Hello! This weekend is Boskone, a science fiction convention in Boston, MA. I’ll be doing a bunch of things there, so please come say hello if you are attending!

Here’s where to find me:

Friday

Reviving Printed Short Fiction

Format: Panel
14 Feb 2020, Friday 17:00 - 17:50, Burroughs (Westin)
Jeffrey Ford, Steve Davidson (Amazing Stories), Theodora Goss, Julia Rios (M), Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books)

Short fiction is a major form of published speculative fiction. Writers write it. Readers read it. Publishers want to publish it. So why is printed short fiction struggling? What new ideas can publishers and authors use to attract readers? How might we rethink anthologies and magazines to help make them more affordable and accessible?

Adam Stemple and Brimstone Rhine Present Distant Stars and Irish Bars

Format: Concert
14 February 2020, Friday 20:00 - 20:50, Lewis (Westin)
Adam Stemple, C. S. E. Cooney, Carlos Hernandez, Faye Ringel

Brimstone Rhine is C. S. E. Cooney’s rock star name, and she’s sharing a 50 minute concert slot with Adam Stemple! I’ll be singing with her on some of the songs, which are from her Ballads From a Distant Star project. Her brother Jeremy is flying in from Arizona to be part of the show, too! Faye Ringel and Carlos Hernandez will also be part of the band. This one is sure to be a ton of fun!

Saturday

Themes Within Latin American Speculative Fiction

Format: Panel
15 Feb 2020, Saturday 12:00 - 12:50, Burroughs (Westin)
Julia Rios, Carlos Hernandez (M), Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Latin American speculative fiction has some of the planet’s most haunting and elegant themes woven into the fabric of the genre. What are some of these themes? What do they represent within the genre, as well as through a larger literary view? How do cultural traditions, regional histories, and religion develop deeper meanings within the fiction? What are some of the best examples that will open new readers to Latin American SF?

Shaping the Genre

Format: Panel
15 Feb 2020, Saturday 13:00 - 13:50, Marina 2 (Westin)
Julia Rios (M), Steve Miller (Liaden Universe), Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books), Shahid Mahmud (Arc Manor/Phoenix Pick)

With the evolution of print, ebooks, and audiobooks — not to mention other digital media — the speculative genre keeps changing. How has SF shaped and been shaped by society? Past transformational writers included Asimov, Bradbury, Butler, and Le Guin, to name a few. What authors are reshaping the genre today? How much do current technology and delivery media affect the power to mold SF? What role do publishers, large and small, play in the genre's evolution?

Books That Get Kids Reading!

Format: Panel
15 Feb 2020, Saturday 18:00 - 18:50, Burroughs (Westin)
Michael Stearns (Upstart Crow Literary), Juliana Spink Mills (M), Julia Rios, Adi Rule, Trisha J. Wooldridge

Hundreds of new children's books are published every year. Yet recommended reading lists still include the same old children's classics, with only a few new titles. Our panelists share some of their favorite new children's books and authors from recent years that should be added to the lists.

Sunday

Lost in Translation?

Format: Panel
16 Feb 2020, Sunday 11:00 - 11:50, Marina 1 (Westin)
Julie C. Day, Julia Rios, John Chu, Max Gladstone (M), Silvia Moreno-Garcia

It’s a familiar phrase — but what actually is lost in translation? What does a good translator privilege: literal meaning, connotation, cultural significance, wordplay, poetry or musicality? What can she discard first? What must she insist on keeping? What are some of the best translations of the literature of the fantastic? What makes them so fantastische, harika, and downright kediegwu?

The Unlikely Imaginarium: A Group Reading

Format: Reading
16 Feb 2020, Sunday 13:00 - 13:50, Griffin (Westin)

Authors C. S. E. Cooney, Zig Zag Claybourne, Carlos Hernandez, Julia Rios, and Elaine Isaak gather around the dark bonfire of their collective imagination to tell stories of women, wolves, woods, bones, enraged ninjas, AI toilets, the end of the world, and basically, the whole entire multiverse. Or maybe something completely different. Attend our wild and rambunctious reading to find out for yourselves!