Worldcon

I’m heading back to Worldcon for the second time, this time by way of sunny Reno, Nevada, and it looks to be a busy time.  My schedule looks like this: Wednesday, August 17th: 4-5 p.m.: Panel–Teaching SF: Stretching the Mind While Thinking Outside the Box with Maurine “Mo” Starkey, Daniel M. Kimmel, Margaret McGaffey Fisk, […]

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GenCon

This is my fifth time at GenCon, the third as a member of the Writers’ Symposium (holy cow, where does the time go?), and as usual it looks like it’s going to be a blast, with lots of panel appearances, signings and readings planned.  As I’ve said before, GenCon is one of the most fun […]

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Readercon, July 16, 2011–Podcasts, Professions and Shameless Promotion–Combining Different Worlds

This was my second event at Readercon for this year, a solo talk on combining various aspects of one’s professional and personal background to further one’s career in writing. I wasn’t certain how this was going to go over–Readercon tends not to be big on practical aspects of the writing business to begin with, and I was moved shortly before the convention to Saturday at 9 p.m., up against a reading, a panel, and the massive draw of the Kirk Poland Memorial Bad Prose Competition–but I ended up with very solid turnout and had a great time. A lot of the participants, all of whom were (of course!) great, told me they had enjoyed the talk more than anything else at Readercon in part because there is so little attention to the writing life as such, so I hope the powers that be will consider doing more of this sort of thing in the future.

Readercon, July 16, 2011–Science Fiction for Today’s Undergraduates

My first of two appearances at Readercon this year, this panel dealt with teaching science fiction to the typical college student–how has it changed, how has it stayed the same, and how has our teaching impacted our writing and vice versa? There were some interesting insights that came out of the discussion here, partly because of the panelists’ varied teaching environments (from large state school to large private university to small liberal arts college to community college, from rural to suburban to urban areas) and specific backgrounds and partly because of the different approaches each of us took in our own courses. Besides me, the panel also included Joan Slonczewski (with whom I was also on an “academic” panel at Readercon last year, in the same room…seems to be a popular spot for these sorts of topics!), Michael Cisco and Leigh Grossman (who teaches at UCONN, my old stomping grounds).

Readercon

I’m heading to Readercon for the fourth time this year.  As I’ve mentioned in previous years, this is a major fantasy/sci fi conference–but for writers and readers only. If you’re in the Boston area, please try to stop by.  (Keep in mind that there may be a day pass cost, but there are a whole […]

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Reading at Tuesday Funk–June 21, 2011

This is a reading I did (from my second novel Icarus) with my Wellspring 2011 compatriots as part of a special edition Tuesday Funk, a reading series coordinated by Bill Shunn (also from Wellspring) and Sara Ross which has been running at the Hopleaf Bar in Chicago for a number of years.  I loved getting the chance to be a part of an all speculative fiction crew–and the large, enthusiastic turnout didn’t hurt either.

Wellspring wrap-up, and the road ahead.

I’m sitting in my hotel room in Concord (the actually important one in American history), fresh from attending a good friend’s wedding and shortly before heading off to Seattle for a couple of weeks, and wanted to take the opportunity to post a couple of updates: 1.  Wellspring was, to put it mildly, an incredible […]

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Wellspring in Wisconsin…

No, it’s not a bizarre passphrase–it’s a location, actually, or more exactly a confluence of workshop and state.  I’m in Wisconsin for the Wellspring Workshop, an invite only writing workshop focusing on the novel, modeled on the Starry Heaven / Blue Heaven method of workshops past and run by friend and fellow speculative fiction author […]

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If music be the food of love…

Just a heads-up that I have a guest post up over at the Night Bazaar, a shared blog for Night Shade Books authors, on the connections between writing and music. I’m grateful to them for the opportunity, and for getting the chance to speak about something I don’t usually get the chance to connect publicly–music […]

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