It’s that time of year again: My schedule for Readercon 33 is live! As per usual, the con is taking place at the Boston Quincy Marriott in Quincy, MA, from July 11 – 14, with Guests of Honor Rebecca Roanhorse and Amal El-Mohtar. If you have any interest in the practical craft of writing or the current issues on the minds of genre publishing professionals, I absolutely recommend registering and attending if you can. Previous years’ schedules can be seen (and drooled over) here: https://readercon.org/readercon_past
Among many other exciting things, for the first time in over a decade (at least) all four Siblings of No Story Is Sacred will be attending a con together, so the odds of us recording a podcast– or prowling the halls like a feral pack of hyenas with too many in-jokes– is VERY HIGH.
I also have a reading! And since my erstwhile sister Pippin (who is secretly the Other Half of nearly all humorous dialogue I write) will be around, she’s going to hop on and read with me. I know for a fact that we’ll be reading “They’re Made Out of Corn,” but one or two others will probably be under consideration until the very last moment.
A lot of interesting things on my schedule this year, including several Funny Ones and one that I’m pretty sure I’m on because of my mad scientist forays into experimental archaeology— check it out:
AI: The Good Parts Version
Format: Panel | Salon 3
12 July 2024, Friday 11:00 AM EST
The rollout of, and hype around, generative AI has been a mess, but the technology can have its uses. Panelists will discuss some of the ways they’re using GenAI in their personal and creative lives, talk about ways that creatives should be protecting and redefining their IP, and note what work needs to be done on a governmental level—for instance, defining actors’ voices as copyrightable IP.
David G. Shaw, Katherine Crighton, Kevin McLaughlin, Wendy Van Camp, Sarah Smith (mod)
I Don’t Know Why I’m on This Panel!
Format: Panel | Salon 3
12 July 2024, Friday 4:00 PM EST
In this new take on those dreaded words, all the panelists on this panel have been selected for reasons unknown to them. Will they discover what they have in common? Will they take turns ranting about subjects the others have never even considered? Will they have taken what little advance notice they received to prepare a group song-and-dance number? There’s only one way to find out!
Natalie Luhrs, Scott Edelman, Zin E. Rocklyn, William Alexander, Katherine Crighton (mod)
What to Do with Your 15 Minutes of Fame
Format: Panel | Salon 4
12 July 2024, Friday 6:00 PM EST
So a tweet about your book has gone unexpectedly viral (cough This is How You Lose the Time War cough) or your book’s been featured on a popular TikTok, or in the New York Times Book Review—now what? Panelists will share stories of their own 15 minutes of fame, and discuss how they rode the wave (or didn’t!) and which choices, in retrospect, were right for them.
Melissa Caruso, P. Djèlí Clark, Sarena Straus, Katherine Crighton (mod)
Meet the Pros(e)
Format: Event | Salon 3
12 July 2024, Friday 10:15 PM EST
At the Friday night Meet the Pros(e) party, program participants are assigned to tables with a roughly equal number of conferencegoers and other participants, and then table placements are scrambled at regular intervals so that everyone gets to meet a new set of people in a small-group setting. Think of it as a low-key sort of speed dating where you need never be the sole focus of anyone’s attention, and the goal is just to get to know some cool Readerconnish people.
Archeology in Reality and Speculative Fiction
Format: Panel | Salon B
13 July 2024, Saturday 11:00 AM EST
Archeology is the study of human cultures through their material remains. Panelists will examine archeology’s past flaws, current practice, and future potential, and suggest ways that the field can inform speculative fiction, including what archeology tells us about the range of human cultures and how an archeological mindset can strengthen worldbuilding.
Jeff Hecht, Katherine Crighton, Kathryn Morrow, Victoria Janssen, Alexander Jablokov (mod)
Reading: Katherine Crighton (AND SECRETLY ALSO PIPPIN MACDONALD)
Format: Reading | Salon C
13 July 2024, Saturday 8:00 PM EST
Battle of the Academy
Format: Panel | Salon 4
14 July 2024, Sunday 2:00 PM EST
Besides the obvious cosplay connections (flowing robes! Funny hats!), academia and fandom both prize the ability of participants to expostulate upon a variety of topics, often impromptu and orally. Watch our panelists defend academic theses they’ve picked out of a hat (“The Reification of Martyrdom in [Pokemon]” “Confronting Bias through Teaching the Works of [Hayao Miyazaki]”) while offering learned critiques of each others’ attempts.
Andrea Kriz, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Tom Greene, Trisha J Wooldridge, Katherine Crighton (mod)
(Image credit: Image by Siala from Pixabay)
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