I attended the SF conference named ConFusion at 21111 Haggerty Road Novi, Michigan at the Sheraton Detroit Novi from January 19, 2024, to January 21, 2024. I also attended ConFusion Detroit in 2019, 2020, (2021 was canceled due to COVID-19), 2022, and 2023. The Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association Sponsored ConFusion Detroit 2024. I attended three panels, one author reading, and watched the movie Labyrinth. This year’s theme was Labyrinth of Confusion. Celebrating the 38-year anniversary of the release of the movie Labyrinth (1986).
The Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association sponsors Detroit ConFusion.
This is my badge for ConFusion Detroit 2024.
Summary
ConFusion Detroit 2024 Conference Recap
Friday, January 19th at 7 PM
Labyrinth of Confusion Opening Ceremonies with Mark Oshiro, BluRaven C. Houvener, Kurt Erichsen, and Steph Campbell:
[insert discussion here]
They held the opening ceremonies in Ballroom D.
Saturday, January 20th at 10 AM
Panel on How to Write a Good Conspiracy Novel with Kelley Skovron, Marie Vibbert, Catherine Stein, and Ken Schraeder:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel in the Marquette room with 15 attendees.
Saturday, January 20th at 12 PM
Panel on Wish I Knew When I Started with Catherine Stein, Jim C. Hines, Jean Davis, and Ness Ricci-Thode:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel in Ballroom B with 20 attendees.
Saturday, January 20th at 1 PM
Reading with Author John Scalzi:
[insert discussion here]
They held the reading in the Keweenow room with 40 attendees.
Saturday, January 20th at 5 PM
Movie: Labyrinth (1986)
[insert discussion here]
They showed the movie in the Boardroom film room with 10 attendees.
Saturday, January 20th at 8 PM
Panel on Has the Hype Over Artificial Intelligence (AI) Art and Writing Programs Peaked? With John Scalzi, Lynne Sergent, A. L. Deleon, and Jason Sanford:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel at Ballroom B with 45 attendees.
Recommendation – Conclusion
I felt the con went well and enjoyed my attendance. My star of the con was author John Scalzi. He read three short stories on his author reading and gave insightful comments on the AI panel. I’m looking forward to attending again in 2025.
Links
In January 2023, I attended the SF conference ConFusion in Detroit, Michigan. I still want to write a post about that.
I attended the SF conference ConFusion in Detroit, Michigan from January 21 to 23, 2022. The theme was Rising ConFusion. My stars of the con were Guest of Honor author Jim C. Hines and Science Guest of Honor Dr. Jordan Steckloff.
I attended the SF conference ConFusion in Detroit, Michigan from January 16 to 19, 2020. I attended four panels, two readings, and one interview. The theme of the con was How to Train Your ConFusion, based on the movie, How to Train Your Dragon. My star of the con was John Scalzi. He gave an excellent reading of Chapter Two of his upcoming book named The Last Emperox. My other highlights were Kameron Hurley’s interview and the lecture on Edible Insects and Human Evolution. I’ll be back next year.
I attended the SF conference ConFusion in Detroit, Michigan from January 18 to 20, 2019. The theme of the con was Storming the ConFusion, so they designated the areas with names related to the movie The Princess Bride. I had a great drive to Detroit just before the snowstorm came. My star of the con was John Scalzi. He gave an excellent reading and was engaging in the panel I attended. My other highlights were Ada Palmer’s interview and watching The Princess Bride at the con. I’ll be back next year.
I attended the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2022 on July 30, 2022. They held the conference at 1160 Thorn Run Road Coraopolis, PA in the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I also attended the conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. COVID-19 changed the conference to a virtual con named C’monfluence in 2020 which I viewed. The Parsec organization of Pittsburgh runs the literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I attended 3 panels, two readings, an improv comedy show, a concert, and the guest of honor presentation
They held the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport.
Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2022 Program Guide Cover
Picture of my badge from Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2022
Summary
Saturday, July 30th at 11 AM
Reading by Marie Vibbert.
She read three pieces during this half-hour reading.
First was a flash fiction story published in Daily Science Fiction on February 21, 2021. The story was named Things from our kitchen junk drawer that could save this spaceship.
They held the reading in the Solstice Room with 7 attendees.
Saturday, July 30th at 12 PM
Reading Short SF: Why You Should Be Reading Short Fiction, Both Classic and New Panel with Neil Clarke, Michael Swanwick, and Vera Brook.
Vera Brook, an author, was the moderator for the panel and asked questions of the panel. Neil Clarke publishes the Clarkesworld online magazine. Michael Swanwick is an award-winning author.
Why should you read short science fiction? If short fiction speaks to you then reading it can be rewarding. They suggest reading the most recent releases and going backward in time.
What short Science Fiction Authors to you recommend? Cordwainer Smith, Phillip K. Dick, Octavia Butler’s collection Bloodchild, and William Gibson’s collection Burning Chrome. They also recommend the latest year’s best anthologies.
Where do we find it? Print magazines, online magazines, single-author collections, and years’ best anthologies.
For the rest of the panel, they talked about the challenges of finding great short fiction. Suggestions were to read beyond your comfort level, be more international in your reading, and English is the language of translation.
They held the panel in the Commonwealth West Room with 29 attendees.
Saturday, July 30th at 1 PM
It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: The SF and Fantasy Year 1972 panel with Geoffrey Landis, Stephen Fisher, Darrell Schweitzer, and Barbara Doran.
The panel talked about events from 1972. They went over the 1972 Nebula awards and the 1973 Hugo awards. The creators of the genre were still alive then and fans could see them at cons. The past was alive. Dangerous Visions was published in 1972. Ben Bova took over Analog (formerly Astounding) Magazine in 1972 and brought it back to prominence. At that time, they thought that the original anthology would replace print magazines, but it didn’t. Playboy was the top market for SF in 1972. Isaac Asimov returned to SF with the Hugo and Nebula-winning novel, The Gods Themselves. He had been writing non-fiction for a long time before this.
World events from 1972 included; Apollo 17 (the last mission to the moon) and the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.
They held the panel in the Commonwealth West Room with 14 attendees.
Saturday, July 30th at 3 PM
The Guest of Honor Presentation with Neil Clarke was interviewed by Scott H. Andrews.
Neil Clarke is the editor of Clarkesworld online magazine. His interviewer Scott H. Andrew is the editor of Beneath Ceaseless Skies online magazine. The interviewer asked him many questions and received interesting answers. Some of the highlights follow. He got into SF after a friend dragged him into an SF con when they were in college.
He started editing Clarkesworld magazine part-time, not becoming a full-time editor until 2006. His goal is to pay authors a living wage. All editorial staff at the online magazine are part-time. His goal is to pay a full-time staff. The industry minimum payment for authors is 8 cents a word and he thinks that is too low. He pays 12 cents a word but hopes to increase it to 15 cents per word in the future.
He’s interested in promoting international SF, especially from China and Korea. He hopes the SF community will continue to support his magazine online and through the magazine’s Patreon page. He hopes the magazine will continue when he eventually steps down.
They held the presentation in Ballroom 1 with 60 attendees.
Saturday, July 30th at 4 PM
Reading by Michael Swanwick.
