If you’re not planning to be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from October 13-15, consider it. I’m scheduled to appear at ICON, the science fiction convention there. Cedar Rapids means a lot to me—I grew up in that city.
Here’s my schedule for that weekend:
Friday
9 pm Dyson-Sphere – Megastructures in Space (with Bill Pitcher and Tony Penticoff)
Saturday
9 am Embracing Technology Isn’t Only For The Young (with Michael Frasca)
12 pm Writing a Compelling Fight Scene (with Alexis D. Craig)
1 pm How Do I Get my Work Out There? (with Rachel Aukes)
I’ve never been to ICON, and I’m looking forward to it. They’re holding the con at the Cedar Rapids Marriott at 1200 Collins Road NE. Online registration for the con is closed, but you can register at the door.
All I can say is—hey, Cedar Rapids, I’m back! We’ll see if the old town can stand a whole weekend of—
Attendees at the science fiction convention PenguiCon enjoyed a great treat yesterday. They got to go to an informative and fun panel about Jules Verne.
Scifi fan and bookseller Jeff Beeler led the discussion and asked questions designed to give the audience a good feel for the famous French author. Unlike most readers, the first Verne novel Jeff read was the obscure 1888 novel Two Years’ Vacation.
JD DeLuzio added his own perspective on Verne. He’d read the author’s major works and commented on the societal and cultural change Verne wrought.
The president of the North American Jules Verne Society, Dennis Kytasaari, knew more about Verne than the rest of us combined, and discussed not only the history of the society, but also mentioned that the publisher BearManor Media is offering 25% off on its Verne titles (including Extraordinary Visions) through the end of this month. Use the code ‘Verne25’ at checkout.
Even if you missed that panel at PenguiCon, you can still get that 25%-off deal. These are modern translations, not like the poor early English translations of Verne’s major works. Go snap up those books at this website now. You can always come back later to read posts by—
Penguicon features a panel called “Extraordinary Visions: the enduring legacy of Jules Verne” at 11:00 am on Saturday, April 22. Bookseller and scifi fan Jeff Beeler will moderate the panel, and panelists include Eric Choi, author JD DeLuzio, and me.
Following that panel, at 12:00, Eric Choi will launch his new book, Just Like Being There, and I plan on, well, being there, for that.
Face it—when it comes to pure enjoyment, nothing else you had planned for that day even comes close to attending Penguicon.
Two weeks after that, I’ll be speaking at another convention. Plus, another one of my stories will appear in an upcoming anthology. Stay tuned for news about both of these exciting events. You don’t want to miss a single post by—
Ever been to a writers’ conference, or a genre conference such as SciFi? They’re a lot of fun. But, as with so many things, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way they’re done, perhaps forever.
Over the past year, Coronavirus restrictions forced conference organizers to get creative. Many chose to hold their conferences in a virtual way, using Zoom, perhaps combined with other software.
I’d been to many conferences before the pandemic, and a few, by Zoom, in the past year. I’ve found there are several disadvantages to virtual conferences, but also some advantages.
Disadvantages
Author/Reader Connections. For an author, the main benefit to conventions is the chance to sell more books. For readers, it’s a great chance to meet authors whose books you love, or to meet new authors. Those connections are more difficult to make in virtual conferences, though some cons have set up virtual fan tables and author reading sessions.
Glitches. With so much electronic hardware and software and transmitted signals between people, glitches sometimes occur. It’s bad if you’re an attendee, but worse if you’re a presenter.
Background. If you’re a panelist/presenter, you’ve got to be aware of your background. Part of your home will be on display, unless you make use of Zoom’s simulated background feature.
Meeting People. At normal writers’ conferences, it’s easier to recognize and connect with old friends, or have the chance encounters where you make new friends. Zoom conference coordinators do their best to enable this, but it’s still more difficult.
Dealer Room. Normal conferences feature a large dealer room with a market atmosphere, a room filled with books and items for sale, sellers trying to attract buyers, and buyers perusing at their leisure and conversing with sellers. Not impossible with Zoom, but virtual is not the same.
