Friday, March 30
3:00 – 4:15 Apple Pie, Rayguns, and Galactic Overlords
Salon B/C
Tropes encode vast bits of narrative, bringing up memories of other things we’ve read and seen and relieving the author of some of the burden of exposition. How does this work? Where do tropes come from? What is their lifecycle? (That is, how do they segue from cognitive triggers and narrative support elements to tedious vehicles for cliché?) Can we catalog tropes? What is the, uh, scope of a trope? (Sorry.) Do scopes map nicely to subgenres?
Moderator: Daniel Starr
Panelists: Naamen Tilahun, Daniel Marcus, Valerie Frankel
At 8 PM, there is something called ConTention, which I gather is a gloves-off genre argument mosh pit. I’m inclined to show up and raise the old Cold Equations dust-up. Is it a sad cautionary tale about the immutability of physical law on the harsh frontier, or a misogynist sham that uses pseudo-science and bogus sentimentality to rationalize the murder of innocence? Or I might just go home after my panel and watch Tivoed American Idol.
Saturday, March 31
I will be around in the evening, most likely at Karaoke in Salon B/C after 9:30 PM.
Sunday, April 1
1:30 – 2:45 PM, Readings: Daniel Marcus, David Levine, Chaz Brenchley
Santa Rosa
At some point I will be also signing books at the Other Change of Hobbit tables but I’m not sure when.
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