Cast my name in salt and stone

[sovay]

I have my schedule for Readercon!

Old Hollywood in Recent Speculative Fiction
Thursday 9:00 PM
Randee Dawn (m), Heath Miller, Nikhil Singh, Sonya Taaffe, Terence Taylor

Tim Powers's Medusa's Web, Catherynne M. Valente's Radiance, and Lara Elena Donnelly's Armistice all draw on images of vintage Hollywood in very different ways, both honoring and criticizing a crucial era in the making of media that shaped a generation. What brings that era to the front of our awareness now? Is the fantastical reworking of old Hollywood linked in some way to recent criticisms of racism, sexism, and harassment in present-day Hollywood?

Reading: Sonya Taaffe
Friday 12:30 PM
Sonya Taaffe

(In which the chances are good that I will read from a work in progress, containing WWII servicemen and the sea.)

In Memoriam: Ursula K. Le Guin
Friday 1:00 PM
Kenneth Schneyer (m), Sonya Taaffe, Holly Walrath, Lila Garrott, Torger Vedeler

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) was a powerhouse in American literature for over 50 years. She won countless awards, including the SFWA Grand Master Award and World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her Hainish sequence, Earthsea novels, and Orsinia stories remain benchmarks of speculative fiction. Her feminist and utopian visions influenced generations, as did her essays, criticism, and educational writing. We were thrilled to make her a guest of honor at Readercon 7. Join us in celebrating her life and work.

Speculative Poetry Deathmatch!
Friday 4:00 PM
Holly Walrath (m), Sonya Taaffe, John Edward Lawson, Anatoly Belilovsky, Romie Stott, Erik Amundsen, C.S.E. Cooney

This entertaining and interactive panel on science fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry will teach attendees a little about speculative poetry. Poets will read some of their works and then participate in a lyrical death match in which audience members decide which poet walks away with a tin foil crown and bragging rights.

Born Sexy Yesterday
Friday 7:00 PM
Gillian Daniels (m), Tom Greene, Rachel Pollack, Sonya Taaffe, Natalie Luhrs

While analyzing SF/F films such as Splash and The Fifth Element, the Pop Culture Detective Agency coined the term "born sexy yesterday" to describe setups in which an ordinary guy is treated as incredibly attractive and interesting by a physically mature but intellectually and sexually naive woman. The trope intersects with colonialist narratives, the fetishization of childlike women, and male fears of comparison and rejection. This panel will look at how "born sexy yesterday" is depicted and sometimes undermined in speculative literature.

Our Bodies, Our Elves: Sexual Awakenings in Epic Fantasy
Sunday 1:00 PM
Josh Jasper (m), Sonya Taaffe, Noah Beit-Aharon, Steve Berman, Marissa Lingen

Starting in the later 20th century, the bildungsromans of epic fantasy began to include sexual awakenings. Some are raunchy, some are awkward, and almost all are self-directed; the wise elders of the genre are mysteriously silent on this crucial topic. When authors can imagine elves and dragons, why is it so hard to also imagine decent fantastical sex ed? How do today's writers and readers approach this aspect of adolescent self-discovery stories?

So this should be fun. Who can I hope to see there?

Comments

[asakiyume]

Dang, that speculative poetry deathmatch sounds awesome, and I will be on a panel scheduled at the same time! I hope to hear all about it after the fact.

And "Born Sexy Yesterday" is a panel that's absolutely going to benefit from your being on it.

I hope/intend to make it to Quincy in time for your reading on Friday.

[sovay]

I hope/intend to make it to Quincy in time for your reading on Friday.

I look forward to seeing you no matter what!

[cmcmck]

Have a great time!

[sovay]

Have a great time!

Thank you!

[choco_frosh]

Oh wow, back to back on Friday! Those both sound awesome, but I was originally planning to be at work right then. Umm...I will try to make LeGuin, I guess.

For the rest, I'll be around, and *may* be able to give you and/or nineweaving a lift on Thursday.

re: Our Bodies, Our Elves: You haven't read Vernon's Black Dogs, right?

[sovay]

Oh wow, back to back on Friday! Those both sound awesome, but I was originally planning to be at work right then. Umm...I will try to make LeGuin, I guess.

Yay!

And thank you for the lift offer. I have not read Black Dogs.

[muccamukk]

Those all look really interesting! I'm sad it's so far.

[sovay]

Those all look really interesting! I'm sad it's so far.

I hope you and nenya_kanadka can come down some year!

[muccamukk]

Yes! We're going to WorldCon this year, partly to test the waters of con-going with Nenya's hearing. If it works out, I hope to go to more. I haven't been in years.

[davidgillon]

That first one sounds right up your street, while the last two sound fascinating.

