As Always...

.As always, I'm on the road again.

Today I'm off to Boskone, which is the only science fiction convention I can imagine being worth going to Boson in February for.

PLEASE, the program people tell me, DO NOT just copy and paste this schedule to Facebook, your blog or web site without **removing** your co-panelists' private email addresses.  Because they might make changes.  

But what the Hell.  I'm a wild man.

Here's my schedule:

First ContactFriday 21:00 - 21:50
Stories of a first contact with alien creatures capture our imagination like nothing else. Will the aliens be kind benefactors? Will they enslave the human race? Or will they just wipe us out and take over the planet? What works have most effectively portrayed the ideas, fears, and hopes that might arise when an alien race comes calling?
Allen M. Steele (M), E. C. Ambrose , Walter Jon Williams, Michael SwanwickKiller PlaguesSaturday 11:00 - 11:50
A panel discussion about colds and viruses that don't turn people into zombies, but are just as deadly. What effect does science have on creating, curing, and tracking the viruses of today and those that may develop in the future? When the big civilization-killer comes, what can you expect when it hits? What symptoms should you be obsessively checking yourself out for? Will hand sanitizer help?
Joan Slonczewski (M), Jill Shultz  , Seanan McGuire LJ Cohen(, Michael Swanwick Alternate VoicesSaturday 13:00 - 13:50
Stories told through documents, letters, reports, or other nontraditional voices provide opportunities for narrative dissonance because of what is not (and cannot be) said. Panelists discuss the possibilities of these varied voices.
Stephen P. Kelner (M) , Scott H. Andrews, Walter Jon Williams , Michael SwanwickWhat Is Storytelling For?Saturday 15:00 - 15:50
Why tell stories? What is the purpose of narrative fiction in culture? Are the world and characters a massive counterfactual conditional and the narrative an extended consequence ... i.e., if things were thus, then this might happen? Or are we just telling lies?
Debra Doyle (M) Jo Walton, Ada Palmer  Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Michael Swanwick Kaffeeklatsche with Michael SwanwickSunday 12:00 - 12:50

And that leaves me tons of time for hanging out with real people.  If you're a real people, be sure to come up to me and say Hi.  I'm one of them too.


Above:  Keep the giraffes burning!  David Langford has NOT died in vain.

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