Arisia '25 and Personal Update!

This year, Arisia is January 17-20, 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge! I'm excited to see how the new venue plays out. This year, I'm on three different program items. Hope to see folks there!

Roger Corman: Weird, Cheap, and Wonderful
Kendall Square Friday, January 17, 2025, 8:00 PM EST

Marianna Martin PhD (m), Catt Kingsgrave-Ernstein, D.J. Toland, Gillian Daniels, Stephen R. Wilk 

May of 2024 sadly brought an end to the illustrious career of producer/director Roger Corman, who passed away at the age of 98. From black and white drive-in flicks to SyFy TV movies, Corman had a hand in hundreds of unique films. Our panel will discuss Corman, his films, and what made his work so important to the world of independent cinema.

I Myself Am Strange and Unusual: The Films of Tim Burton
Central Square Saturday, January 18, 2025, 4:15 PM EST

Daniel Neff (m), Cat Scully, Gillian Daniels, Randee Dawn, Reuben Baron

With last year's release of the long-awaited Beetlejuice sequel and 2025 marking the 40th anniversary of Pee Wee's Big Adventure, it feels like a good time to look back on the career of Tim Burton. From CalArts animation student to blockbuster director, panelists will explore how Burton has contributed to the pop culture landscape with his quirky, gothic takes on horror, sci-fi, superheroes, and even bio pics.

Mythology Revamped
Porter Square A Sunday, January 19, 2025, 1:45 PM EST

Gillian Daniels (m), Greg R. Fishbone, Liz Salazar, Morgan Crooks, Peter Nulton

Myths, legends, and fairy tales are wonderful fodder for speculative fiction, but the field has expanded far beyond The Golden Bough and other classics. Come discuss contemporary debates in folklore studies and how they can inform your fictional worlds.

***

So, my personal news is honestly pretty unexciting! I've gone ahead and deactivated my Twitter account. It was a hard decision, as I've used it to make and deepen many connections over the years particularly within the writing community. Now, the number of accounts willfully spreading conspiracy theories and reactionary extremism has made the site an exercise in frustration. 

Twitter has always been a flawed social media platform, but the decisions by corporate ownership and  to cater to the worst accounts isn't possible to ignore. Good luck to those who are still using it! Certainly, I bet it remains an intriguing source of gossip, but as the site has shifted over the years, I don't feel like I'm using Twitter, it feels like a Lovecraftian entity using me.

Instead, please find me here, Instagram, or GoodReads. It just makes more sense to kick around there these days!

NecronomiCon 2024!

In another convention first, and after a wonderful time at Camp NeCon, I'll be at NecronomiCon in Providence, RI, August 15-18, 2024. The convention happens once every two years and has grown to encompass horror and weird fiction of many flavors. I've deeply enjoyed attending in the past and am very excited to be on programming for the last day.

August 18, Sunday 9:30 – 10:45 AM
Super Weird

South County Room, Omni 3rd Floor

Superhero narrative in film, comics, and literature ranges from the very conventional to the deeply strange. Doom Patrol, The Swamp Thing, Sandman and many other mainstream titles are clearly part of the world of weird fiction. Panelists discuss the relationship of superheroes to weird fiction, with examples of those that fall most clearly into the canon of the strange, from mainstream and indie sources. Panelists: Gillian Daniels, Kenneth Hite, Errick Nunnally (M), David Quiroz


August 18, Sunday 2:00 – 3:15 PM
Angela Carter: Infernal Desires and Bloody Chambers 

Capital Ballroom, Graduate Hotel, 2nd Floor
Carter’s (English, 1940 – 1992) work was broad, including novels of desire and sexual awakening, non-fiction critique such as The Sadean Women and The Ideology of Pornography, and screenplays, such as The Company of Wolves, based on short stories published in her collection The Bloody Chamber. Whether writing post-apocalyptic fable, magical realism, or dark fantasy and horror, her work was unflinching, political, and often steeped in myth, fairytale, and sexuality. Our panelists discuss her work and legacy. Panelists: Victoria Dalpe, Gillian Daniels (M), Jack Haringa, Michelle Renee Lane, Sheree Renée Thomas, Jeff VanderMeer

Camp Necon 2024

Readercon this year was just lovely. So lovely, in fact, I'm going to be trying a new convention this, Camp Necon! Fellow horror fiction writers and fans have been regaling me about its wonders for ages.

