confluence Archives - Gary David Gillen

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2022

Introduction

I attended the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2022 on July 30, 2022. They held the conference at 1160 Thorn Run Road Coraopolis, PA in the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I also attended the conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. COVID-19 changed the conference to a virtual con named C’monfluence in 2020 which I viewed. The Parsec organization of Pittsburgh runs the literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I attended 3 panels, two readings, an improv comedy show, a concert, and the guest of honor presentation

The link to the Confluence website.

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

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

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2022 Program Guide Cover

Picture of my badge from Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2022

Summary

Saturday, July 30th at 11 AM

Reading by Marie Vibbert.

She read three pieces during this half-hour reading.

First was a flash fiction story published in Daily Science Fiction on February 21, 2021. The story was named Things from our kitchen junk drawer that could save this spaceship.

Link to the story.

https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/space-travel/marie-vibbert/things-from-our-kitchen-junk-drawer-that-could-save-this-spaceship

Second, she read the first chapter of her soon-to-be-published novel named The Gods Awoke. It will be published on September 1, 2022.

Goodreads link to the novel named The Gods Awake.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61815780-the-gods-awoke

Lastly, she read the first from her novel named Galatic Hellcats which was published on March 9, 2021.

Goodreads link to the novel named Galactic Hellcats.

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

They held the reading in the Solstice Room with 7 attendees.

Saturday, July 30th at 12 PM

Reading Short SF: Why You Should Be Reading Short Fiction, Both Classic and New Panel with Neil Clarke, Michael Swanwick, and Vera Brook.

Vera Brook, an author, was the moderator for the panel and asked questions of the panel. Neil Clarke publishes the Clarkesworld online magazine. Michael Swanwick is an award-winning author.

Why should you read short science fiction? If short fiction speaks to you then reading it can be rewarding. They suggest reading the most recent releases and going backward in time.

What short Science Fiction Authors to you recommend? Cordwainer Smith, Phillip K. Dick, Octavia Butler’s collection Bloodchild, and William Gibson’s collection Burning Chrome. They also recommend the latest year’s best anthologies.

Where do we find it? Print magazines, online magazines, single-author collections, and years’ best anthologies.

For the rest of the panel, they talked about the challenges of finding great short fiction. Suggestions were to read beyond your comfort level, be more international in your reading, and English is the language of translation.

They held the panel in the Commonwealth West Room with 29 attendees.

Saturday, July 30th at 1 PM

It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: The SF and Fantasy Year 1972 panel with Geoffrey Landis, Stephen Fisher, Darrell Schweitzer, and Barbara Doran.

The panel talked about events from 1972. They went over the 1972 Nebula awards and the 1973 Hugo awards. The creators of the genre were still alive then and fans could see them at cons. The past was alive. Dangerous Visions was published in 1972. Ben Bova took over Analog (formerly Astounding) Magazine in 1972 and brought it back to prominence. At that time, they thought that the original anthology would replace print magazines, but it didn’t. Playboy was the top market for SF in 1972. Isaac Asimov returned to SF with the Hugo and Nebula-winning novel, The Gods Themselves. He had been writing non-fiction for a long time before this.

World events from 1972 included; Apollo 17 (the last mission to the moon) and the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.

They held the panel in the Commonwealth West Room with 14 attendees.

Saturday, July 30th at 3 PM

The Guest of Honor Presentation with Neil Clarke was interviewed by Scott H. Andrews.

Neil Clarke is the editor of Clarkesworld online magazine. His interviewer Scott H. Andrew is the editor of Beneath Ceaseless Skies online magazine. The interviewer asked him many questions and received interesting answers. Some of the highlights follow. He got into SF after a friend dragged him into an SF con when they were in college.

He started editing Clarkesworld magazine part-time, not becoming a full-time editor until 2006. His goal is to pay authors a living wage. All editorial staff at the online magazine are part-time. His goal is to pay a full-time staff. The industry minimum payment for authors is 8 cents a word and he thinks that is too low. He pays 12 cents a word but hopes to increase it to 15 cents per word in the future.

He’s interested in promoting international SF, especially from China and Korea. He hopes the SF community will continue to support his magazine online and through the magazine’s Patreon page. He hopes the magazine will continue when he eventually steps down.

Link to Clarkesworld online magazine.

Issue 191

Link to the Clarkesworld Patreon page.

https://www.patreon.com/clarkesworld

They held the presentation in Ballroom 1 with 60 attendees.

Saturday, July 30th at 4 PM

Reading by Michael Swanwick.