[sovay]

That first one sounds right up your street, while the last two sound fascinating.

Thank you! I wanted the first panel very much and I'm glad I got it. I have no idea how the last two will go, but I am looking forward to finding out. I have threatened to bring Jean M. Auel to the sex ed.

[larryhammer]

I hope you carry out that threat.

[moon_custafer]

a lyrical death match

Is that anything like a lyrical rampage? https://youtu.be/ud7sfCQFdU0

[sovay]

Is that anything like a lyrical rampage?

I have no idea what it's going to be like and I'm not sure anyone else involved does, either, which should make it awesome. We could definitely do worse.

"May I please ask how repeating the same four words constitutes a lyrical rampage?"

[moon_custafer]

"I’M ON A RAMPAGE!!!"

[alexxkay]

I hope to make it for Sunday.

[sovay]

I hope to make it for Sunday.

Yay!

[ladymondegreen]

That all looks splendid. Sadly, I won't be there.

[sovay]

That all looks splendid. Sadly, I won't be there.

Any chance of being in the Boston area not at a convention in the near future?

[ladymondegreen]

I will be in the Boston area at a convention this weekend, where I have a largish number of commitments, outside of that, sadly, probably not until September.

[gilana]

I've never been to Readercon, but considering I live in Quincy I'm planning to at least come by on Thursday night! Hope I get to see you.

[sovay]

I've never been to Readercon, but considering I live in Quincy I'm planning to at least come by on Thursday night! Hope I get to see you.

Awesome! Please say hi.

[kore]

Kind of :-/ at the categorization of Splash as Born Sexy Yesterday since they fell in love as kids and she rescues him, twice, then she goes to find him and he gives up his life to be with her. It's like calling Holly Golightly a manic pixie dream girl, which I have seen all over the internet in hot takes in the past few years. The ending takes the joke twist last line of "Some Like it Hot" and makes it sincere.

Fifth Element kinda qualifies, though; much as I love that film I hated the "I don't know how to love"/"Bruce Willis grits out that he loves her" part. I don't think Leeloo is meant to be intellectually naive, though, she's a literally divine weapon who speaks "a divine language spoken throughout the Universe before time was time" -- she's unfallen, in contrast to everyone else in the film. (Also, the age gap between Willis and Jovovich -- she was 22, he was 42, it was all a little too much like The Professional.)

(Judy Holliday won an Oscar for Born Yesterday, just saying, and that film is more a Pygmalion type story. Billie's sharp and uneducated, not dumb. Marilyn Monroe in Seven Year Itch, now she got stuck with the 'gorgeous dumb girl is hot for a schlub for no reason' part.)

[sovay]

Kind of :-/ at the categorization of Splash as Born Sexy Yesterday since they fell in love as kids and she rescues him, twice, then she goes to find him and he gives up his life to be with her.

I believe I'm on the panel because I argued in my signup with the idea of Splash as trope ground zero.

The ending takes the joke twist last line of "Some Like it Hot" and makes it sincere.

I've always taken the last line of Some Like It Hot as sincere.

[kore]

the idea of Splash as trope ground zero.

That is just so....wrong. It's just wrong. I mean, Ferdinand and Miranda could probably be forced into that pattern if someone tried.

I was trying to think of other SFF films that were better examples, and Stardust might be one -- although Charlie Cox isn't exactly a schlub. "Hot magical woman falls for unassuming schlub" fits nearly WAY TOO MANY of Gaiman's books, though, and soured my feelings about him quite a bit. (Graveyard Book, Neverwhere, Stardust, the romance in Good Omens somewhat....)

[moon_custafer]

Ferdinand and Miranda could probably be forced into that pattern

Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance might count as a masculine example?

[ckd]

I will be there!

[sovay]

I will be there!

w00t!

Please give me a back rub; it has been a miserable month.

[ckd]

Can do. I'm not on program so my schedule is basically empty (except for my return flight on Sunday); we can work out whatever time is best for you given your schedule.

[thisbluespirit]

Good luck! I hope it all goes well.

[sovay]

Good luck! I hope it all goes well.

Thank you!

[selkie]

Oh this makes a nice change from crying about my writing in my middle thirties, which has been basically my entire middle thirties and ALSO today so far!

YES YES READING EXCELLENT GOOD CHANCE NICE NICE.

*offers an encouraging BONE *

[sovay]

Oh this makes a nice change from crying about my writing in my middle thirties, which has been basically my entire middle thirties and ALSO today so far!

Please do not cry about your writing! I like it and I want to read it. Plus the news is a sheet of horror and queer Regency romance may be the samizdat of the future.

*offers an encouraging BONE*

*hugs*