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Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020

Introduction

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.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC37uvCJAKMsSf2rh-NlBDSQ/videos

The link to the Confluence website.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

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.

This is the Goodreads link to Galactic Hellcats.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53388150-galactic-hellcats

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.

This is the Goodreads link for Bad Parts.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53447482-bad-parts

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.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53205854-fugitive-telemetry

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.

http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/every-possible-kind-of-science-fiction-story-1931.html

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.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44304225-the-artificial-man-and-other-stories

They held the panel on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.

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.

Confluence 2016 Conference

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.

Confluence Conference 2017

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.

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2018

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.

Confluence Conference Pittsburgh 2019

Dragon Con Atlanta 2020

Conference Recap Dragon Con Atlanta 2020

Introduction

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.

The Logo for Dragon Con Atlanta 2020.

This is a link to Dragon Con’s website.

https://www.dragoncon.org/

Summary

Friday, September 4^th, at 11 PM

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 5^th, 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.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38322550-the-last-emperox

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 5^th, 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 6^th, 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.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance-rover/

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

This is a projected photo of the rover on Mars.

I thought it was a great presentation. I hope the rover has a safe landing next year.

Sunday, September 6^th, 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 6^th, 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.

https://theuniquegeek.com/

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 6^th, 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 6^th, 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.

Conference Recap ConFusion Detroit 2020

Conference Recap ConFusion Detroit 2020

Introduction

I attended the SF conference named ConFusion Detroit 2020 at 21111 Haggerty Road Novi, Michigan at the Sheraton Detroit Novi from January 16 to 19, 2020. The Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association sponsors ConFusion Detroit 2020. I attended four panels, two readings, and one interview. The theme of the conference was How to Train Your Confusion. It was a play on words promoting the movie How to Train Your Dragon. They showed the movie in the boardroom, but I did not watch it then.

This is a link to the ConFusion website.

http://confusionsf.org/

The Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association sponsors Detroit ConFusion.

Outside the Sheraton in snowy Michigan at the ConFusion Detroit 2020 Science Fiction Conference.

The 2020 Logo for ConFusion Detroit 2020.

ConFusion Detroit 2020 Program Guide Cover

This is my badge for ConFusion Detroit 2020.

Summary

Saturday, January 18^th at 10 AM

The Future of Space Travel panel with Jeff Beeler, Elly Bangs, Shannon Eichhorn, and Tobias Buckell:

What do the future of space travel hold for us in the near term and the far future? They talked about playing the game Kerbal Space Program. It is a space flight simulation game where the player manages a space program using green-skinned Kerbals. https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/ For the current state of the space program they talked about the 2020 Mars Lander and BFR Plus spaceship designed by SpaceX. Recommended books and websites followed. The Case for Mars by Robert Zubin. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56713.The_Case_for_Mars The Elon Musk Blog Series, Wait but Why by Tim Urban. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29437730-the-elon-musk-blog-series The SpaceX feed at https://twitter.com/SpaceX They suggest following Gwynne Shotwell, who is the President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX. She is the one who makes Elon Musk’s ideas become reality.

They held the panel in the Interlochen room with 28 attendees. There weren’t enough chairs in the room, so six people were standing, including me.

Saturday, January 18^th at 11 AM

Interstellar Nations and Warfare: Space Opera Worldbuilding panel with Karen Burnham, Marquel Jacob, Jenn Lyons, and Glynn Stewart:

The first point is why write space opera if the physics tells us it is not likely that we will communicate instantly through space and there is no faster than light space travel? We write space opera because it is fun to extrapolate on current technology. If the writer keeps the rules consistent internally, then it is okay to write space opera.

If civilization is interstellar, then there should not be a scarcity of resources. So, where does the conflict come from? The conflict could come with ideas and the scarcity of specific resources. The primal motivations are land, money, and lies. Examples used with FTL travel as conflicts are an unstable FTL travel method in The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi and the scarcity of the spice used for FTL travel in Dune by Frank Hebert. The panel talked about pet peeves where authors get Worldbuilding wrong. Not following the rules of artificial gravity, there is no FTL travel in the story, but there is a fast trip to Jupiter, a one ecosystem planet, and no normal people left.

They held the panel in the Manitou room with 22 attendees.

Saturday, January 18^th at 4 PM

Reading by John Scalzi:

John Scalzi read from his soon to be released novel named the Last Emperox, a story from his book A Very Scalzi Christmas, a post from his blog, and he ended the hour with a question-and-answer session.

He read Chapter Two of The Last Emperox. It is the third and final book of the Interdependency Trilogy and will be released on April 14, 2020. The Chapter was from Kiva Lagos’s perspective and concerns the events that occurred at the end of the previous novel in the series.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38322550-the-last-emperox

A Very Scalzi Christmas collects 15 short tales about the holiday season. He read one tale named Resolutions for the New Year–A Bullet Point List. It was brief and was hilarious.

He read from his Blog called Whatever. It was a piece from his answers to reader requests. This one was on civility, question #5 from 2019. See the article through the link. https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/11/20/reader-request-week-2019-5-civility/

A short Q and A followed. Scalzi had a question about using the first person in his novel named Lock In. He remarked that seven years ago there was no narrative about binary gender identification. Now, only seven years later, it’s not even an issue anymore. Someone asked Scalzi about how he got the military culture correct in the Old Man’s War series. He said his father and brother were in the service and he did a lot of research to make the story work. Someone asked Scalzi about TV and movie projects. He confirmed that the Redshirts project is dead… twice dead. Scalzi confirmed that he has delivered 4 of the 13 novels contacted by Tor. The trilogy is a trilogy and no more, though his original proposal included a book set 5000 years in the Interdependency’s future.

The whole hour was fun and perfect. It was my best hour of the conference.

They held the reading in Ballroom C & D with 33 attendees.

Saturday, January 18^th at 5 PM

Science Guest of Honor Reading of Edible Insects and Human Evolution by Dr. Julie Lesnik:

She read from her book Edible Insects and Human Evolution. Images projected on a screen accompanied the reading. Most of the images were humorous.

First, we must understand our aversion to eating insects. Humans display fear and disgust for the concept of eating bugs. Fear goes with spiders and disgust goes with an aversion to disease. By taste, humans associate sweet and salty to good and bitter to bad. Uncooked insects are bitter; thus, people consider them bad to eat.

Insects in the human diet have gone for absent to adverse through time. Romans consumed insects. Something happened where insects have become absent in Western Civilization’s diet, and this absence has transformed into an aversion to eating insects. In modern times, people in Equatorial regions consume insects. Why is this behavior observed?

Will humans overcome the aversion to eating insects? Insects are a great source of protein. They use Black Soldier fly larva in pet food and they use mealworms in bioconversion. The most likely source for insect consumption is crickets. They are not economical now, but the price point is coming closer to feasibility. She brought edible crickets for those audience members who wanted to try them.

They held the reading in the Keweenaw room with 31 attendees. There weren’t enough chairs in the room, so four people stood.

Saturday, January 18^th at 6 PM

Short Fiction Submission: Advice from the Editor panel with Jeff Chapman, Jennie Ivins, Scott Andrews, Mur Lafferty, and Alvin Mullin:

The editors in the panel answered about the dos and don’ts when submitting for magazines and anthologies. The panelists have a varied background as editors.

Jeff Chapman reaches writing and is an editor for a literary magazine.

Jennie Ivins is the editor for http://fantasy-faction.com/

Scott Andrews is the editor for http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/

Mur Lafferty is the editor for https://escapepod.org/

Alvin Mullin is an anthology editor.

Advice for successfully submitting short fiction includes use no special formatting, learn about special requirements for each market where you are submitting, and read an issue of the magazine to understand the stories the magazine accepts. Read the submission guidelines and know your market. Note that the submission grinder gives example turnaround times for each magazine. https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/

Keep your cover letters short. Try to emotionally detach yourself from rejection. Form rejections are part of the process. A mistake is a moment to learn. If they reject you, then you are a working writer.

