Friday, October 11, 2013

My Capclave Schedule

.



As ever, I'm on the road again.  This time to Capclave, Washington D.C.'s finest science fiction convention.  Which is in Gaithersburg, but never mind that.

Here's my schedule:


Saturday

4:00 pm: The Worlds of Clifford Simak (Ends at: 4:55 pm)

Panelists: Jamie Todd Rubin (M), Darrell Schweitzer, Alex Shvartsman, Michael Swanwick
50 years ago Simak won a Hugo for Way Station. He also wrote City and the Hugo and Nebula winning "Grotto of the Dancing Deer." Yet today, few younger fans have read his work which is available only in the small press and "public domain" compilations. What happened? What makes his stories so timeless? What do you think is his best work and how can it be revived for today's audiences?

7:30 pm: Mass Signing 

10:00 pm: Name Drop and Quote Panel. (Ends at: 10:55 pm)

Panelists: Scott Edelman, Andrew Fox (M), Steve Stiles, Ian Randal Strock, Michael Swanwick
Nothing but bragging rights here as the panelists drop names and share quotes as they discuss the best experiences, novels, stories, and conventions they have ever seen. Or not.

Sunday

9:00 am: Agents and You (Ends at: 9:55 am)

Panelists: Tom Doyle, Emmie Mears, Lawrence M. Schoen (M), Michael Swanwick
Agents are very important to authors. Sometimes you have a great match from the beginning, other times the situation changes. Hear the experiences of authors at different stages in their careers.

2:00 pm: Low Tech Writers (Ends at: 2:55 pm)

Panelists: Dina Leacock, Jamie Todd Rubin (M), Michael Swanwick, Howard Waldrop
Harlan Ellison uses a typewriter, a manual typewriter. Asimov refused to fly. And our special guest Howard Waldrop doesn't use email. Why might some writers about the future refuse to use technology? How does this influence their fiction? What would happen to society if more people followed their example and opted out?


And speaking of this literary life . . .

I drove out to Bala Cynwyd today to have lunch with master fantasist Gregory Frost.  We covered a lot of territory but the single coolest project we worked on was the early scheming-out of a collaborative fantasy story.

It's going to be a great story, too.  I could tell by how gleeful we both were as we kicked around ideas for the plot, lines of dialogue, and the like.  Oh, we were flying!

And that's all I'm going to tell you.  The story is going to be too good to give any of it away here.  But stay tuned.

*

No comments: