Eastercon (officially, Olympus 2012, the UK's largest SFF convention) is coming up really soon--April 5, to be exact. My two panels look like great fun:
• Pushing the
Boundaries of Genre. Paul Cornell, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Sophia McDougall, and Gillian Redfearn (mod) and Robert VS Redick Friday, April 6, 2 PM, Royal B&C (whatever that means).
Is genre more than just a marketing label? Why do you decide to write in a genre? What are the reading protocols of the different genres and subgenres? Why is Golden Witchbreed a fantasy masterwork, and I Am Legend SF? How does it change Pern to make it science fiction?
• Worldbuilding (When, How and How Much?) Anne Lyle, Suzanne Macleod, Robert VS Redick, Simon Spanton (mod) and Chris Wooding Saturday, April 7, 7:00 P.M. Royal B&C.
Whether it’s fantasy, horror, SF or urban fantasy, any novel requires a degree of world-building. Some need more than others. So how do you do that, whether it's adding a twist to a contemporary world, or building planetary systems from scratch? Three authors and a professional editor are going to try to figure it out.
Needless to say I'm honoured to be in such company. What's going to make these panels particularly fun and unusual, however, is that both are moderated by Gollancz editors--including my own Simon Spanton. I'm assuming Gillian and Simon will ask me at least one intolerably tough question each, lest anyone accuse them of pitching me softballs. Hope so.
This will be my first Eastercon. I don't know what to expect, but I'm thrilled. Something tells me that it won't be too buttoned-down--maybe it's the fact that there are two scheduled discos (The themes beings "robots" and something else, giant cephalopods?), or the fact that the British party at last year's World Fantasy Con was absolutely zany-baked. Things happened in that anonymous San Diego suite that NO BLOG CAN TELL.
The sooner the better, I say.
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