ArmadilloCon starts tomorrow! If you are in Austin, or can come there this weekend, I’d love to hear from you. Here’s my schedule of events:
Opening Ceremonies
Fri 7:00 PM-7:30 PM Ballroom D
N. Drayden, D. Liss, M. R. Maresca, J. Miles*, G. Villarreal
The formal start of the con. Get introduced to the con’s major guests, and attend the Meet the Pros party afterward.
Writing Large Series
Fri 9:00 PM-10:00 PM Ballroom D
K. Baldwin, D. Cohen, M. R. Maresca, K. Redford, M. Wells*
Trilogies, pentologies, dodecologies, heptatriacontologies in three phases… how can anyone hope to keep anything straight in these gigantic epics? Especially the people trying to write them! Our panel talks about the perils, pitfalls and pleasures of writing stories of immense scope and scale.
Autographing
Sat Noon-1:00 PM Dealers’ Room
C. Brown, M. R. Maresca, C. Panatier, M. Wells
Worldbuilding for Beginners and Masochists
Sat 1:00 PM-2:00 PM Ballroom E
J. Black, E. Cobbe, B. Jensen*, B. Liar, M. R. Maresca
How do you get started with worldbuilding? And how do you know when to stop? Do you ever stop? Do you need to stop? Or do you just keep going until it hurts? Our panelists explore the limits of world building, and how to get the most out of it by challenging presumptions of how fantasy worlds are “supposed” to be.
Marshall Ryan Maresca Interview
Sat 3:00 PM-4:00 PM Ballroom D
M. R. Maresca, T. Wagner*
An interview with our Special Guest.
Fannish Feud
Sat 5:00 PM-6:00 PM Ballroom D
D. Liss, M. R. Maresca, G. Villarreal, S. Felix, T. Wilson
Fans vs Pros game completely unrelated to the Richard Dawson show
Hopepunk
Sun Noon-1:00 PM Ballroom D
S. Kern*, M. R. Maresca, S. Leicht, T. Wagner
“Hopepunk is the opposite of grimdark.” Alexandra Rowland coined the term with that sentence, but what is ‘hopepunk’? Is it a subgenre, a style, a mood? Is it just fantasy where good people strive to do good in hopeful worlds? Or is there something deeper which needs exploring, especially in contrast to grimdark fantasy? And what does writing hopepunk fiction mean?
Shiny Seductive Sirens and Tying Yourself to the Mast
Sun 2:00 PM-3:00 PM Ballroom D
A. Fisher, M. R. Maresca*, K. Redford, P. Sarath, J. Reisman
It happens every time. You’re about a third of the way through a story, and you’re definitely out of the “honeymoon” stage of the project, when it hits: A Shiny New Idea. It’s so fun and exciting, definitely not work like the current one is. But you also know you NEED TO FINISH that current one. So how do you tie yourself to the proverbial mast so you can ignore those shiny sirens and sail through the rocky waters of the murky middle and finish your story?
On more thing, I want to share this excellent review of An Unintended Voyage from SF&F Reviews, including saying “This is compulsive reading right here, that you’ll pick up and not put down, and then lament when you’re finished that there isn’t any more.” I think this is a fantastic book and I hope you pick it up. And pre-orders are very important now, with the challenges of supply-chains around the world.
Add on Goodreads.
Preorder at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, Bookshop and more!