The schedule has landed! Here are some of the things I'll be doing during Readercon:
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
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
The Intersections of Romance and Horror
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.
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?
