Readercon

Readercon 23 book club selections

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:03:17 GMT

On behalf of Readercon's program committee, I'm delighted to announce the book club selections for Readercon 23. This year we went with a theme of speculative explorations of sex, gender, and sexuality. Of course there are a great many excellent and fascinating works to choose from, but I think we've narrowed it down to a compelling foursome (as it were) that will bear up well under the close scrutiny of Readercon's book club discussions. Our selections:

Recent fiction: Ghost by John Ringo

Classic fiction: Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey

Recent nonfiction: A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World's Largest Experiment Reveals About Human Desire by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam

Classic nonfiction: Imaginative Sex by John Norman

Just kidding! Here are the real selections, unthemed as always:

Recent fiction: Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. In her World Fantasy Award-winning first adult novel, Nnedi Okorafor continues her groundbreaking project of bringing an entirely new kind of voice into SF and fantasy, drawing on her own Nigerian heritage, African mythology and politics, and profoundly disturbing practices such as weaponized rape and clitorectomy. Set in a haunting and haunted world that is part far-future post-tech SF, part myth, and part utterly contemporary in its central issues, Who Fears Death raises important questions about the often-sentimentalized portrayal of Africa in SF, about feminism and empowerment, about the possibilities of SF and fantasy imagined from a non-Western perspective, even about genre disctinctions--sorcery and shapeshifting co-exist with computers, satellite communications, and “capture stations” to draw precious water from the air. What does Okorafor’s vision imply about the relationship of SF and fantasy to the developing world, about its capacity for engaging the social and economic issues of that world, and about imaginary settings drawn from resources other than familiar Anglo-American assumptions?

Classic fiction: The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutola. The Palm-Wine Drinkard is a classic of world literature, a vivid, exhilarating, and linguistically breathtaking tale of a fantastic quest. The novel is based on Yoruba folktales, but Tutuola makes them uniquely his own. In a 1997 obituary for Amos Tutuola in The Independent, Alastair Niven wrote: “Tutuola was a born story-teller, taking traditional oral material and re-imagining it inimitably. In this way he was, though very different in method and craft, the Grimm or Perrault of Nigerian story-telling, refashioning old tales in a unique way which made them speak across cultures." Now, sixty years after it was first released, The Palm-Wine Drinkard stands as the best sort of classic: one that remains a pleasure to read, but that opens up new readings with each encounter.

Recent nonfiction: Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction by John Rieder. John Rieder seeks to show that “colonialism is a significant historical context for early science fiction,” and that in many ways science fiction and modern imperialism developed together. In a review for Science Fiction Studies, David M. Higgins wrote of the “threefold trajectory of [Reider’s] approach—to consider how sf ‘lives and breathes’ in a colonial context, to examine how it ‘reflects or contributes to’ this context, and to analyze ways in which it may ‘enact’ challenges to colonial ideology.” Rieder discusses the intersections of race and class in works by Poe, Wells, Verne, London, Burroughs, Campbell, and a number of lesser-known writers. Are the connections between colonialism and science fiction that Rieder sees convincing ones? Could other factors account for the themes and tropes he identifies? How have colonialist ideologies lasted beyond science fiction’s emergent years?

Classic nonfiction: How to Suppress Women's Writing by Joanna Russ. First published in 1983, How to Suppress Women’s Writing remains a touchstone for many people, the sort of book often passed from one reader to another with the words, “You have to read this!” Tansy Rayner Roberts wrote of it in 2010, “This is not an angry book. It is not a book that condemns men. It is a book that shows how our culture’s traditional (patriarchal) way of reading and studying and archiving literature has forced limitations upon all of us, preventing us from understanding the importance of a huge percentage of the work written in our language. Men and women both have been convinced that women’s writing (and indeed, art in general) is less valuable and less significant.” How do we read Russ now, nearly 30 years after the book first appeared? Which of her ideas remain the most potent? Has it become, as critic Niall Harrison said in 2005, “a book that is most often referenced by its soundbites”? Do the soundbites do justice to the complexity of Russ’s analysis?

Please join us in reading and discussing these justly celebrated works at Readercon 23!

Program ideas wanted!

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:52:01 GMT

What would you like to talk about at the next Readercon? Send your program ideas to brainstorm@readercon.org!

Were you at Readercon 22? Please take our survey!

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 03:54:30 GMT

Before all those good memories fade into a happy blur, please take a few minutes to fill out our post-convention survey. Here's the link:

http://is.gd/RC22survey

Feel free to forward this link to other Readercon attendees you know.

