Boskone 48 Program Schedule

Friday * * Saturday * * Sunday * * Program Participant List

Note: This is an almost final schedule (as of 2/14). Times, participants and places are subject to change!

Late Schedule Changes
Friday, February 18
Charlaine Harris signing starts at 10pm

Friday

Friday 5pm Dragonslair: Games in Dragonslair

Friday 6pm Burroughs: What Every Fan Should Be Reading -- On the Net

The choice stuff is out there, from publishing sites to author twitters to fan blogs. Which is best, and where can you find it?

Scott H. Andrews (m), Joshua Bilmes, Eleanor Wood

Friday 6pm Carlton: Anime (Feature): Summer Wars

(FUNimation; PG for mild violence, language)
If anyone's taken over the world by now, it's probably Mark Zuckerberg. Now imagine if Zuckerberg turned Facebook into a psychedelic Japanese videogame. And then a hacker used the game to destroy all life on earth. In this Annie Award- nominated film, it's up to some nerds to save humanity, so you'll still have a human race to dominate, of course.

Friday 6pm Griffin: Education and Illustration

We'll discuss various choices for an education in painting traditionally and digitally for today's market.

Irene Gallo, Greg Manchess

Friday 6pm Harbor 1: Charlie Stross and the Divide Between SF and Fantasy

Is the distinction real, artificial, notional, or commercial? Stross is one author who seems happy to write across -- as well as between -- the lines.

Dana Cameron, John R. Douglas (m), David G. Hartwell, Michael Swanwick

Friday 6pm Harbor 2: Big Canvas, Little Strokes: Creating an Epic Fantasy Series

Building a world in fractal detail, animating a vast cast of characters, finding and holding an audience: let's talk about the challenges of writing in a format with perhaps the broadest scope in the business.

Peter V. Brett, David Anthony Durham (m), Elaine Isaak, Rosemary Kirstein, Jo Walton

Friday 6pm Harbor 3: Writing Graphic Novels

So you know how to write a regular novel. Will that be of any help at all in writing a graphic novel? What's the same, what's different, and what's fun?

Bob Eggleton, Karl Schroeder (m), Jane Yolen

Friday 6pm Independence: Reading: Alexander Jablokov

Friday 6pm Lewis: Avatar vs All Comers

So is Avatar the Most Awesome SF Film Evah? What else beats riding flying dragons in 3D??? To be fair, we'll let partisans of flicks such as 2001, Blade Runner, Gattaca, and Inception attempt to make their cases too.

Walter H. Hunt, Laurie Mann (m), j. t. petty, Joan Slonczewski, Allen M. Steele

Friday 6:30pm Independence: Reading: Ann Tonsor Zeddies

Friday 7pm Burroughs: The Domestic Robot

What's the current status of the domestic robot -- you know, the kind that's a bigger help around the house than most spouses? We'll discuss this paragon's future, plus SF's flawed vision of how it might be realized. (Does the future belong to Roomba or Robbie or R. Daneel? Warning: none of them does windows.)

Jeffrey A. Carver, Tom Easton

Friday 7pm Griffin: The Art of Songwriting

What goes into writing a filk song? How can you write a better song? A good song needs both ideas and technique.

Gary Ehrlich (m), Paul Estin, Erica Neely

Friday 7pm Harbor 1: The Zombie Phenom -- Is It Staggering Yet?

It seems like zombies are everywhere lately: books, movies, TV, marches, meetups ... Does this phenomenon show any signs of weakening or, you know, dying down? What would it take to kill this zombie thing dead?

Alan F. Beck (m), Suzy McKee Charnas, John Langan, Faye Ringel, Paul G. Tremblay

Friday 7pm Harbor 2: This Is the Way the World Ends (Media Edition)

Consider recent movie and TV dramas about the end times of our world, or at least our civilization. Just a quick look shows there's a lot to talk about: The Road and The Book of Eli, The Living Dead, I Am Legend, Daybreakers, The Crazies, and Zombieland, 2012 and Knowing. Hey, why so apocalyptic all of a sudden, people?

Bob Eggleton, Daniel Kimmel (m), Melinda Snodgrass, Michael Swanwick

Friday 7pm Harbor 3: Has SF Eaten Itself?

Has our genre consumed itself so that we now cannot imagine a future for it? One of SF's lasting strengths has been as a continuing conversation between writer and reader -- and between writer and writer. Each new idea has spawned replies and elaborations, pushing the genre along. But is it possible that SF today is so deep into this conversation that it's lost its appeal to the neo? (Could this lack explains some of the attraction of fairly elementary SF such as that on TV or in anime?) Do you need a master's degree in SF history to really appreciate modern SF?

Kathryn Cramer, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Allen M. Steele, Charles Stross (m)

Friday 7pm Independence: Reading: Ken Schneyer

Friday 7:30pm Independence: Reading: Margaret Ronald

Friday 7:30pm Lewis: Reading: Esther Friesner

Friday 8pm Burroughs: Reading the Lives of the Authors: SF Biographies

Not one but two volumes on Heinlein, a prize-winner on Tiptree, a great short book on Mirlees -- what other recent lives of SF/F/H writers are worth reading? What earlier studies still endure? Who else would be worth writing about? Why is it instructive or entertaining to read about the life of somebody who mainly sits and thinks stuff up?

David G. Hartwell (m), Robert Killheffer, Michael Swanwick

Friday 8pm Galleria: Fangtasia Welcomes The Maker!

I, Eric Norseman, my assistant Pam, and the vampires of Louisiana have prepared an evening event to honor The Maker. We welcome all humans, shifters, and immortals to join us at the Fangtasia Bar. True Blood will be available for those so inclined, as well as a bar and snacks for our mortal and shifter friends.

Charlaine Harris

Friday 8pm Griffin: NESFA Hymnal Sing

Group singing of geek songs from the NESFA Hymnals, vols. 1 and 2. Loaner hymnals will be provided. A good way to learn some of the old classics of filk and find your inner geek.

Erwin S. Strauss

Friday 8pm Harbor 1: Welcome to Lovecraft's World

Considering the worldview of New England's master of weirdness H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), fantasy writer Theodora Goss observes: "Lovecraft's universe has turned out to be the place we actually inhabit ... He tells us that our world operates by laws we do not understand. That the universe is larger than we know, and older, and that it does not care about us. He tells us that we can lose our humanity more easily than we imagine." Discuss. (Cthulhu visual aids are optional.)

Theodora Goss, Jack M. Haringa, John Langan (m), Charles Stross

Friday 8pm Harbor 2: Polishing the Canon: What Classics Are Worth Rereading and Why?

Some classic works (or guilty pleasures) are worth reading again and again. The panelists (and audience) reveal their favorites in these categories, and discuss /why/ they can't stay away from these special stories.

Don D'Ammassa, Daniel P. Dern (m), John R. Douglas, Fred Lerner, Allen M. Steele

Friday 8pm Harbor 3: Focusing on 3D Movies

Are they a revolution or a ripoff? What do they do badly, and do well? Why is it that, for some people, viewing 3D can be a real headache (literally)? Is this the way all movies are going, or about as significant a fad as smell-o-vision?

Bob Devney (m), Jeff Hecht, Daniel Kimmel, Jim Mann, j. t. petty

Friday 8pm Independence: Reading: Walter H. Hunt

Friday 8pm Lewis: Critiquing: in the Workshop: Possibilities and Pitfalls

Giving your reaction to a freshly minted story in front of its author can be a difficult business. Does knowing how to write a story mean you know how to fix one? Are there tools and rules that generally apply? Can a simple suggestion really make a story click? Is it kosher to point out a problem if you don't have a solution? Should you worry what they'll say about /your/ story that's up next? What if their story just stinks?

