Official Worldcon 2006 Thread

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Since people's rides and rooms are mostly worked out, how about...the schedule?

The official schedule is up.

What are the most important panels to go to? Other events? What panels are people here on?

I only started getting vacation hours recently, and I'm not going to have enough saved up to go to the whole con. I might be able to go in to work early and leave early. I might take a sick day. I might be able to take a partial. But anyway, it looks like among Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I can pick only one day to be there the whole time. Which day should I pick?

The shedule's format is not incredibly friendly to read. The tab-delimited text file you can download is even worse. I've seen much better before, convention schedules you can glance through and quickly pick out what you want to read up on in more detail.

[EUOL]

** Your Complete Schedule **

You are on a total of 7 program items.

----------------------------------------
Item 1:  Thu 8/24  1:00 PM, 60-90 minutes.
 Title: WHAT IS EVIL?
Precis:    Novels seem to always pits good versus evil, the
          hero/heroine (who must do battle, sacrifice endlessly,
          travel to the ends of the earth to save the world) and the
          evil protagonist. Sounds simple. But how do you define what
          is truly evil? And are your characters black and white or
          many shades of gray? How bad is the bad guy? Is evil marked
          by character, action, the enormity of destruction, the
          totality of deceit, or is it possible that evil is in the
          perception?

----------------------------------------
Item 2:  Thu 8/24  4:00 PM, 60-90 minutes.
 Title: THE WORST IDEAS IN FANTASY OR SCIENCE FICTION

Precis:    We're always hearing the science fiction is a literature of
          ideas. And that this or that was a great idea. What just
          didn't work? What seemed like a good idea at the time
          but...

----------------------------------------
Item 3:  Thu 8/24  5:30 PM, 60-90 minutes.
 Title: GOOD ENDINGS
\
Precis:    Writing is hard. There's lots of work, lots of thought that
          goes into every sentence. But no matter how good your story
          is, how compelling your characters are, if your ending
          falls flat, so does everything else. How do you make your
          ending work?

----------------------------------------
Item 4:  Fri 8/25 11:00 AM, 60 minutes.
 Title: AUTOGRAPHING: BRANDON SANDERSON
 Participants:            Brandon Sanderson
Precis:  

----------------------------------------
**** You are MODERATOR of this panel.  Please see below.
Item 5:  Sat 8/26  1:00 PM, 60-90 minutes.
 Title: WRITING NON-HUMAN CHARACTERS

Precis:    We're all people so we really can't think like an alien or
          a demon or an anthropomorphic dog. So what do we do to make
          non-human characters real without making them just seem
          weird? How do we bring them to life?

----------------------------------------
Item 6:  Sat 8/26  4:00 PM, 60-90 minutes.
 Title: HARD FANTASY

Precis:    Is there such a thing as "hard" fantasy, like "hard"
          science fiction? Is it just a matter of research or better
          world building? What does it take to make a fantasy
          "hardcore"? Who's writing hard fantasy, what is it, and how
          does it work?

----------------------------------------
**** You are MODERATOR of this panel.  Please see below.
Item 7:  Sun 8/27 11:30 AM, 60-90 minutes.
 Title: IN DEFENSE OF ESCAPIST LITERATURE

Precis:    Science fiction has had a moniker of being junk food for
          the mind; escapist fare only. Is that true? Not all of it
          is literature but surely some of it must be? Mustn't it?
          What literary trends can be found? What will withstand the
          test of time? And does it matter?

[Spriggan]

Cool panels.

So in the worst idea one are you going to bring up vamipres that are scared of cheese?

[Fellfrosch]

Don't mess with vampires that are scared of cheese. That is gold, Jerry. Gold!

Thanks for the confirmation, Eric. Now we have everyone in a room and taken care of, so we're set for that. We still don't have rides for Toad or blackdove. Have you heard from your Conduit buddies, EUOL? Any room in any other cars we know about?

[EUOL]

I'm still working on that.  Charlie isn't going down, but Helge might.  And, Eric Swedin is.  I don't have his email, though.  I just asked Charlie for it.

[Christopher]

I'm still working on that.  Charlie isn't going down, but Helge might.  And, Eric Swedin is.  I don't have his email, though.  I just asked Charlie for it.

When I talked to Eric a month and a half ago, he was planning on flying. I don't know if that has changed. I know he checks his Weber State e-mail address frequently. EUOL, If you still need it.... I just sent you an IM with Eric's contact info.

[MsFish]

Brandon, I'm sorely disappointed that you aren't on any panels regarding alien sex.

[Spriggan]

No but "HARD FANTASY" is code for naked elves.

[stacer]

Speaking of alien sex and drunk panelists, I ran into him at Comic-Con.

[blcdrayco]

First, an apology to those organizing this.  I didn't mean to confuse.  My friends call me Toad, my user is blcdrayco.  Also,  I have been in the middle of moving three households, so I have not been able to be at the computer when needed.  That is now over.  Once again, my apologies for any inconvienences.
Second: Renting a car looks like it may be what needs to happen.  Any ideas on a driver?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

so... you're one of them polygamists?

[Faster Master St. Pastor]

Ignore e, he likes making sarcastic comments. You'll have much better luck pulling off a converstaion with me. /sarcasm

[blcdrayco]

Orvill southerland Cox (my umteenth great gradfather) had something like five wifes.  Most of his sons where poligamists as well.  So draw your own conclusion.

I understand that you where joking, but I dont understand the connection between poligamy and my post.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

you moved three households. A polygamist would need such space.

[Fellfrosch]

He was helping move all his sleeper cell buddies.