The survey is completely anonymous, so please, be honest. We greatly value your feedback. Thank you for helping us to make Readercon 23 even better. See you in July!

Calling all convention reports

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:40:23 GMT

If you've written or encountered a blog post about this year's Readercon, please post a link here. We want to hear your stories!

Thank you all so much for a really wonderful convention. I'm already looking forward to next year.

bake sale update and thanks

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:32:51 GMT

Despite selling out very quickly indeed, we raised about $370 at Saturday's bake sale (more than at Boskone this year), which will benefit the Tiptree Award and the Carl Brandon Society (specifically con_or_bust).

I wasn't able to thank everyone who dropped things off, or even see everyone who did, so this is only a partial list: sparkymonster brought many yummy things and held down the sale solo for an hour; Sarah Smith and Ed M. brought delicious popular things (mermaid boobs! truffles and big cookies!); and someone whose name I didn't see donated a big stack of Locus back issues, which were not only bonuses for people who bought baked goods, but generated some generous donations in their own right. Other people brought stuff, so please feel free to take a bow in comments—I'm very grateful indeed to all of you.

Katherine MacLean wins Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:33:41 GMT

Congratulations to Katherine Anne MacLean, winner of the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award! Chip Delany will be interviewing Ms. MacLean today at 9am at Readercon.

reminder: bake sale Saturday 9:30 a.m.

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:04:24 GMT

Bring baked goods, an appetite, or both! More details.

The complete Readercon program is now available!

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:16:24 GMT

Complete Readercon 22 Program Guide (PDF version, Word version)

Conference Schedule with item descriptions (HTML version)

Thursday Schedule (PDF version, Word version)

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday program grid (PDF version, Excel version)

See you in four days!

Program schedule! plus a late addition!

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:57:32 GMT

The program grid is up!

You can get the PDF version at http://readercon.org/docs/RC22ProgramGrid.pdf, and a spreadsheet at http://readercon.org/docs/RC22ProgramGrid.xls .

Also, we've just added another item to the schedule: at 9am on Saturday, in Salon F, Samuel R. Delany will interview the 2011 Cordwainer Smith Award winner. I can't say who that winner is because the announcement will be made on Friday night. I hope everyone can make it!

Readercon 22 hotel is mostly full

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:54:10 GMT

The Readercon hotel is sold out for Wednesday and Thursday nights (that's July 13 and 14.) There are a few rooms available for Friday and Saturday nights, so if you want a room and haven't reserved yet, do it now!

You can get to the hotel reservations page by going to http://readercon.org/hotel.htm .

See you there!

Tiptree-Brandon bake sale

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 23:41:43 GMT

What: a sale of delicious baked goods to benefit the Tiptree Award (an annual literary prize for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender) and the Carl Brandon Society (whose mission is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction).

When: Saturday at the con (July 16), 9:30 a.m. until we run out of food.

Where: in the coat room alcove/window across from the Grand Ballroom, in the corner near the restrooms.

How: bring something to the sale or the Volunteer/Information table; come purchase breakfast, a snack, or dessert; tell everyone you know!

ETA: SOLD (was Membership available)

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:49:40 GMT

ETA: Membership has been sold. Thanks!

I have a membership that I won't be able to use this year. Because I bought it at $45, I'll transfer it for the same amount.

If you'd like it, please message me with your email address so that we can arrange payment (I'd prefer non-CC PayPal).

Readercon 22 program item descriptions are here!

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:36:48 GMT

Have you been waiting to see what's on this year's program before registering for the convention? The wait is over! (And a good thing too, because registration closes TODAY.) The full list of this year's panels, talks, discussions, and special events is now available. Here are just a few of the highlights:

Four book clubs and five "How I wrote" talks, collectively covering two books of criticism, three adult novels, one YA novel, one trilogy, one short story collection, and one epic poem!

Three award ceremonies celebrating horror, speculative poetry, and the unjustly forgotten geniuses of science fiction's early years!

A special Readercon edition of the famed Wold Newton Reading Extravaganza, followed by the 25th Kirk Poland Memorial Bad Prose Competition!

Michael Swanwick interviewing Gardner Dozois, Graham Sleight interviewing Geoff Ryman, and Geoff Ryman reading Rudyard Kipling interviewing Mark Twain!

Panels celebrating the lives and careers of Joanna Russ and Thomas M. Disch!

