It’s BristolCon this coming weekend and though I’m only there for the Saturday, the con committee are keeping me busy with four panels and a reading:
10am – Blurred Lines: “What is a crossover genre? When should a science fiction crossover with genres such as fantasy, contemporary, literary or crime be labelled as such? What impact do crossover genres have on the reader’s appetite for science fiction.”
11am – Styles of Writing in SF and Fantasy: “English is a living language. What was considered a cutting edge style of prose 50 years ago, is now thought of as clunky and archaic. What is today’s must-have word style and how is it likely to change in the near future?”
4:50pm – Reading: I’ll be reading something new, that you may be able to purchase at the con…
5pm – Why Didn’t We Think of That? “What aspects of today’s world (inventions, events, trends) were not forecast by SF writers of the past? Or were they predicted but in obscure stories or in slightly different ways?”
6pm – How to Survive Your Own Book: “All very well plunging your characters into danger isn’t it, authors? But how could you cope with what you put them through? A panel of writers reveal themselves as either rock ribbed Competent Men/Women/Other or milksop weaklings who can barely turn a page.” (I’m moderating this panel, so if the conversation veers towards Slash that will be on me.)