He read his original short story named The Warm Equations. It will be posted on the website named Sunday Morning Transport as a free-to-read story on August 7, 2022. It’s a great story well worth the read.
The story is about when Charles Magnus Osbourne crashed a hopper on Mercury and the aftermath of his accident. He is looking for receiving glory for his solo research mission, but he needs help to survive. Charles learns things about himself that he never expected to learn.
Link to the story named The Warm Equations posted in the Sunday Morning Transport on August 7, 2022.
They held the reading in the Solstice Room with 8 attendees.
Saturday, July 30th at 5 PM
Where to Next? Trends in Recent SF Panel with Marie Vibbert, Lawrence C. Connolly, and Michael Mammay.
The moderator asked questions of the panel.
What new ideas and concepts are you seeing? Answers included climate fiction, VR, and augmented reality. Their advice is don’t try to beat the tech, speak of the moment.
What trends are there in what they read for pleasure? The answers included epic fantasy in a non-European setting, optimistic SF, and AI envisioning better times.
Talk about style versus substance. Unusual POV and tenses such as first person present tense, the first person using sentence fragments, and third person omniscient.
Where is this taking us? Answers included fan fiction, gaming writing, and the rise in popularity of the novella driven by the Tor.com novellas.
The panel ended with audience questions.
They held the panel in the Commonwealth East with 24 attendees.
Saturday, July 30th at 8 PM
Live Comedy: D & D by Knights of the Arcade.
The Knights of the Arcade presented a live improv comedy routine named D & D. Their logo proclaims that they are a Dungeon and Dragons comedy show of epic proportions. On the audience left was the Game Master, in the center were five game players, and to the right was the keyboard player who accented the routine with clever songs. The routines were enhanced by prompts supplied by the audience. At the end of the routine, all members of the troop sang the last song, the I learned song where they reviewed the events of the show. It was a fun and humorous show.
They held the show in Ballroom 1 with 25 attendees.
Saturday, July 30th at 9 PM
Featured Musical Guest Concert with Tim Griffin.
Tim Griffin was the Featured Musical Guest for the Con. He played fifteen songs in a little over an hour. He sang and played acoustic guitar and ukulele. The songs he played supported his mission to present science, math, and history topics in a musical format to engage children in learning. He also played his signature song, Lucy on the Line. It was an enjoyable and sing-along performance.
Link to Tim Griffin Education website. GriffinED’s goal is to provide you with the best kid-friendly STEM/STEAM/folk/filk music site in the universe.
They held the concert in Ballroom 1 with 27 attendees.
Recommendation – Conclusion
I’m glad I attended the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2022. My star of the con was Neil Clarke. He had a great Guest of Honor interview and was insightful and memorable in the panel of his that I attended. I attended 3 panels, two readings, an improv comedy show, a concert, and the guest of honor presentation. My other highlights were the improv comedy of the Knights of the Arcade and the concert performed by the Featured Musical Guest, Tim Griffin. I also attended the conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. COVID-19 changed the conference to a virtual con named C’monfluence in 2020 which I viewed. I hope to attend Confluence in 2023.
Links
Recap for the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh held virtually from 10-02-20 to 10-04-20. I attended the opening ceremony, five panels, three readings, one presentation, the guest of honor presentation, and the conference breakdown.
Recap for the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh on July 27 & 28, 20, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I also attended Confluence in ‘16, ‘17, and ‘18. I attended five panels, two fiction writing workshops, and the guest of honor presentation
They held the Confluence Conference from July 27, 2018, to July 29, 2018, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended two lectures, two panels, one fiction writing seminar, one author reading, and the guest of honor presentation.
They held the Confluence Conference from August 4 to August 6, 2017, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended seven panels, one writing workshop, one author reading, and the guest of honor presentation.
Recap for the Confluence SF Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.
I attended the SF Conference Marcon Columbus 2022 on May 7, 2022. They held the conference at 350 North High Street Columbus, Ohio 43215 at the Hyatt Regency Columbus. The drive was two-plus hours taken in the morning and back in the evening. I also attended Marcon in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The missing two years were because the conference was canceled those years. The story going around the con this year was that this might be the last Marcon because the coordinating group of this con will no longer do it going forward. Will someone run the con next year? Stay tuned. I attended three panels and one concert at the 2022 conference.
This is a link to the Marcon Conference Facebook account. Their website was down then and still is down.
It was the best of Kynes, it was the worst of Kynes: The new Dune film, a panel with Denver Karchner, Ted Dickinson, Paul Hahn, Emily Lydic, and Sean Mead.
The panel debated what they liked and didn’t like about the Dune (2021) film. The film covered the first part of the novel Dune. They will make a second film covering the rest of the novel and its scheduled release is on October 20, 2023. They compared the current film with the Dune (1984) film and the Sci-Fi Channel series from 2000. The panelists enjoyed the movie but felt that some concepts could have been explained better for non-book readers. They are cautiously optimistic that the second film will answer their questions.
They held the panel in Salon B/C Room with 19 attendees.
Saturday, May 7th at 12:00 PM
The Harp Twins, a concert with Camille Kitt and Kennerly Kitt.
The Harp twins are identical twins that both play electric harps. They arrange their music. They played nine songs in the concert including Nothing Else Matter by Metallica and Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden. In between songs they engaged in humorous banter between them and introduced each piece before they played them. A very enjoyable concert, not what I expected, but they won me over.
This is a link to their website which has a bio, links to purchase their music, music videos, and a schedule of upcoming performances.
They held the concert in the Buckeye Room with 70 attendees.
Saturday, May 7th at 1:00 PM
Writing for Hire, a discussion with Marie Vibbert.
The discussion was about the author’s experience in taking a writing for-hire job. She says that a lot of mass-market books are ghostwritten. She told us what it’s like writing someone else’s property to a specification. The book is expected to be released on July 12, 2022. The book is named MegaDeath with the name of the author Tory Quinn. The interesting thing is that the book says Tory Quinn with Marie Vibbert. The other two books “written” by Tory Quinn were written by other ghostwriters. Marie said it was an interesting experience. She was given a specific outline that must be followed in writing the book. The business model for the publisher was pitching a movie concept by having a written novel adapted into a screenplay. There wasn’t much room for creativity but the pay was good.
This is the link to the Goodreads page for MegaDeath by Tory Quinn
They held the discussion in the Capital Room with 7 attendees.
Saturday, May 7th at 2:00 PM
Babylon 5: Reborn or Retreaded, a panel with Lee Shamblin, Rachael Thurston, Denver Karshner, Emily Lydic, and Ken Keisel.
The reason for the panel was to discuss the proposed reboot of the series by the original show writer, J. Michael Straczynski. At the time of the panel, the details of the reboot were hazy. What complicates matters is that the CW channel planned to produce it with a projected release in 2023. Nexstar will purchase CW and that might impact the status of the Babylon 5 reboot. The panel questioned what would happen going forward.
They held the panel in Salon B/C with 27 attendees.
Recommendation – Conclusion
I had a great time at Conference Marcon Columbus 2022. My co-stars of the con were The Harp Twins for their concert and the Writing for Hire discussion presented by Marie Vibbert. I also attended Marcon in 2017, 2018, and 2019 and hope the con will return in 2023.