Talks on World War II, mutant bacteria, steam-powered flying machines, fight scene choreography, African Francophone graphic novels, true Norwegian black metal, kitchen science, and the time Murray Leinster buried a pipe bomb in his garden!

No-holds-barred discussions of speculative fiction in relation to sex, gender, nationality, politics, religion, money, and other things you're not supposed to discuss at the dinner table!

Of course there will also be the usual readings, kaffeklatsches, signings, and other opportunities to listen to and converse with some of the finest literary minds of the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Australia.

Readercon is proud to be "the con that assigns homework". You have 30 days to read or reread our book club and "How I wrote" selections:

Among Others by Jo Walton
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Evaporating Genres by Gary K. Wolfe
The Jewel-Hinged Jaw by Samuel R. Delany
A Book of Tongues and A Rope of Thorns by Gemma Files
The Door to Lost Pages by Claude Lalumière
"The King of Cats, the Queen of Wolves" by Mike Allen, Nicole Kornher-Stace, and Sonya Taaffe
Walking the Tree by Kaaron Warren
Two Worlds and In Between by Caitlín R. Kiernan (well, you'll have to preorder this one as it's not out until August)

Look for the final program schedule to go live about a week before the convention. For planning purposes, it's safe to assume that programming will run on Thursday 7/14 from 8 to 10 p.m. (free of charge and open to the public!), on Friday 7/15 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (followed by the Cordwainer Smith Awards and the Meet the Pros(e) party), on Saturday 7/16 from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. (including the Rhysling Awards and poetry slan sometime before 4 p.m., GOH interviews from 4 to 6 p.m., the Wold Newton Reading Extravaganza at 7 p.m., and the 25th Kirk Poland Memorial Bad Prose Competition from 8 to 10 p.m.), and on Sunday 7/17 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (including the Shirley Jackson Awards earlyish in the day).

See you in 30 days!

Readercon pre-registration closes June 15!

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:08:02 GMT

If you haven't registered for Readercon, do so by 11:59:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time on June 15th! After that, pre-registration closes and you'll have to buy your membership at the door--a dodgy proposition, since we often sell out.

Here are the door rates:

Weekend: $65

Thursday: free! Never been to Readercon before? This is a great way to try it out. We'll have a "mini-con" on Thursday evening, probably from 8 to 10 p.m., and it's completely free and open to everyone.

Friday: $40

Saturday: $45

Sunday: $25

Compare to the current registration rate of $55 for the entire weekend and you'll see why you should register now!

And if you haven't booked your hotel room, now's a good time to do that too.

Looking for a Readercon roommate or rideshare?

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:12:30 GMT

Look no further than our forums! Creating an account is quick and easy, as is posting a roommate/rideshare request or offer. Thanks for helping your fellow Readercon attendees save money, time, and fuel.

The program sign-up email has been sent!

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 06:46:32 GMT

If you're on this year's guest list, check your email: you should have just received the link that will let you sign up for Readercon program items. If the email hasn't reached you, check your spamtrap and make sure you have program@readercon.org whitelisted; if you still don't see it, email program@readercon.org ASAP so we can make sure you get the info you need.

If you're not on this year's guest list, we leave you to salivate in anticipation. Six weeks to go!

Con or Bust NOW taking requests for July-September cons!

Sat, 21 May 2011 04:04:32 GMT

Originally posted by kate_nepveu at Con or Bust NOW taking requests for July-September cons!

Con or Bust is pleased to announce that as of this very moment, and through May 31, fans of color/non-white fans may request assistance to attend SFF cons in July, August, and September 2011.

Because there was no advance notice that we'd be taking requests, please repost and link to this post far and wide so that people know that assistance is possible. I will announce the precise amount after WisCon, once the T-shirt sales are counted up and I hear from some cons I've contacted, but a minimum of $600 will be available to help fans of color attend cons for the next three months, plus two memberships to Renovation, the 2011 WorldCon, generously donated by Renovation itself.

Read this post for how to request assistance. Donate con memberships by e-mailing knepveu@steelypips.org. Donate money with a PayPal account or credit card with this button:

Or learn more about Con or Bust generally. And thank you for your help in spreading the word!