He read his original short story named The Warm Equations. It will be posted on the website named Sunday Morning Transport as a free-to-read story on August 7, 2022. It’s a great story well worth the read.

The story is about when Charles Magnus Osbourne crashed a hopper on Mercury and the aftermath of his accident. He is looking for receiving glory for his solo research mission, but he needs help to survive. Charles learns things about himself that he never expected to learn.

Link to the story named The Warm Equations posted in the Sunday Morning Transport on August 7, 2022.

https://www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/the-warm-equations

They held the reading in the Solstice Room with 8 attendees.

Saturday, July 30th at 5 PM

Where to Next? Trends in Recent SF Panel with Marie Vibbert, Lawrence C. Connolly, and Michael Mammay.

The moderator asked questions of the panel.

What new ideas and concepts are you seeing? Answers included climate fiction, VR, and augmented reality. Their advice is don’t try to beat the tech, speak of the moment.

What trends are there in what they read for pleasure? The answers included epic fantasy in a non-European setting, optimistic SF, and AI envisioning better times.

Talk about style versus substance. Unusual POV and tenses such as first person present tense, the first person using sentence fragments, and third person omniscient.

Where is this taking us? Answers included fan fiction, gaming writing, and the rise in popularity of the novella driven by the Tor.com novellas.

The panel ended with audience questions.

They held the panel in the Commonwealth East with 24 attendees.

Saturday, July 30th at 8 PM

Live Comedy: D & D by Knights of the Arcade.

The Knights of the Arcade presented a live improv comedy routine named D & D. Their logo proclaims that they are a Dungeon and Dragons comedy show of epic proportions. On the audience left was the Game Master, in the center were five game players, and to the right was the keyboard player who accented the routine with clever songs. The routines were enhanced by prompts supplied by the audience. At the end of the routine, all members of the troop sang the last song, the I learned song where they reviewed the events of the show. It was a fun and humorous show.

Link to the Knights of the Arcade Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/knightsofthearcade

The Knights of the Arcade Logo.

They held the show in Ballroom 1 with 25 attendees.

Saturday, July 30th at 9 PM

Featured Musical Guest Concert with Tim Griffin.

Tim Griffin was the Featured Musical Guest for the Con. He played fifteen songs in a little over an hour. He sang and played acoustic guitar and ukulele. The songs he played supported his mission to present science, math, and history topics in a musical format to engage children in learning. He also played his signature song, Lucy on the Line. It was an enjoyable and sing-along performance.

Link to Tim Griffin Education website. GriffinED’s goal is to provide you with the best kid-friendly STEM/STEAM/folk/filk music site in the universe.

Home

Youtube link to Lucy on the Line.

They held the concert in Ballroom 1 with 27 attendees.

Recommendation – Conclusion

I’m glad I attended the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2022. My star of the con was Neil Clarke. He had a great Guest of Honor interview and was insightful and memorable in the panel of his that I attended. I attended 3 panels, two readings, an improv comedy show, a concert, and the guest of honor presentation. My other highlights were the improv comedy of the Knights of the Arcade and the concert performed by the Featured Musical Guest, Tim Griffin. I also attended the conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. COVID-19 changed the conference to a virtual con named C’monfluence in 2020 which I viewed. I hope to attend Confluence in 2023.

Links

Recap for the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh held virtually from 10-02-20 to 10-04-20. I attended the opening ceremony, five panels, three readings, one presentation, the guest of honor presentation, and the conference breakdown.

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020

Recap for the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh on July 27 & 28, 20, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I also attended Confluence in ‘16, ‘17, and ‘18. I attended five panels, two fiction writing workshops, and the guest of honor presentation

Confluence Conference Pittsburgh 2019

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

They held the Confluence Conference from August 4 to August 6, 2017, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended seven panels, one writing workshop, one author reading, and the guest of honor presentation.

Confluence Conference 2017

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 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

Confluence Conference 2017

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

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

Confluence Conference 2017

Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2017

The Confluence Conference 2017 was held from August 4 to August 6, 2017, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Introduction

I attended the Confluence Conference on August 5, 2017. I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to the conference that was located at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. The conference is run by the Parsec organization of Pittsburgh. It is a literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I was focused on attending as many panels as I possibly could on Saturday. I attended seven panels, one writing workshop, one author reading, and the guests of honor presentation.