Here are other links to websites detailing magazines looking for stories in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Ralan https://www.ralan.com/, Duotrope https://duotrope.com/, and Locus magazine https://locusmag.com/

Don’t follow the trends. Good stories create trends. Write the story from your heart. Don’t reply to rejection with anger.

They held the panel in the Isle Royale room with 22 attendees.

Sunday, January 19th, at 10 AM

Black Gate Interview with Author Guest of Honor Kameron Hurley by Brandon Crilly:

They recorded this interview for Black Gate Publishing at https://www.blackgate.com/

She talked about the great time she had on her Spanish tour in 2019. She talked about pushing for getting a breakout book which caused her to burnout. It took her four years to write book three of a series when she lost her agent and wondered if she could make a living as a writer. She persevered, got a new agent, and wrote three books in a year. Keep doing the work because you don’t know what book will break out. Continue your journey on how to take feedback. Turn off your critic’s brain when you are reading as an author. Create a realistic success metric for yourself. Write the book of your heart.

They held the panel in the Charlevoix room with 12 attendees.

Sunday, January 19^th at 11 AM

Plan Your Outbreak! lecture with Keren Landsman:

Keren Landsman is an Israeli writer and doctor specializing in Epidemiology and Public Health. Her science lecture was about from influenza to the black death, discussing what made the largest biological disasters happen and how to use that knowledge in Worldbuilding an outbreak.

Worldbuilding is a character on its own. It needs a significant role in the story’s plot. A pathogen causes disease. She talked about various diseases including Tuberculosis, syphilis, the black plague, rabies, cholera, and Ebola. An example was the Broad Street Pump. Dr. John Snow figures out the cause for a cholera outbreak by interviewing patients to determine they all used a single contaminated water pump.

One thing to remember is that doctors and nurses always get the disease they are treating. The family members are the next to get the disease. Rabies is not a good disease to build an outbreak story from since it is only transmitted from animal to human by biting. Traveling Italian merchants brought The Black Death to Europe. It is normal to have quarantine for 40 days.

They held the panel in the Leelanaw room with 10 attendees.

Recommendation – Conclusion

As I drove up I-75 into Michigan, I drove into a snowstorm. I drove slowly and got there safely. The ConFusion Detroit 2020 conference was held in this location previously. In 2019, I attended the con in another location, so it took me a while to figure out how to get to the conference center from inside the hotel. Once I got to the conference center, the locations were easy to navigate. There was more room at this location and it had more activities than in 2019. I enjoyed the variety. 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’m planning to return next year.

Links

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.

Conference Recap ConFusion Detroit 2019

Conference Recap Marcon Columbus 2017

Marcon Columbus 2017

Conference Recap Marcon Columbus 2017

Introduction

I attended the SF Conference Marcon Columbus 2017 on May 13, 2017. 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 2018 and 2019. The 2019 convention was from May 10 to 12, 2019 and I realized when I wrote a recap for that conference, I had not posted a recap for the 2017 conference. This is my recap of the 2017 conference. I attended five panels at the 2017 conference.

The link to the Marcon website.

http://marcon.org/

Marcon Columbus 2017 Program Guide Cover

Picture of my badge from Marcon Columbus 2017

Summary

Saturday, May 13th at 11:30 AM

Dystopias 2: this is the way the world ends, a panel with Karen Dollinger, Courtney Bliss, Joaryn Bailey, Donald Haynes, and Alyssa Pence.

The discussion was about dystopias. You don’t need an apocalypse to get a dystopia. Someone benefits from a dystopia. The story helps us to question how things are now. Books in this genre are a lens for social commentary. Human nature is not to be static. Recommended books are Newsflesh by Mira Grant, The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, and 1984 by George Orwell.

They held the panel in the McKinley Room with 15 attendees.

Saturday, May 13th at 1 PM

Humorous Science Fiction and Fantasy, a panel with Addie J. King, Kandi Hopkins, Deb Wallace, and L. Anne Wooley.

Who does humor well? The answers were Terry Pratchett, John Scalzi, Christopher Moore, J. K. Rowling, Robert Asprin, Spider Robinson, and Jim Butcher.

What makes it work? If you find it funny, then you may be able to write it. Use humor to break up the serious parts of your novel. Give the readers a break by using humor. Try not to over-explain the humor or it will lose its impact.

They held the panel in the McKinley Room with 16 attendees.

Saturday, May 13th at 2:30 PM

Antiheroes: When the main character could easily be the villain, a panel with Denice Verrico, Karen Dollinger, Faye Malcolm, Erin Reilly-Sanders, Van Siegling.

There is a spectrum of characters from the worst villain Sauron from Lord of the Rings to the best hero Dudley Doo Right. An antihero works as long as the protagonist is more hero-like on the spectrum than the antagonist. An Antihero rejects the norms of society. Examples of antiheroes are Dexter, protagonists in bank heist stories, Walter White, Saul Goodman, and Scarlett O’Hara.

They held the panel in the McKinley Room with 21 attendees.

Saturday,May 13th at 4 PM

The Difference Between Story and Plot, a panel with Shannon Eichhorn, Charles Ebert, Addie J. King, Linda Robertson, Scott M. Sandridge.

The story is how you get there and the plot is the mechanics of the story. Ask yourself, does the plot move the story along? Read what you write. You need to be in love with your story as you are writing it. Write what you want too in the first draft but be prepared to kill your darlings in editing to strengthen your story. When constructing a story understand if your genre expects a series.

They held the panel in the McKinley Room with 11 attendees.

Saturday, May 13th at 5:30 PM

Cursed Children and Fantastic Beasts, a panel with Karen Dollinger, Hannah Blosser, Emily Lydic, Leah Nicola, and Amanda Caskey.

The panelists were experts in all things Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two is a stage play of the theater production. They held the stage production on July 30, 2016, and the book was released on July 31, 2016. The panelists talked about both presentations. They released the movie named Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them on November 18, 2016. The panel talked about the movie and the expected four sequels.

They held the panel in the Harrison Room with 12 attendees.

Recommendation – Conclusion

I had a great time at Marcon Columbus 2017. My star of the con was the panel on Cursed Children and Fantastic Beasts. I had read the printed stage play for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and watched the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, so I understood the panel and enjoyed what they had to say. I also attended Marcon in 2018 and 2019 and plan to return on May 9, 2020.

Links

Recap for SF Conference Marcon Columbus I attended on May 12, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio. I attended four panels and two game shows.

Marcon Conference 2018

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 Marcon Conference 2019

Goodreads page for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29056083-harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child

Conference Recap Cleveland ConCoction 2017

Introduction

I attended the SF conference Cleveland ConCoction 2017 at 5300 Riverside Drive Cleveland, Ohio at the Sheraton Cleveland Airport Hotel from March 10, 2017, to March 12, 2017. The 2019 convention was from March 1 to 3, 2019 and I realized when I wrote a recap for that conference, I had not posted a recap for the 2017 conference. This is a recap of the 2017 conference. I attended three panels, two author showcases, two performances, the state of the con panel, and the closing ceremony. I also volunteered in the ConSuite for twelve hours.

The link to the ConCoction website.

http://www.clevelandconcoction.org/

Cleveland ConCoction Banner

Cleveland ConCoction 2017 Program Guide Cover. Even though the cover has 2016 listed, this was the 2017 program. The theme was Grimm’s’ Fairy Tales.

Picture of my badge from Cleveland ConCoction 2017

Summary

Friday, March 10th from 4 PM to 9 PM

I volunteered in the ConSuite Department for five hours on Friday. The ConSuite was in a back bar at the Sheraton Hotel.