In order to dip my toe in, I'll be on the following panel Saturday afternoon:

3:30 p.m. The Old Gods Still Reign: Plumbing Mythology for Ideas
David Baillie (Moderator), Gillian Daniels, Lori Perkins, Kyle Rader, Darrell Schweitzer, Dr. Jaime Chris Weida
Some mythologies seem to have been strip-mined for plots and characters in genre work (Greek, Roman, Biblical), while others still seem fresh. Which myth cycles seem ripe for plunder in the world of fiction and which need a break?

If you're going, I'll see you there!

Readercon 2024

The schedule has landed! Here are some of the things I'll be doing during Readercon:

Romanticizing Death and Dying
Salon B Thursday, July 11, 2024, 8:00 PM EDT
Barbara Krasnoff (m), Amanda Downum, Emma J. Gibbon, Gillian Daniels Natalie Luhrs 

When somebody is dying or dies in fictional media, it is often romantic, or exciting, or noble, or beautiful and tragic. The reality that many of us face—pain, fear, loss of self, the gradual breakdown of the body due to age or disease—is a lot less pleasant to experience and witness. Why do we romanticize death in fiction? Is it a necessary defense against the reality of our own mortality, or just a part of making fictional worlds more entertaining, the way perfect sex is?

Book Bans and the Publishing Industry

Salon B Friday, July 12, 2024, 12:00 PM EDT

Kathryn Morrow (m), Gillian Daniels, Rob Cameron, Zin E. Rocklyn 

In our current era, book bans have re-emerged from their 20th century crypt as a popular tactic for censoring LGBTQ+ content, as well as any literature that doesn't reinforce racial hierarchies and narratives of white innocence. How has this trend affected the publishing industry, from behemoths like Scholastic to small presses and self-publishing authors? What new horrors are coming down the pike, and what, if anything, can be done to fight back?

Iconic Characters and Works in the Public Domain
Salon B Friday, July 12, 2024, 2:00 PM EDT

Sonja Ryst (m), Gillian Daniels, Kevin McLaughlin, Mark Painter, Randee Dawn 

2023 saw Winnie the Pooh star in his own slasher flick, thanks to the release of its copyright. Sherlock Holmes and the film "Metropolis" are now similarly free agents. Our panelists will discuss the new shoots now budding from old branches, as well as preview what household names will soon be available for open use. Citizen Kane: Tokyo Rosebud Drift, anyone?

Reading Horror into the Classics

Salon 4 Friday, July 12, 2024, 3:00 PM EDT

Gillian Daniels, Adam Golaski, Ian Muneshwar, Lisa M. Bradley, Trisha J Wooldridge 

Viewed through an anti-colonialist lens, the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder would appear to belong squarely in the Horror section. What can be gained by reading various well-worn classics as works of horror, and how do changing readerships and sensibilities affect what separates the heroic from the horrifying or the whimsical from the uncanny?

Meet the Pros(e)

Salon 3 Friday, July 12, 2024, 10:15 PM EDT

Book Club: The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir

Salon B Sunday, July 14, 2024, 12:00 PM EDT

Gillian Daniels (m), Benjamin Rosenbaum, Graham Sleight, Karl Schroeder, Yves Meynard

Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb series is dense with allusion, mystery, heartbreak, ever-more-unreliable narrators, and terrible jokes. Let's share our favorite characters and moments, point out telling details we were excited to discover, and speculate wildly about what might happen in Alecto the Ninth.