An addendum from the Readercon concom:

Readercon fully supports Con or Bust and their mission, and especially welcomes the opportunity to reach out to fans who otherwise wouldn't attend the convention. Visible diversity will help a wider range of fans feel comfortable at Readercon, and diverse voices and perspectives on Readercon panels will contribute to broader and deeper conversations. Fandom has been de facto segregated for a very long time, and we are proud to join Con or Bust in working toward changing that. To this end, Readercon will be making a $200 donation to Con or Bust in 2011.

REAL Readercon 22 book club selections

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 16:54:11 GMT

I hope you will excuse our little joke yesterday! Here are the REAL selections for the Readercon 22 book clubs. Yes, the part about multiple book clubs was true. These books are certainly not required reading for any attendee, but we hope many of you will join us in reading (or rereading) them and discussing them in depth.

Recent fiction: Among Others by Jo Walton

Classic fiction: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Recent nonfiction: Evaporating Genres by Gary K. Wolfe

Classic nonfiction: The Jewel-Hinged Jaw by Samuel R. Delany

If you don't already own copies of these books, I encourage you to either borrow them from a library or purchase them new from an independent bookseller, if at all possible. Remember that any library and any bookseller can order a book; it may take a little longer, but you'll be supporting some parts of the world's literary infrastructure that could really use the help right now.

Readercon 22 book club selections

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:08:18 GMT

Hi all,

We're announcing the Readercon book club selections a little early this year to give you a head start on reading time. Yes, selections plural--we're adding three new book clubs to cover classic fiction and recent and classic nonfiction. Our goal is to encourage reading, rereading, and discussion of the "Readercon canon" as well as recent works. We hope this will help first-time attendees feel better prepared for the convention and remind longtime attendees of the value of going back to our roots.

Our selections for 2011:

Recent fiction: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. It's time we got over our bias against popular fiction. What better way to begin than by examining the fascinating metatextual nuances and genre-mutating interstitiality of this extraordinary novel?

Classic fiction: The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis (2006 Wildside Press edition). This long-underappreciated work of genius can only improve with a close, thoughtful reading. We plan to dedicate two full hours to this discussion so we can fully analyze and explore Theis's unique use of language and subtle inversions of epic fantasy tropes.

Recent nonfiction: The collected Usenet and LiveJournal posts of James Davis Nicoll (james_nicoll). While many of us have encountered and enjoyed selections from Hugo Best Fan Writer finalist Nicoll's astonishing oeuvre, few can claim to have read it in its entirety. Well, this is the excuse you've been waiting for!

Classic nonfiction: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, edited by Peter Nicholls and John Clute (1999 Orbit Books edition). Due to time constraints, our discussion this year will only be able to cover the entries beginning with the letters A through M; N through Z will be discussed in 2012.

Happy reading!

EDIT: We're getting some questions as to why we only selected works by white men. In our defense, at least two of them are from Canada.

Mark Twain will be the Memorial Guest of Honor at Readercon 22

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:43:35 GMT

I am delighted to confirm that the guests of honor for Readercon 22 will be:

Geoff Ryman
Gardner Dozois
Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain

We remain open for submission of panel ideas through December 1, so please comment with any suggestions for program items featuring our guests' works, ideas, and careers, as well as program items for which you think they would make excellent panelists (excepting Mr. Clemens, who unfortunately will not be in corporeal attendance). You can also email your suggestions to program@readercon.org.

As a reminder, Readercon 22 will take place in Burlington, Mass., July 14–17, 2011.

Readercon 22 Guests of Honor, and a call for program item ideas

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 19:54:00 GMT

I'm delighted to announce that Gardner Dozois and Geoff Ryman have accepted our invitations to be the guests of honor for Readercon 22, taking place in Burlington, MA from July 14 to 17, 2011.

Gardner Dozois's twenty-year stint as the editor of Asimov's is one of the great editorial projects in our field. Year after year, he published some truly fine short fiction, including numerous award winners. Thanks to these achievements and his superlative annual anthologies, he has received a record-holding 15 Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor. Though his writing career is sometimes overshadowed by his editorial work, his fiction has won two Nebula Awards and a Sidewise Award. He has also served as a judge for the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award, a project dear to many Readercon attendees.

Geoff Ryman is a teacher and actor, and the author of seven novels, including the groundbreaking Was... and Air: Or, Have not Have. His work is often cited as embodying "Readercon-ness", as it explores and extends the dialogue between experience and imagination, between history and fantasy, between identity and society. His novels and short stories have won the World Fantasy Award, British Science Fiction Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award, the James Tiptree Jr. Award, induction into the Gaylactic Spectrum Hall of Fame, and so many other honors and nominations that they have their own Wikipedia entry. He last attended Readercon in 2008, where he spoke on panels such as "Rival Revolutionary Movements in the Arts" and "Reading Aloud for Writers."