Friday, March 10th at 9 PM

A concert by the Blibbering Humdingers

This duo played what they called wizard rock. Most of the songs in this concert dealt with themes from Harry Potter. The songs played were “Love Song of Sirius Black (Dementor in Love)”, “Voldemort made me crap my pants”, “Lily’s Worst Memory,” “Best Game Ever,” “Hot Girl in the Comic Shop,” and “Awkward Hug.” I thought “Best Game Ever” was the best song they played at this session.

They held the concert in the Orion A Room.

Saturday, March 11th from 9 AM to 4 PM

I volunteered in the ConSuite Department for seven hours on Friday. The ConSuite was in a back bar at the Sheraton Hotel. During this time, I was helping to make Rice Krispy blocks used in patterns. When I did that, I saw the coffee session with Glen Cook, but I didn’t hear much of the conversation.

Saturday, March 11th at 5 PM

Author Showcase (Session 4)

Four authors read from their works in the showcase.

Brent D. Seth read from his novel named Shortfuse.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25456172-short-fuse

Mary Turzillo read a short story from her short story collection named Bonsai Babies.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32269487-bonsai-babies

Addie J. King read from her novel Shades of Gray. It is about a rookie cop and werewolves.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26850087-shades-of-gray

Kathy Callahan read from her vampire novel.

They held the showcase in the Lyra room with 8 attendees.

Saturday, March 11th at 6 PM

Common Problems New Writers Encounter, a panel with Shannon Eichhorn, Sara Dobie Bauer, J. Thorn, and James Barnes.

J. Thorn outlined his process. He recommended the book The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne. Know what you need next he suggests. Look into getting a developmental editor, a line editor, a copy editor, and then beta readers. Other suggestions for new writers from the panel were as follows. Write what you are passionate about. Don’t have a fear of breaking rules. Be cautious of giving too much back story and info dumps. Know your genre. Books used as examples were Pet Semetary by Stephen King and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25455700-the-story-grid

They held the panel in the Pegasus room with 13 attendees.

Saturday, March 11th at 7 PM

Elevator Pitch Tutorial Session, a panel with Addie J. King, James Barnes, J. Thorn, Mary Turzillo, and Linda Robertson.

An Elevator Pitch explains the essence of a novel. The idea is to give the pitch to someone who could be interested in representing your book in the time it would take an elevator to go six floors. In the pitch, you want to describe what your book is about. Think about your ideal customer when you are designing the pitch. Think about how you would describe your book to an editor. The Pixar Pitch is a six-line template that can tell the story of your work developed by Emma Coats. You can find the pitch in Daniel H. Pink’s book named To Sell Is Human. The pitch fits for the Pixar movies but can be adapted to any written work. Linda Robertson gave out a handout. In it the main points were that you need a concept, a premise, ask questions, and understand the character’s stakes in your story. The concept and the premise when read together is your elevator pitch.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13593553-to-sell-is-human

They held the panel in the Lyra Room with 7 attendees.

Saturday, March 11th at 8 PM

A concert by the Blibbering Humdingers

I liked the first concert, so I came back to see them again. This duo played what they called wizard rock. Most of the songs in this concert dealt with themes from Harry Potter. The songs I saw played in this session were “Hufflepuff Sandwich,” “Zip Me Up,” and “Natural 20 (a song about playing the Dungeons and Dragons Game).”

They held the concert in the Orion A Room.

Sunday, March 12th at 10 AM

State of the Con Q and A

The Con Chairs talked about how Cleveland ConCoction 2017 went this week and about plans for 2018.

They held the panel in the Orion A Room with 10 attendees.

Sunday, March 12th at 11 AM

Post-Apocalypse–How Will It End?, a panel with J. L. Gribble, Weston Kincade, and Brent D. Seth.

The panelists talked about the novels Flood by Stephen Baxter and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. They also talked about the TV show called The 100.

They held the panel in the Pegasus Room.

Sunday, March 12th at 12 PM

Author Showcase (Session 5)

Four authors read from their works.

Linda Robertson read from her novel Jovienne.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32713330-jovienne

J. D. Blackrose read a story about Vampires and Valkyries.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/16065546.J_D_Blackrose

Adrian Matthews read from his novel Olivia’s Return (BloodDark Book #1)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31670766-olivia-s-escape

Cindy Matthews read from her novel Olivia’s Return (BloodDark Book #2)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34197040-olivia-s-return

They held the panel in the Lyra Room with 3 attendees.

Sunday, March 12th at 2 PM

Closing Ceremonies

The Guests of Honor were presented and thanked for Cleveland ConCoction 2017.

They held the panel in the Orion A Room.

Recommendation – Conclusion

I had a great time at Cleveland ConCoction 2017. It was my first time at this con. I worked twelve hours in the ConSuite and I don’t plan on doing that again because I missed events I wanted to see. My star of the con was the Blibbering Humdingers. I liked both of the concerts they performed. My other highlights were the Elevator Pitch panel and listening to eight authors who read their work in two showcases. I attended Cleveland ConCoction in 2018 and 2019 and I bought my pass for 2020.

Links

I attended Cleveland ConCoction 2019 at 600 North Aurora Road Aurora, Ohio at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 1 to 3, 2019. Attended the opening ceremony, four panels, and the closing ceremony. I also volunteered in the Programming Department for four hours and in the ConSuite for four hours. This is a link to my conference recap.

Conference Recap Cleveland ConCoction 2019

I also attended Cleveland ConCoction at 600 North Aurora Road Aurora, Ohio at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 9, 2018, to March 11, 2018. Attended the opening ceremony, five panels, two author showcases, a performance, and the closing ceremony. I also volunteered in the ConSuite for eight hours. This is a Link to my conference recap.

Conference Recap Cleveland ConCoction 2018

Gotham Writers Conference 2019

Introduction

I attended the Gotham Writers Conference in New York City, New York on October 25, 2019, sponsored by Gotham Writers Workshop. This was the first year for this conference. It was at the Ace Hotel on 20 West 29^th Street, New York City. There were five panels and presentations at the conference. Day two of the conference on October 26, 2019, was for pitching roundtables. The roundtables had a group of picked authors pitching their work to two agents in their genre. I did not get picked for the roundtables, so I did not participate.

The Gotham Writers Conference opened with a welcome from Gotham President Alex Steele. He related the story of how the genesis of the conference occurs. Josh Sippe’s job is to go to other writer’s conferences and report back to Alex. Josh asked why don’t we do a con? Alex replied that it was a “terrible” idea, so of course, they put on a conference.

https://www.writingclasses.com/

This is the swag bag we received at the conference. It said “Write” on the back of the bag.

This was the badge I used at the conference.

Summary before Lunch

Friday, October 25th at 10 AM

The Writer’s View: If I can do it, you can too, a panel with Seth Fried, Kody Keplinger, Joselin Linder, and David Seigerman (moderator)

The authors had different backgrounds. Kody is a fiction novel writer, Seth started with Literary Magazines, and Joselin writes non-fiction using proposals. The moderator asked questions about their process and experience. There were many interesting comments. I will detail three of them here that I found particularly helpful. Use comp titles that have been released in the last twelve months for your queries. Social media is part of your job as a writer. Being a professional means you meet deadlines because writing is a job.

Links to the authors

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4460711.Seth_Fried

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3095919.Kody_Keplinger

http://kodykeplinger.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1188589.Joselin_Linder

They held the presentation in the Basement of the Ace Hotel with about 160 attendees

Friday, October 25th at 11:25 AM

Embracing Rejection, a lecture by Kim Liao

She said to shoot for rejection instead of acceptance because that puts your fears in a box. Then you won’t be paralyzed by fear to submit your work.

She asked the attendees to take three minutes to answer two questions and put our answers down on paper. What are your biggest hopes and dreams as a writer? What stops you from achieving those hopes and dreams?

