Readercon's back, baby! And it's NEXT WEEK! Here's where I'll be:
The Trashy and the Sublime: Genre Fiction's Highs and Lows - Salon B Thursday, July 13, 2023, 9:00 PM EDT
Gillian Daniels (m), Emma J. Gibbon, Rich Horton, Yves Meynard
Lowbrow fiction can contain sharply-observed descriptions of life and of the triumph of the human spirit, and "highbrow" fiction has been known to contain swashbuckling and attractive characters making out. The line between "trash" and "art" often reflects not just judgments about craft, but also the enforcement of social mores, especially around sexuality. In what ways are these categories illuminating—perhaps despite themselves—and what kind of conversations are they in, or should they be in, with each other?
The Craft of Reviewing - Salon A Friday, July 14, 2023, 6:00 PM EDT
Robert Killheffer (m), Gary Wolfe, Gillian Daniels, Michael Dirda, The joey Zone
Join experienced reviewers of literature as they discuss what a review is, what reviews aim to accomplish, and how they go about putting them together.
Meet the Pros(e) Party - Salon 4 Friday, July 14, 2023, 10:30 PM EDT
Check out our New, Experimental Meet the Pros(e) format! Grab a card and join a handful of authors and attendees at assigned tables in three fifteen-minute chat sessions.
Domestic Fabulism - Salon A Saturday, July 15, 2023, 11:00 AM EDT
Gillian Daniels (m), Emma J. Gibbon, Greer Gilman, Ian Muneshwar, Laurence Raphael Brothers
In a 2014 essay in Electric Lit, Amber Sparks coined the phrase "domestic fabulism" to describe works that "simultaneously distort […] and reveal […] the true nature of the home, the family, the place of belonging or, in many cases, not belonging at all," such as Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners, Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox, and Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. Panelists will discuss this genre's lineage, how the fantastic interacts with the domestic, and whether stories of claustrophobic domestic anxiety are currently on the rise.
Reading: Gillian Daniels - Salon C Saturday, July 15, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT
The Real Effects of Fairy Tale Logic - Salon B Sunday, July 16, 2023, 2:00 PM EDT
Gillian Daniels (m), Eric Schaller, Justina Ireland, Tom Greene
How do the structural and conceptual elements of fairy tales manifest in realistic fiction? Does the Rule of Threes influence politics? How do the social conventions introduced and to an extent enforced by fairy tales complicate and hinder the ongoing struggle for social, racial and environmental justice, and how are new stories reclaiming and adapting those tools to point more clearly towards positive change?