Interactions. There’s just something better about face-to-face interactions with people. As a species, we’re both pre-wired for and raised with this means of dealing with others. The virtual connection is good, but not as good.
Advantages
Cost. Virtual conferences, in my experience, have less expensive registration prices. Often much less.
Distance is Free. You can attend any virtual conference in the world. No flying, no driving, no hotel. You don’t even have to leave home.
Ease and Comfort. No need to think much about what to wear. Even if you’re a presenter/panelist, others will only see you from the chest up.
Continuous Communication. At a normal conference panel, the moderator calls on attendees one at a time to ask their questions, and attendees wait their turn. In a Zoom conference, attendees can ask questions at any time in the Q&A feature, and type comments in the Chat feature.
The After-Panel. At a normal conference, panelists and attendees have to leave the room to make way for the next panel, leaving little time for post-panel chatting. At some virtual conferences, organizers arrange chat sessions on Discord or other software so that people can carry on discussions there.
Close-Up View. Rather than seeing from the back of a crowded room, attendees are seeing the author close-up, and getting better views of the covers of the author’s books. Often the author will list recent books in the Chat feature, so all you have to do is copy the title for purchase later.
Once the pandemic is over, I believe conferences will never be the same as they were. I suspect some conferences may continue as fully-virtual cons. Some may go with a sort of hybrid, with some people there in person and others participating by Zoom. Even for in-person cons, I suspect there will be rules about staying away or wearing a mask if you’re feeling sick.
Perhaps at some upcoming writers’ conference, whether virtual or in-person, you’ll meet—
Me, as I appeared to conference attendees. Just hanging out in my submarine.
Just wrapped up a wonderful weekend attending Chessiecon, the scifi and fantasy conference named for the sea monster of the Chesapeake Bay. This year they held it online, which made it easier in some ways, and more difficult in others. The programming team kept me busy, with five panels and a reading. In case you missed it, here’s the recap:
How to Get Published, with Meg Eden, Linda Adams, Nate Hoffelder, and Steve Kozeniewski. I served as moderator for this panel. Everyone provided great advice, making it a real how-to panel for beginning writers.
Humor in SF/F Writing, withSteve Kozeniewski, Don Sakers, and the Chessiecon Guest of Honor, Charlie Jane Anders. I moderated this panel as well. It was an hour filled with wonderful and funny advice on how to write humor. Writing humor is difficult to do, and the panelists handled did a good job explaining how to go about it. The audience asked inciteful questions and I thought the panelists really addressed those well. The ‘after-party’ post-panel discussions in Discord were hilarious.
Making an Unlikeable Person a Likeable Character, with Mary Fan, Steve Kozeniewski, Valerie Mikles, Karen MacLeod, and me. Here I served as a panelist while Mary Fan moderated. It was a fascinating subject for a panel, as it really got into how writers create and develop characters that change and learn. Mary Fan did a super job moderating the session and I learned a lot from the other panelists.
My reading was well-attended. I read “Reconnaissance Mission” which appeared in Not Far From Roswell, by Pole to Pole Publishing. I challenged the audience to write down all the Edgar Allan Poe references they caught in my story, which made it a little more fun.
How to Ruin a Revolution, with Ted Weber, Cathy Hird, and Don Sakers. I moderated this one, but the panelists were all so knowledgeable and cited so many historical and fictional examples, I think the audience was blown away. We covered revolutions, protests, and coups, both historical and fictional, with special mention of Robert A. Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. We should have offered college course credit for that 1-hour session.
Humans are the Same, with D.H. Aire, Susan de Guardiola, and Meg Nicholas. I served as moderator and the discussion was wide-ranging, comparing people today with our ancestors and exploring the few ways in which people have changed. We discussed what historians leave out, and what misconceptions we have about those who came before.
Overall, I miss in-person conferences, but there are advantages to online cons. Attendees don’t have to dress well, or even leave their house, to attend. Attendees get more close-up views of books that authors hold up, and they can simply copy and paste book and story titles so they can more easily buy the books they’re interested in.
I know, I know, you don’t have to say it. The only books you’re interested in are those by—
