PS--The crappy thing is that I don't think the drug's working. Decongest, nose! Decongest!

Adventures in CONduit

I'm successfully back in Maine at last, a bit sick, but otherwise no worse for wear. (Poor Denisa got sick right before she had to pick me up from the airport, and I think she's worse off than I am.) I'm also very pleased to say that I had a wonderful time at the conference. I've been to some of these before, but this is probably the best experience I've had at one yet. I think a large part of that has to do with the fact that I didn't feel like I was under any pressure. I wasn't trying to Impress Important People, with my publishing hopes on the line. Instead, I was just trying to meet new people and make new contacts and friends. In that, I was successful. (And looking back on it, if I'd been less concerned with Getting the Big Break in past cons than I was with Meeting People, I think all my other cons would have been more enjoyable—and more productive. It also helped that I was on several panels. Allow me to break down the panels I was on and the people I met:

First up was "What a Kid Wants in a Story." My fellow panelists were Dene Low (author), Julie Wright (Whitney Award Winning Author®) and Jessica Day George (author). There were probably around 10-15 people in the audience, and I think it went quite well. What does a kid want? I said it was a pretty easy question—kids want the same things anyone wants: a good story. Ideally, a story where the main character is someone near their age (preferably a bit older) and is able to have a significant adventure, where he/she solves the main problems on their own—without adults butting in. Kids *don't* want a story that has a Theme or a Moral.
I also had a reading on Saturday, and that . . . didn't really go that well. Two people were in the audience: Isaac Stewart (my current writing group member, and the maker of maps for Brandon Sanderson and more--looks like his web page is still under construction. Come on, Isaac!) and my brother, Ben. That said, the place they had readings going at the conference was extremely difficult to find and very out of the way—so it wasn't likely that I'd get much foot traffic. Also, my reading time was different than the one in the written program. Anyway—I read the first chapter of Vodnik, and I felt quite good about it. Nice to have a bit of practice with a reading without any hint of pressure.
Other events on Saturday included going to lunch with a bunch of friends, attending the book launch and Nebula Award celebration for Eric James Stone (short story writer extraordinaire, and a former writing group member of mine), playing Pandemic with Dan Wells (author), Larry Correia (author) and his daughter, and then learning the basics of The Legend of the Five Rings, a role-playing game I played in front of a (small) audience that night. Rob Wells (author) had gotten sick, and they needed a replacement. It was DMed by Bob Defendi (author), and the other players were Dan, Larry, Howard Taylor (web comic author of Schlock Mercenary), Steve Diamond and Nick Dianatkhah (the runners of elitistbookreviews), and Dan Willis (author). My character was a womanizing samurai who never missed a chance to hit on women. Dan was an assassin (and his faithful servant Convenient—I mean, Chen). Howard was a pyromaniac wizard, Nick was a one-armed, one-legged samurai, Larry was a berserker, Dan Willis was a horse expert, and Steve was a sniveling coward of a back-stabbing loser. So . . . pretty much everyone was typecast. :-)  Fun times.
Sunday was a tad quieter—not as many attended, likely due to church. (Go figure—it's Utah.) I was on three more panels:

What Makes a Successful Writing Group and What to Avoid—with Bob, Ann Chamberlain (author) and me. For 10 in the morning (the first panel of the day), I thought it was quite well attended—something like 10 or 12 in the audience. I've been in writing groups for years, so this felt like a panel that I had a lot to offer on.
Potters of the Caribbean—an overview of the year in sci-fi/fantasy film, with Larry, Steve, Blake Casselman (screenplay writer) and me. Talk about a fun panel. We all got to sit there and discuss what films we liked, which ones we hated, and what we thought the future would hold. About 10 in the audience.
Urban Fantasy—with Bob, Lesli Muir Lytle (author), Karen Hoover (author), Carole Nelson Douglas (author and guest of honor at the conference) and me. Urban Fantasy is a hard genre to define, and this panel wandered far afield, covering everything from contemporary fantasy to magic realism to Don Quixote to following trends. I'm not sure how much the audience (of around 15 to 20) learned about Urban Fantasy, but it seemed like they enjoyed themselves, so that's good.
And that was that. A great weekend overall. Many interesting people, lots of new friends, and some board gaming to boot--what more could you ask for?

No CONduit Appearance Today

If you don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, then this is news to you. (If you do follow me, then you're likely sick of my updates by now.) The flight I was supposed to be on at 6:55 this morning got delayed enough that I would have missed my connection (which I found out I didn't have an actual seat on anyway--thanks, United and Delta!) So I'm on the afternoon flight to DC again, slated to connect to a flight to Salt Lake that'll get me there around 8 this evening, 24 hours late.



Of course, that's assuming this next flight actually works. Word on the street is that DC has a bunch of thunderstorms and hail right now. The plane I'm supposed to get on has already been delayed, and if it gets delayed too much, then I'll miss my DC connection (speaking from experience, now.) If that happens, I'm taking it as a Sign, and I'll just head home and stay home. I'd have missed two out of the three days of the conference. I'd rather try to marshal my forces for a different conference that I can actually attend.



