Soldiers back frae the German wars, pedlars up frae the Border

[sovay]

Readercon! I promised people my schedule, so here it is before anything else.

Friday July 14

12:00 PM
Reading: Sonya Taaffe.
Sonya Taaffe.

Sonya Taaffe reads new poetry and a recently completed story.

3:00 PM
Classic YA Book Club: The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper.
Victoria Janssen (leader), Sandra Kasturi, Miriam Newman, Sonya Taaffe, Tamara Vardomskaya.

Will Stanton discovers on his 11th birthday that he is no mere boy. He is the Sign-Seeker, last of the immortal Old Ones, destined to battle the powers of evil that trouble the land. His task is monumental: he must find and guard the six great Signs of the Light, which, when joined, will create a force strong enough to match and perhaps overcome that of the Dark. Embarking on this endeavor is dangerous as well as deeply rewarding, Will must work within a continuum of time and space much broader than he ever imagined. Susan Cooper creates a world where the conflict between good and evil reaches epic proportions. She ranks with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in her ability to deliver a moral vision in the context of breathtaking adventure. We are especially interested in discussing this book in conjunction with the recent YA book club selection, The Raven Boys.

4:00 PM
I Am Become Death . . . No, I Mean Literally.
David Bowles, Danielle Friedman, Max Gladstone, Miriam Newman, Sonya Taaffe.

Death is the ultimate unknowable, the universal mystery that we all share. From the Greek god Thanatos to Terry Pratchett's Death, humankind has a long tradition of personifying death to try to make it more relatable and less inscrutable, or even to turn it into a punchline. A number of recent works, including Colin Gigl's The Ferryman Institute, Amber Benson's Calliope Reaper-Jones books, and Gina Damico's Croak series, have put their own spins on the anthropomorphic personification of death. Our panelists will discuss why this particular topic is currently resurgent, and look at some interesting examples of the trend.

6:00 PM
Terrible . . . but Great.
Lila Garrott (leader), Bart Leib, Natalie Luhrs, Sonya Taaffe, Vinnie Tesla.

Our panelists muse on books that are really bad but in an amazing way! Genevieve Valentine's term "shitmazing" may be appropriate here. What makes something both terrible and great? Are these works worth analyzing and perhaps even emulating, or do they exist simply to be enjoyed (if that's the word) on their own merits (if that's the word)?

7:00 PM
The Works of Tanith Lee.
Lila Garrott, Sonya Taaffe, Emily Wagner.

Tanith Lee (1947–2015) was a supremely talented writer who worked in numerous genres and forms. She wrote children’s novels (The Dragon Hoard (1971)), Vancian fantasy (the five-novel Tales from the Flat Earth series), historical romance (The Gods Are Thirsty (1996)), fantasy/horror (The Book of the Damned (1988)), science fiction (the four-novel Birthgrave series), thriller/horror (the three-novel Blood Opera series), far-future science fiction (the Drinking Sapphire Wine duology), and more, including erotica, Gothic romance, and straightforward horror. Lee was clever, manipulating genre tropes and clichés in skillful and unusual ways. Lee was poetic, writing of everything from sex to childhood in lyrical fashion. And she was prolific, writing over one hundred novels and collections. She was twice nominated for the Nebula Award, ten times for the World Fantasy (winning twice), and six times for the British Fantasy Award (winning once), and was given the Grand Master Award from at the World Horror Convention in 2009 and the Life Achievement Award at the World Fantasy Convention in 2013. As critic John Clute wrote, "Lee encompassed every genre of the fantastic . . . with supple attentiveness and an ongoing exuberance of invention which transcends . . . genre constraints." Join us to celebrate her work.

Saturday July 15

12:00 PM
Life, Love, and Robots.
Jeffrey A. Carver (leader), Glenn Grant, Kate Nepveu, Sonya Taaffe, Sheila Williams.

Robots, golems, and other living machines appear human but can never become human, which makes them perfect vehicles for exploring concepts of sentience, emotion, and human nature. Many robots long to be human; it's much more rare to see one that loves being what it is. Far more fictional robots have gender identities than national or ethnic identities. They are often programmed to feel sexual desire but rarely designed to eat a meal or sniff a flower. How do our depictions of robots reflect our changing understandings of what it means to be alive?

Sunday July 16

12:00 PM
Disturbed by Her Song: Gender, Queerness, and Sexuality in the Works of Tanith Lee.
Steve Berman (moderator), Lila Garrott, Sonya Taaffe.

Memorial Guest of Honor Tanith Lee thoroughly explored gender, queerness, and sexuality in her fiction, creating cultural pansexuality in the Flat Earth series and queering history in the Lambda Award–winning Disturbed by Her Song. Lee wrote lush, sensitive, poetic prose about people unrestricted by gender roles or cultural norms, and she did it for forty years. Were there any missteps along that span? Does her "channeled" writing as spectral lesbian author Esther Garber (and Esther's pansexual half-brother, Judas Garbah) stand out from the greater body of her sexually charged work? How did she handle her portrayals of trans people and their sexuality? Our panelists will discuss queer themes, sexual exploration, and sexual fluidity in Lee's work.

I also have a schedule for NecronomiCon Providence, at which it seems I will be doing such daunting things as moderating a panel on weird erotica and discussing noir fiction in terms of cosmic horror, but I'll detail that closer to the actual con, which falls on the third weekend in August.

Who am I likely to see at Readercon?

Comments

[isis]

Tanith Lee, yay! Formative works of my teen-hood.

[sovay]

Tanith Lee, yay! Formative works of my teen-hood.

I am not resorting to hyperbole when I say that her Secret Books of Paradys rewired some things inside my head. Also the peeve's soulful "Moon" from Black Unicorn is still a meme in my family.