Jeffrey A. Carver, Paul Di Filippo, Gregory Feeley (m), Valerie L. Grimm

Friday 8:30pm Independence: Reading: Robert Kuhn

Friday 9pm Autographing: Charlaine Harris

Friday 9pm Burroughs: Plasma Cosmology

Have you heard that the formation and evolution of galaxies has been reproduced in the laboratory? During this presentation, you will be introduced to a controversial experimental approach to space science. Learn how astrophysical scale phenomena can be reproduced in the plasma lab, and why.

Leonid Korogodski

Friday 9pm Carlton: Film: Death Note

(New People Entertainment; PG-13 for violence, language, psychological horror.)
Light Yagami is a genius, and bored. Ryuk is a god of death, and also bored. Naturally, they team up to kill all criminals with a magic notebook and attempt to become the rulers of this new, "moral" world. Based on the controversial manga which was also adapted into an anime on Adult Swim, this film's mind games will keep you enthralled.

Friday 9pm Griffin: Open Filking

Keep on singing as long as you can stay awake. Or longer.

Friday 9pm Harbor 1: Against a Bright Background -- Building a Vivid World

It's a main strength (or weakness) of much SF and fantasy. How is it done when it's done well? Let's talk about the nuts and bolts of worldbuilding: physical setting, flora, fauna, nonhuman (ET or otherworldy) beings, cultures, languages, economies, cuisines, and more!

Karen Anderson (m), David Anthony Durham, Elaine Isaak, Robert Kuhn, Karl Schroeder

Friday 9pm Harbor 2: For Fringe Fans

TV's cross between The X-Files and The Twilight Zone just keeps getting richer and stranger. It's got a great mad scientist and a hot FBI agent or two. Plus it's based in Boston (and, of course, alternate NYC...). Where is Fringe going? Why do we love it so?

Bob Devney, Daniel Kimmel, Jim Mann (m), Laurie Mann

Friday 9pm Harbor 3: Collecting Stuff

It's astonishing that some people -- noncollectors all -- speak of having collected "too much" as if it is a /problem/. We all know that the only true problems are too little space, too little time, or the ever-popular too little money à Why collect? Is it the thrill of the chase, or the pleasure of curling up dragon-like on your horde? Talk of your collection, great collections you have known, and that pure joy only collectors can know.

Don D'Ammassa (m), Bob Eggleton, Jean-Pierre Normand, Joe Siclari

Friday 9pm Independence: Reading: Sarah Langan

Friday 9pm Lewis: Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading

Broad Universe, an organization of women genre writers, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Come hear several authors read short snippets of their current work. Our readings are like New England weather: don't like what you're hearing -- wait a minute and it'll change!

Jennifer Pelland(m) Justine Graykin, Elaine Isaak, Shira Lipkin, Suzanne Reynolds- Alpert, Roberta Rogow, Trisha Wooldridge...and others!

Friday 9:30pm Independence: Reading: Darrell Schweitzer

Friday 10pm Burroughs: Trivia for Chocolate

"Danger! Danger!" [Quick, who said that?] Questions (and chocolate) fly thick and fast as we challenge you with trivial tropes and topics taken from science fiction, fantasy, and horror books, movies, TV, and comics. So duck and cover -- but keep those answers coming!

Mark L. Olson

Friday 10pm : Art Show Reception

It's open to all! Feast your eyes on the wonders of the Boskone Art Show while enjoying refreshments and refreshing conversation.

Friday 10pm Harbor 3: Too Horrible for Horror?

What topics are (or should be) beyond the pale? Stephen King's example: the snot vampire. OK, your turn.

Laird Barron, Valerie L. Grimm (m), Jack M. Haringa, Sarah Langan, Darrell Schweitzer

Friday 10pm Lewis: Reading: Bruce Coville

Friday 11pm Carlton: Anime (Series): Hetalia Axis Powers

(FUNimation; TV-MA for language, sexual content, ethnic humor)
There was once a great conqueror named Roman Empire (yes, countries are people for some reason, deal with it). One day he disappeared, leaving his grandson Italy to obsess over pasta and come running to his gay lover Germany. WWII has never been as much fun as in this banned-in-Korea edutainment about countries' desire for "vital regions."

Friday 11pm Harbor 3: Almost Midnight Zombies --- "The Walking Dead" Show

Ginjer Buchanan, John Langan (m), Paul G. Tremblay

Friday 12pm Carlton: Anime: Excel Saga

(FUNimation; TV-MA for bloody cartoony violence, language, sexual content)
HAIL ILLPALLAZZO! Obviously there is only one proper way to take over the world: form an army consisting of a hyperactive moron and a terminally ill alien princess, bend any sense of the laws of life, death, and physics, and engage in various genre parodies while torturing the author of the original source material. Indeed, very proper.


Saturday

Saturday 9:30am Griffin: Reading: Michael F. Flynn

Saturday 9:30am Independence: Reading: Resa Nelson

Saturday 10am Autographing: Laird Barron, David Anthony Durham, Alexander Jablokov

Saturday 10am Burroughs: Summing Up a Decade of SF, Fantasy, and Horror: 2000-2009

Let's survey the good, the bad, and the ugly genre works of the decade just past. Bring your opinions, and keep your ears open for recommendations on great stuff you missed.

Neil Clarke (m), Don D'Ammassa, Jack M. Haringa, David G. Hartwell, Eleanor Wood

Saturday 10am Carlton: Versatility in Illustration: From OMNI to National Geographic

Our Official Artist Gregory Manchess discusses how combining his love for science fiction and mainstream illustration has sustained his career.

Saturday 10am Dragonslair: Wing Building

Saturday 10am Griffin: Fragmented Fandoms

These days, there's rarely one book that all fans read, or in fact one genre that all fans enjoy. Let's talk about the way fandom has fragmented in recent years. And does "split up" necessarily mean "broken up"?

Karen Anderson, Ethan Gilsdorf, Priscilla Olson (m)

Saturday 10am Harbor 1: Bowdlerizing the Classics

An expurgated edition of Huckleberry Finn is being pushed to schools. Certain scenes in the original Disney Fantasia are available only as unauthorized YouTube clips. When words or images offend (or even if a work just needs freshening up), is it better to excise or to explain? Is bowdlerization a threat in SF? What classics of the field are at risk? Let's speculate about what commonplace 2011 SF/F/H words or tropes will be edited out by a 22nd century Bowdler.

Debra Doyle (m), Darrell Schweitzer, Allen M. Steele, Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Saturday 10am Harbor 2: I Don't Get It!

There are certain works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that all of fandom seems to love ... except me. What are these so-called classics? Why don't I share the love? Is it possible that a lot of people like these things just because they know a lot of people like these things? Is everybody else crazy, or is it me?

Daniel P. Dern (m), Michael Kabongo, Daniel Kimmel, Joshua B. Palmatier

Saturday 10am Harbor 3: The Art of Handwaving Science

On your first day as an SF writer, you're likely to be faced with the problem of how to write about science that either 1) you don't have a good grasp of, or 2) nobody has a good grasp of because it doesn't exist yet. How do you respond?

Tom Easton (m), Michael F. Flynn, Jeff Hecht, Margaret Ronald, Ken Schneyer, Joan Slonczewski

Saturday 10am Independence: Reading: Dana Cameron

Saturday 10am Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Greer Gilman, Jo Walton

Saturday 10am Lewis: Oh, the Places You'll Go!