But here's hoping that I'm just worried too much at this point . . .

Flight Irritation (and a reading time change)

I was supposed to be getting on my flight to Salt Lake right now, already arrived in DC and on my way to CONduit. However, due to some unspecified equipment malfunction, my flight from Portland was canceled. You know, if United had just been upfront about things and said right off that the flight was delayed/canceled, I might not be that steamed. But instead, they decided to wait an hour after the flight was supposed to have left before they let us know there was a problem. Genius. And of course it was late enough by then that I couldn't get another flight out today. So now I'm leaving early tomorrow. How fun.



Anyway. All should work out okay. I'm not going to miss any of my presentations, as long as Delta (I've switched airlines) doesn't screw things up. One note for any who were planning on attending my reading, however: it's now on Saturday at 1:25. Got that? See you there.



Okay--I'm going to go spend some time with the family now. At least Denisa had decided to do a shopping spree in Freeport before she came home, so she didn't have that far to drive to pick me up again. We'll try this again tomorrow . . .

Techie Links (and a Must-See Movie Link for good measure)

I follow quite a few blogs, and every so often, I see some things that I just really have to share. Typically I'll share them through my Facebook feed (and often Twitter, too), but now and then there are some links that I have a bit more to say about. Today is such a day. Three links for your reading and viewing pleasure. Here they are:

There was an excellent piece this week in the New York Times, all about how Twitter is making us stupid. It's a fascinating article--one which I highly recommend--but if you just want the executive summary, the author (Bill Keller) argues that we're training our brains to abandon actually using our memories. In days of yore, people would regularly memorize all sorts of things, including the entire contents of books. These days, stunts like that make a person seem freakish, even though it's (apparently) not that hard to do. (Check out this article for a more thorough discussion in that vein--more great reading in and of itself.) With the advent of calculators and Wikipedia, it's argued that people are outsourcing control of their knowledge to the Cloud. Here's an excellent quote that captures the essence of the argument:

Many of us have discovered that navigating by G.P.S. has undermined our mastery of city streets and perhaps even impaired our innate sense of direction. Typing pretty much killed penmanship. Twitter and YouTube are nibbling away at our attention spans. And what little memory we had not already surrendered to Gutenberg we have relinquished to Google. Why remember what you can look up in seconds?

What do I think about the argument? I have to admit that I think he's got a point. As we rely more heavily on computers, it's bound to change the way our mind operates. At the same time, I'm not sure that's a wholly bad thing. At least, it won't be if we don't let it. Sure, we could easily jettison all our hard won knowledge for fluffier things, like American Idol statistics or brownie recipes, but at the same time, we can divert our attention to bigger challenges, instead. I'd say this is a good observation, but in the end it's a glass is half empty/half full situation, which brings to mind an excellent Woody Allen quote I just read in Entertainment Weekly:

Nostalgia is an unhealthy trap that's very seductive," says Allen. "The problem is, life is a very cruel, tragic, and unsatisfying experience and you always think that another time in the past would have been ideal for you. For example, if I think back to belle-epoque Paris, it's like Gigi, with beautiful costumes and carriages and great wine. The reality is there was no novacaine when you went to the dentist.

In other words, it's all fine and good to wish for days of yore--but don't forget that those days had their own problems, too.


Next up is something for you if you're a Gmail user. Lifehacker has two excellent posts (first, second) on features in Google Labs that you should turn on in your Gmail account. I'm not going to say that I use all of them, but some of these are real gems. (Unread Message Icon, Background Send, Message Sneak Peek, and the wonderful Undo Send all stand out.) This is one of the reasons I love Gmail--the ability to turn on little things that can make the whole thing feel so much better. I think it's fantastic that Google doesn't have to wait for a whole new upgrade to push out improvements. They do it with Chrome (still my browser of choice these days), and they do it with their whole line of services, from Search right down to Gmail. If you're not a Gmail user, I really don't see a good argument for why you don't switch. Anyone care to enlighten me?


Finally, here's one last link that isn't tech-related, but I really wanted to share it. Flavorwire has a great piece focused on modern movies that are better in black and white. Now, I know that some of you are thinking to yourself, "Why in the world would I want to watch something made in color in B&W instead?) Well, just watch the first clip of Raiders of the Lost Ark in B&W, and I almost guarantee you'll see the light. A really cool experience, and each of the clips has an accompanying commentary discussing the differences the change in color bring to the table.

Two Movie Recommendations: Classic and Fresh

Two movie reviews for you today--both movies are Bryce specials, meaning I absolutely loved them, but your own personal mileage may vary. They share a common theme of con artists at the height of their game, and it's fun to see the differences between the two. (I'm a sucker for con artist movies--so sue me. It comes from a childhood of watching The Sting every year for about a decade straight.)