She then asked a series of five questions to the attendees. Five things to do in the next year to accomplish your goals or dreams. Four things to do in the next six months. Three things to do in the next two months. Two things to do in the next month. One thing to do before next Friday. The questions were helpful to help prioritize tasks to be completed.

https://www.writingclasses.com/faculty/bio/kim-liao

They held the presentation in the Basement of the Ace Hotel with about 160 attendees

Friday, October 25th at 12:25 PM

Weike Wong is interviewed by Gotham President Alex Steele

Alex had Weike read a passage from her novel Chemistry. In the passage, the unnamed main character is given a proposal of marriage from her boyfriend. That event starts off the novel leading to the main character’s dilemma and change.

Weike wanted to write a novel without shocking turns of events. She wanted a character-driven story and chose to find other ways to create tension in the story.

Alex had Weike read another passage from the novel. The main character is a grad student in Chemistry. She a psychologist to help her understand why she feels the way she does.

It was Weike’s choice to write a first-person novel with no names except for the boyfriend, Eric. It is a short novel with no chapters. Weike’s advice is to have a vision and stick to it.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15679271.Weike_Wang

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31684925-chemistry

They held the presentation in the Basement of the Ace Hotel with about 160 attendees

Summary after Lunch

Friday, October 25th at 2:45 PM

The Agents View: What We Talk About When We Talk About You, a panel with Kurestin Armada, Suzie Townsend, Jim McCarthy, and Susan Breen (moderator)

Susan asked a series of questions to the panel and they responded. Who was the latest client you signed and why? They talked about searching the slush pile and related that it feels like panning for gold. What do you like to see with a platform? They said it is essential for non-fiction writers but is up to the author for fiction writers. How quickly do you know you love the book you are reading? They say within the first few pages. She asked about pay and they said the going rate for agents is 15%. Is finding an agent only the first step? They talked about the agent must be a partner you trust and trusts you and that it is some kind of magic when a book works.

The panel ended with a question and answer session with the attendees.

Kurestin Armada’s literary agency

Who We Are

Suzie Townshend’s literary agency

Suzie Townsend

Jim McCarthy’s literary agency

https://www.dystel.com/jim-mccarthy

They held the presentation in the Basement of the Ace Hotel with about 160 attendees

Friday, October 25th at 4:10 PM

The Agent Game Show with J. L. Stermer, Noah Ballard, Alec Shane, Jeff Kleinman (host), and Alex Steele (fill-in host)

Jeff was late because of a time mix-up to Alex filled in as host of the panel. Alex ran the Game Show by having the agents answer questions and having the attendees vote on their favorite responses.

Alex’s questions were the most awkward situation, most uplifting experience, most challenging book you sold, worst pitch for a book, and name an author you would love to represent. At this point, the audience favored Noah’s answers.

Jeff continued the questioning. He asked about elements of a great query letter, is platform important to you, and after the sale is made what do you do as an agent. Jeff gave out gag gifts to the panelists at the end with input from the audience.

J. L. Stermer’s literary agency

JL Stermer

Alec Shane’s literary agency

https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/gylligann/?_ga=2.205836820.621312319.1576097454-525066593.1576097454

Noah Ballard’s literary agency

Noah Ballard

They held the presentation in the Basement of the Ace Hotel with about 160 attendees

Recommendation – Conclusion

I enjoyed attending the Gotham Writers Conference. Thanks to Josh Sippe for getting me into the conference at the last minute due to a late cancellation. The Conference was packed with eager writers looking for advice from the pros. I wish I had gotten my novel presentation completed in time to try to earn a spot at the pitching roundtables conducted on October 26, 2019. Hopefully next year there will be another conference and I could submit my novel then. My star of the Con was Alex Steele. He gave a great welcome speech, conducted an interesting interview with Weike Wang, and filled in admirably at the Agent Game Show. The conference was well worth the time invested and I would like to attend next year.

Links

A similar conference I attended this year was the Indie Author Conference in Parma, Ohio on October 12, 2019, at the Parma-Snow branch of the Cuyahoga County Library at 2121 Snow Road Parma, Ohio 44134. The Cuyahoga County Library sponsored the conference for the fourth time. There were three presentations in the morning and a local author fair in the afternoon. The focus of the conference was for writers and authors to learn more about self-publishing. They featured thirty-one authors in the showcase. The listed authors all had at least one published book in either 2018 or 2019 for sale.

Indie Author Conference Parma 2019

Indie Author Conference Parma 2019

Introduction

I attended the Indie Author Conference in Parma, Ohio on October 12, 2019, at the Parma-Snow branch of the Cuyahoga County Library at 2121 Snow Road Parma, Ohio 44134. The Cuyahoga County Library sponsored the conference for the fourth time. There were three presentations in the morning and a local author fair in the afternoon. The focus of the conference was for writers and authors to learn more about self-publishing. They featured thirty-one authors in the showcase. The listed authors all had at least one published book in either 2018 or 2019 for sale.

Link to Cuyahoga County Library website

https://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/

Summary

Saturday, October 12th at 10 AM

Understanding Amazon.com presentation with J. Thorn

The goal of his presentation was to show how to best sell a self-published book on Amazon. The slides to this presentation can be found at https://theauthorlife.com/iad2019/ J. Thorn also offers a free book on how to self-publish on his website https://theauthorlife.com/ The first important point to understand is that your cover must tell your genre. He became a bestseller when e-books just began in 2012 with his book, The Seventh Seal, which had 34 thousand downloads that year. After writing the book and looking at reviews, he realized that you need an editor to make your book the best you can make it.

Amazon is algorithmically driven. It isn’t like the library, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble. Amazon shows the potential buyer selections based on the algorithm. In the others, purchasers select the books to be displayed. The order of importance in selling a book is the cover, then title, then description. Know and target your ideal reader to cater to the algorithm. Amazon cares about the reader, not the author. Think like them to sell the most.

Using these methods, his book, Dawn, had one million page reads in 100 days. He thinks it is better to keep writing instead of chasing reviews since he gets one review per 1000 reads of his books. To help to find your ideal reader, he suggests the book by Chris Fox, Write to Market: Deliver a Book That Sells. Be a part of the community you want to serve. Engage your audience through social media or other means. Get to be a super fan of your genre to learn the conventions of the genre. Write what you read, don’t write the flavor of the month. Your readers will know if you understand them.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13511587-the-seventh-seal

They held the presentation in the Administration Building Auditorium with 32 attendees and the start increasing to 50 attendees at the end.

Saturday, October 12th at 11 AM

Protecting Your Work presentation with Willie and Rachel Scott

They Started TKI Publishing to help writers publish.

Willie and Rachel started TKI Publishing to help writers publish.

https://tkipublishing.com/

This talk was about protecting your work. The ISBN captures the information for your book. It is necessary to have an ISBN to sell your book online. Book barcodes are created from the ISBN which is needed for print books. You should own your own ISBN. ISBNs can be bought from Bowker at https://www.myidentifiers.com/

If you want to Copywrite your book, get a Library of Congress number at https://www.copyright.gov/ for $55.

They held the presentation in the Administration Building Auditorium with 50 attendees.

Saturday, October 12th at 12 PM

How My Self-Published Book Sold Over 100K Copies presentation with Dustin Brady

Dustin Brady Self-Published his children’s book, Trapped in a Video Game, in 2016. He had the idea to write the book that he would have liked as a ten-year-old boy. Watching the Nickelodeon Arcade inspired him to write his book with the protagonist playing inside a video game. The book has sold 250K copies to date. He said his secret was that he got lucky. His marketing strategy is to promise something that someone wants, then overdeliver on that promise.

The someone is your target audience which should be small and definable. He discovered his audience were the parents of small boys who hate reading. The promise starts with the cover. He learned that parents and teachers are the ones who buy his books, not the boys themselves. The cover should tell what the book is about and how it meets their needs. Over-deliver by putting in the work, it’s the only way to succeed. He found that the author’s guild helped him by giving lawyer advise about reviewing contracts. https://www.authorsguild.org/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30969081-trapped-in-a-video-game

They held the presentation in the Administration Building Auditorium with 50 attendees.

