{"id":2029,"date":"2018-07-12T22:46:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-13T02:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/?p=2029"},"modified":"2018-07-16T21:04:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-17T01:04:55","slug":"readercon-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/readercon-29\/","title":{"rendered":"ReaderCON 29"},"content":{"rendered":"

***Note: The ReaderCON panel by panel commentary that follows is in reverse order***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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SUNDAY<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The con is coming to a close, and the scramble to pack up all the podcasting gear and *ahem* the ‘few’ new books now in my collection took me until 10:00 AM.<\/p>\n

All About the Odyssey Writing Workshop –<\/strong>\u00a0Jeanne Cavelos<\/em><\/p>\n

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Earlier this year, I applied to the Odyssey Workshop (on par with Clarion and other high-end writing workshops). My application was politely declined, but I received a lot of excellent feedback from Jeanne on my 4k word submission. My goal was to attend, listen, and see (other than a talent issue on my part) if there were other things I could have done to get me in the door of this six-week intensive program. Not only did I learn a few interesting things for next time, Jeanne remembered me and my application. Is that a goos thing? I’ll let you know if I get in next year.<\/p>\n

The Shirley Jackson Awards<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, the Shirley Jackson Awards have been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. Jackson (1916 -1965) wrote classic novels such as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, The Lottery<\/em>. Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind. The awards given in her name have been voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics, with input from a board of advisors, for the best work published in the calendar year of 2017 in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.<\/p>\n

Award Winners in RED<\/strong><\/span> below:<\/p>\n

NOVEL<\/span><\/p>\n

Ill Will, Dan Chaon (Ballantine Books)
\nThe Bone Mother, David Demchuk (ChiZine Publications)
\nThe Changeling, Victor Lavalle (Spiegel & Grau)
\nThe Hole, Hye-young Pyun (Arcade Publishing)<\/span>
\nThe Night Ocean, Paul La Farge (Penguin Press)<\/p>\n

NOVELLA<\/span><\/p>\n

Fever Dream, Samantha Schweblin (Riverhead Books)*<\/span>
\nMapping the Interior, Stephen Graham Jones (Tor.com)
\nThe Asylum of Dr. Caligari, James Morrow (Tachyon Publications LLC)
\nThe Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion, Margaret Killjoy (Tor.com)
\nThe Lost Daughter Collective, Lindsey Drager (Dzanc Books)*<\/span>
\nThe Murders of Molly Southbourne, Tade Thompson (Tor.com)<\/p>\n

* TWO winners in this category in 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

NOVELETTE<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTake the Way Home That Leads Back to Sullivan Street,\u201d Chavisa Woods (Things to Do When You\u2019re Goth in the Country)<\/span>
\n\u201cThe Resident,\u201d Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties)
\n\u201cSun Dogs,\u201d Laura Mauro (Shadows and Tall Trees Volume 7)
\n\u201cThe West Topeka Triangle,\u201d Jeremiah Tolbert (Lightspeed Magazine)
\n\u201cYou Will Always Have Family: A Triptych,\u201d Kathleen Kayembe (Nightmare Magazine)<\/p>\n

SHORT FICTION<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBlur,\u201d Carmen Maria Machado (Tin House, issue 72, Summer 2017)
\n\u201cLive Through This,\u201d Nadia Bulkin (Looming Low)
\n\u201cThe Convexity of Our Youth,\u201d Kurt Fawver (Looming Low)<\/span>
\n\u201cThe Mouse Queen,\u201d Camilla Grudova (The Doll\u2019s Alphabet)
\n\u201cThe Second Door,\u201d Brian Evenson (Looming Low)<\/p>\n

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION<\/span><\/p>\n

Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf Press)<\/span>
\nShe Said Destroy, Nadia Bulkin (Word Horde)
\nThe Dark Dark, Samantha Hunt (FSG Originals)
\nThe Doll\u2019s Alphabet, Camilla Grudova (Coffee House Press)
\nThings to Do When You\u2019re Goth in the Country, Chavisa Woods (Seven Stories Press)<\/p>\n

EDITED ANTHOLOGY<\/span><\/p>\n

Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales, edited by Ellen Datlow (Pegasus Books)
\nThe Djinn Falls in Love, edited by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin (Rebellion Publishing \/ Solaris Books)
\nLooming Low, edited by Justin Steele and Sam Cowan (Dim Shores)
\nShadows and Tall Trees Volume 7, edited by Michael Kelly (Undertow Publications)<\/span>
\nTales From a Talking Board, edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Word Horde)<\/p>\n

How Horror Stories End –\u00a0<\/strong>Ellen Datlow, Nicholas Kaufmann, Jess Nevins, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry<\/em><\/p>\n

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The reader’s expectation of a horror story’s ending or anxiety over the question of how it will end significantly shapes the experience of the story. Which horror stories require cathartic happy endings, and which are satisfying even when evil wins? If the reader likes everything about a horror story but the ending, does that spoil the story or just lead to fix-it fanfic? What moral messages are sent by a horror story’s ending?<\/p>\n

James Morrow –\u00a0<\/strong> Jim read from and upcoming work that he describes as a “demented Doctor Who episode.” It follows the biblical Lazarus through time as he ends up in the 1960’s, Constantine I’s Council of Nicaea and shenanigans in-between. It is typical Jim Morrow–thought provoking, blasphemous and laugh out-loud funny. This was a marvelous way to end the con!<\/p>\n

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SATURDAY<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Imagination All Compact –\u00a0<\/strong>Carlos\u00a0<\/em>Hernandez, C.S.E. Cooney, Brittany Warman, Mike Allen, Sandi Leibowitz<\/i><\/p>\n

