Programme - 2019

Friday, October 11th
 

The Big Room

The Reading Room

18:00

A Good Read

Marianne Aldrich (M), Matthew Surridge, Jonathan Crowe, Shaz Taslimi

Naomi Kritzer

18:35

Ferrett Steinmetz

19:15

What is SF For?

Jo Walton (M), Ada Palmer, PNH, Farah Mendlesohn, Maria Farrell

Mad Mind Book Club

Ken Gerber, Alice McLeod, Douglas Dunn, Patrick Sklar

20:30

Ask a Scientist!

Alison Sinclair (M), Michael Mellas, Jonathan Sneed, Avi Robinson‑Moher

Sherwood Smith

21:05

A.E Prevost

 

Saturday, October 12th
 

The Big Room

The Reading Room

10:00

Let’s Geek Out About Folklore

William Alexander (M) Jo Walton, Greer Gilman, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Mary Anne Mohanraj

Rosemary Kirstein and Su Sokol In Conversation

11:15

Using Language for Worldbuilding

Gretchen McCulloch (M), Ada Palmer, Karl Schroeder, Bronwyn Bjorkman, Tamara Vardomskaya

William Alexander

11:50

David Levine

13:00

Lunch

Marissa Lingen and Tim Boerger Reading

14:00

The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein

Jo Walton (M) Farah Mendlesohn, PNH, Maria Farrell, Mary Anne Mohanraj

Jon Singer and Emmet O’Brien in Conversation

15:15

Designing Aliens

Alison Sinclair (M), Diane Kelly, Jim Cambias, Ferret Steinmetz, Rosemary Kirstein

The Territory is not the Map

Jonathan Crowe

16:30

Papal Election 1492

Ada Palmer (M), Molly Burke, Hannah Dorsey, Michael Mellas, Jonathan Sneed

Who Attends Worldcons?

René Walling

17:05

Ruthanna Emrys

17:45

Writing Fantasy Inspired by Real Places

Naomi Kritzer (M), Kari Maaren, Jon Evans, Leah Bobet, Greer Gilman

Rosemary Kirstein

18:20

Alexis Shotwell reads and discusses Ursula Le Guin

19:00

Writing Satisfying Ends

Naomi Kritzer (M), David Levine, Sherwood Smith, Ruthanna Emrys, Tamara Vardomskaya

Kari Maaren

19:35

Jim Cambias

20:15

What Difference Does Age Make?

Sherwood Smith, Farah Mendlesohn (M), Kari Maaren, William Alexander

Su Sokol

20:50

Maya Chaabra

21:25

 

Tamara Vardomskaya

 

Special Saturday evening events in the Dahlia room:

19:00 – 20:00    Sassafrass Concert

20:00 – 23:00    Saturday Evening Reception

 

Sunday, October 13th
 

The Big Room

The Reading Room

10:00

What Did We Say Before We Said “Cool!”?

A-E Prevost (M), Bronwyn Bjorkman, Gretchen McCulloch, Greer Gilman

Joy of Reading
11:15

Friends and Family in the Future

Ada Palmer, Marissa Lingen (M), Rosemary Kirstein, Karl Schroeder, Naomi Kritzer

Greer Gilman and Lila Garrott in Conversation
11:50

Gretchen McCulloch
12:30

Lunch

Farah Mendlesohn
13:05

Jo Walton
14:00

Intergalactic!

TNH (M), William Alexander, Ferrett Steinmetz, Jim Cambias, Mary Anne Mohanraj

Ada Palmer Terra Ignota Spoiler Reading
15:15

Young People Read The Just City

Evelyn Walling (M), Hannah Dorsey, Molly Burke, David To, Janet Marandola

Sherwood Smith and Marissa Lingen in Conversation
16:30

Futures Worth Having

Maria Farrell, Ada Palmer (M), Karl Schroeder, Ruthanna Emrys, William Alexander, Marissa Lingen

 

 

Programme Descriptions

Everything is in the Big Room unless specified otherwise. The "In Conversation" items in the Reading Room, new this year, are exactly what they say, a dialogue between the two participants. This year, all hour long items are in a 75 minute slot, to allow for over-run, bathroom breaks, and the need to move between rooms. Reading times are mostly 30 minutes in a 35 minute slot.

Friday 18.00 A Good Read: Four people each choose a novel, everyone reads all of them, and then discuss them.

Friday 19.15 What is SF For? John W. Campbell was a strange man with some very strange ideas. One of them was publishing work from new writers instead of established ones. Another was that science fiction writers and fans formed a unique community focused on the future and making the world better. Alec Nevala-Lee's Astounding makes one reconsider the whole project of SF.
 
Friday 19.15 Mad Mind Book Club Mad Mind book club meets in Montreal or Ste Anne de Bellevue once a month, discussing old or new SF books. Four members of the club will enact a typical book club discussion, discussing Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. READING ROOM
 
Friday 20.30 Ask a Scientist! Bring your questions about science and worldbuilding to our panel of working scientists who will do their best to answer them.
 
Saturday 10.00 Let's Geek Out About Folklore! Folklore! It's so cool! It can do so many different things, and it's such fun.
 
Saturday 11.15 Using Language for Worldbuilding. A panel of SF writers and linguists discuss how we do it.
 
Saturday  14.00 The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein. Discussing Farah Mendlesohn's new book, and Heinlein's work in the light of it.
 
Saturday 15.15 Designing Aliens. A panel of scientists and writers discuss the biology and the sociology of designing alien species from scratch.
 
Saturday 15.15 The Territory Is Not The Map Exploring Fantasy map style. A presentation by Jonathan Crowe. READING ROOM.
 
Saturday 16.30 Papal Election 1492. Ada Palmer runs a simulation of the Papal Election of 1492 that is a history immersion course. We have Ada, some people who took the course, and some helpers.
 
Saturday 16.30 Who Attends Worldcons? A presentation on Worldcon demographics over time, by Rene Walling. READING ROOM
 
Saturday 17.45 Writing Fantasy Inspired By Real Places How do real places get into our fantasy, how do they inspire it and alter what we do with it, why are we drawn to use them, and what are the perils and profits?
 
Saturday 19.00 Writing Satisfying Ends We talk a lot about how to begin stories, but not enough about how to end them. How, technically, do we do it in a way that is satisfying for both reader and writer?
 
Saturday 20.15 What Differences Does Age Make? When you're writing for kids, for teenagers, or for adults, how does it shape the writing decisions you make?
 
Sunday 10.00 What Did We Say Before We Said "Cool!"? How words and similies are specific to time and culture.
 
Sunday 10.00 Joy of Reading Bring along anything you didn't write yourself and ideally 5-10 minutes long, and share it with everyone. READING ROOMS
 
Sunday 11.15 Friends and Family In The Future We're still going to have them, but the patterns will change. How might they change, and why don't we see more of this?
 
Sunday 14.00 Intergalactic!  big, splashy, SF futures, with galaxies full of brightly coloured aliens -- why does that appeal to us so much?
 
Sunday 15.15 Young People Read The Just City Young people bring their unique perspectives to a discussion of The Just City by Jo Walton.
 
Sunday 16.30 Futures Worth Having What kind of future do we want to live in?