And all the stars were crashing round

I made an apple pie tonight. I threw in a handful of dried cherries and had various pieces of Sweeney Todd stuck in my head all the time it was baking. I've had to resort to weird punk to clear it out. Oddly, it isn't helping much.

In less cookery-related news, my poem "The Gambler," dedicated to ericmvan and the exploding comet, has been accepted by Strange Horizons. I also now have a finalized schedule for Arisia:

Non-Genre Films that Fans Love
Fri 6:00 PM
Julia Tenney, John Black, Eric M. Van (m), Adam Lipkin, Sonya Taaffe

There's nothing fantastic about Memento, but it somehow feels like science fiction. What other realist movies are especially attractive to fans of SF and fantasy? What are the qualities that make them feel like genre?

Myth and Folklore in Fantasy
Fri 7:00 PM
Greer Gilman, Susan Hanniford Crowley, Shira Lipkin, Catt Kingsgrave, Christopher Weuve (m), Sonya Taaffe

How do writers use myth in their stories? What are the most common myth cycles drawn from? Has traditional folklore been run out of town by urban legends? Why is the appeal of these stories so strong after millennia?

Retelling Fairytales
Sat 6:00 PM
Rebecca L. Kletnieks, Greer Gilman, Mary Catelli, Brent Heyning, Sonya Taaffe

Folk and fairytales offer some of the richest sources for story telling. How have people adapted them into novels and films? What are great sources of these tales? Why do they resonate so with readers?

Parents in SF and Fantasy
Mon 11:00 AM
Stephen C. Fisher, Pauline (P.M.) Griffin, Greer Gilman, Elaine Isaak, Sonya Taaffe

Characters frequently appear to have none, and they often aren't ones themselves. What pitfalls make parents and parenthood so rare in fiction? What uses do they serve in the stories where they appear?

I'm a little sorry I didn't make it onto either of my first-choice panels—Obscure Folklore and Yiddish Science Fiction—but I plan to enjoy these regardless. This will be my first Arisia. Anyone else planning to be there?