Saturday, October 12th from 1 PM to 4 PM

Showcase with 31 Authors.

The authors set their tables up to sell their books. Willie and Rachel Scott and Dustin Brady ha tables set up. The authors gave five-minute readings of their work.

They held the showcase in the Parma-Snow Auditorium.

Recommendation – Conclusion

The Indie Author Conference at the Parma-Snow library was interesting and well run. The presenters each gave a personal and relatable story with their lectures. They didn’t know what they didn’t know when they started but persisted with luck and perseverance. J. Thorn made navigating the Amazon.com jungle easier, the Scotts made protecting your information crystal clear, and Dustin Brady showed how he made his book series a success. You can find proof of the possibility of success at the independent author showcase. My Star of the Con was J. Thorn. His presentation was the most interesting. It was another excellent conference at the library, and I intend to return next year.

Links

I attended the Indie Author Conference and Showcase on November 12, 2016, at the Parma-Snow branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Parma, Ohio. This is the link to my recap.

Indie Author Conference and Showcase

I attended the Indie Author Day on October 14, 2017, at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library in South Euclid, Ohio. This is the link to my recap.

Indie Author Day 2017

Confluence Conference Pittsburgh 2019

Introduction

I attended the Confluence Conference Pittsburgh 2019 on July 27, 2019, and July 28, 2019. 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, and 2018. 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 five panels, two fiction writing workshops, and the guest of honor presentation.

The link to the Confluence website.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

They held the Confluence Conference Pittsburgh 2019 at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport.

Confluence Conference Pittsburgh 2019 Program Guide Cover

Picture of my badge from Confluence Conference Pittsburgh 2019

Summary

Saturday, July 27th at 9 AM

First Pages Writing Workshop with Cat Rambo.

This workshop was by pre-registration only. She instructed us to bring the first 500 words of our novels to the workshop. Cat Rambo took the nine submissions and mixed them up. She read the submissions one at a time. After reading the submission, she commented on what questions she had to the reader from the submission. I submitted the first two pages from my novel, Assassin in New Marl City. Her comments were useful and to the point. Her comments make me think I need to write a new chapter one set before the pages I submitted. I liked hearing what the other people submitted. This workshop clarifies that the first two pages of a novel are critical for making the novel publishable. I’m glad that I attended the workshop.

They held the workshop in the Boardroom with 9 attendees.

Saturday, July 27th at 11 AM

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, a lecture by Geoffrey Landis.

The program started as the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. It operated from 1998 to 2007 under that name. They submitted proposals about concepts that are anticipated for 40 years in the future. In ten years they submitted 1309 proposals. In 2011 NASA revived the program under its current name, NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts. The process is to first submit a white paper, submit a proposal, and then conduct a Phase I study. About one-third of the projects go on to Phase II.

He detailed four proposals. The Venus land sailor challenge is to create a Venus rover mission. The obstacles are the need for high-temperature electronics and a method of locomotion. A wind-powered turbine is workable. The triton hopper would explore Neptune’s moon, triton, by hopping up to 20 km per day from the pole to the equator of the moon. 120 hops would take two years covering 2400 km. Other options are to use the hopper system on Pluto or Europa. A submarine on Saturn’s moon, Titan, would explore areas not seen from orbit. Kraken Mare is a lake about the size of Lake Superior. They approved a Phase II study called Dragonfly.

Geoffrey Landis wrote an SF novel about a manned mission to Mars.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1501279.Mars_Crossing

They held the lecture in Ballroom 1 with 42 attendees.

Saturday, July 27th at 2 PM

Beginnings and Endings panel with Cat Rambo, Frederic S, Durbin, and Bob Angell (his pseudonym is R. R. Angell)

The panelists gave advice about writing story beginnings and endings. The first chapter has to leave the reader convinced that the story will go somewhere. All scenes must mean something. There are three levels of editors, development, copy, and proofreader. They are important in different ways. An editor is experienced at finding problems but not fixing them, that’s what you as the writer must do. Successful flash fiction is about one thing. It’s important to orient the reader at the story’s beginning because the reader needs a reason to care about the characters. Show an item in action before you explain it. Weave in something relatable to explain an unknown item. Use cliffhangers, always leave the reader wanting more. Avoid the unsatisfying ending. Tie everything up and don’t miss the aftermath. The panelists all gave sound advice.

They held the panel in Commonwealth East with 43 attendees. (It was a full house, standing room only)

Saturday, July 27th at 3 PM

The Guest of Honor Presentation with Tobias S. Buckell.

He started with a speech about himself. He is from Grenada and is of mixed-race but looks white. Buckell came to the US in 1995. He overcame his ADD and dyslexia to become a published writer. His status as a mixed-race person became real for him when Leonard Nimoy passed away in 2015 because Spock was biracial. He became an SF fan after reading Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke when he was nine.

Buckell read his short story called Toy Planes.

Buckell finished his presentation with a Q and A session.

His most recent novel is the Tangled Lands written with Paolo Bacigalupi.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35297399-the-tangled-lands

They held the presentation in Ballroom 1 with 47 attendees.

Saturday, July 27th at 4 PM

Return to the Solar System: Recent SF Set in Our Solar System panel with Geoffrey Landis, Ian Randal Strock, Bill Keith, and Ken Chiacchia.

The panel recommended authors that have set their stories in our solar system. Some are Allen Steele’s novels, the Expanse series by James S. A. Corey, and The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. Others are Mike Flynn’s alternate histories, Thin Air by Richard K. Morgan, and Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson. More are Terraforming Earth by Jack Williamson, Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick, and the Proteus series by Charles Sheffield. Many good recommendations, I’ll move a few of these up my Goodreads to-read list.

They held the panel in Commonwealth West with 29 attendees.

Saturday, July 27th at 5 PM

Blue-Collar SF and Fantasy panel with Marie Vibbert, Charles Oberndorf, Eric Leif Davin, and Tamora Pierce.

Stories written from a worker’s POV will be more rooted in reality than wish-fulfillment stories. As the US changes from an industrial to a service economy it will change the nature of the stories told. Some authors who use the blue-collar perspective are Thomas Disch in 334, Alfred Bester in The Stars My Destination, and Mack Reynolds in Black Man’s Burden. Other writers using the theme are China Mieville and Cory Doctorow.

They held the panel in Commonwealth West with 29 attendees.

Saturday, July 28th at 9 AM

Short Story Writing Workshop with Cat Rambo

This workshop was by pre-registration only. The participants submitted a story under 5000 words by June first. She distributed the stories of the other participants on July first. She required the participants to-read each of the stories and make written comments on a copy of the stories. At the workshop, the participants followed the Milford workshop format.

Milford-Style Workshopping

Cat’s Critiquing Guidelines

1. In the session, you will speak up to 3 minutes with your critique; you do not need to use up the entire three minutes, but Cat will ruthlessly cut you off at the three-minute mark.

2. Focus on the big picture items, not typos or nitpicks. Pacing, character, plot, world-building, etc.

3. The author wants to know what worked, what was effective, and that you’d like to see more of as much as they want to know what didn’t work, wasn’t effective, or seems removable.

4. Identifying what’s broken and why will probably be more useful to the author than suggested fixes.

5. You will give the author a copy of the story with your notes on it.

Seven people submitted stories, and we workshopped them in this order.

Kathleen Monin–The Morality Variable

Deborah Stevenson–Cursed Good Luck

Brandon McNulty–Insert

Gene Turchin–Machines

Karen Yun-Lutz–Last Entry

Gary Gillen–Grognard

Richard Lohmeyer–Small, Fragile Things

After the Participants critiqued each story, then Cat Rambo gave her critique. All the stories were great. I think all the stories could be published soon. I appreciate all the comments on my story and I’m glad that I took part in this workshop.

