Readercon Schedule
This weekend will find me at Readercon in Burlington, MA. I first attended this conference in 2007, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite annual book events. I’m on two panels this year, and I’ll be participating in a reading to celebrate the publication of Conjunctions 52: Betwixt the Between.
My full schedule is below. I will also spend a lot of time at the Small Beer Press table in the stuff-for-sale room, hoping you will come say hello to me.
Friday 12:00 Noon, Vineyard: Group Reading
ReaderconJunctions: Betwixt the Between Group Reading. Jedediah Berry, Elizabeth Hand, James Morrow
Readings from issue #52 (Spring 2009) of Conjunctions, titled “Betwixt the Between: Impossible Realism” and edited by Brian Evenson and Bradford Morrow. “Postfantasy fictions that begin with the premise that the unfamiliar or liminal really constitutes a solid ground on which to walk.”
Friday 6:00 PM, Salon E: Panel
Reality and Dream in Fiction. Jedediah Berry, Michael Cisco (L), Caitlin R. Kiernan, Yves Meynard, Patrick O’Leary, Gene Wolfe
“It seems almost like a dream that has slowly faded.” “Not to me,” said Frodo. “To me it seems more like falling asleep again.” Some books create a world so engaging and convincing it seems more real than reality. Others (e.g., Gene Wolfe’s There are Doors) seem like dreams from which we awaken. What elements in fiction create these disparate effects? Are they mutually exclusive?
Sunday 1:00 PM, ME/ CT: Panel
The Readercon Book Club: China Miéville’s The City & The City. Jedediah Berry, John Clute, Jim Freund (M), Glenn Grant, Graham Sleight
At the center of former Readercon GoH China Miéville’s new novel is a stunning, beautiful conceit that is revealed, in its basic dimensions, over the first six or so chapters. Reading these was about the most fun we’ve had with speculative fiction in years—and the book then gets even better. The reader gets a taste of the lived experience of a world existentially very peculiar, in prose much sparer than Miéville usually writes. That the conceit is revealed early makes the novel difficult to discuss without spoilers, so we urge you to read it before reading any reviews. And then come to this panel!