I'm really looking forward to this! (Though I sincerely hope I have an easier time flying to Boston than last year, with its weather-related woes.)

The Joys of the Truly Long Novel
Salon 4 Friday, July 12, 2024, 11:00 AM EDT
Kate Nepveu (m), Gwynne Garfinkle, Natalie Luhrs, Rich Horton, Storm Humbert
SFF loves its giant series, of course, but what about the very long solo novel? How do the pleasures and pitfalls of such novels vary from other lengths and plotting structures? How does serialization affect the length of a story people are willing to follow?

Graduating (?) to Novels from Short Stories
Salon 4 Friday, July 12, 2024, 2:00 PM EDT
A.C. Wise (m), Barbara Krasnoff, Elizabeth Bear, Gwynne Garfinkle, Karen Heuler
Reviewing Kelly Link's first novel, Amal El-Mohtar said, "A certain weight of expectation accrues on writers of short fiction who haven't produced a novel, as if the short story were merely the larval stage of longer work. No matter how celebrated the author and her stories, ... the sense persists: She will eventually graduate from the short form to the long." How can the harms of this expectation be avoided? Are there any benefits to it? Do novelists experience any inverse pressure to craft tight short stories?

The Cultural Potency of Audiobooks
Salon 3 Friday, July 12, 2024, 5:00 PM EDT
James Patrick Kelly (m), Gwynne Garfinkle, Jim Freund, Melissa Caruso, Sarah Smith
For as long as there have been stories to tell, people have listened to them with their ears. While many audiobook enthusiasts rave about the practicality of the audio format for multitasking, the format can also serve important cultural purposes, connecting us to stories on a more social (or parasocial) level, giving blind and other disabled readers another option for consuming books, and allowing readers to hear unfamiliar words and names as they were meant to be pronounced. Panelists will discuss the cultural impact of audiobook readership.

Reading: Gwynne Garfinkle
Salon C Saturday, July 13, 2024, 1:00 PM EDT
Gwynne Garfinkle reads from her forthcoming collection of short fiction, Sinking, Singing (Aqueduct Press).

The Expanding Universe of Speculative Poetry
Salon A Saturday, July 13, 2024, 3:00 PM EDT
Lisa M. Bradley, Akua Lezli HOPE, Gwynne Garfinkle, Romie Stott, Wendy Van Camp
Although mainstream poets have long included fantastika within their bodies of work, recognition of poetry in genre spaces has grown in the half-century since Suzette Haden Elgin's 1978 founding of the SF Poetry Association and the Rhysling Awards. Since then, the increasing crossover that witnessed the birth of slipstream literature has also fostered the emergence of speculative poetry as an active pursuit and not a post-facto label. Our panelists will survey the current landscape of speculative poetry, and speculate about where we're headed next.

The Works of Amal El-Mohtar
Salon A Sunday, July 14, 2024, 10:00 AM EDT
C.S.E. Cooney, Gwynne Garfinkle, Max Gladstone, RB Lemberg, Sarah Smith
Author, poet, editor of Goblin Fruit magazine, SF reviewer for the NY Times Book Review, and longtime friend of Readercon, GOH Amal El-Mohtar has made multifarious contributions to our genres and received a variety of awards: a Hugo for This is How You Lose the Time War (2019), co-written with Max Gladstone; Nebula for "Seasons of Glass and Iron" (2016); Locus for "The Truth About Owls" (2014), and three Rhyslings for Best Short Poem. Please join us as we take in the wide expanses of El-Mohtar country. To quote a certain viral tweeter: "I'm very extremely serious."

Dracula Daily: the Unexpected Hit Newsletter of 2022, Friday, July 14, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT, Salon B
Kate Nepveu (m), Emma J. Gibbon, Gwynne Garfinkle
Dracula Daily is a pandemic-born email newsletter that sends out the text of Dracula in real time from May to November. On its second run in 2022, it went viral across multiple social media networks; a forthcoming book includes not only the chronologically-ordered text, but also memes, text responses, and art from hundreds of fans. Panelists will discuss the transformative experience of reading Dracula in real time; the differences in reading along in 2021, 2022, and today; and how other classic literature email newsletters compare.

Speculative Fiction's Mommy Issues, Friday, July 14, 2023, 5:00 PM EDT, Salon 4
Ruthanna Emrys (m), Gwynne Garfinkle, Lauren Beukes, Melissa Caruso, Zin E. Rocklyn
Speculative fiction was for a long time even more male-dominated than publishing as a whole, with maternal characters too often relegated to the role of martyr either literally or figuratively. Yet most people have had much more complicated experiences with their own mothers, and the experience of motherhood is hardly just two-dimensional martyrdom—and some of the field's best works reflect that. Let's talk about some of speculative fiction's mommy issues: bad moms, absent moms, deadbeat moms, mothers as protagonists and as villains.