They held the workshop in the Boardroom with 7 attendees.

Saturday, July 28th at 12 PM

The Evolving Short Story Market panel with Mary Soon Lee (prolific short story writer), Scot Noel (publisher of Dream Forge magazine), and Mark Painter (podcast creator).

The three panelists were knowledgeable on the subject and had varied backgrounds. Some good markets for online free magazines are Strange Horizons, Uncanny, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Scot Noel publishes a print magazine called Dream Forge. They have recently published the second issue. https://dreamforgemagazine.com/ Magazines have submission guidelines and the writers must follow them precisely to hope to make a sale. The writer must know about the magazine they are sending to so the writer has the best chance to succeed. Social media has changed the writer’s responsibility. Writer’s need a platform. The publisher wants to know how the writer can help the publisher sell the story, like a musician’s responsibility. They suggested getting a 25-year-old mentor, so you can get an insight into how to sell to that age group.

They held the panel in Commonwealth with 15 attendees.

Recommendation – Conclusion

I’m glad I attended the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2019. My star of the con was Cat Rambo. She conducted both workshops I attended with insightful comments and relevant anecdotes. She also moderated an excellent panel on writing. I attended five panels, two fiction writing workshops, and the guest of honor presentation. My other highlights were the lecture on NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts and the Guest of Honor Presentation. I also attended Confluence in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and plan to return in 2020. They will hold confluence 2020 from July 24 to 26, 2020 with author guest of honor Martha Wells.

Links

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.

Confluence 2016 Conference

Confluence Conference 2017

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2018

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2018

Introduction

I attended the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2018 on July 28, 2018. They held the conference at 1160 Thorn Run Road Coraopolis, PA in the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. The drive from Cleveland, Ohio was two hours taken in the morning and back in the evening. I also attended the conference in 2016 and 2017. I missed writing this post in 2018, so I am writing it now to prepare for writing my post for the 2019 conference. To write this post, I followed my notes and recollections in writing this post. The Parsec organization of Pittsburgh runs the conference. It is a literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I attended two lectures, two panels, one fiction writing seminar, one author reading, and the guest of honor presentation.

The link to the Confluence website.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

They held the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2018 at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport.

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2018 Program Guide Cover

Picture of my badge from Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2018

Summary

Saturday, July 28th at 10 AM

AI: The Real Deal, a lecture by Ken Chiacchia.

The presenter explained what they know in the artificial intelligence field and what still needs to be figured out. Machine intelligences do some tasks well, but not other tasks. Steps in the advancement of AI are to identify items in pictures, to identify phrases spoken, to perform written language translations, and to perform speech recognition. Task-specific tasks are current but general tasks are not possible now. Other tasks AI is good at are improving images, predicting severe thunderstorm, and materials discovery for energy applications. A challenge to getting AI right is that bias can lead to large errors. To put AI advancement in SF terms, the Matrix is happening, while Skynet probably won’t.

They held the lecture in Comm0nwealth West with 15 attendees.

Saturday, July 28th at 11 AM

Set the Controls for the Edge of the Sun, a lecture by Geoffrey Landis.

They scheduled the Parker Solar Probe to launch on August 8, 2018. This lecture was about what’s planned and what they hope to learn. The lecturer started as a solar cell designer. He went to the Mars project, then the Venus/Mercury project, and now is examining ways to exploring the sun. The issue with a solar probe is that near the sun the heat is too much. We can fix this with angles solar panels or split panels using mirrors.

The Parker Solar Probe goals are to trace the energy that heats the sun’s corona and accelerates the solar wind. Also, to examine the magnetic fields at the sources of the solar wind. The Parker Solar Probe launched on August 12, 2018. Its mission is to fly by the sun from 2018 to 2025. On October 29, 2018, it became the artificial object that has been the closest to the sun.

Geoffrey Landis’s SF novel about a manned mission to Mars.

They held the lecture in Commonwealth West with 30 attendees.

Saturday, July 28th at 12:30 PM

A Reading by Brenda Clough

She read from a Neo-Victorian novel in progress. The assassination of Czar Alexander was a prominent plot point in this part of the novel. The viewpoints alternated between two characters. It was melodramatic and featured cliffhangers including a rail accident and a hippo stampede. She had planned to read from her Time Travel Trilogy Edge to Center due to be released in 2019 but her iPad wouldn’t cooperate.

The River Twice is the first novel of the Edge to Center Trilogy.

They held the reading in the Equinox room with 10 attendees.

Saturday, July 28th at 1 PM

Fiction Skills Seminar given by Frederic S. Durbin.

The essential writing skills are action, description, dialogue, and point of view. The seminar covered three skills by using prompts given randomly on slips of paper. He gave us five minutes to write and volunteers read their responses. Critiques followed. I will detail those prompts and my response to them.

My Action Prompt was soldiers in combat. I wrote: The sweat dripped through my eyebrow but I could not flinch. It stung my eye and I bit my lip. The enemy was near, A snap of a twig signaled my reaction. I threw off the leaf blanket and jumped into the clearing. I read this response.

My Description Prompt was a teenager at their first job. I wrote: Burnt chicken odor filled the air. I walked behind the counter into another world. The cook’s knife was flying as he sliced the meat and filled the tin. My manager pointed at the counter. The band on my hat was tight and the new tee-shirt was dry. A tray of green peppers lay on the counter. That was my job.

My Dialogue Prompt was an abandoned house. I wrote:

“Quiet, Jerry, I think the house is abandoned but I’m not sure.”

“Don’t be afraid. We can get in and out before anyone sees us.”

“This is a crazy idea.”

“Come on. I picked the lock. Let’s go in.”

It was fun seeing what I would come up with under time pressure. I’m glad I took part in this seminar.

They held the seminar in the Board Room with 12 attendees.

Saturday, July 28th at 2 PM

Private Enterprise in Space panel with Ian Randal Strock, Kenneth B. Chiacchia, Lawrence Connolly, Herb Kauderer, and Mark Painter

The panel was about business in space. What happens after Musk, Bezos, and Branson pave the way? We should sell business in space as something exciting. The issue is balancing short term profit versus long term benefit. There must be many draws to make it work in space. This was a panel of skeptics because big projects need big reasons and it’s not clear what those are yet.

They held the panel in the Solstice Room with 20 attendees.

Saturday, July 28th at 3 PM

The Guest of Honor Presentation with Catherynne M. Valente

She read from her recent novel, Space Opera. It was a chapter from the beginning of her novel with the point of view character named Decibel Jones is chosen to perform in an intergalactic singing contest. After the reading, she said that the pitch for the novel was to write a novel depicting Eurovision in space. She had fun with have the galaxy like Earth acts that most current people dislike such as Yoko Ono. Sounded like a fun book. It’s a nominee for the biggest SF awards for 2018.

They have held the Eurovision song contest every year since 1956. One act from each country enters the contest and votes cast determines the winner where the voters cannot vote for their own country’s entrant.

https://eurovision.tv/

They held the presentation in Ballroom 1 with 70 attendees.

Saturday, July 28th at 5 PM

Integrating Character, Plot, and Worldbuilding lecture by David Levine.

He showed his process for developing characters, plot, and worldbuilding simultaneously and cohesively. His analogy of the interrelation of the three parts is a plant. A plant must have roots (setting), a stem (plot), and leaves (character). The writer’s superpower is revision. Make the story internally consistent. A story has seven points which the author must answer. A person in a situation with a problem tries to overcome it but continues to fail (through three to five-try/fail cycles) until the character succeeds (resolution) and is rewarded (proving it was worth attempting the problem). So, fill in those blanks to have a successful story.

The lecturer had a handout asking questions an author should ask when creating a story. The three main questions asked when thinking about the interrelationship between the three aspects of story writing.

World to Character. What do they want and why can’t they get it?