[yhlee]

I'll be there, probably either at the bar reacquainting myself with Shirley Temples or sketching or circling the bookstore. :p

[sovay]

I'll be there, probably either at the bar reacquainting myself with Shirley Temples or sketching or circling the bookstore.

I do not know if you meant "circling" in the sense of cat or shark, but I think both work where books are concerned.

See you soon!

[asakiyume]

I approve of both these interpretations of "circling," and I'm sorry that, in addition to all the other things I'll be missing by missing this Readercon, I'll be missing a chance to hear Yoon Ha Lee read.

[alexxkay]

Kestrell and I plan to do lobbycon Saturday afternoon. Would be great to see you!

(I have a couple Fredric Brown books earmarked for you. Would this be a good opportunity to hand them off?)

[sovay]

(I have a couple Fredric Brown books earmarked for you. Would this be a good opportunity to hand them off?)

Yes! That would be amazing. I should be free once I stop talking about robots.

[ckd]

I will be there.

[sovay]

I will be there.

Excellent.

[lost_spook]

Wow, that all looks very impressive! Good luck with it. I hope it all goes well and is as interesting as it all sounds there.

[sovay]

Good luck with it. I hope it all goes well and is as interesting as it all sounds there.

Thank you! It is traditionally a lot of fun. Every year I hope I'll have slept enough in advance, and it almost never happens.

[ashlyme]

Damn, I wish I was on the right continent for this. I'd love to catch all this, but especially your reading and the Lee panels. Good luck!

[sovay]

I'd love to catch all this, but especially your reading and the Lee panels. Good luck!

Thank you! I shall endeavor to provide a report.

[asakiyume]

I'm not going this year, alas--this year I was scheduled up with work way in advance, and there was no way I could take off the time.

I'm really curious about your "Terrible ... But Great" panel; I love the description, but I can't imagine what books fall into the rubric.

[sovay]

I'm not going this year, alas--this year I was scheduled up with work way in advance, and there was no way I could take off the time.

I will be sorry not to see you! I'm glad you got the time for Canada in June.

I'm really curious about your "Terrible ... But Great" panel; I love the description, but I can't imagine what books fall into the rubric.

I suggested Kathleen Sky's Witchdame (1985), which I should find and re-read before the con starts: I am fairly certain it was not at all good, but it was definitely amazing.

Witchdame

[asakiyume]

Just looked up the book on Goodreads, where it's garnered disappointed reviews from people who remembered it as a fabulous story and found it didn't hold up on the reread--plus a number of enthusiastic ones. (And one that was squicked out by incest in it.)

Re: Witchdame

[sovay]

disappointed reviews from people who remembered it as a fabulous story and found it didn't hold up on the reread--plus a number of enthusiastic ones.

I remembered it for years chiefly because it contains a scene in which the novel's version of Elizabeth I has ritual sex with the Archangel Michael at Avebury and sets the hills of alt-England alight with blue flame. When I rediscovered a copy in 2015, I read it to the friends who happened to be within earshot at the time and they were equally impressed. She also fights a tourney with Satan.

wow!

[asakiyume]

It's for novels like that that the term "id-tastic" was coined.

Re: wow!

[sovay]

It's for novels like that that the term "id-tastic" was coined.

Yes! Possibly even idtasmic.

Re: wow!

[asakiyume]

Id-tasmagoric

[sartorias]

I want to hear a report on the shitmazing panel!

[sovay]

I want to hear a report on the shitmazing panel!

I'll try! I'm looking forward to that one.

[larryhammer]

I want a report on the Terrible but Great panel, when the time comes.

ETA: I assume MST3K will be name-checked at least once ...

[sovay]

I want a report on the Terrible but Great panel, when the time comes.

I will endeavor to bring one back. I'm really curious what books other people are thinking of.

ETA: I assume MST3K will be name-checked at least once ...

I should think so.

[gwynnega]

Looking forward to seeing you!

[sovay]

Looking forward to seeing you!

Likewise!

[cmcmck]

'An lassies wi an eye for mair than the kye
At the trystin fair at Falkirk.'

Other half is from Stirling! :o)

[sovay]

Other half is from Stirling!

Nice!

I learned last night that a line from the song has become part of the town of Falkirk, which I had not known and think is wonderful.

[cmcmck]

Like 'Hoppin' Down in Kent' which is the national anthem in my home county!

[dhampyresa]

Sounds like a busy-in-a-good way schedule. Hope you enjoy it.

[sovay]

Sounds like a busy-in-a-good way schedule. Hope you enjoy it.

Thank you! I think chances are good, although I wouldn't mind some sleep first, radical idea.

[skygiants]

I forgot that Readercon was upcoming, but I think I may swing by this year! Although as usual much of the stuff I want to see is on Friday day, and on Friday day I cannot go.

[sovay]

Although as usual much of the stuff I want to see is on Friday day, and on Friday day I cannot go.

Well, if you swing by on the weekend anyway, you should let me know!

(I am definitely sorry you will not be in the audience of "Terrible . . . but Great.")

[a_reasonable_man]

I'm sorry the Thoreau bicentennial conference in Concord conflicts with Readercon! I would have liked to attend your reading, especially. Will someone make a video?

[sovay]

I would have liked to attend your reading, especially. Will someone make a video?

Some of the panels are recorded, and if my reading is one of them, I will definitely get a copy or a link to you!

Are you presenting at the conference? I'm sorry to miss you, if so.

[ashnistrike]

We will be there - arriving Thursday evening. There are far too many good-looking panels!

-Nameseeker

[sovay]

We will be there - arriving Thursday evening. There are far too many good-looking panels!

Cool! I look forward. (There are!)