Links
Recap for SF Conference Marcon Columbus on May 11, 2019. They held it at Crowne Plaza – Columbus North. I also attended Marcon in 2017 and 2018. This year I attended four panels, a performance, and an interview.
Recap for SF Conference Marcon Columbus on May 13, 2017. They held the conference at the Hyatt Regency Columbus. I also attended Marcon in 2018 and 2019. I attended five panels at the 2017 conference.
I attended the Ice and Fire Con at Mt. Sterling, Ohio, from April 21 to April 24, 2022. I originally had a ticket for the Ice and Fire Con 2020, but they canceled it because of COVID-19. They focus the conference on the works of George R. R. Martin. Especially the Game of Thrones series, including his other works in the world of Westeros. The HBO series called House of the Dragon is an example and will release starting on August 21, 2022. I attended five panels, one guest of honor lecture, one trivia game, a performance by the Manimals, and the closing ceremonies. This year’s theme was A Dream of Spring. It is the proposed title of the seventh book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. We have been waiting ten years for the sixth book, The Winds of Winter.
This is a link to the Ice and Fire Conference website.
This is my badge for Ice and Fire Con 2022, A Dream of Spring.
Summary
Ice and Fire 2022 Conference Recap
Saturday, April 23rd at 10 AM
Significance of the Seven Panel with two panelists:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel in the Grand Ballroom with about 19 attendees.
Saturday, April 23rd at 11 AM
ASOIAF and the War of the Roses Panel with three panelists:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel in the Scarlet Oak room with about 35 attendees.
Saturday, April 23rd at 12 PM
Choose Your Own Reading Order Panel with two panelists:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel in the Grand Ballroom with about 21 attendees.
Saturday, April 23rd at 6 PM
Guest of Honor Lecture with David J. Peterson:
[insert discussion here]
They held the lecture in the Grand Ballroom with about 25 attendees.
Saturday, April 23rd at 8 PM
Trivia of Ice and Fire Game with two moderators:
[insert discussion here]
They held the trivia game in the Grand Ballroom with about 31 attendees.
Saturday, April 23rd at 9 PM
Performance by the Manimals:
[insert discussion here]
They held the performance in the Grand Ballroom with too many attendees to count.
Sunday, April 24th at 12 PM
House of the Dragon is Coming! Panel with four panelists:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel in the Grand Ballroom with about 30 attendees.
Sunday, April 24th at 1 PM
After the Snow Panel with two panelists:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel in the Grand Ballroom with about 41 attendees.
Sunday, April 24th at 1 PM
Closing Ceremonies with the con runners and guests:
[insert discussion here]
They held the ceremonies in the Grand Ballroom with about 60 attendees.
Recommendation – Conclusion
[Insert Recommendation Here]
Links
ConFusion Detroit was a con I attended this year that is like the Ice and Fire Con. I attended the SF conference named ConFusion at 21111 Haggerty Road Novi, Michigan at the Sheraton Detroit Novi from January 21, 2022, to January 23, 2020. ConFusion Detroit 2020 was the last in-person con I attended. I have attended only virtual cons in the last two years. ConFusion 2022 was my next in-person con after that. The Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association sponsored ConFusion Detroit 2022. I attended the opening ceremonies, three panels, two lectures, one reading, and one interview. This year’s theme was rising confusion. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes, the con returned from a two-year absence.
The last in-person conference I attended before Confusion Detroit 2022 was Confusion Detroit 2020. They canceled the con in 2021. They held it in the same place in 2022, with strict masks and vaccination policies in effect. I felt the con went well and enjoyed my attendance. I have two stars of the con. Author Guest of Honor Jim C. Hines gave a spirited reading of his short story, The Creature in Your Neighborhood, and an insightful interview by Black Gate Magazine. My other star of the con was Dr. Jordan Steckloff for the two lectures and the panel I attended he participated in.
I attended the 37th annual Western Reserve Writers Conference on March 26, 2022. They held the Conference at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the William N. Skirball writer’s center at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions, and one first-page critique panel.
Deanna R. Adams is the conference coordinator and Laurie Kincer is the librarian in charge of the writer’s center.
Laurie explained how they set up the library, where the three meeting rooms were located, and about the door prizes available at 4 PM. Deanna introduced the keynote speaker, Erin Hosier.
They held the welcome and conference overview in the meeting room A/B/C with about 90 attendees.
Saturday, March 26th at 9:40 AM
Keynote Speaker: The Who, What, When, Where, and Why of Literary Agents.
The keynote speaker was Erin Hosier. She is a veteran agent and author.
Erin specializes in representing non-fiction biographies, memoirs, and contemporary fiction. She gave an example of one of the books that she sold from submission to publication. Self Care by Leigh Stein is a contemporary fiction novel. It was pitched to 25 editors in March 2019. 23 responded and they held an auction three weeks later. The winner was Penguin books which published the novel on June 30, 2020.
In a Query Letter, it is important to get the comp titles correct and make them recently published.
She went over the steps for a book proposal for non-fiction works.
An editor accepted her proposal for her memoir, Don’t Let me Down: A Memoir. It took her seven years to write it.
She gets about 50 proposals a month and accepts about five per year.
They held the talk in the meeting room A/B/C with about 90 attendees.
Saturday, March 26th at 10:30 AM
Breakout Session: What Authors Should Know About the Law: Publishing Law 101.
The presenter was Jacqueline Lipton. She is a literary attorney and literary agent.
Jacqui wanted to write a book about explaining legal matters simply for writers because that book was not on the market.
She went over copywriting basics.
Trademarks are a tricky concept. She explained it this way. Trademarks (commercial) versus patent (ideas) versus Copywrite (also ideas).
Goodreads link to Jacqui’s book: Law and Authors: A Legal Handbook for Writers
They held the talk in the meeting room A/B/C with about 40 attendees.
Saturday, March 26th at 3:00 PM
Breakout Session: Writing and Submitting Short Stories.
The presenter was Marie Vibbert. She has sold over 70 short stories and her debut novel, Galactic Hellcats.
What is a short story? She describes it this way. It is a complete story of about one thousand to eight thousand words. A short story is enjoyable and impacts the reader emotionally. It has at least four ideas covering character, place, a problem, and a theme.
Her advice is to know and read in your genre. Every genre has its own conventions which you learn by reading. She writes science fiction almost exclusively. Fantasy doesn’t work for her.
Beginnings are crucial. Figure out the beginning of the story to fit with the ending.
So, you have a draft. What now? Here are three ways to find markets to sell.
For Science Fiction stories, you can submit them to any of the SFWA qualifying markets.
They held the talk at the Homework Center with about 30 attendees.
Recommendation – Conclusion
The Western Reserve Writers Conference 2022 returned well. I attended the conference in 2019, but they canceled the conference in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19. I’m glad they held the conference, and it seems as well attended as before the pandemic. My Star of the Con was Marie Vibbert. She had some brilliant advice for aspiring short story writers. I saw her speak at the virtual conference, Cleveland Inkubator 2021 and her presentation was great then too.