World to Plot. What changes can you make in the magic or the tech to make characters’ jobs easier or harder?

Character to Plot. How does the story end?

They held the panel in the Solstice Room with 20 attendees.

Recommendation – Conclusion

I enjoyed attending the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2018. My star of the con was Catherynne M. Valente. She was engaging with her reading of Space Opera and Q and A after her reading. I added her novel to my Goodreads to-read list. I attended two lectures, two panels, one fiction writing seminar, one author reading, and the guest of honor presentation. My other highlights were the fiction writing seminar and the Integrating Character, Plot, and Worldbuilding lecture. I also attended Confluence in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and plan to return in 2020. They will hold Confluence 2020 from July 24 to 26, 2020 with author guest of honor Martha Wells.

Links

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.

Confluence 2016 Conference

Confluence Conference 2017

Recap Marcon Conference 2019

Recap Marcon Conference 2019 in Columbus

Introduction

I attended the SF Conference Marcon Conference 2019 in Columbus on May 11. They held it at 6500 Doubletree Avenue Worthington, Ohio at the Crown Plaza – Columbus North. The drive was two-plus hours taken in the morning and back in the evening. I also attended Marcon in 2017 and 2018. This year I attended four panels, a performance, and an interview.

The link to the Marcon website.

http://marcon.org/

Leaving the Crown Plaza Saturday evening.

Marcon Conference 2019 Columbus Banner

Marcon Conference 2019 Columbus Program Guide Cover

Picture of my badge from Marcon Conference 2019 Columbus

Summary

Saturday, May 11th at 10 AM

Game of Thrones: Winter Has Finally Come, a panel with Vicki Meece, Ella Shurr, John Boone, Leslie Mehne, and John Picacio.

The scheduled room for the is panel was Salon B-C, but it was locked so we went into the empty Salon E room.

One of the panelists was the artist guest of honor John Picacio. His artwork was used for the program cover and the Marcon badge shown in the pictures in the introduction of this post. He was commissioned by George R. R, Martin to produce a 2012 calendar using Game of Thrones characters. This was before the HBO show was cast and he related that his artwork was displayed at the auditions and inspired the casting choices.

This is a link to the twelve Games of Thrones artworks John Picacio made for the calendar in 2011.

http://www.johnpicacio.com/portfolio/2011/index.html

Game of Thrones Season Eight Review

The panel reviewed each of the four episodes of season eight that had been aired before the panel took place.

Season Eight, Episode One

Season Eight, Episode One: The panel liked the many reunions highlighted in this episode. Their favorite reunions were Jon and Arya, Brienne and Jamie, The Hound and Arya, Gendry and Arya, Sansa and Theon.

Season Eight, Episode Two

Season Eight, Episode Two: This episode was the setup for the battle of Winterfell between the living and the Night King’s dead army. One question that wasn’t clear was did Jon tell Dany that Bran and not Sam told him that R + L = J?

Season Eight, Episode Three

Season Eight, Episode Three: The episode was shot and set in the dark which made it hard for the viewer to see what was going on in the episode. “It’s a carnival ride.” A highlight of the episode was when Bran called Theon a good man. One theory debated was if Jon was saying
“Go, go, go” to Arya as she headed to the God’s wood to face the Night King.

Season Eight, Episode Four

Season Eight, Episode Four: The theory being debated was whether Dany was becoming the Mad Queen.

Season Eight, Episode Five predictions: The fifth episode aired the day after the panel on May 12^th. The panel thought that the Hound and Varys were the most likely to die in that episode.

Overall Season Eight: The panel was disappointed in the scant use of the Direwolves this season and in the absence of information about the situation in Dorne.

They held the panel in Salon E with 10 attendees.

Saturday, May 11th at 11 AM

Science Fiction is the Conversation That Starts Things, a panel with David Gerrold.

This panel was David Gerrold reminiscing about his career as a TV show writer, director, and novel writer. I’ll detail the topics he addressed as he presented them.

He recently turned in a novel called Hela. It will be the fourth novel in the Dingilliad series (aka Starsiders) which began with Jumping Off the Planet, linked below.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1111868.Jumping_Off_the_Planet

David Gerrold on The War Against the Chtorr

Gerrold contributes regularly to his patreon page. The book he started the page for has been sold but he continues to posts stories and reviews on the page although some of the content is available only to subscribers. He has been updating The War Against The Chtorr series on the page. The first 20 chapters were posted for free as linked below.

https://www.patreon.com/DavidGerrold

David Gerrold on The Martian Child

Gerrold talked about The Martian Child which was inspired by his relationship with his adopted son. He decided to adopt late in life as a single parent. It was challenging and rewarding for him. He published a novelette in 1994 which won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. Gerrold expanded the story into a novel. He wrote the screenplay for the movie that was produced in 2007 starring John Cusack.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/709750.The_Martian_Child

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415965/

He is working on a graphic novel for his 1973 novel The Man Who Folded Himself.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/624122.The_Man_Who_Folded_Himself

David Gerrold on Star Trek

Gerrold wrote many Star Trek episode from multiple series. The most famous episode was The Trouble With Tribbles from the original series, season two, episode 15. He wrote a book called The Trouble With Tribbles about his experiences writing for the show.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77101.The_Trouble_with_Tribbles

Gerrold also wrote The Cloud Minders and I, Mudd for the original series, More Tribbles, More Troubles and BEM for the animated series. He wrote the novelization of the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Encounter at Farpoint.

David Gerrold on Star Trek Blood and Fire

He had a falling out with the showrunners of The Next Generation when they did not accept his script for Blood and Fire in 1987. The script featured an allegory for AIDS and included gay characters so it was not produced then. He sold copies of the script and donated the proceeds to AIDS research L. A. Star Trek: New Voyages was a fan-created webisode series. David Gerrold wrote and directed two episodes based in his screenplay and novel for Blood and Fire in 2008 and 2009 linked below.

Gerrold’s final thoughts were about thinking of it at the time “Who would remember these shows in twenty years? and who’d have thought we’d be talking about them for the last fifty years.”

They held the panel in Ballroom 1 and 2 with 16 attendees.

Saturday, May 11th at 12 PM

A Furry Thing Happened on the Way to Tranquility Base, a performance by the Confused Greenies.

Note: The Confused Greenies performed at Marcon ten years ago as well. This performance was inspired by David Gerrold’s works and other sci-fi influences. It starts with a holodeck recreation celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the moon landing at tranquility base. The holodeck malfunctions through sabotage. The Saturn V rocket is infested with tribbles and the Dalek saves the day.

https://www.facebook.com/TheConfusedGreenies/

They held the performance in the Cardinal room with 7 attendees.

Saturday, May 11th at 1 PM

Avengers Endgame: Half the World awaits, a panel with Roy Minamide, Paul Hahn, Chris Stephenson, Joe Beale, and Jeff Wolfe.

Avengers: Endgame was widely released on April 26, 2019, and the panel talked about their impressions of the movie and its place as the last of 22 movies in Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The panel began with the panelists and the audience members stating their favorite moments of the movie.

Endgame Questions

They went on to ask questions about the movie. How exactly did they create a GPS of the quantum realm? Where did Captain America get more Pym particles? The heroes are too powerful which leads to “superman syndrome” where the villains must become overwhelmingly powerful, so how do you manage that?

Three characters had satisfying growth arcs in the movie. They were Nebula’s redemption, Scott Lang’s redemption through conceiving the Time Heist, and Rocket’s embracing his new family.

The last topic was about how the writers will address the Snap in the new movie Spiderman: Far From Home which will be released on July 2, 2019. It may be related to Tony Stark’s comment to the Time Heist crew about “Bring them back, but don’t change the past.”

They held the panel in Salon B-C with 21 attendees.

Saturday, May 11th at 2 PM

David Gerrold Interview conducted by Julie Washington.