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

Summary

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 9:00 AM

At 9:00 AM Bud Sparhawk gave a presentation about Everything You Wanted to Know about SFWA. SFWA is the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America pronounced Sifwa. Bud Sparhawk is the CFO of the non-profit organization. It was formed in 1965 to protect the writer’s rights from the publishers. The organization funds three benevolent funds, a health fund, a legal fund, and a givers fund. They also give out grants for worthy causes. There are 2000 members, with 1600 members active, and about 600 active voters. They sponsor the Nebula Awards and the yearly banquet associated with them. An associate member has had one paid sale to an SFWA qualified market. An active member has had at least three such sales.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 10:00 AM

At 10:00 AM Timons Esaias gave a lecture titled On Killing: Our Misperceptions of Battle. I had enjoyed his lecture on The Basics of Ancient Warfare at Confluence in 2016, so I was looking forward to attending this lecture at the Confluence Conference 2017. He went over six instances in history where the number of casualties inflicted did not match the amount of ammunition expended. The weight of metal that it took to kill a Union soldier, Lexington and Concord, the Prussian musket fire study, the overcharged guns at Gettysburg, the battle of Zama, and historical hit rates. There were two books sited in this lecture. On Killing by Dave Grossman details the increase over time that soldiers have become more likely to fire to kill and how that increases post-traumatic stress disorder. It starts with the Marshall study about fire rates in WWII and also includes data on the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

The other book was Numbers, Predictions, and War by Colonel Dupey. I was most interested in this book because I bought a copy of it thirty years ago and recognized it from the cover. It detailed a way to numerically depict results of war based on a series of calculations. It was interesting for me because I could use the numbers in war gaming scenarios.

This was an informative lecture on the nature of killing in war.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 11:00 AM

At 11:00 AM Frederic S. Durbin presented a workshop on Doorways into Writing. His thesis is that all writing starts with character, setting, plot, or concept. The development of a character can be one way to drive a story. A setting can be the place to build a story around. Setting can be fluid to the demands of the plot. An idea can also drive a story. The workshop leader finds that setting is the thing that speaks to him. He then gave us thirty minutes to write a short story or scene of a larger piece using one of the four methods.

I had an idea about the career of a hybrid Dogman that I called Dogman. I wanted to write a narrative summary of his career. The narrative summary of an event of his career that I wrote totaled about 250 words. After I finished and edited the story, I called it Hybrid-Dog Confession. It was about 750 words and I intend to sell it as flash fiction. Two people read their work in the time remaining in the workshop.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 12:00 PM

At 12:00 PM Steve Miller presented his recollections of Clarion West, which he attended in 1973 and answers the question of Should You Heed the Call of Clarion? Clarion is a six-week-long science fiction writing workshop that was created in 1968 at Clarion State College in Pennsylvania. The workshop moved to Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan from 1972 to 2006. It is currently held at the University of California at San Diego. An offshoot workshop called Clarion West was established in 1971 in Seattle, Washington, and continues to this day.

Each week a different teacher representing a different background will teach the students. The students take classes in the morning and write at night while living on campus. The goal of the workshop is to prepare writers to become professional writers. Steve Miller says that the experience changes the students. Some become professional writers or editors, while others never write again. It was transformative for him, but he warns that the pressure can crack a new writer’s confidence.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 1:00 PM

At 1:00 PM there was a panel on forgotten fantasy classics called Help! What Should I Read Next? There were five panelists who listed their favorite novels that are not generally read anymore. Some of the highlights were Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees, The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison, The Silver Stallion, and Jurgen by James Branch Cabell, The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, and The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 2:00 PM

At 2:00 PM there was a panel on Marketing Your Work. The five panelists talked about their experiences with marketing their books. Some of their advice follows. Marketing is the author’s job because you are a business. You are the brand, not the book. Be involved in social media but stay away from politics because it limits your audience. Spend money on an editor and a great book cover. Know your audience so that you can market to them specifically. J. D. Barker was one of the panelists.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 3:00 PM

At 3:00 PM was the Guests of Honor Presentation. It was a talk and a Q and A with Steve Miller and Sharon Lee. They had met at the University of Maryland and began a friendship. Many years later they were married in 1980 and began a writing collaboration. They sold three novels in the late 80s of the Liaden Universe but did not sell enough to continue the series. In 1999, by the urging of fans, they wrote a fourth book called Plan B which was successful. The series is up to 20 novels and 21 shorter works currently.

I left the conference from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM to eat dinner.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 6:00 PM

At 6:00 PM was a panel on Avoiding Self-Pub Pitfalls. The five panelists told their tales about their experiences in self-publication. You must have a good cover, editing, and interior formatting of the book. Self-publishing gets the book to the readers who want to read it. Kristine Kathryn Rusch has a good website on the business side of publishing at http://kriswrites.com/ Writing is a business. Never use a running head; it is the sign of an amateur. Use thebookdesigner.com for interior book design. Use bowker.com to get your book’s ISBN. Send a copy of your book to the Library of Congress to get that extra layer of professionalism for your book. Find an editor. A developmental edit is the most expensive, and then comes copy edit, and the least expensive is the proofreading.