Links
I attended the 36th annual Western Reserve Writers Conference on April 27, 2019. They held the Conference at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the William N. Skirball writer’s center at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions, and one first-page critique panel. I attended the introduction, a keynote speaker, and two breakout sessions. I thought The Western Reserve Writers Conference was well run, diverse in the presentations offered, and informative. My Star of the Con was Bree Barton. Her presentation was fun, the exercises were useful, and I liked her personality.
I attended the 34th annual Western Reserve Writers Conference on September 23, 2017. I could not attend last year. This is a link to my review of the 2017 conference.
I attended the SF conference named ConFusion at 21111 Haggerty Road Novi, Michigan at the Sheraton Detroit Novi from January 21, 2022, to January 23, 2020. ConFusion Detroit 2020 was the last in-person con I attended. I have attended only virtual cons in the last two years. ConFusion 2022 was my next in-person con after that.The Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association sponsored ConFusion Detroit 2022. I attended the opening ceremonies, three panels, two lectures, one reading, and one interview. This year’s theme was rising confusion. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes, the con returned from a two-year absence.
The Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association sponsors Detroit ConFusion.
The 2022 Logo for ConFusion Detroit 2022.
ConFusion Detroit 2022 Program Guide Cover
This is my badge for ConFusion Detroit 2022.
Summary
ConFusion Detroit 2022 Conference Recap
Friday, January 21st at 7 PM
Rising Confusion Opening Ceremonies with Jim C. Hines, Dr. Jordan Steckloff, Rachael Quinlan, and Anna Carey:
[insert discussion here]
They held the opening ceremonies in Ballroom D with about 60 attendees.
Saturday, January 22nd at 11 AM
Panel on the Wheel of Time Geekfest with presenter E.D.E. Bell:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel in the Marquette room with 4 attendees.
Saturday, January 22nd at 2 PM
Reading with Author Guest of Honor Jim C. Hines:
[insert discussion here]
They held the reading at Ballroom D with 18 attendees.
Saturday, January 22nd at 3 PM
Lecture with Science Guest of Honor Dr. Jordan Steckloff, the Risks of Space-Borne Pathogens:
[insert discussion here]
They held the lecture at Ballroom D with 35 attendees.
Saturday, January 22nd at 5 PM
Panel on Space Station in Sci-Fi with Jason Sanford, Anthony W. Eichenlaub, and Patrick S. Tomlinson:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel at the Marquette room with 16 attendees.
Saturday, January 22nd at 6 PM
Black Gate interview with Author Guest of Honor Jim C. Hines:
[insert discussion here]
They interviewed at the Marquette room with 16 attendees.
Sunday, January 23rd at 12 PM
Lecture with Science Guest of Honor Dr. Jordan Steckloff, Apocalyptic Impacts in Reality and Hollywood:
[insert discussion here]
They held the lecture at Ballroom D with 16 attendees.
Sunday, January 23rd at 1 PM
Panel on The Expanse with Dennis Tabaczewski, Dr. Jordan Steckloff, and D. Mark Haynes:
[insert discussion here]
They held the panel in the Marquette room with 9 attendees.
Recommendation – Conclusion
The last in-person conference I attended before Confusion Detroit 2022 was Confusion Detroit 2020. They canceled the con in 2021. They held it in the same place in 2022, with strict masks and vaccination policies in effect. I felt the con went well and enjoyed my attendance. I have two stars of the con. Author Guest of Honor Jim C. Hines gave a spirited reading of his short story, The Creature in Your Neighborhood, and an insightful interview by Black Gate Magazine. My other star of the con was Dr. Jordan Steckloff for the two lectures and the panel I attended he participated in.
Links
I attended the SF conference ConFusion in Detroit, Michigan from January 16 to 19, 2020. I attended four panels, two readings, and one interview. The theme of the con was How to Train Your ConFusion, based on the movie, How to Train Your Dragon. My star of the con was John Scalzi. He gave an excellent reading of Chapter Two of his upcoming book named The Last Emperox. My other highlights were Kameron Hurley’s interview and the lecture on Edible Insects and Human Evolution. I’ll be back next year.
I attended the SF conference ConFusion in Detroit, Michigan from January 18 to 20, 2019. The theme of the con was Storming the ConFusion, so they designated the areas with names related to the movie The Princess Bride. I had a great drive to Detroit just before the snowstorm came. My star of the con was John Scalzi. He gave an excellent reading and was engaging in the panel I attended. My other highlights were Ada Palmer’s interview and watching The Princess Bride at the con. I’ll be back next year.
They normally hold the Cleveland Inkubator Writing Conference at the Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Public Library, 525 Superior Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44115. This year they presented a virtual event using Zoom between July 11, 2021, to July 25, 2021, for the Cleveland Inkubator Writing Conference 2021. Over the two weeks, they presented forty-two workshops, panels, and special events. I attended two panels, one craft talk, and one workshop (which was held over two days).
Literary Cleveland sponsored the event. Literary Cleveland’s mission is to create and nurture a vibrant literary arts community in Northeast Ohio. The group sponsors writing workshops, author interviews, and a monthly group meeting mixer.
I attended two panels, one craft talk, and one workshop (which was held over two days). I will summarize the four events I attended in the next four sections.
Workshop with D.M. Pulley
They split this workshop into two days, Wednesday, July 14, 2021, from 4 PM to 5 PM, and Wednesday, July 21, 2021, from 4 PM to 5 PM. The topic was Writing Multiple Storylines. She taught the workshop using a PowerPoint presentation. The conference coordinator distributed a copy of the presentation to the participants after the workshop. I have noted the four most important ideas I learned in the workshop in the following paragraphs.
She talked about five structures used in multiple storyline novels and gave an example for each. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr uses a Dual Narrative Structure. It features two protagonists on the same timeline. The Girls by Emma Cline uses a Dual Timeline Structure. It features a single protagonist with an early and later timeline.
The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis uses a Dual Narrative and Dual Timeline Structure. It features two protagonists each with an early and later timeline. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan uses a linked Short Story or Novella Structure. It features many characters and many timelines with linked narratives. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut uses a Gestalt Timeline. It features one protagonist with many scattered timelines. There are other examples.
Writing Exercise #1 was to describe what your story is about. Writing Exercise #2 was to figure out whose story your work is about.
She gave examples of the guideposts, transitions, and plotting from the five novels listed above.
Writing Exercise #4 was to draw a three-point plot arc for your story. Writing Exercise #4 was to storyboard your story.
D.M. Pulley is a historical mystery writer with four published novels. No One’s Home is her most recently published novel. I linked the Goodreads page to No One’s Home below.
This craft talk was on Wednesday, July 14, from 7 PM to 8:30 PM. The topic was So You Wrote a Short Story-Now What? She presented her talk using a PowerPoint presentation. The conference coordinator distributed a copy of the presentation to the participants after the talk. I have noted the three most important ideas I learned in the talk in the following paragraphs.
When submitting a short story, follow the submission guidelines posted on each website of the magazine where the submission is going. Each magazine has specific requirements, if not followed will diminish the possibility of a sale. Submissions should follow the Shunn format rules linked here. https://www.shunn.net/format/classic/
She presented a live demonstration of submitting a story. She tracks her submissions at the Submission Grinder website. https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/ Each author has a password-protected account. The website is a submission tracker and a market database. The website search engine helps the author find suitable markets to submit each unique story. She submitted one of her completed but unsold stories to the Clarkesworld Magazine in the demonstration. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/
She says to expect a lot of rejections. On Submission Grinder she has tracked her submissions for the last six years. She has over 900 submissions with 73 accepted stories. The highest number of rejections for her for a story before it sold was 42. She is an accomplished author, and it was instructive to see her record of submissions.