We wonder how far writers and artists have gone (literally) in the cause of research. Let's have some vivid examples from our panelists' lives. How far would you go? What wouldn't you do?

Walter H. Hunt (m), Elaine Isaak, James Patrick Kelly, Michael Swanwick

Saturday 10:30am Independence: Reading: Jennifer Pelland

Saturday 11am Autographing: Jeffrey A. Carver, Esther Friesner, Joshua B. Palmatier

Saturday 11am Burroughs: What's Up with Space?

What's going on in space these days? What will replace the shuttle? What's all this news about space tourism and commercial space? 2011 is going to be a busy year for planetary launches: What's going to fly? What's ahead for the long- term and what exicting enw technologies are being investigated?

Jeff Hecht, Jordin T. Kare, Allen M. Steele

Saturday 11am Carlton: Tolkien Tour of New Zealand

Follow Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, on this slide show adventure to visit as many New Zealand filming locations of The Lord of the Rings as possible in 3 weeks. Hobbits, sheep, rental cars, action figures and rabid fans all figure prominently in this geekiest of quests to find Middle- Earth in the real world.

Ethan Gilsdorf

Saturday 11am Dragonslair: Midnight Belles at Dragonslair

Spooky and funny songs and stories of the land and sea by The Midnight Belles.

April Grant, Faye Ringel

Saturday 11am Griffin: Boskone 101

C'mon in if you're new to SF conventions in general, or to this con in particular. We'll provide some As for your Qs. Where are all the Spock ears and fur bikinis? What exactly /is/ a Boskone -- or a bid table, kaffeeklatsch, filker, huckster, or SMOF? What happens where, and when? Where do you eat? What events should you be sure to catch? When you meet your favorite writer, artist, or musician, is it appropriate to squee?

Laurie Mann, Priscilla Olson

Saturday 11am Harbor 1: True Blood: Books vs. Broadcast

Let's compare Boskone Special Guest Charlaine Harris's most popular novels against their TV versions. Do Sookie Stackhouse and her fangy friends look like you'd imagined? What's lost -- or gained -- in the transition from page to plasma screen? Season 4 premieres this summer, based on Dead to the World. Witch ways should the screenwriters go?

Joshua Bilmes (m), Charlaine Harris, Daniel Kimmel

Saturday 11am Harbor 2: Imagining the Near Future

In today's SF, the most common futures are far futures. Many if not most writers in the field just leap over discussing the messy near-future. Or if they set a story close to our time, it often depicts a truly terrible tomorrow, with apocalyptic overtones. Why does 25 years from now seem so unimaginable?

S. C. Butler, Craig Shaw Gardner, James D. Macdonald (m), Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Karl Schroeder

Saturday 11am Harbor 3: New Faces of Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

These exceptional writers may still be in the early stages of their career, but already we catch glimpses of greatness. Let's name names -- and talk about what makes them so special.

Laird Barron, Peter V. Brett, Paul Di Filippo (m), David Anthony Durham, Kelly Link

Saturday 11am Independence: Reading: Gregory Feeley

Saturday 11am Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Jeanne M. Cavelos

Saturday 11am Lewis: Equine Opportunities

From centaurs and unicorns both ancient and modern to Gandalf's Shadowfax and Death's own pale steed Binky, horses and equinoid creatures figure in a surprisingly large number of fantastic tales. They rarely carry the plot, but often the hero or heroine. Who are more of our favorite examples? How close do specific writers get to the actual characters of our fleet-footed real-world friends? Who actually understands horses, anyway?

Ellen Asher, Melinda Snodgrass

Saturday 11:30am Independence: Reading: Daniel P. Dern

Saturday 12noon Autographing: Bruce Coville, Allen M. Steele, Jane Yolen

Saturday 12noon Bar: Literary Beer

Requires advance sign-up

Ginjer Buchanan, John R. Douglas

Saturday 12noon Burroughs: How Hollywood Guts Children's Classics

Today, more people may have heard of -- or seen earlier media adaptations of -- older works of children's literature than have actually read them. From The Wizard of Oz to recent movies such as Alice in Wonderland and Gulliver's Travels, how faithful has Hollywood been to its sources? When moviemakers depart significantly, what's the effect on their audiences? On readership of the sources? On civilization?

Jordan Hamessley, Mary Kay Kare, Jennifer Pelland, j. t. petty

Saturday 12noon Carlton: Sword & Sorcery Today

Through its pulpy beginnings and several revivals since, sword and sorcery has provided lots of fun -- and at least one masterpiece. (Lord of the Rings, remember? Good vs. evil? Magicians? Folks with edged weapons?) Who are today's true inheritors of Robert E. Howard and C. L. Moore? Are gaming creators or Terry Pratchett as central here as Robert Jordan or Steven Brust?

Scott H. Andrews, Craig Shaw Gardner, Darrell Schweitzer

Saturday 12noon Dragonslair: Sword and Buckler Demonstration

Have at you! Witness the subtle skills of attack, parry, and grapple as the Higgins Armory Sword Guild brings to life the earliest recorded style of swordplay, which features priests, students, and women as combatants.

Saturday 12noon Galleria Art Dem: Art Demo: Gregory Manchess

See Boskone's Official Artist at work!

Saturday 12noon Galeria: Medieval Swords by Kunstbruder

Come learn to use the longsword in the medieval German tradition! Hands-on lessons will be done in small groups, so sign up early with Kunstbruder in the con suite!

Saturday 12noon Griffin: Reading: Charles Stross

Charles Stross

Saturday 12noon Harbor 1: Southern Vampire Mystery Woman -- The Charlaine Harris Interview

She's the prize-winning, internationally best-selling author of almost 30 mystery novels. What's she doing at a science fiction convention? We suspect it starts with the day Charlaine Harris asked herself, "What kind of person would date a vampire?" and kept thinking until she had created Sookie Stackhouse. But we've got plenty of other questions about the resulting Southern Vampire Mystery series (running on TV as the acclaimed True Blood HBO series) -- as well as about her Harper Connelly "grave reader" books, her 20-plus-years-in-the-making overnight success, and how she manages to write like the hilariously dark daughter of Anne Rice and Connie Willis.

Darlene Marshall, Charlaine Harris

Saturday 12noon Harbor 2: Fun with (or Fear of) Genetics?

Why do some people fear genetic engineering? Is it from watching too many Godzilla movies, or a more general fear of the unknown? Of course, genetic engineering /does/ come with some perils. Let's discuss its potential benefits, and also its risks. What GE developments do you expect in the next 10 to 20 years?

Jeanne M. Cavelos, Joan Slonczewski (m), Ann Tonsor Zeddies

Saturday 12noon Harbor 3: Slipstream Goes Mainstream

Didn't they warn us in Ghostbusters: never cross the streams? Yet every year, more and more SF, fantasy, or horror stories are marketed as general fiction, and written by people who don't consider themselves part of our genres. What are some really good, outrageous examples of this? (And where can I buy them?) Are the mainstreamers stealing our rightful thunder? If the streams converge, what happens?

Gregory Feeley, James Patrick Kelly (m), Robert Killheffer

Saturday 12noon Independence: Reading: Elaine Isaak

Saturday 12noon Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Esther Friesner, Christopher Golden

Saturday 12noon Lewis: Poul Anderson -- An Appreciation

Poul Anderson (1926-2001) was a giant of the field -- that rare author who wrote equally well in both SF and fantasy, short stories and novels. Statistically, he was one of the top two or three all-time winners of Hugo and Nebula awards. Personally, he was a fan as well as a writer -- and a mensch to boot. We'll talk about his life and legacy, and celebrate the publication of Admiralty, the fourth volume of his collected short works from NESFA Press.