We're working with Gardner and Geoff to select a memorial guest of honor and will have that announcement for you shortly.

In the meantime, I'm issuing a call for program item ideas. Please submit your suggestions one of three ways:

1) In the comments to this entry or its companion entry on Dreamwidth (yes, we have a Dreamwidth community now!).

2) On the Readercon Forums.

3) In an email to program@readercon.org.

Lively discussion is encouraged. This "brainstorm" period will close November 14th, so please send us your ideas soon!

Registration rates for Readercon 22

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:45:22 GMT

Pre-registration for Readercon 22 is now open!

Because pre-registration for Readercon 22 wasn't available at this year's Readercon, we're offering a special early membership rate of $45 through September 15, 2010. Register now to take advantage of this limited-time bargain!

Registration rates:
$45 through September 15, 2010
$50 from September 16, 2010 through February 21, 2011
$55 from February 22, 2011 through June 15, 2011

Pre-registration closes on June 15, 2011

Membership will be $65 at the door for the full weekend.

Register here.

Readercon Nominated for World Fantasy Award

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:36:24 GMT

The Readercon concom is pleased to announce that Bob Colby, B. Diane Martin, David Shaw, and Eric M. Van are finalists for the World Fantasy Award in the Special Award - Non-Professional category, in honor of their dedication to creating and sustaining Readercon over the past quarter-century. Anyone who's been to Readercon knows that Bob, Diane, David, and Eric work incredibly hard to make the convention even better every year, and this recognition for their efforts and the accomplishments of Readercon is well-deserved.

We also extend our congratulations to past Readercon guests of honor Ellen Datlow, Karen Joy Fowler, China Miéville, and Gene Wolfe, and all the other finalists. The full list is available on the Locus website.

Readercon 2012 date?

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:58:24 GMT

Is the date of Readercon 2012 known yet?

My reason for asking is to avoid scheduling ConCertino against it. We tend to use the same sound equipment, so that would cause some problems, and some people like to attend both cons.

(Con Chair Demeritus, ConCertino 2009)

Thank you for a wonderful Readercon 21!

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:09:30 GMT

Once again, we hit our membership cap and packed the hotel full of brilliant people saying brilliant, intriguing, hilarious things. You're all amazing. Thank you very very much.

Thanks also to everyone on the convention committee, particularly conchair Diane Martin and program chair David Shaw, for putting a year's worth of free time into this (and probably taking more years off their lives in the process).

Here are the general con reports I've found so far:

LJ Cohen - Readercon roundup
Arcana Chronicles - day one and day two
Boy Eternal - Readercon reflections
maryrobinette - Friday and Saturday
lunapalma - Readercon
oracne (Victoria Janssen) - Readercon report
Andrew Liptak - Readercon 21
Blake Charlton - Readercon 2010 report
kl pereira - Readercon 21
Jeff Patterson - Time, space, and Readercon
K.A. Laity - How I went to Readercon and became a broad
greygirlbeast (Caitlín R. Kiernan) - Readercon 21
kate_nepveu - Readercon 2010
sovay (Sonya Taaffe) - And all their minds transfigured so together
grahamsleight - The internet: it's what we have instead of a memory
kestrell - Readercon report
hans_the_bold - Readercon (with bonus excerpt from what I can only call "Readercon of Gor")
ecmyers - Readercon 21
supertailz - Readercon report, or how I ran out of dry underwear
Matt Kressel - Readercon 21, or the super secret party that everyone knows about
britmandelo - Readercon
Arafat Kazi - Readercon coverage in the Boston Phoenix

Photos:

ktempest - A picture is worth...
Ellen Datlow's photos
Matt Kressel's photos
Kathryn Cramer's photos

Panel reports:

ceciliatan - Readercon report #1: Alternatives to the Pay Per Copy System of Author Compensation and Readercon Report #2: States of Consciousness talk by Eric Van
kate_nepveu - Readercon 2010: Fanfic as Criticism (Only More Fun)
Andrew Liptak - several panel recaps

Victoria Janssen is also collecting links here.

And of course plenty of folks are weighing in on Twitter, most notably one of our guests of honor.

If you know of any others, please share links in the comments. And thanks again for a really great convention. See you all next year. (July 14-17, 2011--mark your calendars!)