Marie Vibbert is a science fiction short story writer. On the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (isfdb.org) she has 43 short stories listed. They published her first novel Galactic Hellcats this year. I linked the Goodreads page for Galactic Hellcats below.
From Dream to Reality: A Panel with Four Debut Authors
They held this panel from 10 AM to 11:30 AM on Saturday, July 17, 2001. The four authors in the panel published their debut novels in early 2021. The novels were The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson, Bride of the Sea by Eman Quotah, On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu, and Body of Stars by Laura Maylene Walter. Laura Maylene Walter was the moderator and posed questions for the panel to answer. Each author started by repeating the elevator pitch for her novel. I have included one question and answer I thought insightful from each author.
What was the most challenging part of writing your novel? E. Lily Yu answered learning Persian was necessary to complete the novel.
Explain your experience of the agent side of publishing. Nancy Johnson answered the key was an excellent query letter. She used the phase Hook-Book-Cook to describe what you need in your query. The Hook is your elevator pitch; the Book is a brief summary of your book (only add your most interesting points), and the Cook is adding any works published and workshops attended.
Explain how you write a novel with a day job, and how do you keep your motivation up? Laura Maylene Walter answered she gets up before work to write, she takes unpaid weeks off work to write. She doesn’t have kids, so that helps. Her goal is 1000 words per day, or she uses a time goal like a certain number of words per half hour.
What surprises you about the writing and publication business? Eman Quotah answered pay attention to the small successes you achieve. A handwritten card from a beta reader can be the best validation you can receive. Don’t get caught up in other writers’ successes.
Eyes of the Editor: A Panel with Four Editors
They held this panel from 7 PM to 8:30 PM on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. The four editors on the panel were Angela Kim (Berkley, romance), Kate Napolitano (Dey Street, non-fiction), Nadxieli Nieto (Flatiron Books, cross-genre), and Shannon Jamison-Vazquez (Little, Brown, mystery/thriller/suspense). The moderator was Brandi Larson. After the panelists introduced themselves, the moderator posed questions to the panel. I have included one question and answer I thought insightful from each editor.
What is your impression of someone trying to get a job in publishing today? Kate Napolitano answered that publishing is an apprenticeship industry. Earning an MFA is not the only way to get in.
What is a must-have for a query (fiction) or a proposal (Non-fiction)? Nadxieli Nieto answered that for commercial fiction, understand your placement in the marketplace and the relation of your work to the current trends.
What are the hot trends? Shannon Jamison-Vazquez answered you can’t write to trends. The most important thing is to use your voice. That is what is unique about you and will sell your novel.
What do you look for in the opening paragraphs? Angela Kim answered momentum is important. Don’t put too much info in at once. Be active with witty dialog. Use an active voice and a distinctive voice.
Before the panel, attendees volunteered to send in the first paragraphs of their novels. They picked six author paragraphs at random, and the panel read and discussed each.
The panel ended with final thoughts and advice.
Conclusion
I enjoyed the programs that I attended at the Cleveland Inkubator Writing Conference 2021 and plan to attend in person in 2022. My highlights were D.M. Pulley’s Writing Multiple Stories Workshop and Marie Vibbert’s talk about submitting short stories. I thought using Zoom worked well. At the in-person conference, you must pick one of four talks in three different time slots on the Saturday of the conference. Being spread over two weeks enabled me to pick the talks that I wanted to see. I appreciated the flexibility but will like to go back to the in-person conference next year.
Links
I attended the Cleveland Inkubator on August 4, 2018, at the Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Public Library, 525 Superior Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44115. Literary Cleveland sponsored the event. Literary Cleveland’s mission is to create and nurture a vibrant literary arts community in Northeast Ohio. I enjoyed the programs that I attended at the Cleveland Inkubator and plan to attend next year.
They held the Cleveland Inkubator on July 29, 2017, at the Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Public Library, 525 Superior Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44115. Literary Cleveland sponsored the event. Literary Cleveland’s mission is to create and nurture a vibrant literary arts community in Northeast Ohio. I enjoyed the programs that I attended at the Cleveland Inkubator and plan to attend next year.
The Gotham Writers Workshop held the Gotham Writers Conference 2020 as a virtual conference because of COVID-19. Last year they held the conference at the Ace Hotel in New York City on October 25, 2019. This year, they used Zoom to hold the virtual conference from October 16, 2020, to October 18, 2020. On day one they held three presentations featuring writers. On the second day, they held three presentations focused on writers and agents. The last day was for pitching roundtables. They scheduled thirteen roundtables. Each roundtable had eight authors and two agents. Each author presented a query and the first two pages of their work to the agents. The agents gave their feedback.
This is the link to the Gotham Writers Workshop, the sponsor of the event.
The moderator asked questions of the panel and the panelists answered if they had something to say. Here are three examples I liked.
What are you looking for in an agent? You need someone who knows what a contract looks like.
Does the agent say they can cover different genres? I can do anything is a suspect statement.
What is success? The goalposts keep moving. It’s okay if you are writing for yourself.
Josh Sippe conducted a brief audience Q and A session during the last ten minutes of the panel.
Friday, October 16 at 11:25 AM
The Benefit of Your Day Job (even if you dislike it) presentation by Jacob M. Appel.
Alex Steele introduced Jacob M. Appel. Jacob has written 200 short stories, 19 novels, and has 9 advanced degrees. They featured him in an Amazon Prime documentary linked below.
Jacob believes that having a day job helps you as a writer, giving your writing context.
He gave ten things that he has learned to help him write well. Three of his points follow.
Make writing your third priority after family and occupation.
Write a novel to ask a question not to answer a question.
Readers want to read something they don’t know, but the writer does. Know more than the reader.
Jacob had the audience take part in an eight-minute exercise. He had us write a scene using jargon from your specialized field or occupation.
The talk ended with a Q and A session with Josh Sippe as the moderator.
Friday, October 16 at 12:30 PM
Kelly Caldwell interviewed Erin Entrada Kelly about her writing journey.
Erin Entrada Kelly is the 2018 Newberry award-winning author of Hello, Universe. She discusses her writing journey.
Goodreads link to Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly.
The moderator asked questions of the panel and the panelists answered if they had something to say. Here are three examples I liked.
What makes a query stand out? The hook, comp titles, platform (for non-fiction), and compelling first pages.
What is your deciding question for offering representation? Where do you think your career is going? Do we have chemistry, a working relationship?
What qualities are most important to see in an author? (JL) content, character, voice. (ES) voice, sell, communication. (SB) connection, sincerity, engagement.
The talk ended with a Q and A session with Josh Sippe as the moderator.
Saturday, October 17 at 11:30 AM
The Agent and Client–making a connection discussion. Josh Sippe moderated the discussion between Amy Bishop, an author, and June Hur, an agent.
An agent and a client discuss how to connect with each other.