First up, the classic: Fitzwilly. There are some great reasons for you to watch this one. First off, it's got Dick Van Dyke being an awesome butler. (And making you wonder whether or not his whole role in Mary Poppins wasn't just one elaborate con game . . .) To be specific, he's a butler to a fabulously wealthy woman, who actually has no money. She has him. He brazenly steals from just about everywhere, just to keep her in the lifestyle she's accustomed to. (She has no idea what he's doing.) Everything's going swimmingly, until a new secretary shows up and threatens the whole operation. It's a comic caper, and it works out wonderfully. (Part of the trick to a good con movie is to have all the pieces fit together well. It should work like a watch--when it does, it's just fun to sit back and see it unfold.) Another reason to watch? The early score by Johnny Williams, who later decided to grow up and just go by John. Less than a decade later, he'd hit the world with Jaws, followed by other assorted epic scores, from Star Wars to Superman to Harry Potter to Catch Me If You Can.



Second, we have The Brothers Bloom. This one came out just three years ago, so quite a few of you might have seen it. It somehow flew under my radar, though--so I'm putting it out there for you, in case you missed it, too. Directed by Rian Johnson (who also directed Brick, which I enjoyed quite a bit, but others found dysfunctional), the movie focuses on a pair of con artists brothers who've been tricking people out of their money since they were in elementary school. This is one of those movies that's almost too smart for its own good. One of those films where you're not sure if they're going to be able to pull off as much as they clearly think they can, and the whole movie, you're just dreading that sooner or later, it's all going to fall apart.



Well, my friends--I'm here to reassure you that it doesn't. The ending is controversial, though I won't get into why. (I'm not going to spoil this one for you). However, once you've seen it, I'd really like to chat about it. If you liked The Sting, then you'll like this movie. It's cool, slick fun.

CONduit: Come See Me Talk about Writing!

On Thursday, I'm leaving Maine for a pilgrimage out to Utah. Salt Lake City, to be precise. I'll be there through Monday, attending a science fiction convention: CONduit. It's a con I used to go to when I lived in Utah, and I'm looking forward to going back. (For those of you who don't know, a "con" is one of those conventions that celebrates geekdom to one extent or another. Sometimes comics, sometimes writing, sometimes movies, sometimes all of the above. This one is a regional "all of the above" flavor. There'll be presentations on movies, writing, making costumes, and more. Yes, some people will be dressed up in costumes. Because people enjoy that. No, I won't be dressed up. Because Utah has a lot of really good fantasy authors, there's a pretty darned impressive array of presenters on the writing panels, including Dave Wolverton (Farland), L.E. Modesitt, Tracy Hickman, Dan Wells and more.) Of course, I won't just be attending the con, I'll also be presenting at the con, which sounds ever so much more Important and Official. Specifically, you can see me on the following panels:





Friday, May 274:00--Streamlining Your Fiction.  How to know what stays and what goes to make your story as good as it can get? (Jessica Day George, Suzanne Vincent, Howard Tayler, Bryce Moore, Dave Wolverton)

5:00--How Not To Talk Down To Your Audience.  How do you find the right balance between talking over your reader's head and treating them like a child?  Especially when they ARE children? (Jessica Day George, Dan Willis, Bryce Moore, Julie Wright, Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury)

Saturday, May 282:00--What A Kid Wants In A Story. Some adults have a tendency to talk down to kids.  Some writers do it, too.  Or they don't know what a kid looks for in a book.  Our panel "gets it."  Come hear more about this growing genre. (J. Scott Savage, Jason Shumate, Dene Low, LuAnn Staheli, Bryce Moore, Julie Wright, Jessica Day George)

4:25—Reading (I think--This reading might also be at 4:00. There's some confusion still. In either case, I'll be reading an excerpt from Vodnik.)

Sunday, May 2910:00--What Makes A Successful Writing Group And What To Avoid. Some writing groups give lots of great praise but no concrete suggestions. Some seem to live for scathing, tear-you-down bromides but again, don't give useful feedback. But others, oh, others manage to point out problems AND strengths in ways that challenge and inspire. How do you find one of that kind?(Robert J Defendi, Ann Chamberlin, LuAnn Staheli, Bryce Moore, Dave Wolverton, Chris Weston)

2:00--Potters of the Caribbean: The year in film. It's the beginning of the summer film series. What films have we liked so far, which ones disappointed and what are we waiting anxiously for? (Bryce Moore, Blake Casselman)

5:00--Urban Fantasy. So, you drag yourself home after a long shift and mutter under your breath about the fairy dust sprinkled all over your now floating kitchen table. Your best friend calls to complain about her zombie boyfriend's breath and a ghost laughs in your ear. In it. *Sigh* It's gonna be one of THOSE nights. (Lesli Muir Lytle, Karen Hoover, Larry Correia, Bryce Moore, Carole Nelson Douglas)

So come on out and have a good time, learn something about writing, or just hang out. Hope to see you there!