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 7:00 PM

At 7:00 PM was a reading by the Guest of Honor, Steve Miller. Steve Miller read from the story called Intelligent Design by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller to a packed room. It is a story from their Liaden Universe series. It is one of the shorter works from their series. He read about half of the story in the time allotted and it was well received. The complete story can be found at this web address. It is a free story from the Baen website. Baen is the publisher of their series.

http://www.baen.com/intelligentdesign

Saturday: August 5, 2017 at 9:00 PM

At 9:00 PM there was a presentation by horror novelist J. D. Barker on Making the Leap from Indie to Traditional Publishing. J. D. Barker told his story about how he became a successful writer. He stated that the presentation given was similar to what he does at book signings. J. D. Barker had been a magazine writer, a beta reader, and editor, a professional book doctor, and a ghostwriter but wanted to write something using his own name.

He wrote a book called Forsaken. It is a ghost story involving a writer researching his next book. He spent about 12 thousand dollars in editing and formatting the novel. The problems were that he had a bad query letter and no sales to traditional publishers. He sent Arc copies after he self-published it, so there were no reviews at the beginning to drive sales. What he did do was to write a list of what authors were doing to promote their books and he did promotional ideas that no one was doing.

Social media turned his book into a success. It has sold over 200 thousand copies. On the strength of his first novel’s sales, he was able to sell his second novel, The Four Monkeys, for a million-dollar advance. His advice for writers is as follows. Social media presence is important. He puts 10% of his profits back into marketing. Novels are a product; you can’t see it as art. He writes 2000 to 3000 words every day. Use Goodreads advertising. Spend the money for good cover design and editing. Bloggers, Goodreads, and Facebook groups lead to sales. This talk was an interesting behind the scenes presentation of the writer’s life.

Wrap-up

I had a great time at the Confluence Conference 2017. I learned many things and was glad that I made the time to take the trip. Steve Miller and Sharon Lee were great as the Guests of Honor. For me, the star of the Confluence Conference 2017 was J. D. Barker. I thought the information that he presented in the two panels that I attended with him as a panelist was excellent. As a result, I have checked out his new novel The Fourth Monkey from the library and intend to read it. I plan to go to the next Confluence Conference. It is scheduled for July 17 to July 29, 2018.

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 2016 Conference

The Confluence 2016 Conference.

I attended the Confluence 2016 Conference.

Introduction

The Confluence 2016 Conference was held on from July 29 to July 31, 2016, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I attended the Confluence 2016 Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016. I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to the conference that was located at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. The conference is run by the Parsec organization of Pittsburgh. It is a literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I was focused on attending as many panels as I possibly could on Saturday and Sunday. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.

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

Saturday: July 30, 2016

Ancient Wonders Panel

Ancient Wonders was a talk about the earliest science fiction and fantasy writings.

Communicating with Aliens Panel

Communicating with Aliens was a talk about how communicating with aliens can be written about in science fiction. The nature of determining intelligence is not always clear. How the author describes the communication is determined by if humans have gone to find the intelligent life or the intelligent life has found humans on earth.

The Basics of Ancient Warfare Lecture

Next, Timons Esaias gave an interesting lecture on The Basics of Ancient Warfare. He began talking about local soldiers using their locally available weapons. Professional armies were a threat to the local king, so wars were fought by mercenaries, who were paid and then dismissed after the war was over. This did not change until the development of the heavy infantry of the Greeks, which was called the phalanx. There are three types of warriors; on foot, on animals, and on a ship. Other topics in the talk were the Welsh longbow, Roman artillery, and the Huns and Visigoths use of horses to defeat the Romans.

The How (Not) to Sabotage Your Writing Panel

How (Not) to Sabotage Your Writing was a panel where the panelists gave their unique advice on how they persevered in becoming writers. That advice included; be okay with criticism, collaborate with your editor, engage your audience, know your tools as a writer, and take the time to learn to be a better writer.

Alien Worlds and Races Panel

In the Alien Worlds and Races panel, the panelists talked about they designed alien lifeforms. The P.E.R.S.I.A. acronym for determining a race’s culture was discussed. It stands for political, economic, religious, social, intellectual, and artistic institutions.