Amy Bishop is an agent at the Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret Agency.
The moderator asked Amy and June questions. These are three Q and A examples I liked.
How important is a query letter? (AB) a well-crafted query letter says that the author is serious. Queries are hard, but don’t need to be perfect to be effective.
Can rejections be positive? (JH) Publishing is a marathon. Rejections are subjective and not personal. Keep your perspective as an author.
What was the timeline for The Silence of Bones? (AB) Query in August 2017, Agreement September 2017, Submitted to editor February 2018, realization that the novel is YA, Big revision to the editor in August 2018, published by Feiwel & Friends in April 2020.
End of discussion.
Saturday, October 17 at 12:30 PM
Alexander Steele conducted the Pitching Game Show with Alec Shane, Alexandra Levick, and.
The contestant’s goal was to practice their pitching skills. They picked a contestant, and Alex Steele drew a character and a situation at random. The contestant had a few minutes to prepare a pitch. The contestant gave the pitch to the agent panel and ended the pitch with a proposed title for the book. They picked four contestants, and they gave their pitches one at a time. The agents could not reach a consensus, so all four contestants received a $50 gift certificate for a class at Gotham Writers Workshop.
Sunday, October 18 from 12:00 PM to 4:30 PM
The SF/Fantasy Pitching Roundtable #2 with Kurestin Armada and Dong Won Song.
Each session was on an individual Zoom call with eight participants and two agents for each table.
The first group session had six tables: Literary/Mainstream 1, Literary/Mainstream 3, Middle Grade/Young Adult 1, Mystery/Thriller/Horror, Non-Fiction 1, and Science Fiction/Fantasy 2.
The second group session was from 3:00 PM to 7:30 PM and had seven tables: Literary/Mainstream 2, Literary/Mainstream 4, Middle Grade/Young Adult 2, Non-Fiction 2, Non-Fiction 3, Picture Book, and Science Fiction/Fantasy 1.
I took part in the SF/Fantasy Pitching Roundtable #2. In the first part of the roundtable, each participant read their query letter, and the agents made their comments. It took about ten minutes for each query letter. A 30-minute break followed. In the second part of the roundtable, each participant read the first two pages of their novel and the agents offered their feedback.
Recommendation – Conclusion
I enjoyed virtually attending the Gotham Writers Conference 2020. I’m glad they could hold the conference. Last year in New York City I did not have my novel presentation completed in time to earn a spot at the pitching roundtables conducted on October 26, 2019. This year I took part in the Science Fiction/ Fantasy Roundtable #2. My star of the Con was Alex Steele. He gave a great welcome speech, introduced Jacob M. Appel for his presentation, and conducted the Pitching Game Show. The conference was well worth the time invested, and I would like to attend next year.
Links
Recap for the Gotham Writers Conference in New York City, New York on October 25, 2019, sponsored by Gotham Writers Workshop. There were five panels and presentations at the conference. I did not attend on October 26, 2019, for the pitching roundtables.
They canceled Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020 because of COVID-19. They had planned to hold confluence 2020 from July 24 to 26, 2020 with author guest of honor Martha Wells. I plan to go to Confluence from July 23 to July 25, 2021. They held a virtual conference called C’monfluence the Novelization 2020, from October 2 to October 4. The Guest of Honor was Martha Wells. I attended the conference virtually. Programming began on Friday, October 2 at 10 AM and concluded on Sunday, October 4 at 4:25 PM.
I also attended the conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. The Parsec organization of Pittsburgh runs the literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. They held the conference on four tracks, so they held up to four activities at the same time. They held each event on Zoom, and the attendees had to register for each event to attend the event. I attended the opening ceremony, five panels, three readings, one presentation, the guest of honor presentation, and the conference breakdown.
Videos of the conference are found at the confluence-SFF you tube channel linked below.
Summary for Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020
Friday, October 2nd at 7 PM
A reading by Marie Vibbert.
Marie read from her novel Galactic Hellcats, which will be released in March 2021. The novel is a story about a female biker gang in outer space, saving a gay prince.
She read four chapters that she selected because each introduced one of her four principal characters; Key, Margo, Zuaka, and the Prince.
The reading had a lot of action and the characters were distinctive. Sounds like a fun book to read next year.
They held the reading on Track 3: Kish Karad with 15 attendees.
Friday, October 2nd at 9 PM
The opening ceremonies featuring Guest of Honor, Martha Wells.
Kevin Hayes introduced Martha Wells and read her bio. Diane Turnshek talked about the anthology book Triangulation: Extinction which she edited and was sponsored by the Parsec group which is also a sponsor of Confluence. Kevin read off the planned events for the conference. Karen Yun-Lutz mentioned that SFWA is a sponsor for the conference. Greg Clumpner talked about the forums on Discord which were open for panelists and attendees to mingle on when they were not attending an activity.
The opening presentation ended with a short interview with Martha Wells. Martha said she wrote the first book in the Murderbot series because she needed some place to put her anger. She said it disappointed her that they postponed the conference in July because she had wanted to explore sites in Pittsburgh this year. She said she had been to Pittsburgh twice to attend the Nebula Awards, but hadn’t had the opportunity to explore the city at that time.
They held the opening ceremonies on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
Saturday, October 3rd at 10:30 AM
A Reading by Brandon McNulty.
Brandon read three chapters from his novel Bad Parts that was published on June 23, 2020. It is subtitled a supernatural thriller. In chapter one, Mac is 70 years old and has failing kidneys. In chapter two, Ash Hudson is the lead guitar player in a heavy metal band named Bad Parts. She has to find her lead singer and replace her rhythm guitarist to play the show they have scheduled for that night. In chapter three, they play the show and load up their gear in the van. Some scary dude tails them. How are they going to getaway?
It sounds like an interesting book. I have put it on my want-to-read list on Goodreads.
They held the reading on Track 3: Kish Karad with 6 attendees.
Saturday, October 3rd at 12 PM
Where Does Your World Come From? Panel with Michelle Sagara. Joe Haldeman, Aliette de Bodard, and Tobias Buckell.
Michelle Sagara was the moderator. Her first question to the panel was; where do your worlds come from? They talked about how they got their ideas. Do you build the story to the world or do you build the world to the story? It comes down to the concept that world-building and characterization are intertwined. How had your education, other work experiences, and travel influenced your writing? The answers show that their background influences their writing. How has the pandemic affected your writing? Inconclusive. Is there a difference in world-building between a short story versus a novel? The answers varied.
The moderator’s questions were interesting and the responses from the panel were instructive to an attendee who is a writer.
They held the panel on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
This is a link for the you tube video for the panel.
Saturday, October 3rd at 2 PM
The Business of Writing panel with Gay Haldeman, Neil Clarke, Gail Carriger, Tamora Pierce, and Herb Kauderer.
Gay Haldeman was the moderator. She asked questions about the business of writing. The panel related their experiences. Some interesting responses followed. Read your contracts. Don’t be discouraged by rejections. Review guidelines when submitting work every time. Consider Patreon. Work on your social media platform. Everything is tax deductible for a writer. When submitting short fiction start at the top of the market and work your way down. Most agents and editors want a rewrite, so be ready for the rewrite and be flexible. Set up a literary estate.