Karen Anderson, Tom Easton, Rick Katze, Mark L. Olson (m)

Saturday 12:30pm Dragonslair: Arming a Knight

Have you ever wondered how a knight got into his armor? It wasn't easy. Come watch as the demonstrators of the Higgins Armory Sword Guild harness a knight for combat and explain how his armor works.

Saturday 12:30pm Griffin: Reading: Joe Hill

Saturday 12:30pm Independence: Reading: Greer Gilman

Saturday 1pm Autographing: Sarah Langan, Resa Nelson, Melinda Snodgrass

Saturday 1pm Bar: Literary Beer

Requires advance sign-up

Karl Schroeder

Saturday 1pm Burroughs: The Writer's Child

What's it like for a writer to raise a kid? Our panel includes both writers and people who were (and are) writers' children. Are the writer's child-rearing methods, biases, or hopes different from those of other parents? How is a writer's child different from a reader's child? Stories will be told.

Theodora Goss, Katherine Crighton, Jo Walton (m), Jane Yolen

Saturday 1pm Carlton: Workshops: Compare and Contrast

Our panelists have forged themselves in the fires of genre writers' workshops from Martha's Vineyard to New Mexico. They'll take us behind closed doors to compare tales of processes and rituals, sniping and support, the chemistry of who's in the room, and the magic of hearing a story improve right before your ears.

Jeanne M. Cavelos, James Patrick Kelly (m), James D. Macdonald, Ian Tregillis

Saturday 1pm Dragonslair: Medieval Halberd Drill and Workshop

Learn to be a soldier in a medieval army! Members of the Higgins Armory Sword Guild will demonstrate the use of the halberd, a late-medieval polearm, and then teach Dragonslair participants battlefield drill with the weapon.

Saturday 1pm Galleria Discus: Knitting (Discussion Group & Knit-a-thon)

Priscilla Olson

Saturday 1pm Griffin: Mary Gentle

Fred Lerner

Saturday 1pm Harbor 1: Amber with Economics -- Stross' Merchant Princes Series

The Miriam Beckwith stories written by our Guest of Honor, Charles Stross, depict the adventures of a Boston business journalist who learns she belongs to a family of crosstime Corleones. How do Stross's alternate world chronicles compare to Roger Zelazny's Amber series, or the fun use of medievalish settings in S. M. Stirling's Emberverse? What cool speculations does Stross work in about theories of economic development and of history, especially the history of technology?

S. C. Butler (m), Vince Docherty, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Charles Stross

Saturday 1pm Harbor 2: Monsters in the City: Exploring Urban Fantasy

It's one of the hottest subgenres going. Let's state right off that those monsters can be external menaces, or the demons we carry around with us. Is "Down these dark streets a damaged woman must go -- and kick some supernatural ass" a fair summation of the genre's most popular story form? Where did urban fantasy start? Who are its stars? Where is it going?

Dana Cameron, Suzy McKee Charnas, Alexander Jablokov (m), Toni L. P. Kelner, Margaret Ronald

Saturday 1pm Harbor 3: Steampunk 1 -- A Triumph of Zeppelins

When and with whom (plus why?) did steampunk originate? How has it evolved since? Is it postmodern Jules Verne, or a lot more fun? In both the steampunk movement and the Society for Creative Anachronism, enthusiasts enjoy dressing for and imagining living in a fictional historical world: is the SCA parallel relevant? Why is the movement's energy suddenly so blinding that you need goggles? Where does it all go from here?

Don D'Ammassa, Ethan Gilsdorf, Beth Meacham (m), Darrell Schweitzer, Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Saturday 1pm Independence: Reading: Beth Bernobich

Saturday 1pm Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Peter V. Brett, David Anthony Durham

Saturday 1pm Lewis: The Small Press: Bigger Than Ever?

Boutique publishers and small presses are publishing more of the best stuff in the field every year. True? Who? How? Why? And what about the future? What's the role of the small press in a world dominated by e-books?

Neil Clarke, Gavin Grant, Valerie L. Grimm (m), Joe Hill

Saturday 1:30pm Griffin: Can Anything be Saved from the Wreckage?

Early in the 20th century, James Branch Cabell was considered to be not only the greatest living fantasist, but among the great American writers of any kind. Today, he is nearly forgotten. Michael Swanwick talks about why his reputation climbed so high -- and what Cabell did to bring it low.

Michael Swanwick

Saturday 1:30pm Independence: Reading: Debra Doyle

Saturday 2pm Autographing: Peter V. Brett, John Langan, Ann Tonsor Zeddies

Saturday 2pm Bar: Literary Beer

Requires advance sign-up

Michael F. Flynn, James Patrick Kelly

Saturday 2pm Burroughs: My Favorite Mysteries

What kinds of crossover qualities make so many SF/F/H fans also like a good mystery story?

Dana Cameron, John R. Douglas, Toni L. P. Kelner, Resa Nelson, Darrell Schweitzer, Paul G. Tremblay (m)

Saturday 2pm Carlton: Sweet Savage Editors

From the editor's point of view, must you be cruel to be kind? Are there edits you hesitate to make, just to spare the writer's feelings? What kinds of edits often meet the most resistance?

Ginjer Buchanan, Beth Meacham (m), Eleanor Wood

Saturday 2pm Dragonslair: Storytelling

Bruce Coville

Saturday 2pm Galleria Art Dem: Art Demo: Jean-Pierre Normand

Saturday 2pm Galeria: Greatstick Demonstration and Class

Come experience the living descendant of the medieval longsword. Con-goers are welcome to take class, no experience necessary. (Space is limited, so sign up early with Higgins in the Consuite.)

Saturday 2pm Griffin: Theme Filk Circle: "Philosophy"

Come bring your favorite songs about philosophers or deep thoughts, or just listen, and don't forget Immanuel Kant was a real pissant.

Erica Neely

Saturday 2pm Harbor 1: Authors I Love (And Why)

Who are your favorite writers of science fiction, fantasy, or horror? Do your choices change with time, or with whom you're talking to? What key features of their writing do you appreciate the most? How do you describe their work to persuade others aboard? What characteristics connect your favorites? What do your choices say about you? Let us count the ways.

Paul Di Filippo, David Anthony Durham (m), Charlaine Harris, James D. Macdonald

Saturday 2pm Harbor 2: How Is YA Different?

Kids are different from you and me. They're younger à Does writing science fiction, fantasy, and yes horror for the young adult market mean you play with different rules than for old adult fiction? Do you clean things up? Dumb them down? Add more morality? And must you worry that parents, school boards, and librarians will come between you and the kids?

Ellen Asher, Beth Bernobich, Esther Friesner, Jordan Hamessley

Saturday 2pm Harbor 3: Tasers and Heat Rays and Rail Guns, Oh My!

A look at SF weaponry that's recently got real - and its consequences.

Ctein, Tom Easton, Jeff Hecht, Jordin T. Kare (m)

Saturday 2pm Independence: Reading: F. Brett Cox

Saturday 2pm Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Rosemary Kirstein, Margaret Ronald, Melinda Snodgrass

Saturday 2pm Lewis: Writer vs. Copyeditor -- Lovefest or Deathmatch?

Let's discuss process and roles, how copyeditors can help, when they can go too far, points of contention, and more. Red pens may be flourished, but let's hope not blood-red ...

