Something different for me: I’ve coauthored a poster/presentation (“Faking and Re-Making: The Use of Emotional Responses and Creative Resonances in Communal Multimedia Storytelling”) with Dr. Naomi Jacobs and Shivhan Szabo that’ll be presented tomorrow, October 15, at Fan Studies Network North America 2023!

It’s connected to my overall recent move toward academic pursuits (that I should, uh, really write a post about…), but a big reason to drop in to this virtual conference if you have the chance is that our “poster” was invited to be multimedia… so, naturally, we decided to write a text game:

Folks who attend the conference will have first shot at reading/playing “Building the Spear,” where:

The year is 1718…

…And this is the world of Blow the Man Down, where clever pirate captains Olivier Levasseur and Sam Bellamy, each pursuing the same vast treasure of Spanish gold, meet up and—through storms, enemy fleets, and their combined delight in codes and hidden messages—eventually fall in love.

You, though, are just a simple pirate who’s woken up in a strange place—and with no idea who you are or how you got there. Through your choices, you piece together your memories…and create your own place within the BTMD universe.

(For those who listen to the No Story Is Sacred podcast, we talked extensively about Blow the Man Down there as well, including its origin as an element in an alternate-universe game.)

Naomi, Shivhan, and I intend to link the game-poster and presentation publicly afterward, but if you want to see yours truly live (and have a chance to share your game results early) FSNNA 2023 is the way to go.

(Image credit: Image by Fan Studies Network North America)

My schedule for Readercon 32 is ready to go! As mentioned in an earlier post, it’s taking place July 13 – 16 at the Boston Quincy Marriott in Quincy, MA, with Guests of Honor Jeff VanderMeer and Justina Ireland. I absolutely recommend registering and attending if you can. Previous years’ schedules can be seen (and drooled over) here: https://readercon.org/readercon_past

I also have my first ever Kaffeeklatsch! “A kaffeeklatsch is a low-key, wide-ranging conversation hosted by one or two program participants for up to 12 fans. It gives you an opportunity to interact directly with writers, editors, and other estimable personages you admire. Spaces are limited, so sign up early in the weekend.” God only knows what I’d talk about, but pretty certain I’m gonna be weird about it! 👍👍

I am over the moon about my schedule — check it out:

(Image credit: Image by 愚木混株 Cdd20 from Pixabay)

Join me at Readercon (August 13-15, 2021), gone virtual and running for the low weekend price of $25 this year. It’s a conference on imaginative literature that focuses almost exclusively on the written work, and I’ve loved it for years.

I’m also on a couple of panels this year, and moderating one of them, so you’ve got plenty of opportunities to either see me via Zoom or watch the panels after the fact. The topic I get to talk about are amazing, and I’m delighted by the panelists I get to spend time with.

My schedule is below:

(Image credit: Image by Voldrag on Pixabay )