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Music spins inside of atoms
Okay, I got distracted by Amazing Mustache Productions' The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), directed by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aphrabehn. It was great. There are two more performances left! Tickets $10! Buy some and enjoy the weekend! Well, enjoy the weekend no matter what you do, but this show is a good way to do it.
My Readercon schedule! It is small this year, but contains some pretty cool things.
Thursday July 10
8:00 PM
Many Things Worry You, but Nothing Frightens You: Outgrowing Horror
Leah Bobet, Ellen Datlow, Elizabeth Hand (moderator), Kit Reed, Graham Sleight, Sonya Taaffe.
In the Nightmare Magazine essay "The H Word: The Failure of Fear," Dale Bailey wrote about enjoying horror despite no longer finding it horrifying. How does what scares us change as we age? How does horror written for children differ from horror written for adults? Can you outgrow horror, or are adults and children simply frightened by different things?
9:00 PM
Readercon Classic Fiction Book Club: Memoirs of a Spacewoman
Amal El-Mohtar, Lila Garrott (leader), Sonya Taaffe
Naomi Mitchison's 1962 exploration of a life lived nearly entirely in space has deep humanist themes. Mary's specialty in alien communication leads to a life and profession of embracing the Other, literally realized in her accidental pregnancy via a Martian. We'll discuss criticisms of the book's heteronormativity and biological determinism as well as the themes of Mary's immersion in alien cultures.
Friday July 11
3:00 PM
Speculative Fiction and World War I
John Clute, Felix Gilman, Victoria Janssen (leader), Jess Nevins, Graham Sleight, Sonya Taaffe
On 28 July 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and World War I began. Hugo Gernsback had not yet named science fiction at the time, but proto-SF stories inspired by the war exist, many early SF writers would draw inspiration from their experiences of the wartime era, and alternate history stories of WWI are numerous. WWI had a tremendous effect on fantasy and horror stories as well, with surrealist, expressionist, and apocalyptic modes flourishing alongside tales of lost arcadias. Looking back 100 years later, how did WWI shape the readers and writers of speculative fiction and the genre as a whole?
Saturday July 12
11:00 AM
Absent Friends
Michael Cisco, John Langan (leader), Sonya Taaffe, Gordon Van Gelder
In the past year, the field has lost many beloved writers, editors, artists, and fans. Come join us as we celebrate their lives and work.
12:00 PM
Interfictions Group Reading
Gwynne Garfinkle, Theodora Goss, Anil Menon, Sofia Samatar (leader), Sonya Taaffe
Contributors to the Interfictions online magazine read from their work.
8:00 PM
A Most Readerconnish Miscellany
Ada Palmer and Carl Engle-Laird emcee an extravagant evening of music, theater, and readings to benefit the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center and Operation Hammond. Bring cash or credit cards to make donations toward these very worthy organizations, all while being entertained by exquisite performers including Andrea Hairston and Pan Morigan, Daniel José Older, Liz Duffy Adams, Sonya Taaffe, Amal El-Mohtar, Ellen Kushner, C.S.E. Cooney and Caitlyn Paxson, and a capella group Sassafrass. Don't miss this unforgettable event.
Sunday July 13
11:00 AM
Readercon Recent Fiction Book Club: Ancillary Justice
Francesca Forrest, Adam Lipkin, Natalie Luhrs, Sarah Pinsker (leader), Sonya Taaffe
Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice is gender-bending space opera with a thriller pace and sensibility. Critics are hailing Leckie's worldbuilding in the story of Breq, the remaining ancillary consciousness of a formerly great warship. We'll explore Leckie's themes of humanity and justice, as well as the way the book's use of nearly exclusively female pronouns shakes up or affirms our notions of a gender binary.
2:30 PM
Reading
Sonya Taaffe
Sonya Taaffe reads the short story "The Trinitite Golem" and assorted new poems.
Which usual and unusual suspects can I expect to see in Burlington this year?
aphrabehn. It was great. There are two more performances left! Tickets $10! Buy some and enjoy the weekend! Well, enjoy the weekend no matter what you do, but this show is a good way to do it.My Readercon schedule! It is small this year, but contains some pretty cool things.
Thursday July 10
8:00 PM
Many Things Worry You, but Nothing Frightens You: Outgrowing Horror
Leah Bobet, Ellen Datlow, Elizabeth Hand (moderator), Kit Reed, Graham Sleight, Sonya Taaffe.
In the Nightmare Magazine essay "The H Word: The Failure of Fear," Dale Bailey wrote about enjoying horror despite no longer finding it horrifying. How does what scares us change as we age? How does horror written for children differ from horror written for adults? Can you outgrow horror, or are adults and children simply frightened by different things?
9:00 PM
Readercon Classic Fiction Book Club: Memoirs of a Spacewoman
Amal El-Mohtar, Lila Garrott (leader), Sonya Taaffe
Naomi Mitchison's 1962 exploration of a life lived nearly entirely in space has deep humanist themes. Mary's specialty in alien communication leads to a life and profession of embracing the Other, literally realized in her accidental pregnancy via a Martian. We'll discuss criticisms of the book's heteronormativity and biological determinism as well as the themes of Mary's immersion in alien cultures.
Friday July 11
3:00 PM
Speculative Fiction and World War I
John Clute, Felix Gilman, Victoria Janssen (leader), Jess Nevins, Graham Sleight, Sonya Taaffe
On 28 July 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and World War I began. Hugo Gernsback had not yet named science fiction at the time, but proto-SF stories inspired by the war exist, many early SF writers would draw inspiration from their experiences of the wartime era, and alternate history stories of WWI are numerous. WWI had a tremendous effect on fantasy and horror stories as well, with surrealist, expressionist, and apocalyptic modes flourishing alongside tales of lost arcadias. Looking back 100 years later, how did WWI shape the readers and writers of speculative fiction and the genre as a whole?
Saturday July 12
11:00 AM
Absent Friends
Michael Cisco, John Langan (leader), Sonya Taaffe, Gordon Van Gelder
In the past year, the field has lost many beloved writers, editors, artists, and fans. Come join us as we celebrate their lives and work.
12:00 PM
Interfictions Group Reading
Gwynne Garfinkle, Theodora Goss, Anil Menon, Sofia Samatar (leader), Sonya Taaffe
Contributors to the Interfictions online magazine read from their work.
8:00 PM
A Most Readerconnish Miscellany
Ada Palmer and Carl Engle-Laird emcee an extravagant evening of music, theater, and readings to benefit the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center and Operation Hammond. Bring cash or credit cards to make donations toward these very worthy organizations, all while being entertained by exquisite performers including Andrea Hairston and Pan Morigan, Daniel José Older, Liz Duffy Adams, Sonya Taaffe, Amal El-Mohtar, Ellen Kushner, C.S.E. Cooney and Caitlyn Paxson, and a capella group Sassafrass. Don't miss this unforgettable event.
Sunday July 13
11:00 AM
Readercon Recent Fiction Book Club: Ancillary Justice
Francesca Forrest, Adam Lipkin, Natalie Luhrs, Sarah Pinsker (leader), Sonya Taaffe
Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice is gender-bending space opera with a thriller pace and sensibility. Critics are hailing Leckie's worldbuilding in the story of Breq, the remaining ancillary consciousness of a formerly great warship. We'll explore Leckie's themes of humanity and justice, as well as the way the book's use of nearly exclusively female pronouns shakes up or affirms our notions of a gender binary.
2:30 PM
Reading
Sonya Taaffe
Sonya Taaffe reads the short story "The Trinitite Golem" and assorted new poems.
Which usual and unusual suspects can I expect to see in Burlington this year?