Reading: Gwynne Garfinkle, Friday, July 14, 2023, 7:30 PM EDT, Salon C
Gwynne Garfinkle reads from her novel Can't Find My Way Home (2022).

The Fantasy Fiction of Sylvia Townsend Warner, Saturday, July 15, 2023, 10:00 AM EDT, Salon A
Robert Killheffer (m), Greer Gilman, Gwynne Garfinkle, Michael Swanwick, Sarah Smith
Sylvia Townsend Warner's first novel, Lolly Willowes, was the story of a witch, and her final book, Kingdoms of Elfin, collected linked fantasy stories originally published in The New Yorker. Though most of her work in between was realist fiction, fantasy often found its way in, particularly with The Cat's Cradle-Book. Let's discuss the fantasy aspects of Sylvia Townsend Warner's fiction.

Fantasy Magazine Group Reading, Saturday, July 15, 2023, 12:00 PM EDT, Salon C

I'm so glad I was able to make it to Readercon this year (after missing it last year due to illness). This may have been my favorite Readercon yet, in spite of my vertigo. The vertigo did make things challenging at times, but to my surprise, I felt exponentially better than I did at Wiscon, less than two months ago. This is encouraging, to say the least.

As usual at a con, I didn't see or spend time with everyone I would have liked to, or attend all the panels and readings I wanted to (some of which were scheduled opposite my programming items), but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was so great to see Lisa Bradley (and family), Sonya Taaffe, Victoria Janssen, Virginia Mohlere, and many others. I saw readings by Lisa, Sonya, C.S.E. Cooney (her forthcoming novella Desdemona and the Deep is going to be fantastic), Carlos Hernandez, and Marissa Lingen, as well as readings from Ellen Datlow's The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories (Gemma Files, Jeffrey Ford, Stephen Graham Jones, John Langan, Paul Tremblay). Then there were the hilarious (and at times disturbing, but mostly hilarious) Dramatic Readings from the Ig Nobel Prizes (Marc Abrahams, C.S.E. Cooney, Rose Fox, Heath Miller, Sonya Taaffe). I'd been hearing about the Ig Nobel readings for awhile, and they did not disappoint.

A couple of terrific panels I attended were: Being Vague to Make Space for Horror (Stephen Graham Jones, Darcie Little Badger, Sonya Taaffe, teri.zin, Paul Tremblay) and Writing While Chronically Ill or Disabled (Lisa Bradley, Vylar Kaftan, Darcie Little Badger, Sheila Williams). I'd already watched it at home, but I attended the screening and Q&A of Tananarive Due's excellent documentary on black horror films, Horror Noire, and got even more out of it than the first time I saw it.

I was very happy with the panels I was on this year: The Horrors of Being Female (with Gemma Files, Arkady Martine, Gillian Daniels, Nicole Sconiers, and Kate Maruyama) and The Peril of Being Disbelieved (with Meg Elison, Sonya Taaffe, and teri.zin). The second of these was held on the last day of the con, when I'm typically feeling at my most drained and incoherent, but the topic was so rich, and Sonya and Teri had such great insights, I happily would have continued for another half hour at least. (And I enjoyed describing my favorite scene from The Exorcist, in which a mansplaining doctor gets backhanded across the room.)

Also, I had fun at my poetry reading, albeit sparsely attended. I'm sure I've left things out. But it was a wonderful Readercon.

The bad: I will not be attending Readercon this year. I'm disappointed I won't get to see various friends I'd looked forward to seeing.

The better: It looks like my vertigo is indeed the result of the ear infections I had, and I have an appointment next week for rehab. So at least I have a plan.

Also, I have flight insurance, so I should get reimbursed.

But ugh, I wish I didn't have to miss Readercon.

Here is my Readercon schedule. All my programming is on Friday, which means I will be jetlagged, but that's par for the course. Looking forward to seeing those of you who will there!

Friday July 14

11:00 AM
Recent Non-Fiction Book Club: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly.
Teri Clarke, Gwynne Garfinkle, Victoria Janssen, Emily Wagner.

Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets and astronauts into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the black women of Langley’s West Computing group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens. Starting in World War II and moving through the Cold War, the civil rights movement, and the space race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African-American women who participated in some of NASA's greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances, and used their intellect to change their own lives and their country's future. Join us to discuss this excellent book, the history it chronicles, and its implications for historical, present-day, and futuristic SF.

3:00 PM
Horror Fiction Is Where I Put My Fear (and Lust, and...).
Teri Clarke, Gwynne Garfinkle, J.D. Horn, Darcie Little Badger, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry.

