How to Avoid Gillian at Continuum - the more reliable version
The final programme (save for last minute panics) is out for the Aussie NatCon. As I said a little while ago, anyone intending to be in Melbourne in June may want to start planning now to get the best out of their trip, and the very best trip avoids anything that has even the least possibility of me singing or making bad jokes. Here, for your Melbourne pleasure, are the times and places to avoid (and the subjects and speakers you will be sacrificing):
We Do This Stuff So You Can Write About It Friday 17:00-18:00 in The Big Top with Amanda Elliott, Alex Matti, Fran La Fontaine, Dan Rabarts - you can attend this one safely, actually, for it's not a panel. Just avoid my corner.
Solo Presentation: Seventeenth Century Borderlands Friday 19:00-19:30 in Sideshow Alley - this is the first time I'll talk about the results I've been getting from the 17th century stuff. I'm giving a presentation about that hinterland between magic and science and how the people of the late seventeenth century handled living there. And I've always liked Sideshow Alley...
Medieval Diversity Friday Friday 20:00-21:00 in Sideshow Alley with Brendan Carson, Jane Routley - Brendan and Jane are both very nice people. It's a shame they're stuck on a panel with me. I'm not sure that Brendan knows about my historian-self. You might want to come to cheer him on and to support him during moments of woe.
Twenty Years in the Making: A Conversation with Jack Dann Saturday 11:00-11:30 with Jack Dann, and Jason Nahrung - this is the 20th anniversary of Jack living in Australia. I get to interview him with Jason Nahrung. I'm happy to consider any questions people have been dying to ask him. When I run out of questions, there may be chocolate.
Signings Saturday 13:00-13:30 in The Midway (Foyer) with Ambelin Kwaymullina, Trudi Canavan, Leonie Rogers, Alan Baxter, Sue Bursztynski, Michael Pryor. If anyone actually brings anything for me to sign I'll be surprised. I'll also give them chocolate, since they will have earned it! It's also a good place to catch up with me, since I will be sitting still for a half hour. Or to avoid me, since I will be sitting still for a half hour.
Fans and Faith 2 Saturday 17:00-18:00 in The Haunted House with: Kathryn Andersen, Alex Pierce, Gillian Polack, Brendan Carson, Ian Mond - Poor Brendan. Twice in two days.
Perceptions of Witches - the Crone, the Babe and the Supreme Sunday 16:00-17:00 in The Haunted House with: Jason Nahrung, Julia Svaganovic, Tracy Joyce, Stacey Larner - this panel brings out one of my not-terribly-deep secrets. I studied witchcraft at university. Mum hid the belladonna when she heard what my third year history subjects would be. She only worked out years later that it wasn't witchcraft I was studying, but the history of witches in Europe. I've maintained the interest, and the Continuum programme people knew about it (it strikes me from this list that they know a bit about me). You won't get views of modern witches from me - I'm the history component of this panel.
Solo Presentation: Writers and History Monday 14:00-15:00 in The Big Top - this is where the results of my recent research will be unleashed onto fandom. This is the stuff that follows the stuff that was in the PhD, and it's all about genre writers. SF writers are, it seems, very different to historical fiction writers in a number of ways, and history is a key to unravelling the differences. There will be a book on this sooner or later, but the fun stuff will appear, magically in the presentation that you will not attend for you have been warned that I shall be there!
Researching Other Cultures Monday 15:00-16:00 in The Big Top with Cat Sparks, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Jack Dann, Tracy Joyce - This is totally the panel to not avoid, simply because of Ambelin. Sorry I'm on it, but maybe you can wear special glasses with attached ear plugs and put them on when I speak.
Good luck to everyone in their valiant attempts at Gillian-avoidance!
We Do This Stuff So You Can Write About It Friday 17:00-18:00 in The Big Top with Amanda Elliott, Alex Matti, Fran La Fontaine, Dan Rabarts - you can attend this one safely, actually, for it's not a panel. Just avoid my corner.
Solo Presentation: Seventeenth Century Borderlands Friday 19:00-19:30 in Sideshow Alley - this is the first time I'll talk about the results I've been getting from the 17th century stuff. I'm giving a presentation about that hinterland between magic and science and how the people of the late seventeenth century handled living there. And I've always liked Sideshow Alley...
Medieval Diversity Friday Friday 20:00-21:00 in Sideshow Alley with Brendan Carson, Jane Routley - Brendan and Jane are both very nice people. It's a shame they're stuck on a panel with me. I'm not sure that Brendan knows about my historian-self. You might want to come to cheer him on and to support him during moments of woe.
Twenty Years in the Making: A Conversation with Jack Dann Saturday 11:00-11:30 with Jack Dann, and Jason Nahrung - this is the 20th anniversary of Jack living in Australia. I get to interview him with Jason Nahrung. I'm happy to consider any questions people have been dying to ask him. When I run out of questions, there may be chocolate.
Signings Saturday 13:00-13:30 in The Midway (Foyer) with Ambelin Kwaymullina, Trudi Canavan, Leonie Rogers, Alan Baxter, Sue Bursztynski, Michael Pryor. If anyone actually brings anything for me to sign I'll be surprised. I'll also give them chocolate, since they will have earned it! It's also a good place to catch up with me, since I will be sitting still for a half hour. Or to avoid me, since I will be sitting still for a half hour.
Fans and Faith 2 Saturday 17:00-18:00 in The Haunted House with: Kathryn Andersen, Alex Pierce, Gillian Polack, Brendan Carson, Ian Mond - Poor Brendan. Twice in two days.
Perceptions of Witches - the Crone, the Babe and the Supreme Sunday 16:00-17:00 in The Haunted House with: Jason Nahrung, Julia Svaganovic, Tracy Joyce, Stacey Larner - this panel brings out one of my not-terribly-deep secrets. I studied witchcraft at university. Mum hid the belladonna when she heard what my third year history subjects would be. She only worked out years later that it wasn't witchcraft I was studying, but the history of witches in Europe. I've maintained the interest, and the Continuum programme people knew about it (it strikes me from this list that they know a bit about me). You won't get views of modern witches from me - I'm the history component of this panel.
Solo Presentation: Writers and History Monday 14:00-15:00 in The Big Top - this is where the results of my recent research will be unleashed onto fandom. This is the stuff that follows the stuff that was in the PhD, and it's all about genre writers. SF writers are, it seems, very different to historical fiction writers in a number of ways, and history is a key to unravelling the differences. There will be a book on this sooner or later, but the fun stuff will appear, magically in the presentation that you will not attend for you have been warned that I shall be there!
Researching Other Cultures Monday 15:00-16:00 in The Big Top with Cat Sparks, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Jack Dann, Tracy Joyce - This is totally the panel to not avoid, simply because of Ambelin. Sorry I'm on it, but maybe you can wear special glasses with attached ear plugs and put them on when I speak.
Good luck to everyone in their valiant attempts at Gillian-avoidance!
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