Worldcon Programming Schedule

Here's my programming schedule for Worldcon. All the panels seems to "fit my eye", as it were. I'll be real happy to share a panel with Gary Wolfe and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (and Michelle West!): I've done panels with Gary before and conversed (and emailed) with Alvaro, though not on a panel. I actually haven't met any of the other panelists, which is a bit unusual these days, and I'm looking forward to meeting all of them.

Reviewing the Reviews

Thursday 11:00 - 12:00, 2208 (Kansas City Convention Center)

With the internet, it is easy to find reviews of just about any book published.  But not all reviews are created equal. How can you find reviews that are more than just raves about a favorites author or flames about a hated one?  Which review sites are better than others?  Do Amazon reviews really mean anything?

Gary Wolfe, Michelle (Sagara) West, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (M), Rich Horton

Small Presses & Magazines: Welcoming the Unexpected

Saturday 10:00 - 11:00, 2207 (Kansas City Convention Center)

Authors in the slipstream, weird, magical realism, or speculative literature categories can have a hard time finding the right home for their work. With stories that aren't always a good fit for the larger genre markets, it's still important to find quality publishers. Such homes exist in both the literary and SF/F/H publishing communities. This panel will take a "deep dive" into the world of small presses and magazines, presenting fantastic venues and discussing hard-learned lessons such as publishers that promised more than they could deliver. Whether you're looking for good work a little off the beaten path or trying to find potential new markets for your writing, this panel is for you.

Jamie Lackey, Katherine Wynter, Rich Horton (M), Jason Sizemore, Mr Ron Yaniv

"Transcending" the Genre

Sunday 13:00 - 14:00, 2209 (Kansas City Convention Center)

Critics still use the term "transcending the genre," but what does that really mean? And what does that mean for fandom - have we gone mainstream? Or are we experiencing snobbish reactions rooted in fannish history? What happens to the discourse when Zadie Smith talks about reading Octavia Butler, or Marlon James says his next novel will be "an African Game of Thrones"? At the end of the day, do we really want all the genre walls to disappear? Do we want to completely transcend genre?

Dr. Tom Easton, Rich Horton, Cait Spivey, Nora Fleischer (M)