Theodora Goss, Teresa Nielsen Hayden (m), Jo Walton

Saturday 2:30pm Independence: Reading: Jane Yolen

Saturday 2:30pm Lewis: Reading: Christopher Golden

Saturday 3pm Autographing: Walter H. Hunt, Elaine Isaak, Daniel Kimmel

Saturday 3pm Bar: Literary Beer

Requires advance sign-up

Michael Swanwick

Saturday 3pm Burroughs: Playing with Dice

Dungeons and Dragons, along with other fantasy role-playing games, has influenced the lives (and careers) of many professionals in the field. How has an involvement in such activities affected your relationship to the genre? How can you use gaming to help you -- as a person or as an active participant within the science fiction community?

Peter V. Brett (m), Ethan Gilsdorf, Margaret Ronald

Saturday 3pm Carlton: Spaceship Design for Artists

Many SF readers still want to see spaceships on their book covers. What's an artist to do? How can you reinvent or redesign the good old ether torpedo to look all totally cool and new?

Irene Gallo, Jordin T. Kare, Greg Manchess (m)

Saturday 3pm Dragonslair: Acting & Voicing

Robert Kuhn

Saturday 3pm Galeria: Rapier Fencing Class

Come try the martial art of the Renaissance gentlemen. Con-goers are welcome to take part, no experience necessary. Equipment will be provided. (Space is limited, so sign up early with Higgins in the Consuite.)

Saturday 3pm Griffin: Future English

The English language is an omnivore, and technology has given it new sources to feed on. What directions will this take it in?

Suzy McKee Charnas, Debra Doyle, Greer Gilman, Jeffrey Jones (m), Vandana Singh

Saturday 3pm Harbor 1: Why There Is No Jewish Narnia

We swipe our title from Michael Weingrad, a Jewish Studies professor who says, "There is no dearth of Jewish science fiction writers ... [yet] to no other field of modern literature have Jews contributed so little." Why? Perhaps because, "Jews were too often at the wrong end of the medieval sword à For Jewish writers working after the Holocaust, fantasy made redemption seem too easy ... Judaism has banished [to a degree] the magical and mythological elements necessary for fantasy." Is he correct? What writers are now trying to prove him wrong? How is (or could be) Jewish fantasy different?

Mary Kay Kare (m), Fred Lerner, Jane Yolen

Saturday 3pm Harbor 2: The Divide Between Mysteries and Fantasy-Horror

Ellen Asher, Christopher Golden, Joe Hill, Toni L. P. Kelner (m), Paul G. Tremblay

Saturday 3pm Harbor 3: Steampunk 2 -- The Dark Side

So is there a dark side to steampunk? Zeppelins are fun and all that, but does a subgenre which turns SF into fantasy and hides the dark side of the Victorian era really deserve our enthusiam? Charles Stross has written on this in his blog.

Charles Stross, Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Saturday 3pm Independence: Reading: John Langan

Saturday 3pm Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Neil Clarke, Beth Meacham

Saturday 3pm Lewis: Stranger in a Strange Land -- Can It Really Be Fifty Years Old?

Stranger in a Strange Land is fifty years old! How can this be!!? How has it aged? What kind of impact does it have on today's youth? (Please don't say "Well, it's very....charming. Quaint...") How has Robert A. Heinlein as a whole aged? And does the RAH biography just released shed any new light on the man and his writing?

F. Brett Cox, Kathryn Cramer (m), Ken Schneyer, Ian Randal Strock, Christopher Weuve

Saturday 3:30pm Independence: Reading: Darlene Marshall

Saturday 4pm Autographing: Charlaine Harris

Saturday 4pm Bar: Literary Beer

Requires advance sign-up

Jeffrey A. Carver

Saturday 4pm Burroughs: Reboots and Retcons

Reboot: to trash all known series history and just start over. Retcon (for retroactive continuity): the "discovery" of new stuff that supposedly happened during an old event in series history. Some consider rebooting and retconning simply helpful ways of freshening up a mature comics, TV, or film series. Others consider them big frickin' cheats.

Daniel P. Dern, John Langan, Priscilla Olson (m)

Saturday 4pm Carlton: Influences on Genre Art

Let's look at the major influences (past and present) on contemporary science fiction and fantasy art. Also, which artists - and what specific works - made our panelists the artists they are today? How are today's generation of masters (present company /not/ excepted) likely to influence the future of the art of the fantastic?

Alan F. Beck, Greg Manchess, Omar Rayyan, Ruth Sanderson (m)

Saturday 4pm Dragonslair: Longswords and Lightsabers by Kunstbruder

Come learn to use either a lightsaber or a longsword! Lessons will be done with safe, foam weapons.

Saturday 4pm Galleria: Docent Tour of Art Show

Two noted fans and collectors bring you along for a personal look at the exhibition. See the works of the prominent and the promising through their experienced eyes, and share your own opinions.

Joe Siclari, Edie Stern

Saturday 4pm Galleria Discus: NESFA Press Book Launch & Tea Party

Come celebrate the launch of two bouncing brand-new books hot off the NESFA Press! Get your first look at Scratch Monkey by Charles Stross, as well as Admiralty: Volume Four of the Short Fiction of Poul Anderson. Meet and greet Charlie, plus Poul's wife Karen who will help carry on his spirit. Sip some tea - and try the far-fabled poppyseed cake.

Karen Anderson, Rick Katze, Charles Stross, Geri Sullivan, Jo Walton

Saturday 4pm Griffin: Song Sequitur

A performance-circle concert in which each participant is challenged to come up with a follower for the previous song.

Gary Ehrlich, Paul Estin, Erica Neely, Benjamin Newman

Saturday 4pm Harbor 1: What Is Time Travel Good For?

A good time travel story: there's still nothing quite like it. Is it the poignancy of juxtaposing past and present? The way it lets characters confront themselves? Observe - or shape - their formative experiences? Try to talk each other out of bad decisions? Or is it the unique way it can toy with our sense of certainty? Let's discuss all the reasons why, for both writers and readers, time travel never gets old.

Michael F. Flynn, Ken Schneyer, Karl Schroeder (m), Ian Tregillis

Saturday 4pm Harbor 2: The Five Definitive Criteria By Which SF Cinema Is to Be Judged

SF writer John Wright evaluates science fiction movies by these criteria: 1. Is there a hot babe in a skintight and/or revealing future-suit? 2. Is there a gorilla? 3. Is there a robot? 4. Does any character have Way Cool mind powers? And, most importantly, 5. Does a planet get blown up? Plus an extra star if there's a Space Princess à Comments, if any are possible?

Ginjer Buchanan, Bruce Coville, Esther Friesner, Craig Shaw Gardner (m)

Saturday 4pm Harbor 3: Fairy Tales into Fantasy

A whole branch of fantasy literature is based on re-examining the assumptions of well-known fairy tales. Panelists discuss some of the best examples. Have all the good tales been taken? And do people these days grow up knowing the source materials at all?

Greer Gilman, Theodora Goss (m), Jack M. Haringa, Jane Yolen

Saturday 4pm Independence: Reading: Don D'Ammassa

Saturday 4pm Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Laird Barron, Sarah Langan, Paul G. Tremblay

Saturday 4pm Lewis: Changing the Best Semi-Prozine Hugo

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Best Semi-Prozine Hugo category needs repair. Everything else is open to debate. Since four members of the WSFS committee charged with developing a proposed replacement will be at Boskone, we are taking the opportunity to have a public discussion of the issues. Everyone is welcome to as smoffy an event as you'll ever see!

Neil Clarke, David G. Hartwell, Mark L. Olson (m), Ben Yalow

Saturday 4:30pm Independence: Reading: Melinda Snodgrass

Saturday 5pm Autographing: Paul Di Filippo, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick

Saturday 5pm Bar: Literary Beer

Requires advance sign-up

Debra Doyle, James D. Macdonald

Saturday 5pm Burroughs: The Hugo Awards -- The Best of 2010

Our annual Boskone Hugo Discussion. What's the good stuff of 2010? What should win the Hugo for best books, movies/TV, and more?