They held the panel on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
This is a link for the you tube video for the panel.
Saturday, October 3rd at 3 PM
An interview with Guest of Honor Martha Wells conducted by Wenmimareba Klobah Collins.
Wenmimareba asks Martha questions, and she answered them. Martha talked about the differences in writing Murderbot, an SF story, in close first person, and her fantasy stories in the third person. She takes about three months to write a Murderbot novella. Fugitive Telemetry is finished, and she doesn’t know what she will write next. Martha doesn’t enjoy plotting; she writes as a pantser. She doesn’t want to figure out too much beforehand because she doesn’t want to get bored with the story before she finishes it.
The interviewer asked for the author’s book recommendations. Some recommendations were: Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo, and The Best of all Possible Worlds by Karen Lord.
I enjoyed getting to know more about the author’s writing process and thoughts about writing.
They held the interview on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
This is a link for the you tube video for the interview.
Saturday, October 3rd at 4 PM
A reading by Guest of Honor Martha Wells.
Martha Wells read from her novella, Fugitive Telemetry.
Fugitive Telemetry is a prequel to the Murderbot novel, Network Effect.
She read Chapter One of the novella first. Dr. Mensa has hired Murderbot as a consultant for her on Preservation Station. There has been a murder and Murderbot evaluates the scene.
She read Chapter Three next. Murderbot has to connect to the Preservation Station network and must tell as little of the truth as Murderbot can. This is Murderbot’s first job as a consultant. At the end of the meeting, Murderbot walks with Dr. Mensa.
The channel moderator asked two questions with the time remaining. Martha talked about how her Murderbot short story from May 2020 on Tor.com (Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory) was given to people who pre-ordered Network Effect.
The reason she wrote this prequel was because she wanted to show how Preservation Station would function with Sec Unit Murderbot working as a consultant.
This is the link to Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6) by Martha Wells, published on April 27, 2021.
They held the reading on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon with 45 attendees at the start building to a maximum of 58 attendees.
Saturday, October 3rd at 5 PM
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants panel with Marie Vibbert, Joe Haldeman, Bud Sparhawk, and Steven H. Silver.
Marie Vibbert was the moderator. A few questions posed as follows. Is there an SF canon? The answer is; There is a canon, but it doesn’t matter anymore, because the next generation responds to the ideas of the canon without reading the canon. Do you read outside the genre? Reading outside the genre helps you to grow as a writer.
At the end of the panel, they fielded questions from the audience. What are the examples of the lost works of early SF? Examples are Clare Winger Harris and Stanley G. Weinbaum. Who are the giants now? Some authors mentioned were N. K. Jemisin, Martha Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Rebecca Roanhorse.
I checked out a letter that Clare Winger Harris wrote to Wonder Stories in August 1938 on her sixteen plots in SF. Interesting reading. I found a link below.
I took The Artificial Man and other Stories by Clare Winger Harris out from the library. It collects ten of her best short stories. Goodreads link below.
This is a link for the you tube video for the panel.
Sunday, October 4th at 10 AM
I Sing the Plotting Electric panel with Geoffrey Landis, Bud Sparhawk, Joe Haldeman, Bo Balder, and Scot Noel.
Geoffrey Landis was the moderator. He asked the questions, and the panel gave the answers. The panel was a look at the resurgence of space opera. Space opera came from the pulp SF stories of authors like E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith, Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The term was an extrapolation of the western horse opera to the SF space opera. It began as a derogatory term, but that changed over time as more authors used the trope.
Why do you think there has been a resurgence of space opera? There is a frontier feeling to the stories, a chance for the characters to reinvent their selves. It brings back an old-style plot, good versus evil. With commercial space opening up with Space-X and Virgin Galactic, it stimulates the need for space opera.
They held the panel on Track 2: Opal Night with 28 attendees.
Sunday, October 4th at 11 AM
Let’s get series-ish panel with Michelle Sagara, Martha Wells, Robert Angell, and Jennifer Foehner.
Robert Angell was the moderator. He asked questions, and the panel answered them. What are the pitfalls and pluses? What is it about the stories that dictate the need for more stories? Do the characters demand it, or is there just no end to plots?
They held the panel on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
Sunday, October 4th at 1 PM
Mission to Triton presentation given by Geoffrey Landis.
Geoffrey Landis is an aerospace engineer who works for NASA. He presented his proposed future mission to Triton, the largest moon of Neptune. It is an interesting moon that has only been visited once on a fly-by from the Voyager-2 probe in 1989. Triton might be like Pluto, a captured Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) created when the solar system formed. Triton’s mountains are made of water ice, it orbits Neptune in a retrograde orbit, and its pink color is from complex organic molecules on its surface.
When brainstorming the project, he determined that the mission should use the resources of Triton for a long term mission. The vehicle will land on Triton and hop from site to site using a radioisotope powered rocket. Each probe hop would be 5 km each and use Nitrogen as fuel. The probe will do core drills in the Nitrogen ice and test the cores.
The presentation ended with questions from the audience.
They held the presentation on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
This is a link for the you tube video for the presentation.
Sunday, October 4th at 4 PM
C’monfluence Breakdown with the Con Committee; Karen Yun-Lutz, Kevin Hayes, John Thompson, Heidi Pilewski, and Diane Turnshek. Also, the tech guy, Greg Clumpner.
They learned a lot about presenting their first virtual conference. Discord was an essential area for discussion before and after the presentations.
There were some challenges. Panelists’ time zones were different, preventing Zoom bombers, and there wasn’t enough staff to monitor a potential Zoom meeting room. Time remaining flashes at the ten minutes and five minutes to go was distracting to the panelists and the attendees. The webinars went very well, the meetings were iffy, and the readings were bad, the lesson learned.
The Kaffeeklatsches had a 15-attendee max, but only 20% were full. Workshops were the most attended panels. A component of the next conference could be virtual because of the success this year of the virtual conference.
They held the presentation on Track 2: Opal Night with 21 attendees at the start building to 24 attendees.
Conclusion for Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020
I’m glad that they could hold the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020 virtually. My star of the con was Guest of Honor, Martha Wells. I viewed her at the opening ceremonies, an interview, a reading, and on a panel. She was interesting and entertaining in every activity that I attended. She was named the Guest of Honor before they postponed the conference, and she remained the GOH for the virtual conference.
I attended the opening ceremony, five panels, three readings, one presentation, the guest of honor presentation, and the conference breakdown. My other highlights were the Triton Presentation by Geoffrey Landis and the SF influences panel. (because it led me to Clare Winger Harris’s sixteen SF plots.) I also attended Confluence in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 and plan to return in 2021. They will hold confluence 2021 from July 23 to 25, 2021.
Links for Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020
Recap for the Confluence SF Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.
They held the Confluence Conference from August 4 to August 6, 2017, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended seven panels, one writing workshop, one author reading, and the guests of honor presentation.
They held the Confluence Conference from July 27, 2018, to July 29, 2018, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended two lectures, two panels, one fiction writing seminar, one author reading, and the guest of honor presentation.
Recap for the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh on July 27 & 28, 2019, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I also attended Confluence in 2016, 2017, and 2018. I attended five panels, two fiction writing workshops, and the guest of honor presentation.
