| DAY | START | END | LOCATION | TITLE | DESCRIPTION | PANELISTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | 10:00 AM | 10:50 AM | Charlevoix | Pacifism in Speculative Fiction | Representations of pacifism in speculative fiction is often unsympathetic and/or unrealistic. It seems that the only way a character can be a pacifist and a hero is if they’re not a pacifist at all. Shephard Book’s pacifism in Firefly dissolves into kneecapping bad guys as soon as the plot requires it, and Charles Xavier gets called a pacifist when he funds and trains a private army. Who are our favorite real pacifists in speculative fiction, and how can speculative fiction contend with the conflict of being a pacifist in a violent world without running for the easy conclusion that pacifism is naive, selfish, and unsustainable? | David John Baker, Marissa Lingen, Matthew Bin, Max Gladstone, Annalee Flower Horne |
| Saturday | 11:00 AM | 11:50 AM | Charlevoix | Using Real Scientific History To Enhance Fantasy World-Building | Secondary-world fantasies often draw on an ahistoric view of the past, intermingling technological, scientific, and social advancements that span thousands of years in the real world. The effect is quasi-medieval societies that are in some ways anachronistically modern, but in many ways far less advanced than the real-world cultures on which they’re based. Let’s talk about the real science and technology of the world’s post-classical eras and how we can use the real history of science and technology to build deeper and more interesting worlds. | A. T. Greenblatt, Dyrk Ashton, Elizabeth Shack, Jon Skovron, Lucy A. Snyder, Kate Elliott |
| Saturday | 1:00 PM | 1:50 PM | Charlevoix | Reading: Jim C. Hines, John Chu, Annalee Flower Horne | Annalee Flower Horne, Jim C. Hines, John Chu | |
| Saturday | 2:00 PM | 2:50 PM | Charlevoix | Reading: James Breakwell | James Breakwell | |
| Saturday | 3:00 PM | 3:50 PM | Charlevoix | Improv Flash Fiction | Fast paced and quick witted , authors create stories in real time , “”round robin”” style , using prompts from the audience. | Jackie (Literary Escapism), Ken Schrader, Lee Harris, Sarah Gailey, Suzanne Church |
| Saturday | 4:00 PM | 4:50 PM | Charlevoix | Reading: A. T. Greenblatt, Marissa Lingen, Izzy Wasserstein | A. T. Greenblatt, Izzy Wasserstein, Marissa Lingen | |
| Saturday | 5:00 PM | 5:50 PM | Charlevoix | Is That An Anti-Hero Just a Jerk? | Anti-heroes have an enduring place in science fiction and fantasy. They can provide explorations of the nature of heroism or hilarious counterpoints in comedic work. But some alleged anti-heroes are really just jerks. At what point does a character’s alleged heroism become an excuse for terrible behavior like misogyny and murder , rather than a complex reflection on the flawed nature of humanity? And why are anti-heroes overwhelmingly white guys? Is there space for people of all genders and races to be seen as heroic in spite of deep flaws? | Carl Engle-Laird, James L. Sutter, Kelsi Morris, Patrick S. Tomlinson |
| Sunday | 10:00 AM | 10:50 AM | Charlevoix | Missing and Deleted Scenes in the Age of the Internet | On the advice of artist John Tenniel, Lewis Carroll dropped an entire chapter from Through The Looking Glass. That chapter was almost lost to history until a galley turned up in a Sotheby’s auction. These days, writers have a lot more options for their missing scenes, including sharing them as promotional freebies on their websites or including them in newsletters or crowdfunding platforms. Can scenes that ultimately didn’t strengthen the work still merit sharing with readers? What makes a missing scene a good candidate for sharing with readers vs. consignment to the recycling bin of history? | Bryon Quertermous, David D. Levine, Jim Butcher |
| Sunday | 11:00 AM | 11:50 AM | Charlevoix | Heroes and Mental Health | When writing mentally ill heroes , authors not only have to portray characters with sensitivity and the right amount of realism , but also work against social stigmas that will have their characters labelled as whiny, dramatic, wooden, or otherwise unlikeable. Who are our favorite mentally ill heroes, and how do authors bring them to life in an engaging and sympathetic way? | Dominik Parisien, Jim C. Hines, Mishell Baker, Mur Lafferty, Sarah Gailey, Shweta Adhyam |
| Sunday | 1:00 PM | 1:50 PM | Charlevoix | Reading: Jim Butcher | Jim Butcher | |
| Sunday | 2:00 PM | 2:50 PM | Charlevoix | A Novel Look at the Short Story | Short stories require a different approach to pacing , character , world-building , exposition , and plot than longer works. Let’s explore the tools we use to convey important information to the reader when we have a lot fewer words to do it with. | A. T. Greenblatt, Amal El-Mohtar, Jessi Cole Jackson, Lucy A. Snyder, Scott H. Andrews |