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.
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.
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.
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.
Recap for the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh on July 27 & 28, 20, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I also attended Confluence in ‘16, ‘17, and ‘18. I attended five panels, two fiction writing workshops, and the guest of honor presentation
They held the Confluence Conference from July 27, 2018, to July 29, 2018, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended two lectures, two panels, one fiction writing seminar, one author reading, and the guest of honor presentation.
They held the Confluence Conference from August 4 to August 6, 2017, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended seven panels, one writing workshop, one author reading, and the guest of honor presentation.
Recap for the Confluence SF Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.