The Schedule is Out for Readercon 2025!

The schedule for Readercon 2025 is out! I'm on five items which includes moderating FOUR panels. Did I mention I enjoy moderating panels?🤣

Friday, July 18, 2025, 3:00 PM

Solo Reading: Gillian Daniels

Envision / Enliven, Duration: 30 mins

Saturday, July 19, 2025, 2:00 PM

Optimism in Horror

Salon I/J, Duration: 60 mins

F. Brett Cox, Gillian Daniels (moderator), Joey Zone, John Wiswell, Kit Mayquist

Conventional wisdom would presume that horror and optimism rarely if ever blend, but does this prove true in practice? Don't many major works of horror have happy—or, well, happy-ish—endings? Is survival enough of an uplifting conclusion, or does a happy ending require the triumph of the protagonist? Even when evil appears set to return for the sequel? What role does optimism play in underscoring but not undermining the unease that horror supplies?

Saturday, July 19, 2025, 6:00 PM

Erotica, Horror, and the Fear of Visceral Fiction

Salon G/H, Duration: 60 mins

Catherine Lundoff, Cecilia Tan, Gillian Daniels (moderator), Ian Muneshwar, Laura Antoniou

Erotica and horror: two genres guaranteed to make certain moms mad when they find the book hidden in your bedroom. Two genres that every other has tried (at least at times) to put down as shlock or trash. Why? What is it about literature that evokes strong visceral physical reactions from the reader that garners such opposition? (And is "paranormal romance" their love child?) 

Sunday, July 20, 2025, 12:00 PM

Content Warnings: Pros, Cons, and Purposes

Salon G/H, Duration: 60 mins

Claire Houck/Nina Waters, Gillian Daniels (moderator), Gwynne Garfinkle, Melissa Bobe, Romie Stott

Many romance novels have started including content notes or warnings, which advise readers of potentially sensitive plot elements or themes, such as grief, murder, and self-harm. Content notes appear far less frequently in SFF novels, whereas some venues for speculative short fiction have been including them for years. Panelists will share examples of particularly effective—or ineffective—content notes, while surveying the reasons for their rise in romance and the potential applicability of those reasons to long-form speculative fiction.

Sunday, July 20, 2025, 1:00 PM

Harry Potter and the Undeath of the Author

Create / Collaborate, Duration: 60 mins

Cecilia Tan, Gillian Daniels (moderator), Natalie Luhrs, Rob Cameron, William Alexander

"The death of the author" is a well-worn concept about who, author or audience, owns the meaning of an author's work. Such arguments take on a different valance, however, when the author is not only alive and well but using the funds and power accumulated by their creation as leverage to take extremely public and reactionary political action. When the price of engagement with a work is empowering its living author to publicly abuse others, how can we plausibly claim that the author is dead and our engagement is ours alone?

CaziCon and Paradigm!

This Sunday, June 1 I'll be at CaziCon 2025 at the Arts at the Armory! With my fellow authors, Lindsay Moore and Cat Scully, we'll be discussing MONSTERS OF THE MOMENT!

Monsters of the Moment
12:15-1:00pm
Every era has its own monsters, and the monsters of a particular period often reflect the concerns of the times - Dracula used vampire mythology to explore fears about immigration and otherness, for example. Current trends include ghosts, evil houses, and zombies - but with a fungal twist. What do these tropes tell us about our current social fears, and what do we think the future of horror will be?

*** 

Matt Snow from Paradigm Agency is now working with my agent at Storm Literary as a co-agent for film and TV rights of my work!

 

I’m pleased and baffled at the attention my writing is getting now. It’s wonderful! My thanks to my agent Jenna Satterthwaite for making contact with Matt and introducing us. I’m so, so happy and grateful.

Boskone: Now with Vampires!

Because I'm me, I've agreed to do another panel for Boskone. This one will be on Saturday and it''s about vampires!

