Not at World Fantasy, But Will Be Talked About

I won't be at the World Fantasy Convention next month, but my name does appear on a panel on Saturday.

Historical People in Fantasy
Time: 1 p.m.-2 p.m., Saturday, Tidewater 2
Panelists: Eileen Gunn (M), David B. Coe, Jack Dann, Jean Marie Ward, Rick Wilber
Description: When using Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, or perhaps one of the most used names, Nikola Tesla and other real people as characters in fiction, what liberties can authors take and what holes do they have to fill? How close to the real Jack Kerouac does Nick Mamatas get in Move Under Ground? What do creators owe to history, especially if the players are in a new world as in Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series. The panel will discuss where historical truth meets literary license.


Often panels at conventions engage in the deadly practice of treating the panel description like a precis and won't vary far from the exact questions asked in the description. I can hear the panelists now: How close to the real Jack Kerouac does Nick Mamatas get in Move Under Ground?

Gunn: Hmm, haven't read it.
Coe: Don't know that one.
Dann: Who? What?
Ward: Doesn't ring a bell.
Wilbur: *defeated-looking shrug*

ETA: Actually, Ward is reading it! (See comments.)