When we peel back the monsters in horror, a wealth of social and psychological complexities lie beneath. Tananarive Due writes in her essay "The H Word: On Writing Horror," "Horror fiction is where I put my fear that harm will come to my son because his skin is brown. Horror fiction is where I put my fear of my own mortality." Kristi DeMeester, in "What Horror Taught Me About Being a Woman," discusses her delight in discovering forbidden, gory sex scenes in Anne Rice’s work. Our panelists will discuss how women, people of color, and others whose concerns get little mainstream airtime can use horror as a way to examine and explore cultural and personal anxieties and longings.

6:30 PM
Reading: Gwynne Garfinkle.
Gwynne Garfinkle.

Gwynne Garfinkle reads "Don't Look Back," a short story published in Not One of Us #57.

I had a truly excellent Readercon, without doubt my favorite thus far, full of wonderful conversations, panels, readings, music, and more. (Also, there were cakes with the book covers of csecooney's and time_shark's new books!) Between jetlag and post-con exhaustion, I am too bleary to write about it at coherent length. But here are a few links.

Video of the first Joanna Russ panel I participated in (with David G. Hartwell and Barbara Krasnoff): The Works of Joanna Russ.

Video of the second Joanna panel I participated in (with Lila Garrott and David G. Hartwell): Joanna Russ: Critical Importance Then and Now.

(Happily there are tons of videos of this year's Readercon panels, because there were SO MANY I wanted to attend that I didn't.)

Here is Kate Nepveu's write-up of the panel A Visit from the Context Fairy (modded by Kate, with Kythryne Aisling, Stacey Friedberg, sovay, and me).


On a non-Readercon-related note, today is the US release date of The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk, which includes my short story "In Lieu of a Thank You."

I have finished and sent off the revisions to Can't Find My Way Home (AKA the Jo book). This is the fourth draft. It's 360 pages, 101K words.

Whew.

In other news, it is broiling in Los Angeles, which is normal (though annoying) for early September. Yesterday I finally watched Only Lovers Left Alive and absolutely loved it.

Here is the audio for the Life of Mary Shelley panel I participated in with Theodora Goss and James Morrow at Readercon.

Now I will eat arugula pizza and watch Planet of the Apes movies on TCM to celebrate novel draft completion.

I'll be heading for Readercon tomorrow morning. Bracing myself to get up at stupid o'clock for my flight. At least it's a direct flight! I look forward to the con and to seeing my friends there.

Here is my Readercon schedule. The program is chock-full of great stuff (much of it occurring simultaneously, alas!). I will be Mary Shelleying it up. I look forward to seeing those of you who will be attending!


Friday July 11

12:00 PM
The Life of Mary Shelley
Gwynne Garfinkle, Theodora Goss, Theodore Krulik (leader), James Morrow, Adrienne J. Odasso

A cartoon by Kate Beaton shows Mary Shelley mired in misery over her recent miscarriage and having to constantly fend off Lord Byron's advances. She cries "Oh God this is monstrous!" before running off, presumably to write Frankenstein. We'll take a slightly more nuanced look at the factors in Mary Shelley's life that place her in the right place at the right time to make her such an influential force in the speculative genre.

1:00 PM
Reading
Gwynne Garfinkle

Gwynne Garfinkle reads from an ongoing series of poems inspired by classic films, TV, and pop culture.


Saturday July 12

12:00 PM
Interfictions Group Reading
Gwynne Garfinkle, Theodora Goss, Anil Menon, Sofia Samatar (leader), Sonya Taaffe

Contributors to the Interfictions online magazine read from their work.

6:00 PM
The Works of Mary Shelley
F. Brett Cox (leader), Gwynne Garfinkle, Adrienne J. Odasso, Diane Weinstein

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) was the daughter of the philosopher and novelist William Godwin and the feminist and educationist Mary Wollstonecraft. She married the poet Percy Shelley in 1816, and together with him and the poet Lord Byron and the doctor John Polidori, spent much of the summer of 1816 at the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva. At Byron's suggestion, one evening each of the group told ghost stories that they had written; by far the most famous of these is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus (1818). Frankenstein is often viewed as the first science fiction novel, turning the Gothic tradition into a form distinctively responsive to the modern age. It has inspired countless successors—as well, of course, as translations into other media. Mary Shelley wrote many other works, including the SF tale The Last Man (1826), several Gothic stories, biographies, and travel narratives. This panel will primarily focus on her speculative writing.

I had a wonderful Readercon. Possibly my favorite Readercon yet, even though I had a pain flare-up towards the end. (And, of course, there was the Zimmerman verdict.)

Books I bought at Readercon (from the Small Beer table):

Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison
Errantry by Elizabeth Hand
The Black Fire Concerto by Mike Allen!