I’ve got a whole pile of updates, but first! My schedule for Readercon 35 has dropped, and I intend to be an apothecarial menace.
Housekeeping details: This year Readercon is July 9 – 12 at the Boston Marriott in Burlington, MA, with Guests of Honor P. Djèlí Clark and David Gerrold. As always, I absolutely recommend registering and attending if you can; you can see the full schedule up now, and previous years’ schedules can be seen (and drooled over) here: https://readercon.org/readercon_past
This year I don’t have a reading, but I do have a solo talk (my first!), a kaffeeklatch, and a spot in Author’s Alley, all of which will be themed around my apothecary research and time-capsule installation.
And now — BEHOLD THE SCHEDULE:
Kaffeeklatsch: Katherine Crighton
Format: Kaffeeklatsch | Room: Suite 830
10 July 2026, Friday 2:00 PM EDT
Want to learn how to read Early Modern recipes? Find out how I blew up my kitchen making 1710s lip balm? Ask a novice apothecary worldbuilding questions? Sign up!
The Saga of Blood Marmalade: Why (and How!) to Do Weird Research
Format: Talk | Room: Create / Collaborate
11 July 2026, Saturday 10:00 AM EDT
Advice for finding and referencing primary source materials is typically reserved for academics, journalists, and the occasional historical fiction author. But it’s a skill that every reader should consider cultivating, if only to combat an over-reliance on the “first page of Google” and to avoid AI-slop-filled sites when fact-checking news, education, or entertainment. This slideshow presentation provides a real-life example of a search for a 17th-century recipe for “blood marmalade”, how it was done, and what was revealed about trusting sources in the digital age.
Scientific Breakthroughs and Science Fiction
Format: Panel | Room: Salon A / B
11 July 2026, Saturday 12:00 PM EDT
How does science and engineering progress actually work? What kinds of breakthroughs lead to paradigm shifts, and how do they transform society? From Thomas Kuhn and “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” to the seemingly inevitable tragedy of enshittification, this panel will explore what makes sense in science fiction futurism as well as what’s fun to read and write about.
Andrea Kriz, Arula Ratnakar, David DeGraff, Katherine Crighton, Laurence Raphael Brothers (mod)
Subliminal Cultural Artifacts
Format: Panel | Room: Salon A / B
11 July 2026, Saturday 2:00 PM EDT
It is said that the big three questions of media analysis are: 1) what did the creator(s) want to say, 2) what did they actually say, and 3) what didn’t they know they were saying? While the latter question often focuses on things such as unintentional gay subtext, there is a broader conversation to be had about how societal norms, biases, ideals, and more slip unexamined onto the page. What are we missing?
Katherine Crighton, Lila Garrott, Naseem Jamnia (moderator), Noah Beit-Aharon, Will McMahon
Games as Historical Arguments
Format: Panel | Room: Salon C / D
11 July 2026, Saturday 3:00 PM EDT
Through their mechanics, history-based games make arguments about which of the forces that drive world events are in some sense controllable, and to what extent the consequences are predictable. In Autumn Chen’s Weimar-era sim Social Democracy: An Alternate History, there’s more than one strategy to keep Hitler from power, each with its own pitfalls. Which games make the most coherent historical arguments, which fall flat, and how do they inform the way we view both the past and our present moment?
Ann LeBlanc, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Charles Allison (moderator), Katherine Crighton
Miles to Go: The Vorkosigan Saga at 40
Format: Panel | Room: Salon A / B
11 July 2026, Saturday 7:00 PM EDT
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga! Miles Vorkosigan and his parents Cordelia and Aral have fascinated readers for four decades of compulsively readable books that offer lessons on biology, engineering, manners, shenanigans, and the argument that societies are shaped (and reshaped) by reproductive rights and control. What have we learned from the Vorkosigans, and what are we still learning? What dreams from the Saga are still on our horizon?
Ian Strock, Kate Nepveu (moderator), Katherine Crighton, Meredith Schwartz
(Header image adapted from the frontispieces of John Shirley’s 1687 The Accomplished Ladies Rich Closet and Hannah Woolley’s 1684 The Accomplisht Ladys Delight)
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