Kate Elliott Panels Day Start End Title Description Location Panelists Friday 7:00 PM 7:50 PM Opening Ceremonies Welcome to ConFusion Through the Looking Glass! Please join our ConChair and our Guests of Honor, Kate Elliott, Luke Ski, Nisi Shawl, Annalee Newitz, and James Breakwell, along with our Special Guest, courtesy of Subterranean Press, Jim Butcher! Hear about all the exciting stuff you can expect from them, and us, this weekend! Dessert Reception to follow shortly after Opening Ceremonies conclude! BIG TOP Amy Sexsmith, Annalee Newitz, James Breakwell, Jim Butcher, Kate Elliott, Gail Cross, Luke Ski, Nisi Shawl Saturday 10:00 AM 10:50 AM Kaffeeklatsch with Guest of Honor Kate Elliott Join our Guest of Honor for coffee, tea, and conversation. Limited to 10 participants. Sign up at OPS. CLUB LOUNGE Kate Elliott Saturday 11:00 AM 11:50 AM 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. CHARLEVOIX A. T. Greenblatt, Dyrk Ashton, Elizabeth Shack, Jon Skovron, Lucy A. Snyder, Kate Elliott Saturday 1:00 PM 1:50 PM Guest of Honor Interview: Kate Elliott Join us for an interview of Guest of Honor Kate Elliott, conducted by John Scalzi. BIG TOP Kate Elliott, John Scalzi Saturday 2:00 PM 2:50 PM Any Sufficiently Detailed Magic System is Indistinguishable From Science The influence of tabletop roleplaying games is widely felt in fantasy. Many stories make a ‘science’ out of their magic that reflects the carefully-balanced rules of a tabletop sourcebook. What are the trade-offs between creating magic systems with strict rules and leaving magic as a mysterious and unknown force? How do we balance the sense of wonder and magic against the desire to give readers a stable hook from which to suspend their disbelief? What makes a well-defined magic system work in a story, and when are we showing the reader too much of the machinery behind the curtain? BIG TOP Brandon Crilly, Charlie Jane Anders, David Anthony Durham, Kate Elliott, Shweta Adhyam, Jim Butcher Saturday 4:00 PM 4:50 PM Works We Love and What We Wish We Could Change About Them Many stories we love contain critical plot elements that frustrate us–such as the memory wipes in The Dark is Rising and Doctor Who and the treatment of Susan in the Chronicles of Narnia. How do these stories inspire us to write and edit differently, and bring different kinds of stories to life in our own fiction and media? PETOSKEY Cherie M. Priest, Denise M. Beucler, Kate Elliott, Navah Wolfe, Patrick Nielsen Hayden Saturday 5:00 PM 5:50 PM Autograph Session (5 PM) Come meet your favorite authors, artists and musicians and have them sign things! (Please limit your signing requests to 3 items per person.) ST. CLAIR A. T. Greenblatt, Addie J. King, Andrea Phillips, Angus Watson, Benjamin C. Kinney, Brandon Crilly, Charlie Jane Anders, Cherie M. Priest, Dan Moren, David D. Levine, Dyrk Ashton, Izzy Wasserstein, John Chu, John Scalzi, Kate Elliott, Lucy A. Snyder, Marie Bilodeau, Marissa Lingen, Max Gladstone, Merrie Haskell, Mishell Baker, Navah Wolfe, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Ryan Van Loan, Shweta Adhyam, Stephanie Morris, Teresa Nielsen Hayden Sunday 12:00 PM 12:50 PM Do Not Be Satisfied With Stories: Narrative Structure and Expectations A short PowerPoint lecture (all images or short clips! no boring text slides!) on how the expectations we bring to a story influence how we engage with the story, with a particular emphasis on how opening paragraphs (and opening sequences in films) often rely on familiarity and cultural knowledge to draw us in. Focus on science fiction and fantasy stories. MANITOU Kate Elliott Sunday 1:00 PM 1:50 PM Tea Time with Kate Elliott Join Kate Elliott in a madly entertaining panel full of tea and laughter and hats! TEENFUSION Kate Elliott Sunday 3:00 PM 3:50 PM Closing Ceremonies Come say goodbye to our Guests of Honor and Special Guests, and learn what we might have in store for you for next year! BIG TOP Amy Sexsmith, Annalee Newitz, Gail Cross, James Breakwell, Jim Butcher, Kate Elliott, Luke Ski, Nisi Shawl