My Lunacon Panel and Launch Schedule

[dr_pretentious]

I’ve climbed out of my stack of boxes long enough to make sense of my schedule for Lunacon. It’s a doozy. I’m on seven different program items on Saturday, even if you don’t count the double-booking error, plus a couple each on Friday and Sunday. It’s a whole lot of exposure for the weekend of the book launch. This is just what I hoped for. I’m slightly terrified.

Everything will be fine, say the many excellent folks who’ve had my back all these years. Don’t worry, your stuff always turns out fine.

Yes, my dear ones, I say, everything will be fine because I’ll work my butt off to make it so, just like I always do.

So it’ll be strenous, and fun. If I’m lucky, my Vortex of Schmooze superpowers may manifest intermittently. Some people might even buy copies of my book. Stranger things have happened.

You know how convention hotels like to give their meeting rooms names with unifying themes? If you want to find me at Lunacon, I’ll be spending most of my time on the Corridor of Famous People Nobody’s Heard Of, where the literary programming track is, with a couple of side trips to the Corridor of Trees, and one shining moment in a quadrant of the carved up ballroom (where I’ll be on a panel with Margot Adler!). Here’s how my schedule breaks down:

Friday

5:00 pm, Elijah Budd
Storiness: Connections between Story and Consciousness
Programming Notes Say: How does shared understanding effect your story? Using analogies, aphorisms, idioms, mores, themes and myths (intra /extra textual) to help tell your story.
With: A.L. Davroe
 
7:00 pm, Bartell
Gender Parity
Programming Notes Say: Sick of programs called Women in SF, Women in comics, bleh bleh bleh.. now its the traditional women in comics panel, blick. There’s a lot here to read: http://journeyplanet.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/7/1/15715530/journeyplanet13.pdf [I predict the final draft of the description in the program booklet will look a little different.]
With: Barbara Krasnoff, Felicia Herman, Catt Kingsgrave, and James Daniel Ross
 

Saturday

10:00 am, Bartell
Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading
Programming Notes Say: Give us a timeslot and we’ll squeeze in as many readings as we can! The Rapid Fire Reading (RFR) is one of the oldest events Broad Universe holds. Usually at science fiction, fantasy, and horror conventions but branching out to other venues, too, the RFR showcases snippets of published and in-progress work from members for the audience to enjoy.
With: Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Roberta Rogow, K.T. Pinto, Carole Ann Moleti, April Grey
 
11:00 am, Bartell
New Writer Workshop
Programming Notes Say:  If you have never been to a writers workshop, if you have never (or rarely) participated in a writer’s group, if you’ve never been published, this is a good workshop to start your Lunacon experience.
With: Michael Ventrella
 
12:00 pm, Westchester Assembly
Autographing
With: James Cambias
 
1:00 pm, Westchester Ballroom A2
Paganism in Fantasy
Programming Notes Say: Paganism in fantasy (as in used in books) — getting the facts right…
With: A.L. Davroe, Jim Freund, Margot Adler
 
4:00 pm, William Odelle
Moving Plot Forward by Knowing in Advance
Programming Notes Say: A popular fantasy element is the inclusion of prophets, prophesy and farsight. In most cases, it’s used as a reason that either forces or predicts the actions of the characters. A discussion on whether this is a good means of foreshadowing or just an easy out for an author trying to find a reason for the protagonist to do something.
With: Mary Catelli, Darrell Schweitzer, Paul Calhoun, Jared R. Lopatin
 
5:00 pm, William Odelle
Test Panel Ideas Here!
Programming Notes Say: This was a test panel entry to see if Brainstorming function worked in our database — Now it IS a panel. Throw a discussion topic into the “hat” and our demented program participants will talk about it for 10 minutes. Then, on to the next topic. Audience votes on What topic(s) can be a panel next year.
With: William Freedman, Paul Calhoun, Catt Kingsgrave, Lee Gilliland
 
7:00- 9:00 pm, Con Suite
Launch Party
For Tales from Rugosa Coven (Sarah Avery), Mighty Mighty (William Freedman), and the Garden State Speculative Fiction Anthology (Garden State Speculative Fiction Writers)
Readings! Homemade chili! Giveaways and raffles! Come celebrate with us! (Watch Sarah Avery use up a six-month quota of exclamation points in a single blog post!) 


(The programming folks accidentally double-booked me  opposite my own launch party. Mistakes happen. Scheduling the program for a convention is really hard, and the folks doing it are volunteers with lives full of other obligations. I mention the next panel in the hope that they’ll be able to move it to some other time slot. If not, then I bow out of the panel in favor of the book launch.)

7:00 pm, Maple
Help the Writers of the Weird Finish This Story
Programming Notes Say: ”I knew the dame was trouble when she slithered into my office” was the opening of a Round Robin story started several years ago on the private Google Group of the Writers of the Weird. See what happened next and help wrap things up.
With: Philip De Parto, Alex Shvartsman, David Sklar
 

Sunday

10:00 am, Maple
Mix-and-Match Myths
Programming Notes Say: Do Zeus and Thor have a brawl when a storm moves from Germanic to Italian areas? If winter happens when Persephone goes to the Underworld, what happens in Australia? If fairies are vulnerable to cold iron and kitsune to virtuous government officials, is there a way to combine them in a story without making it a mere comic jumble? Myths, legends, and folklore of the world were not designed for continuity. How can you work original folklore into world-building without losing coherence?
With: Mary Catelli, Patrick Thomas, James Cambias, K.T. Pinto
 
1:00 pm, William Odelle
Writing Groups and Professional Associations
Programming Notes Say: Writing groups? Professional Associations? Secret Society? SFWA, HWA, MWA, the Garden State Speculative Fiction Writers and ____. All are writing organizations, either local or international. Do they really serve a purpose in our writing lives or are they another distraction from writing? Come hear writers discuss their experiences.
With: Matthew Kressel, Bianca D’Arc, Neal Levin, Alex Shvartsman, David Mercurio Rivera
 

Wish me luck!

Comments

[laradionne.livejournal.com]

Well, since you know it's coming, I'll get the big hug and the, "There, there, everything will be alright" (because you work hard, have a mighty spirit and a sharp set of wits… plus, you might even have gotten vital things unpacked by then!) out of the way and then go back to squeeing about the fact that you're on a panel with Margot Adler!!! Dang I wish I could finagle my way into going to Lunacon this year….

[kistha.livejournal.com]

LUCK!