Bob Devney, Vince Docherty, Mary Kay Kare, Jim Mann (m)

Saturday 5pm Carlton: The Passing of the Modern Ages

The Modern Ages began circa 1500. Beginning around 1970, certain thinkers like Lukacs, Barzun, Vacca, Jacobs, and others began to see an end. It was the European Age, the Bourgeois Age, the Age of the State, of the Book, the Family, the School; the Age of Science, of Industry, of Secularism. Are all these things fading or changing now? Will it end in a Dark Age, a Renaissance, or some other catastrophe?

Michael F. Flynn

Saturday 5pm Dragonslair: Fun & Games

Walter H. Hunt

Saturday 5pm Galleria Discussion Group: The Last Lost

Priscilla Olson

Saturday 5pm Galleria Art Dem: Art Demo: Alan Beck

Saturday 5pm Griffin: Cambridge SF Workshop Flash Readings

F. Brett Cox, Elaine Isaak, Alexander Jablokov, James Patrick Kelly, Steven Popkes, Ken Schneyer, Sarah Smith

Saturday 5pm Harbor 1: Up with Monsters!

What we need are more stories with monsters other than vampires and zombies. Let's talk tall tales featuring leviathans, mummies, chupacabras, kapres, killer bees, ghosts, shoggoths, golems, hellhounds, and other denizens that lurk further off the beaten path. Plus it would help if some of them were also on the pretty or sexy side.

Laird Barron, Suzy McKee Charnas, Christopher Golden, Joe Hill, Paul G. Tremblay (m)

Saturday 5pm Harbor 2: What Books at What Age?

The old joke goes that the golden age of SF is 12. We believe, instead, that it's anytime. However, questions of age-appropriateness often arise. With children, what if verbal facility doesn't pace emotional intelligence? And can you blight interest by forcing a book too early? With adolescents, is too much power-tripping and Mary-Suing really healthy? With adults, are your 20s too early to read The City and the City? And are your 40s too late to read Dhalgren?

Jordan Hamessley, Katherine Crighton, Beth Meacham, Jo Walton, Ann Tonsor Zeddies (m)

Saturday 5pm Independence: Reading: Ethan Gilsdorf

Saturday 5pm Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Charlaine Harris, Toni L. P. Kelner

Saturday 5pm Lewis: Constructed Languages

Created languages these days have many uses. This is a presentation on how to get started in creating a language, covering the elements of language, such as the sounds used and how they fit together, word-formation and inflection, word order and how words in a sentence relate to each other, vocabulary, and writing systems.

Jeffrey Jones

Saturday 5:30pm Independence: Reading: S. C. Butler

Saturday 6pm Carlton: Anime/Animation (Various Series): Family World Domination Program

(WB/Paramount/Crunchyroll/FUNimation; TV-PG for cartoony violence)
Hey, kids! Want to take over the world? Many great (and not-so-great) minds have tried. Most failed. Watch and learn from some of the funniest of these failures (and the occasional unsatisfactory success). Aspiring dictators of all ages should enjoy this showcase of the best in evil-minded animation! What will be shown? That's a surprise!

Saturday 7:30pm Carlton: Anime: The Thief and Cobbler: Recobbled Cut

(Richard Williams Animation; not rated -- around PG for violence, innuendo)
Master animator Richard Williams of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? fame worked on this passion project for over 20 years. When he finally got the money to finish it, the studio took the film away from him. This fan-made restoration contains some unfinished animation but incredible eye candy and a great villain played by the late Vincent Price.

Saturday 8pm Harbor 2&3: Erica Neely Concert

Come listen to Erica's cheerful songs of doom, death, and destruction.

Saturday 9pm Carlton: Anime (Series): The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

(Bandai; TV-14 for language, sexual content)
OK, you may think you can take over the world, but you just can't beat God. God happens to be a Japanese high school girl and created the world just three years ago, by the way. If you can't beat her, join her: the Saving the World by Overloading it With Fun Haruhi Suzumiya (SOS) Brigade is now accepting new applicants!

Saturday 9pm Griffin: Open Filking

Keep on singing as long as you can stay awake. Or longer.

Saturday 9pm Harbor 2&3: Awards Ceremony

Karen Anderson, Charlaine Harris, Greg Manchess, Erica Neely, Joan Slonczewski, Charles Stross

Saturday 9:30pm Harbor 2&3: Giant's Tooth -- A Play

Neptune Theater presents a radio play based on a story by Bruce Coville. Players include: Bruce Coville, Jane Yolen, Larry Seiler, Dave Grubbs, Larry Pfeffer, and Tim Szczesuil.

Saturday 10:30pm Carlton: Anime (Series): Code Geass

The British are coming! à OK, technically they're the Brittanians, and their headquarters is in America for some reason, but they've taken over Japan! Prince Lulouch is now fighting against his father's empire using mind control powers he got from a mysterious naked chick, but what does he really want with that power? Also, there's giant robots.

Saturday 11:30pm Carlton: Film: The Complete Metropolis

(Public domain; PG for mild violence)
Censors and studio executives couldn't take over this 98% complete cut of Fritz Lang's much sought-after holy grail of science-fiction cinema. This restored classic shows that even if we can't take over the world, we can force whoever does to have a heart. And if even if we can't, there are worse ways to die than by sexy robot stripper.


Sunday

Sunday 9:30am Griffin: Reading: Allan Steele

Sunday 9:30am Independence: Reading: Joshua Palmatier

Sunday 10am Autographing: Debra Doyle, James D. Macdonald, Jo Walton

Sunday 10am Burroughs: Field Trips in Boston: Science, Technology, SF and Fantasy

Boston and its neighborhood is just full of skiffy places: High-tech sites, places in stories, genre historical sites. The panel will discuss the many places in and around Boston of interest to SF fans.

Jeff Hecht, Walter H. Hunt (m), Steven Popkes

Sunday 10am Carlton: Music for Writers and Readers

What music do you listen to when in a creative mood? Writers will bring examples to soothe the audience's savage breasts. The audience may respond with their own favorite tunes to read great SF/F/H by.

Alan F. Beck, Rosemary Kirstein, Resa Nelson, Faye Ringel (m)

Sunday 10am Dragonslair: Crafts for Kids: Going Buggy

Priscilla Olson

Sunday 10am Griffin: Nanotech or Nevertech?

One could argue that 20 years ago, magic moved from fantasy into SF with the wizard's staff transmogrifying into nanotech. Nanotech could do anything from curing disease to building impossible machines to turning a biosphere into gray goo in days. What is the reality? What is nanotech like today and what seems likely to be coming down the road?

Mark L. Olson (m), Karl Schroeder, Ian Tregillis

Sunday 10am Harbor 1: Living with the Green Man

By the title of the panel do we mean (A) Composting or (B) Morris dancing or (C) Inhabiting the Land of the Faeries or (D). All or None of the Above? More seriously: What's the tradition of the Green Man? How does it suggest that ancient ways may fit into modern life - and do we necessarily want them to?

Bruce Coville (m), Greer Gilman, Beth Meacham, Jane Yolen

Sunday 10am Harbor 2: The Spirit of the Place

In certain tales of the fantastic, scenery is so much a part of the fabric of the story that it practically becomes a character itself. Let's talk about stories set in these unique locales. Don't they contradict the modern fashion that says character and dialog are all, and scenery is at best a light decoration and at worst a distraction? In the best work, how is this effect justified -- and accomplished?

