Readercon!

...is where I'll be, as of tomorrow afternoon. My schedule, for those who might be attending:

Thursday July 07
8:00 PM C The Works of Clark Ashton Smith. Michael Cisco, Gemma Files, Lila Garrott, Tim Powers, Darrell Schweitzer. It has been over a century since Clark Ashton Smith's first publications, when his first book of poetry appeared in 1912. He was something of a prodigy in those days, nineteen years old and being heralded by newspapers in California as a newly discovered genius, the Keats of the Sierras. He became acquainted with Lovecraft when Lovecraft wrote Smith a fan letter. We honor (and read) Clark Ashton Smith today precisely because he is unique. He spoke to us in a voice like no other, and he gave us visions of strangeness like no other. He was out of step with his times and proud of it. Join our panelists for a discussion of the works of the most recent winner of the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award.

9:00 PM 5 The Life and Times of Mary Sue . Gillian Daniels, Gemma Files, Ben Francisco, Barbara Krasnoff (moderator), Natalie Luhrs. New Republic senior editor Jeet Heer wrote, in a short Twitter essay about Mary Sues, "The popularity of the term 'Mary Sue' really says everything you need to know about sexism in fandom/nerdom." Instead of unpacking the concept of Mary Sue, we'd like to zero in on the troubled history of this term, why it's troubled, and how better to talk about "self-insertion" in fiction without the sexism.

Friday July 08
3:00 PM AT Autographs. C.S.E. Cooney, Gemma Files.


8:00 PM A Reading: Gemma Files. Gemma Files. Gemma Files reads from an upcoming novella "Coffle."


Saturday July 09
11:00 AM CL Kaffeeklatsch. Samuel Delany, Gemma Files.

Sunday July 10
1:00 PM 5 Tanith Lee - A Retrospective. Mike Allen, Gemma Files, Lila Garrott, Theodora Goss (leader), Sonya Taaffe. Tanith Lee authored over 90 novels and 300 short stories, a children's picture book, poems, and television episodes. In 1980, she became the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award best novel award, for her book Death's Master. Yet in 2010, Tanith Lee mentioned she was still writing novels, and consistently publishing short stories, but publishers were not interested in her longer works. Lee's impact on the genres that make up slipstream fiction was significant. What leads a publisher to look at works from an influential, established writer and decide they are not worth the shelf space? How can we keep Lee in print, and in people's minds?

Hope to see at least some of you there!