Nocturnal Narratives: Vampires Through the Ages, Marina III Sat 7pm

Elektra Hammond (moderator), Catherine Grant, Darrell Schweitzer, Gillian Daniels

Embark on a journey through the evolution of vampire lore, from the Gothic shadows of Bram Stoker's Dracula to the modern allure of contemporary cinema. This session shines a light on the transformation of these shadowy creatures, exploring their enduring appeal and the societal reflections they embody. Join us for a lively discussion filled with biting wit and intriguing insights into the ever-changing world of vampires.

Boskone 2025

Boskone is almost here! I'm happy to say here's where I'll be and what I'll be doing:

Freaky Friday Night! Marina IV Fri 8:30 PM 

Step into the strange and unsettling worlds of freaky speculative fiction, weird literature, and oddball speculative stories that defy easy categorization. These are the tales that crawl under your skin, blending deep character development with genre-defying twists. Our panel of freaky experts explores what makes these narratives so uniquely compelling and how they carve out a space where the bizarre meets the profound. Come embrace the weird world of freaky fiction!

Catherine Grant (mod), Paul Tremblay, Gillian Daniels, N. T. Swift, Elizabeth Bear

How to Survive a Horror Story Marina IV Sat 5:30 PM

Who knows better than a horror writer how to survive a horror story? Join he fun and "lively" conversation as our panelists discuss scenarios from horror novels and films as if they themselves were characters within the scenes. Will their special authorial insights keep them safe? Will they split up to look for the cat? What are they willing to do to survive (relatively) intact? Who dies first? Who lives to tell the tale?

N. T. Swift (mod), Adam Stemple, Cat Scully, Paul Tremblay, Gillian Daniels

Nocturnal Narratives: Vampires Through the Ages Marina III Sat 7pm

Embark on a journey through the evolution of vampire lore, from the Gothic shadows of Bram Stoker's Dracula to the modern allure of contemporary cinema. This session shines a light on the transformation of these shadowy creatures, exploring their enduring appeal and the societal reflections they embody. Join us for a lively discussion filled with biting wit and intriguing insights into the ever-changing world of vampires.

Elektra Hammond (mod), Catherine Grant, Darrell Schweitzer, Gillian Daniels

Badass Woman Characters and Keeping them Off the Mary Sue Scale Harbor II Sun 11:30 AM  

Badass women characters can be great, but characters intended as such are sometimes derided as being "Mary Sue" characters. What does that mean, and how can you avoid that pitfall?

 Gillian Daniels (mod), Darlene Marshall, Kelley Armstrong, Fonda Lee, N. T. Swift

I Have a Literary Agent!

After spending the last couple years querying agents, I was contacted in January by Jenna Satterthwaite, Associate Literary Agent at Storm Literary Agency! I signed a contract and am now over the moon to say I have an agent.

I’m incredibly honored to join her list of clients, some of whom I’ve already gotten to know online. Jenna has been nothing but supportive and encouraging. Storm Literary has been wonderful about holding my hand. I’m excited to see where my writing career goes next and I already deeply value my time working with them.

A big thank you to all the writers I’ve gotten to know over the years who have helped me develop my craft and art. Hitting this milestone has been a true joy.

More Arisia! Also, Movies!

The Wasp Woman (1959),
Directed by Roger Corman

I signed up for another panel at Arisia this coming weekend! I've updated my main post about Arisia 2025 to reflect the addition:

Final Girls: Then and Now

Porter Square B Saturday, January 18, 2025, 8:00 PM EST

Misty Pendragon (m), Agatha Astrid Luz, Gillian Daniels, Megan Kearns, N. T. Swift

Coined by Professor Carol J. Clover in 1987, a final girl refers to the female character who survives to the end of a horror film, one who typically abstains from sex and drugs. However, since the creation of the term, there has been an evolution to final girl trope. From Laurie Strode in Halloween to Jeryline in Demon Knight to Maxine Minx in X, our panel will examine the differences between the final girls of the ‘70s to today.

Considering three of the four panels I'm doing for this year's Arisia heavily concern film, I've also added another to my link to my blog: my Letterboxd account! I adore movies and have been enthusiastic about reading movie reviews since I was kid stealing sections of the newspaper and magazines from my parents to do just that. This year, I want to spend more time chronicling my thoughts on films, whether said reaction is serious or silly. Please enjoy!