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A two-hour speculative poetry spectacular. Also, HAIL CLOCKIE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Mental Illness in Horror –\u00a0<\/strong>Erik Amundsen, Nadia Bulkin, Teri Clarke, Hillary Monahan, James Morrow, Terence Taylor<\/em><\/p>\n

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In June 2017, author Magen Cubed tweeted a detailed examination of mental illness tropes in horror, positing that representation has mostly been “schlocky [and] careless.” Sometimes mental illness creates a terrifying threat or antagonist; it can also influence settings such as hospitals and institutions. Cubed puts forth that both of these portrayals demonize mental illness. If horror writers begin to look at people with mental illness as actual people with their own possible heroic arcs, what kind of portrayals might be created instead?<\/p>\n

This particular panel was the only one that I was a bit disappointed in. The first 20 minutes or so were rather upsetting personal stories of mental illness from some of the panel, and it took some time to get around to literature. The stories were heartbreaking, don’t get me wrong. But not what I was expecting.<\/p>\n

Group Reading: Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers –<\/strong>\u00a0Marcy Arlin, Rob Cameron, Teri Clarke, Randee Dawn, Brad Parks, Ted Rabinowitz, Sam Schreiber, Marcus Tsong<\/em><\/p>\n

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Various spec-fiction works in progress read by the group. Almost makes me wish I still lived in Brooklyn. \u00a0Almost.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>C. S. E. Cooney <\/strong>Claire & Carlos are two of my favorite people to see at cons. Upbeat, brilliant and funny, I was delighted to find out that Claire would be reading from\u00a0Desdemona<\/em> AND that the book was recently purchased by Tor.<\/p>\n

Funny, dark whimsey. Delightful stuff AND she gave me a FREE copy of her CD recorded under her musical whimsey name Brimstone Rhine.<\/p>\n

TELL me Brimstone Rhine isn’t also a great name for a demon huntress?<\/p>\n

New Frontiers in Fairy Tale Adaptation –\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Sara Cleto, Rachel Pollack, Veronica Schanoes, Shveta Thakrar, Brittany Warman, Navah Wolfe<\/em><\/p>\n

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Fairy tale adaptations continue to flourish in a wide variety of media including novels, poetry, film, television, and comics. In this panel, a fairy tale scholars and creative writers who have adapted fairy tale material will explore the innovative directions of recent work. How are artists putting the fairy tale to new uses? What contemporary work best exemplifies the potential of the form? Where can we go next?<\/p>\n

This was a fascinating panel. I wrote a fairytale sequel a couple years ago based on an old Japanese story called “The Boy Who Drew Cats.” My story, “The Ink-Washed Cat,” is a disturbed and much darker exploration on the consequences of that first story and I wanted to see where it would fit in this new fairytale paradigm.<\/p>\n

The Con Suite<\/strong><\/p>\n

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So here is something y’all should know: playing Cards Against Humanity…as a DRINKING game…with a bunch of writers goes pair-shaped VERY quickly.<\/p>\n

And now you know why it’s taken me days to finish this post.<\/p>\n

FRIDAY<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I’m writing this early Saturday morning as Friday was a jam-packed insane fest–all goo things including a live recording of episode 78 of the Word Count Podcast! But that was a bit later in the day–let’s get to the readings and panels I attended first while trying not to throw up in anticipation of my first Readercon panel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gamification of Story Development –\u00a0<\/strong>Liz Gorinsky, Auston Habershaw, Carlos Hernandez, Bart Leib, Lauren Roy, Gregory A. Wilson<\/em>
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Story-focused games can be useful tools for authors. What happens when a writer draws up a character sheet for their protagonist and lets someone else play it out? Which gaming systems are best suited to developing stories? How can games support writing without creating chaos?<\/p>\n

A great set of discussions around complex gaming (tabletop and online) and the creativity behind game stories and their collaboration of development.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kaffeeklatsch with James Morrow<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jim and his wife Kathy were in great form for this casual discussion of the publishing industry, Jim’s latest work (which he’ll be reading from on Sunday) and a general Q&A which focused on Jim’s research, love of movies and more.<\/p>\n

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Understanding Neuroscience<\/strong> –\u00a0Benjamin C Kinney<\/em><\/p>\n

With my work with Brigham & Woman’s Neurology department on \"\"<\/a>the development of gaming and creative strategies for stroke victims, I was very interested to see what Mr. Kinney had to say. His presentation and discussion hovered around\u00a0helping writers to understand how to think about the brain. How can one make sense of something so complex, and extract stories that are coherent, plausible, and free from the cliches of the past fifty years?<\/p>\n

Group Reading: The New American Bizarrerie<\/strong> –\u00a0Christa Carmen, C.S.E. Cooney, Carlos Hernandez, Julia Rios, Patty Templeton, Jessica Wick<\/em><\/p>\n

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From gothic to gilded, from Latinx SF to weird Americana, from the Icarus-altitudes of the surreal to the depths of the dark fantastic, readers C.S.E. Cooney, Julia Rios, Carlos Hernandez, Jessica P. Wick, Patty Templeton, and Christa Carmen will regale listeners with a glorious gallimaufry of contemporary speculative fiction.<\/p>\n

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The Word Count Podcast LIVE<\/em>! –\u00a0<\/strong>W.B.J. Williams, M. J. King, Eden Baylee, Bill Kirton, Kathleen Kayembe, R. B. Wood<\/em><\/p>\n

Here is the podcast:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n