Final Loncon Schedule

My final schedule is basically identical to the draft schedule I posted a while ago, with the addition of a signing session on Friday. So–yes, I’ll be signing books (or bookplates, or whatever) on Friday afternoon.

This doesn’t include a few things that have been scheduled independently of con programming.

Short Fiction is Dead, Long Live Short Fiction

Thursday 19:00 – 20:00 Capital Suite 10 (ExCel)

Short fiction markets are always in flux, but the changes over the last decade have perhaps been particularly dramatic — a general shift from print to online, the rise of new funding models, and so on. And yet there is more short fiction published than ever: alongside print stalwarts such as Interzone and Asimov’s are online magazines such as Clarkesworld, Tor.com and Strange Horizons, any number of Kickstarted anthologies, and hybrid models such as Arc. For editors, what considerations go into developing a short fiction market for today’s readers? For writers, do the available venues shape what gets written, and if so in what ways? And why do so few British writers appear in online magazines?

Liz Gorinsky (M), Eileen Gunn, Simon Ings, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Ann Leckie

Autographing
Friday 13:30-15:00, Autographing Space (ExCel)

A Queerer War

Sunday 13:30 – 15:00 Capital Suite 13 (ExCel)

Consideration of sexuality has been part of military sf since at least The Forever War, but while it’s easier than it used to be to find militaristic sf novels that address queer experience — Adam Roberts’ New Model Army, say, or God’s War by Kameron Hurley — they remain uncommon. Let’s talk about the implied or assumed links between combat, straightness, technology and morality, and how science fiction has succeeded and failed at complicating its understanding of the sexuality of war.

Duncan Lawie (M), Geoff Ryman, S. J. Groenewegen, Tanya Huff, Ann Leckie

The Hugos
No, I do not plan to sit this particular Hugo Ceremony out in the bar.

Pew Pew! Where Have the Lasers Gone?

Monday 10:00 – 11:00 Capital Suite 10 (ExCel)

When was the last time you read a science fiction novel with lasers? Everything is flachettes and high explosive rounds. Do we blame William Gibson or has the technology of laser guns been debunked to the point that GI Joe and Cobra’s inability to actually kill one another has finally been explained? Is there still a place in science fiction for the obviously impossible and/or impractical?

Tom Becker (M), Gillian Clinton, Rachel Erickson, Neyir Cenk Gokce, Ann Leckie