For those of you going to Boskone, here’s the schedule of panels and appearances I’ve got going for me. I have eight thingies going on, so, uh, you apparently won’t lack for opportunities to see me blather on. Eight events is a lot, but frankly, I’d rather be busy than not. Otherwise I’d just sleep, and you all know how much I hate doing that. Here’s the schedule:
Friday 8:00 pm
Scotty, I Need More Bandwidth: Managing Information Streams
Fred Lerner
John McDaid
Naomi Novik
Sheila M. Perry (M)
John Scalzi
Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink?! Many of us are already drowning in a sea of information (and misinformation) when we really just want the good stuff…. Does having more bandwidth help or hinder? How do you keep tabs on the information industry’s output? What if you had a direct neural connection? — Would it help you to manage all those online information streams before your brain explodes?
Comments: Mmmmm… exploding brains.
Saturday 10:00 am
Online Writing and Online Communities
Lenny Bailes
Tobias Buckell
James D. Macdonald
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
John Scalzi (M)
Comments: No panel description comes with this one, so I guess as moderator I get to make it up as I go along. Bwa ha ha ha ha hah! I find it deeply amusing to be moderating a panel that has James D. Macdonald and Teresa Nielsen Hayden on it, as they are two of the great online moderators of our time (which means, of course, two of the great online moderators, ever); hopefully I won’t make too much an ass of myself.
Saturday 1:00 pm
Political SF
Daniel Hatch
Ken MacLeod
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
John Scalzi (M)
Real world and utopian politics have informed the writings of some of the best in the genre. Who, how, and why? And does SF require new politics, or can it work with familiar politics in a new setting? (Please check all flamethrowers at the door – this is not a panel that debates contemporary political philosophies, except as they apply to contemporary works of SF)
Comments: Moderating a politics panel with PNH and Ken MacLeod and a political reporter/SF writer? I may have to pack my taser! I can’t imagine that this won’t be a wild and wolly panel.
Saturday 4:00 pm
War and Peace
Walter H. Hunt (M)
Clayton L. McNally
Tamora Pierce
John Scalzi
Ann Tonsor Zeddies
Why are so many SF/F books about war and not peace? And who is good (believable, anyway) at writing about war and who needs to go back to boot camp? Panelists will discuss realistic and unrealistic depictions of war in fantasy and science fiction….and may even do the same for peace….
Comments: There aren’t so many books about peace because peace is boring. That’s why it’s called “peace.”
Sunday 10:00 am
Reading (0.5 hrs)
John Scalzi
Comments: I have no idea what I’m going to read from — the first chapter of The Android’s Dream is too long for this time slot. Being that it is the weekend before the release of The Ghost Brigades, I may simply read from that book. In fact, yes, I will. I’ll read the first half of the first chapter of that book. Be there! Or, you know. You’ll miss it.
Sunday 11:00 am
Homage…..or, Stealing(?) from the Classics
John M. Ford
Ken MacLeod
Mark L. Olson (M)
John Scalzi
Karl Schroeder
Ken MacLeod is having a conversation with classic SF — he clearly has a deep affection for the genre, and incorporates classic phrases that allude to other stories in the canon. Who else does this, well or badly? What makes it fun? When is it more like stealing?
Comments: I imagine I am on this panel because I shamelessly admit to steal ideas. Yes, I’m a thief. Lock me away in the literary prison.
Sunday 12:00 noon
Autographing
Comments: I suspect this will be a mass thing, otherwise I’ll be sitting in a room all alone for an hour.
Sunday 1:00 pm
Kaffeeklatsch
Comments: Oooh! My first kaffeklatsch! Uh, can someone tell me what I’m supposed to do in one of these things? No, seriously. I haven’t the first friggin’ clue.
Aside from these events I’m sure you’ll see me wandering aimlessly and/or hanging out at the parties; feel free to come over and say hello.