The Intersections of Romance and Horror

Sunday, July 14, 2024, 1:00 PM EDT

Romie Stott (m), Gillian Daniels, John Wiswell, Steve Berman, Zin E. Rocklyn 

Romance in dark fiction and horror can serve many purposes, such as offering respite or hope; clarifying or raising the stakes; or acting as the ultimate source of the conflict. How can romance, sex, and love be depicted in ways that serve the overall purpose of a dark story while still being satisfying in their own right (if that's the intent)? How have different subgenres, such as paranormal romance, slasher horror, or gothic fiction, approached these questions?

Boskone 2024

Already?? This year is going too fast. 

Here's my schedule for Boskone, Feb 9-11:

Friday 4pm Holding Superheroes Accountable Marina IV (60 mins)
Erin Underwood, Gillian Daniels, Jack Cullen, James Bacon, Steven Dooner

For superheroes to seem heroic, we want them to fight evil while remaining above the moral fray. But in many cases—in comics and comic movies—superheroes cross moral lines. How do we ethically evaluate when heroes act immorally, like Batman torturing villains, Wanda holding an entire town hostage, or Wonder Woman sexually assaulting a mind-controlled bystander? How can we talk about these stories in a way that holds heroes accountable?


Saturday 11:30am Pre-Pulp Short SFFH Marina IV (60 mins)
Darrell Schweitzer, F. Brett Cox, Gillian Daniels, Michael Swanwick, Theodora Goss

Mary Shelley created one of the first science fiction novels in 1818, but for most of the 19th century and on into the early 20th century SFFH short stories were the dominant form for the genre. Authors as diverse as Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, and W.E.B. DuBois all wrote stories that could be classified as SFFH. We'll explore their works as well as the works of others that contributed to the genre and discuss how they laid the background for the explosion of science fiction in the early 20th century.


Saturday 2:30pm The Appeal of Unappealing Characters Marina III (60 mins)
Chris Panatier, Gillian Daniels, Mur Lafferty, Scott Lynch

What is it about those grim and gritty characters or those sly and mischievous people in fiction that satisfies our literary appetite? Why are these less-than-savory characters so compelling? Why are readers drawn to them, even as they are repelled? Our panelists share their favorite unpleasant characters to illustrate some unpleasant points.


Saturday 4pm Reading--Gillian Daniels--Galleria - Cabaret (25 mins)

Arisia 2024!

New year, new Arisia, January 12-15!

Here's where I'll be. See you there!

8:30pm Friday

Barbie and Poor Things: What Was I Made For? - Media, Panel - 1hr - Alcott (3W)

An artificially-created woman leaves the safety of home to experience the “real world,” where she learns of patriarchal oppression and undergoes a personal reckoning over what it means to live as a woman in such a world. This describes both the mega-blockbuster Barbie and the acclaimed Frankenstein riff Poor Things. Forget Barbenheimer: THIS is award season’s most fascinating double feature.

Randee Dawn (m), Reuben Baron, Mildred Cady, Gillian Daniels, Abigail Devino

7:00pm Saturday

Can James Gunn Save DC Films? - Media, Panel - 1hr - Marina 2 (2E)

2023 saw the last entries in the universe formerly known as the “Snyderverse.” All bombed at the box office and, aside from the under-marketed Blue Beetle, with critics (note: this panel description was written pre-Aquaman 2... but it would be shocking if that’s not a disaster, right?). But there is hope on the horizon, with James Gunn rebooting the whole DC Universe. Can he pull it off?

Bob Chipman (m), Gillian Daniels, Siobhan Flanagan, Daniel Neff, Mark Painter

8:30pm Saturday

Saturday Night Readings - Literature, Reading - 1hr - Faneuil (3W)

Join some of Arisia’s wonderful authors, while they read from their own work.

Gillian Daniels, Sacchi Green, Chris Lester