Nothing with kings, nothing with crowns ...

Here's my 2016 Arisia schedule, tailor-made in Size Nine.  Looking forward to some lively conversations, with some awesome folks.  (Hey, sovay !)


The Founding Mothers of SF/F
Sat 10:00 AM
Catherine Lundoff (m), Greer Gilman, Debra Doyle, Victoria Janssen, JoSelle Vanderhooft

As we know, women invented all our favorite stuff! Mary Shelley defined science fiction with Frankenstein; Baroness Emma Orczy invented the superhero with The Scarlet Pimpernel. Let's discuss the founding mothers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Shifting the Language of SF
Sat 1:00 PM
John Chu (m), Greer Gilman, Debra Doyle, Lawrence M. Schoen, Heather Albano

Very few SF authors of the many who set stories in the far future ever speculate what language may sound like in following centuries and distant stars. Some formative works, like Burgess' A Clockwork Orange and Orwell's 1984 include this as a theme. Who else? What are the dangers of speculating vernacular? How might the language our descendants speak differ from ours? What works in SF imagine how the kids talk in the far future?

Welcome to the Underworld
Sat 7:00 PM
Terri Bruce (m), Gabriel Squailia, Daniel José Older, Greer Gilman, Sonya Taaffe

Mythic, personal, or speculative, we'll be talking about human consciousness after death and what it may or may not encounter. What are the most compelling afterworlds in fiction, which ones have the best shot at being plausible, and which ones inspire you in life?

Complexities of Voice
Sun 11:30 AM
Trisha Wooldridge (m), Constance Burris, Greer Gilman, Ctein, John Chu

How do we choose the voices we write with, and how do those choices influence plot, theme, flow?

Fantasy Reading
Mon 1:00 PM
Terri Bruce, Greer Gilman, Resa Nelson, N.S. Dolkart

Come listen to our panelists read a selection from their original fantasy works.

The Story Within the Story
Mon 2:30 PM
Heather Urbanski (m), Greer Gilman, Sonya Taaffe, Elizabeth Birdsall, MJ Cunniff

Relatively few SFnal works give narrative the kind of central role within their heroes' world that it often plays in our own. What works have best created stories within a story, and which are notable for the absence of a literary tradition where you might expect to find one?

Wait, what?  Monday at 2:30?  Après nous le chien mort.

Hope to see you at the windswept Westin-Way-Out-There!

Nine