Darlene Marshall (m), Laird Barron, Charlaine Harris, Alexander Jablokov, Margaret Ronald

Sunday 10am Harbor 3: And Now a Word from the Antipope: A Charles Stross Interview

In case you hadn't noticed, our Guest of Honor likes to keep himself (and his hyperactive imagination) busy. Charles Stross has written 16 novels and 2 story collections since 2001, won one Hugo so far (plus several other awards, not to speak of numerous nominations), keeps a lively Web diary at - and has done 11 events already at this Boskone. No wonder Vernor Vinge calls him "the most spectacular science-fiction writer of recent years." Let's see if he can chill for 50 minutes to answer questions such as: "What do you mean, the first Merchant Princes series?, " "The Singularity: sooner or later?, " and "What cool new stuff have you thought about lately?"

Ginjer Buchanan, Charles Stross

Sunday 10am Independence: Reading: David Anthony Durham

Sunday 10am Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Joan Slonczewski

Sunday 10am Lewis: Beam Me Down, Blow Me Up

Star Trek's transporter isn't so much beaming you down as killing you at this end, then assembling a new "you" at the other. Which may also be true for any SF tech where there's a transfer of consciousness (Scalzi's Old Man's War, Lee/Miller's The Tomorrow Log, etc.) Would this matter to you? How? Why?

Ctein, James Patrick Kelly, Robert Kuhn, Melinda Snodgrass (m)

Sunday 10:30am Independence: Reading: Leonid Korogodski

Sunday 11am Autographing: Suzy McKee Charnas, Darrell Schweitzer, Joan Slonczewski

Sunday 11am Burroughs: British SF TV That Is Not Dr. Who

We're not tired of tales of the Tardis or Torchwood, we just want more. What are the even later, greater genre shows from over the big water? What's cooler, the original Being Human or Primeval? How is Brit TV different -- better dialog, even worse class structure? How many extra sexiness points just for the accents?

Ginjer Buchanan, Vince Docherty, Priscilla Olson (m), Jennifer Pelland

Sunday 11am Carlton: Cool Things About Hot Air Engines

Steven Popkes

Sunday 11am Dragonslair: Magic Show

Daniel P. Dern

Sunday 11am Griffin: Selling Your Screenplay

A guide to marketing scripts with science fiction, fantasy, and horror themes to TV showrunners and movie moguls.

Joshua Bilmes, j. t. petty, Melinda Snodgrass (m)

Sunday 11am Harbor 1: Mythpunk

Wikipedia says, "Described as a subgenre of mythic fiction, Catherynne M. Valente uses the term "mythpunk" to define a brand of speculative fiction which starts in folklore and myth and adds elements of postmodern fantastic techniques: urban fantasy, confessional poetry, nonlinear storytelling, linguistic calisthenics, worldbuilding, and academic fantasy. Writers whose works would fall under the mythpunk label are Valente, Ekaterina Sedia, Theodora Goss, and Sonya Taaffe." And what do we say?

Debra Doyle, Gregory Feeley, Greer Gilman, Theodora Goss, Michael Swanwick

Sunday 11am Harbor 2: Does Mars Need Zombies? -- Hard SF in a Time of Increasing Interest in the Undead

Genre publishing is increasingly dominated by creatures from last-century horror movies -- vampires, werewolves, zombies. Is the rigor and plausibility of an SF work's /novum/ (innovative idea or technology) less important to today's readers? Is "hard SF" obsolete, or still an essential subgenre? Can we (should we) inject believable science even into zombie tales? And on the flip side, can we extract the "juice" that vampires and their ilk add to fantasy, and transplant it to SF (more elegantly than with shambling hordes of undead Martians crying for ichor)?

Kathryn Cramer (m), Walter H. Hunt, Leonid Korogodski, Ken Schneyer, Allen M. Steele

Sunday 11am Harbor 3: The e-Book Market

E-books appear to be the wave of the future. How does a professional who wishes to continue to make a living surf that wave?

Jeffrey A. Carver, Neil Clarke (m), John R. Douglas, Gavin Grant, Charles Stross, Eleanor Wood

Sunday 11am Independence: Reading: Toni Kelner

Sunday 11am Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Bruce Coville, Jane Yolen

Sunday 11am Lewis: Reading: Jo Walton

Sunday 11:30am Carlton: The De-Growth Movement

Exponents of the de-growth movement, originating in Europe a few years ago, hold that the capitalist grow-or-die dedication to economic growth is at the root of a host of environmental ills. To achieve sustainability in any meaningful sense thus requires that we somehow achieve a no-growth economy. However, they do not know how to achieve this, and they do not go far enough. I will attempt to remedy these deficits.

Tom Easton

Sunday 11:30am Independence: Reading: Laird Barron

Sunday 11:30am Lewis: Reading: Paul Di Filippo

Sunday 12noon Autographing: Karl Schroeder, Charles Stross

Sunday 12noon Bar: Artistic Beer

Requires advance sign-up

Jean-Pierre Normand, Omar Rayyan

Sunday 12noon Burroughs: Cover Art -- Not So Necessary Anymore?

It's no longer a question of whether it's digital or traditional. It's now "art or type" -- and we're seeing a lot more "designed"-looking covers than art. Is this the end, or a new beginning?

Ginjer Buchanan (m), Bob Eggleton, Irene Gallo, Marc Scheff

Sunday 12noon Carlton: Going to Sea: An SF Fan'Perspective

Until the glad day comes when giant spaceships leave Earth for extended trips in space, the closest we can come to life in space may be life on a naval vessel. So what is it like for an SF fan to go to sea? How does it compare to space navy life such as on Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica?

Christopher Weuve

Sunday 12noon Dragonslair: Stories for Kids

Leah Cypess

Sunday 12noon Galleria Discussion Group: Long Live the Legion

Priscilla Olson

Sunday 12noon : Art Show Closes

Sunday 12noon Griffin: Concert: The Midnight Belles

The Midnight Belles present songs, tales, and poems of the supernatural, traditional and original, performed by Faye Ringel (keyboard, vocals) and April Grant (vocals).

April Grant, Faye Ringel

Sunday 12noon Harbor 1: The Decline and Fall of Practically Everything

"The last man on earth sat alone in his room, playing with his XBox 360. He ignored the knock on the door." (with apologies to Fredric Brown).
...eBooks will destroy the publishing industry. Copyright is going down the tubes. The civilized discourse of email lists is giving way to 140-character tweets. Kids don't get out of doors any more and spend so much time multi- tasking they don't learn to think. Is technology turning us into the Borg? Let's have a balanced discussion neither of the "kids these days!" sort nor of the "I've never seen a fad I didn't like" kind. What are the trends, which look likely to last and why, what looks like just the latest fad? What looks like it will make life richer and what may wind up impoverishing us?

Karen Anderson, Sarah Langan, Fred Lerner (m), Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Sunday 12noon Harbor 2: Deadly Viruses: How They Will Save the Human Genome

Joan Slonczewski

Sunday 12noon Harbor 3: Cads, Bounders, Seducers, and Other Ladykillers

Good guys are boring! (But is there any other kind in SF? Richard Seaton would wipe out a solar system rather than deliberately hurt a lady's heart.) Cads start out looking like Mr. Right, but end up doing you wrong. From Dominic Flandry to Jason Stackhouse or Ivan Vorpatril, these rakes are often written to charm the reader as well as the heroine. Are they just a holdover from cheap pulp fiction? Could they exist in any future society with gender equality? If they're still fun to read about, why?