What the U.S. Navy Taught me About Starfleet Lecture

Christopher Weuve gave a lecture on What the U.S. Navy Taught Me About Starfleet. He started with giving three points about the U.S. Navy. First point, the history of the U.S. Navy starts with battleships. The torpedo and then the airplane drastically changed naval warfare. Second point, a surface ship uses hiding to avoid enemies. Third point, hydrodynamics affects the ship’s maximum speed. The, he gave three points about Starfleet. First, Starfleet is really not like the navy. It is more like the coast guard because it has multiple missions including law enforcement. Second, Starfleet has a really hard problem. Space is really big. The ships do not have shore support and there is no international law in space. Third, Starfleet has it easy because no one is incompetent and stuff doesn’t break. A final observation was that rank is not a job description.

Promoting Your Writing Panel

The next panel explored how you should be Promoting Your Writing. The panel advises starting promoting a book at least six months before it comes out. The rule of thumb is to spend 80% of your time writing and 20% on marketing. The work does not end when you turn in the manuscript. You are your brand. Plan to attend cons, do readings at bookstores and libraries, participate in anthologies, and also use targeted Facebook and Twitter ads. Create publicity by having a newsletter, an author’s website, a mailing list, a blog, make guest posts on other blogs, and create podcasts.

Mapping the Fantastic Panel

Mapping the Fantastic was about how authors invent worlds that make spatial sense. A map is a perception. Geography dictates much about the plot of a story.

U.S.S Improvise Sketch Comedy Show

The only event at this time was held in the ballroom, where many conference goers arrived to see the sketch comedy show called U.S.S Improvise. I thought that the cast was engaging and funny. Most of their riffs were from Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was a welcome change to hearing seven panels and lectures.

Writing Alternative History Panel

The next panel described how they were Writing Alternate History. It’s important to do the research. There are many pivotal historical events, when changed for fiction lead to interesting stories.

Game of Thrones Panel

The last panel I went to on Saturday was on Game of Thrones. The moderator was unable to attend, so the audience became the panel. We debated different topics on the books and the HBO show. I was exhausted at the end of the day, so I went home after the abbreviated discussion.

Sunday: July 31, 2016

The Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 lecture

The first lecture on Sunday was on The Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 presented by Timons Esaias. The Industrial Revolution led to Iron, Steel, the Steam Engine, and the Railroad Engine. In 1851, an exhibition was planned to showcase the technology of the times. Joseph Paxton designed a huge modular greenhouse to hold the exhibit in Hyde Park in London, England. It was called the Crystal Palace. The event brought people, technology, and ideas from all over the world. In effect, the exhibition was the first World’s Fair.

Indistinguishable from Magic Panel

The next panel asked when do advanced technologies become Indistinguishable From Magic? This panel takes its premise from Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law, which states that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. In other words it was suggested that magic is technology that we do not understand yet.

Near Term Technology Panel

The panelists described what Near Term Technology is available.

Getting There Panel

The next topic was on the technology of space propulsion called Getting There. In non-manned flight laser propelled sails are being researched. The biggest change in manned flight has been the beginning of commercial means of getting to space. In the NASA approach, failure must be avoided because failure leads to review boards. Commercial flight companies are willing to fail because eventual success will pay off well. Nuclear rockets are needed now, electro propulsion should be seen in the near term, and wormhole technology is a long term option.

The Economics of Self-Publishing Panel

The last scheduled panel was on The Economics of Self-Publishing. All four of the panelists have self-published and related their experiences to the audience. Authors who self-publish must design, edit, publish, and market their work. They suggest that it is vital that the author spends money on a professional editor. Book covers sell the product, so money spent on a cover designer is necessary to promote the book. Purchase multiple ISBN codes, one for each format used such as hardcover, paperback, e-book, and audiobook.

Self-publishing is easier now because of print on demand. Self-published authors no longer must pay for a print run of books and then sell them one by one. There are two main print-on-demand formats, Ingram-spark and Createspace (An Amazon Company). I was inspired so much by the panel that I purchased a book from the panel’s moderator, Chris Kennedy. The book is called Self-Publishing for Profit. He details how he became a best-selling self-publishing author.

Wrap-up

I had a great time at the Confluence 2016 Conference. It the first conference that I have ever attended. I learned many things and was glad that I made the time to take the trip. I plan to go to the next Confluence. It is scheduled for August 4 to August 6, 2017.

Links

A similar Conference to the Confluence 2016 Conference was the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016. Winter Fiction Fest is sponsored by Literary Cleveland while the Cuyahoga County Public Library sponsors a similar event called the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016.

This is my recap for the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016 on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions, and one Q & A panel.

Western Reserve Writers Conference