Dispatches from the Land of Ice and Snow: Boskone 2015

Boskone 2015 Promo Art

Oh look! My Boskone 52 schedule!

25 Things I Learned From SF

Friday 18:00 - 18:50, Harbor III (Westin)

How much of what you know was learned from science fiction? Chromatophores and Kuiper belts, tesseracts and teratogens — what Newton dreamt and how anarchy might work — we've all received numberless info dumps. What are your favorites? Your most exotic? How has science fiction shaped your life, your worldview, and the fancy factoids you spout at parties?
Laurie Mann (M), Walter H. Hunt, Fred Lerner, Steve Davidson, Gillian Daniels

Transformative Fan Fiction
Saturday 10:00 - 10:50, Galleria-Discussion Group (Westin)
Looking for fiction that breaks boundaries across gender, race, and religious roles? What is fan fiction? Moreover, what is transformative fan fiction? Why do people write it? Where did it come from? What needs does it fulfill? And where can you find it?
Julia Rios (M), Gillian Daniels

SF Screen Comedy: Galaxy Quest to Guardians of the Galaxy
Sunday 14:00 - 14:50, Harbor I (Westin)
Anybody order a side of Meatballs? Let's talk about the most successful SF films with a lighter touch. We've seen many SF feature-length cartoons in the last few years aimed primarily at children: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Planet 51, Mr Peabody & Sherman. Which of those are worth seeing? What about live-action comedies aimed at adults? Are there examples the other way around? Which are the "best" big-screen SF comedies, and what sets them apart from the crowd?
Julia Rios (M), Gillian Daniels, Craig Shaw Gardner, Annalisa Schaefer, Stephen P. Kelner

***

My Arisia was a pretty nice one.  Everyone has a different Arisia, being the size and shape of fan convention it is.  N.K. Jemisin was brilliant in person and Mark Oshiro was terribly sweet and has a fantastic memory for faces.  I spent a great deal of it live-tweeting the panels I attended for the #arisia and #arisia2015 tags. That's probably one of the reasons I'm going to skip going in-depth with my description of Arisia this year.

I'll say that, due to its bigness, the con itself has a lot of mixed messages.  It's not uncommon to attend a number of panels regarding race and cultural appropriation in popular entertainment but also run into That Guy Who Wants to Tell You Being Offended by X is Wrong Because He's Not Offended By It.  This is probably due to the fact that 90% of New England's geek population shows up for this con and, really, geeks have never been just one group but a bunch of enthusiasts from all backgrounds and walks of life.  I'm pleased Arisia is here to attempt to unite them all in one place and do so with enthusiasm.

The panels I was on went wonderfully and the reading I had with Adrienne Odasso and Sonya Taaffe was fantastic.  I hope to read with them again.  Our writing styles sit very comfortably with each other.  Also, they're both really cool.

Otherwise, after staying at a con from Friday, 6pm to Monday at 3pm with plenty of parties, I was pretty exhausted.

So of course I'll be at Boskone in February.  If you're in the area, you should stop by and say hello!