Darlene Marshall, Beth Bernobich, Katherine Crighton (m), Joshua B. Palmatier

Sunday 12noon Independence: Reading: James Macdonald

Sunday 12noon Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Michael F. Flynn

Sunday 12noon Lewis: Reading: Beneath Ceaseless Skies Magazine

Scott H. Andrews

Sunday 12:30pm Griffin: Filk Theme Circle: "Eldrich Horrors"

Got songs about Cthulhu, zombies, or demons under the bed? Come join in the singing or just listen.

Ellen Kranzer

Sunday 12:30pm Independence: Reading: Suzy McKee Charnas

Sunday 12:30pm Lewis: Reading: Theodora Goss

Sunday 1pm Autographing: Leah Cypess, James Patrick Kelly, Leonid Korogodski

Sunday 1pm Bar: Artistic Beer

Stop by and talk with Irene and Greg about the business of freelance illustration, publishing, and building a portfolio. Bring a portfolio to show for review or ask questions about specific pieces, etc.

Irene Gallo, Greg Manchess

Sunday 1pm Burroughs: I'd Know Their Writing with My Eyes Closed

From Cordwainer Smith, Jack Vance, and R. A. Lafferty to Greer Gilman, Iain M. Banks, and Catherynne M. Valente, certain writers develop distinct styles all their own. Is it a pattern in their words or a kink in their thinking? What makes them so special?

F. Brett Cox, Bob Devney (m), Paul Di Filippo, Esther Friesner

Sunday 1pm Carlton: Conversation with a Dragon

Writers sometimes talk of their characters' taking control of their stores. Hear a dragon master, Ruth Sanderson, tell how the subject of her first dragon painting seemed to have its own ideas of what it should look like.

Ruth Sanderson

Sunday 1pm Dragonslair: Scary Stories for Kids

Sarah Langan

Sunday 1pm Harbor 1: A Child's Garden of Dystopias -- the Boom in Nasty Worlds for Children

Why do dystopias and YA literature seem to go together? Are YA dystopias more common now than previously? Are there differences between YA and adult dystopias -- perhaps a different ratio of cynicism to hope? How does "if this goes on" fit in? Consider this article.

Bruce Coville, Theodora Goss, Jack M. Haringa (m), Kelly Link

Sunday 1pm Harbor 2: SF & HF: Why Science Fiction and Historical Fiction Are the Same (Nearly)

As next year's Boskone GoH John Scalzi has stated the proposition, "It's just a question of whether you're reimagining the past or extrapolating the future." Let's identify some examples of both genres that illuminate the point. Do they use the same speculative fiction writing muscles? Which form takes more research? How many SF fans also dig HF? Why?

Darlene Marshall, Debra Doyle, Michael F. Flynn, Walter H. Hunt, Jo Walton (m)

Sunday 1pm Harbor 3: SCA: Living the Modern Middle Ages

Founded in Berkeley, California, in 1966, the Society for Creative Anachronism now has more than 30, 000 members worldwide who enjoy medievalish feasts, tournaments, and other gatherings. From the first, many SCAers have also been SF/F/H fans. And doesn't the SCA's aim of recreating "the Middle Ages as they should have been" represent, not living history, but living /alternate/ history? What other common threads link the two fandoms?

Karen Anderson (m), Greer Gilman, Robert Kuhn, Jennifer Pelland, Faye Ringel

Sunday 1pm Independence: Reading: Neil Clarke

Sunday 1pm Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Charles Stross

Sunday 1pm Lewis: The Unfinished Novels of Thomas K. Disch

The SF Encyclopedia says that Disch's complex, subtle, unsparing work made him "perhaps the most respected, least trusted, most envied and least read of modern first-rank SF writers." Besides that legacy, it turns out he left behind some final manuscripts.

Gregory Feeley

Sunday 1:30pm Griffin: Musical: Walk in the Day

Things are getting bad for this dark-loving species, and they fear there's a long bright day ahead. An unstaged performance of Ben Newman's new science- fiction musical.

Benjamin Newman

Sunday 1:30pm Independence: Reading: Peter V. Brett

Sunday 1:30pm Lewis: Reading: Michael Swanwick

Sunday 2pm Autographing: Toni L. P. Kelner, Rosemary Kirstein

Sunday 2pm Bar: Literary Beer

Requires advance sign-up

Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Sunday 2pm Burroughs: The Year in Physics and Astronomy

So what's happened this past year in physics and astronomy? Gobs of new planets, understanding (maybe) of how Saturn's rings formed, General Relativity in the home, better understanding of supermassive black holes -- and more!

Ctein, Jeff Hecht, Mark L. Olson (m)

Sunday 2pm Carlton: Breaking into F&SF Art

What quantity, quality, and categories of work should you have in your portfolio before you show it? Whom should you show it to? How do young artists impress old(er) clients? What are the biggest mistakes beginners make? Some panelists may also muster some helpful tips from those dim days when /they/ were where you are now.

Irene Gallo (m), Greg Manchess, Jean-Pierre Normand, Marc Scheff

Sunday 2pm Harbor 1: New Fantasy -- For Girls Only?

The writer Shauna Roberts observes that publishers think boys won't read about girls, but girls will read about boys [as well as about girls]. Do publishers really think that? Is it true? Why? If that's the dominant paradigm, do fantasies where the protagonist is a kickass warrior, assassin, or thief represent attempts at overcoming it -- or do girls just want to have fun?

Neil Clarke (m), Leah Cypess

Sunday 2pm Harbor 2: Futureproofing SF and Fantasy

Certain works - including some earlier hailed as classics - are so bound to the time of writing that they're unreadable today. Is it a question of writing style? Of not so much outdated science as different ideas of what questions are interesting? Let's discuss examples. And speculate about how to make today's speculative fiction timeless.

Michael Kabongo, Leonid Korogodski, Robert Kuhn (m), Allen M. Steele, Ian Tregillis

Sunday 2pm Harbor 3: A Good Death

Death is "the last enemy, " feared by all. Yet Tolkien's immortal elves call it "the One's gift to Man." Whether a sad ending or a glad ending, let's remember the most heartbreaking, surprising, realistic, satisfying, or otherwise memorable death scenes in SF/F/H books and movies.

Jeffrey A. Carver (m), James D. Macdonald, Paul G. Tremblay

Sunday 2pm Independence: Reading: James Patrick Kelly

Sunday 2pm Galleria: Kaffeeklatsch

Requires advance sign-up

Walter H. Hunt, Alexander Jablokov

Sunday 2pm Lewis: Absent Friends

Frank Frazetta, Martin Gardner, James Hogan, Satoshi Kon, Neil Barron, E. C. Tubb, Jennifer Rardin, Ralph M. Vicinanza, Glen GoodKnight, John Steakley, Ann Cecil, Jerry Weist, and Brian Jacques are no longer with us. Other writers, artists, fans, and well-recalled members of our community have also died since last we met. Let's remember a little of what they did, and what they meant to us.

Alan F. Beck, Laurie Mann, Joe Siclari (m)

Sunday 2:30pm Independence: Reading: Kathleen Crighton

Sunday 3pm Griffin: MASSFILC Business Meeting

MASSFILC monthly business meeting, open to all.

Sunday 3pm Lewis: Boskone 48 Gripe Session

This con is over, people! (Except for Open Filking and teardown, where we'd love to have your help right!) But we're already working on Boskone 49. Help us get a good head start with reports on what went wrong (or right) this time, and how to reach ultimate connish nirvana next year.

Jim Mann, Priscilla Olson (m), Sharon Sbarsky

Sunday 4pm Griffin: Open Filking

Last chance to sing together.