They held Dragon Con Atlanta 2020 from September 3 to 7, 2020. This year with Covid-19, it was a virtual conference. I viewed 5 panels, 1 interview, and 2 Dragon Con updates. Three tracks could be viewed at the same time for 24 hours a day from 6:30 PM Thursday to 3:30 PM Monday. The tracks were the main track, a fan track, and a classic track (replays of taped panels from 2008 to 2019). It was a great opportunity for me because Atlanta is far away from me, and I am not likely to attend this con in person.
Games of Thrones panel from 2015 on the Classic Track:
The panel’s moderator was Marc Lee. The panelists were actors from the Game of Thrones show Kristian Nairn (Hodor), Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell), and Julian Glover (Grand Maester Pycelle).
Kristian talked about filming in Iceland, Finn talked about performing a gay scene on his first day of shooting, and Julian talked about always playing the villain in movies, so he was never in the sequels.
I thought it was a fun panel and the panelists were engaging.
Saturday, September 5th, at 1 PM
John Scalzi: Tour of an Author’s Life (and Kitchen), an interview with John Scalzi on the Main Track:
This was a taped interview by Brian Robertson of author John Scalzi. He interviewed Scalzi by remote from each of their homes. The interview was done in three parts.
First, John Scalzi talked about his career in his office. He started as a journalist and posted his work in progress on his blog. That novel was Old Man’s War and the success of that book launched his career as a novelist. He considers it an accidental career.
The second part of the interview was from John Scalzi’s basement. He keeps his musical instruments down there. Playing music is a release for him between writing.
The last part of the interview was from John Scalzi’s kitchen. He enjoys making burritos with anything goes. The burrito he made here featured two-day-old lasagna and parmesan dip. He finished the interview mentioning that his latest novel was nominated for the Dragon Award for Science Fiction Novel.
John Scalzi’s latest novel is The Last Emperox. It is the third and final book of the Interdependency Trilogy and was released on April 14, 2020. This is the link to the Goodreads page.
The panel started with 298 attendees, increased to 335 attendees at 1:10 PM, and ended with 361 attendees at the end of the interview.
I thought it was a great interview. I’ve seen John Scalzi many times and he is always interesting and engaging.
Saturday, September 5th, at 5 PM
Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey panel from 2008 on the Classic Track:
The beginning of the panel was Todd interviewing his mother Anne and the rest of the panel was questions from the audience. She said she got inspired to write because she needed money for her three small kids at home. Anne wrote the Dragonriders of Pern series which became more popular with the success of Harry Potter.
She said that sometimes it is the names that inspire the story other times it is the characters. Geology fascinated her and cartography was important to her novels. She moved to Ireland and horses were important to her. At one point he owned 23 horses.
It was interesting to see this panel from 2008. Anne McCaffrey is one of my favorite authors.
The panel started with 208 attendees.
Sunday, September 6th, at 3 PM
Perseverance – Mars 2020 panel with Dr. Sarah Milkovich and Kim Steadman on the Fan Track:
This was a slideshow presentation with two engineers of the surface operation for the Perseverance rover that launched to Mars on July 30, 2020. The presentation was filmed on July 31, 2020. They plan to land the probe at Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. It was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology. The mission is to seek signs of ancient life at an ancient river delta.
The engineers discussed the instruments on the rover. The rover will take readings and collect 30 samples at various locations. A second mission will collect the samples and launch them to orbit. A third mission will collect the samples and return them to earth.
These are links to the mission briefing on the JPL website and the NASA website.
I thought it was a great presentation. I hope the rover has a safe landing next year.
Sunday, September 6th, at 6 PM
The 2020 Dragon Awards announced by Cooper Andrews on the Main Track:
The 2020 Dragon Awards were announced. There are 15 categories including gaming, literature, and visual medium. There were nominees in each category and the winners were announced in this half-hour presentation. The last award was for the Science Fiction novel. John Scalzi, the writing Guest of Honor, won for his novel The Last Emperox.
Sunday, September 6th, at 6:30 PM
The Dragon Con Update with Will and Bee:
Will and Bee interviewed Leigh and Jon. Leigh and Jon conduct interviews of the leaders of different tracks at the conference. They want to bring attention to the behind the scenes people at the con. They post the interviews at the unique geek.
The Dragon Con update finished with a heck with Beth about the Fan Interactions Report. She showed pictures from four hashtags that they used.
Monday, September 6th, at 9 AM
Award-Winning and Best-selling Authors panel on the Fan Track:
Bill Fawcett was the Moderator of the panel. The panel was Tasmin Silver (writes urban fantasy and historical fantasy), Robert Sawyer (his most recent novel is the alternate history, The Oppenheimer Alternative), Jody Lynn Nye (wrote in the Myth Adventures series and co-wrote with Anne McCaffery), and John Scalzi (Dragon Con Writing Guest of Honor and winner of the Dragon Award for Science Fiction Novel, for the Last Emperox).
Bill asked the panel a series of questions. The main point was what makes a novel an award winner versus a best-seller. Robert’s answer was a best seller needs a likable protagonist while an award winner might have an unlikeable protagonist. John answered that best-sellers are marketable books with the goal to entertain, while award winners have a bold view and are written for writers.
Other questions included are best sellers a product of the time they are read, social media advice, and advice for new writers.
I thought that all four writers gave insightful answers to the moderator’s questions. I wish the had more time to talk.
Monday, September 6th, at 1 PM
Let’s Build a World panel on the Fan Track:
Michael G. Williams was the Moderator of the panel. The panel was Cecilia Dominic (writes urban fantasy and steampunk), Charles E. Gannon (writes hard SF and Alternate history), and Chris Kennedy (SF author, publisher, and editor).
The panel was about how writers build their worlds. The first question was about how the authors created their setting. The second question was about the most important decision to make in world-building. What do you most hate about world-building? Is it characters first or later when you are designing a setting? Is believability important to you?
They played an exercise on world-building picking four answers to important questions. They picked religion (ancestor worship that is not based on reality), family (with gender fluidity), social conformity (the worst thing to them is to be shunned), and tech (low tech).
I thought the plan was interesting especially how the writers completed the world-building exercise.
Recommendation – Conclusion
Virtual Dragon Con Atlanta 2020 was a great experience. Viewing the virtual con was nice since I would not have made it to Atlanta this year. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I checked out a few presentations Friday evening to see how it was. Before the Game of Thrones panel, I looked at the end of Improvised Dungeons and Dragons. The panelists took a humorous take on a random D & D game. What I saw was funny. I wish I had seen the whole panel. My star of the con was John Scalzi. Other highlights were the Let’s Build a World panel and the Mars 2020 presentation. I hope to attend Dragon Con sometime in the future.
Links
This is my post for a similar conference that I attended in person in January 2020.
I attended the SF conference ConFusion in Detroit, Michigan from January 16 to 19, 2020. I attended four panels, two readings, and one interview. The theme of the con was How to Train Your ConFusion, based on the movie, How to Train Your Dragon. My star of the con was John Scalzi. He gave an excellent reading of Chapter Two of his upcoming book named The Last Emperox. My other highlights were Kameron Hurley’s interview and the lecture on Edible Insects and Human Evolution. I’ll be back next year.