Julie Washington interviewed David Gerrold. She mostly asked him one question and he would have an interesting anecdote to answer her. He grew up in L. A. and then moved to the San Fernando Valley. He would go to the Van Neys public library every Friday and get 10 books to read for the next that week. Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert Heinlein started him reading SF. He says he became a writer because “There were stories I wanted to read but no one was writing them so I had to write them myself.”

He wanted to write SF where the laws of physics were followed and wrote “When Harlie Was One” about a computer with artificial intelligence.

He found the transition from writing screenplays to novel a tough one. In novels, the writer must describe the setting for the reader to get a mental picture while TV sets do that for you.

David Gerrold on Star Trek

On the Deep Space 9 episode Trials and Tribble-ations (Season 5, Episode 6) he was disappointed that he didn’t get a writing credit but he was given acknowledgment of his work and a cameo appearance in the episode in compensation.

Gerrold went over his story about the Blood and Fire script written for The Next Generation detailed in his 11 AM talk. He also wrote an episode of Babylon 5.

Gerrold talked about his cameos in the TV show Big Bang Theory especially the ones at Wil Wheaton’s party on the show and as a booth owner at the fictional Van Nyes comicon. This was poignant because the series finale of Big Bang Theory was scheduled for May 16, 2019, the next Thursday after Marcon.

Gerrold talked about getting the rights to republish his War Against the Chtorr series. He used a Kickstarter campaign to republish the four previously published novels. He has completed four more novels in the series and is in the editing stage leading to publication.

David Gerrold on Kickstarter

Checking on kicktrac.com, Gerrold has two projects that were on Kickstarter. There was a project in 2013 that would have adapted his first novel in the Star Wolf series but it was not fully funded and abandoned. Another project in 2016 was a mash-up of Star Trek and Dr. Suess named Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly Go! It was fully funded but could not proceed because the Ted Gisell estate (Dr. Suess himself) blocked the project. The projects are detailed at the following link.

http://www.kicktraq.com/search/?find=david+gerrold

Gerrold finished the interview detailing a few more projects he participated in. He wrote the screenplay for the webisode adaption of his Blood and Fire story. It was 96 pages, he was the director, and they only had ten days to shoot it. He wrote the Land of the Lost pilot. Gerrold also wrote adaptions of TV shows and movies. Some of his novel adaptations were for Encounter at Farpoint, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and Enemy Mine.

They held the panel in Ballroom 1 and 2 with 26 attendees.

Saturday, May 11th at 7 PM

The Expanse: Earthers, Mickeys and Belters Beware, a panel with Ralph Winans, Ella Shurr, Lee Shamblin, Amelia Brownstein, and Kathy Knese

The panel liked that the show depicted a technologically believable future. They could understand how Mars and the Belt could develop the way it was depicted in the show but found it unlikely that the Earth could be unified under the United Nations. The showrunners were faithful to the books but not exact.

A panel attendee described the series as “crunchy” sci-fi meaning that it was true to how things actually work in space.

The Expanse Book to Show Changes

The panel understood that the TV show could not portray belters as tall and thin as described in the books without using extensive CGI. They wondered about the motivation of Jules-Pierre Mao. It is not clear in the series. The panel asked how far the attendees had read in the novels and the response varied. Some had not read any of the novels will others have read the most recent novel Tiamat’s Wrath (The Expanse Book #8, released 03-26-19). Season three depicts events from parts of book two and three while season four will depict part of book three and book four. The ninth and last novel is unnamed but scheduled to be released sometime in 2020.

The first three seasons of The Expanse show was aired by SyFy network. The show was picked up by Amazon Video and it has been reported that the fourth season has completed shooting. At this time, the airdate has not been set except that Amazon expects to release it sometime in 2019.

https://screenrant.com/expanse-season-4-release-date-story-amazon/

They held the panel in Salon D with 9 attendees.

Recommendation – Conclusion

I had a great time at Marcon Conference 2019 in Columbus. The location was different from last year. It was easier for me to get to and the parking was free. My star of the con was David Gerrold. He was engaging in the panel and the interview that I attended with him. This year I plan to read his book on writing named Worlds of Wonder and am interested in his Trouble with Tribbles memoir. This year I attended four panels, a performance, and an interview. My other highlights of Marcon Conference 2019 in Columbus were the Game of Thrones panel and the performance by the Confused Greenies. I also attended Marcon in 2017 and 2018 and plan to return in 2020.

Links

Recap for SF Conference Marcon Conference 2018 in Columbus which I attended on May 12, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio. I attended four panels and two game shows.

Marcon Conference 2018

I attended SF Conference Marcon Columbus on May 13, 2017, at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio. I attended four panels. I did not post a recap of this conference. If I post a recap in the future I will link it here.

Introduction

Summary for Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020

Friday, October 2nd at 7 PM

Friday, October 2nd at 9 PM

Saturday, October 3rd at 10:30 AM

Saturday, October 3rd at 12 PM

Saturday, October 3rd at 2 PM

Saturday, October 3rd at 3 PM

Saturday, October 3rd at 4 PM

Saturday, October 3rd at 5 PM

Sunday, October 4th at 10 AM

Sunday, October 4th at 11 AM

Sunday, October 4th at 1 PM

Sunday, October 4th at 4 PM

Conclusion for Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020

Links for Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020

Introduction

Summary

Friday, September 4th, at 11 PM

Saturday, September 5th, at 1 PM

Saturday, September 5th, at 5 PM

Sunday, September 6th, at 3 PM

Sunday, September 6th, at 6 PM

Sunday, September 6th, at 6:30 PM

Monday, September 6th, at 9 AM

Monday, September 6th, at 1 PM

Recommendation – Conclusion

Links

Introduction

Summary

Saturday, January 18th at 10 AM

Saturday, January 18th at 11 AM

Saturday, January 18th at 4 PM

Saturday, January 18th at 5 PM

Saturday, January 18th at 6 PM

Sunday, January 19th, at 10 AM

Sunday, January 19th at 11 AM

Recommendation – Conclusion

Links

Introduction

Summary

Saturday, May 13th at 11:30 AM

Saturday, May 13th at 1 PM

Saturday, May 13th at 2:30 PM

Saturday,May 13th at 4 PM

Saturday, May 13th at 5:30 PM

Recommendation – Conclusion

Links

Introduction

Summary

Friday, March 10th from 4 PM to 9 PM

Friday, March 10th at 9 PM

Saturday, March 11th from 9 AM to 4 PM

Saturday, March 11th at 5 PM

Saturday, March 11th at 6 PM

Saturday, March 11th at 7 PM

Sunday, March 12th at 10 AM

Sunday, March 12th at 11 AM

Sunday, March 12th at 12 PM

Sunday, March 12th at 2 PM

Recommendation – Conclusion

Links

Introduction

Summary before Lunch

Friday, October 25th at 10 AM

Friday, October 25th at 11:25 AM

Friday, October 25th at 12:25 PM

Summary after Lunch

Friday, October 25th at 2:45 PM

Friday, October 25th at 4:10 PM

Recommendation – Conclusion

Links

Introduction

Summary

Saturday, October 12th at 10 AM

Saturday, October 12th at 11 AM

Saturday, October 12th at 12 PM

Saturday, October 12th from 1 PM to 4 PM

Recommendation – Conclusion

Links

Friday, September 4^th, at 11 PM

Saturday, September 5^th, at 1 PM

Saturday, September 5^th, at 5 PM

Sunday, September 6^th, at 3 PM

Sunday, September 6^th, at 6 PM

Sunday, September 6^th, at 6:30 PM

Monday, September 6^th, at 9 AM

Monday, September 6^th, at 1 PM

Saturday, January 18^th at 10 AM

Saturday, January 18^th at 11 AM

Saturday, January 18^th at 4 PM

Saturday, January 18^th at 5 PM

Saturday, January 18^th at 6 PM

Sunday, January 19^th at 11 AM