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MidAmeriCon II, the 74th World Science Fiction Convention, Kansas City, Missouri, August 17-21. Appearances subject to change, check your pocket programs and newsletter updates, contents may settle in shipping, you know the drill. Thanks to the concom and especially Ian Stockdale for their help and patience in arranging all this.
The explanatory notes appended to some items in this list are my own, not MidAmeriCon’s.
Wednesday 1 PM, KCCC 2209 I Remember Big MAC Joe Haldeman, Mike Resnick, Janice Bogstad (m), PNH “Big MAC” was the slang term for the first MidAmericon, 40 years ago in 1976. Based on the Worldcon’s growth from 1972 to 1974, it was expected to be unprecedentedly huge. In fact it wasn’t. But it was a lot of people’s first Worldcon—mine, and Tom Doherty’s, to name just two. And in innumerable ways it set important patterns and precedents for decades of Worldcons to come.
Wednesday 2 PM, KCCC 2207 Does SF Still Affect How We Think About the Future? Michael Swanwick, Cynthia Ward, Adam-Troy Castro, PNH
Wednesday 5 PM, KCCC “Heinlein Stadium” Opening Ceremony: Meet the Guests of Honor Ruth Lichtwardt (chair), Pat Cadigan (toastmaster), Michael Swanwick, Tamora Pierce, Kinuko Y. Craft, PNH & TNH
Wednesday 6 PM, KCCC “Olympus Mons” Fandom Rocks! Introduction and Docent Tour Geri Sullivan, TNH Teresa, Geri, and a lot of extremely interesting rocks, large and small. Geology nerds rule.
Wednesday 7 PM, KCCC 2204 The Interstices of Historical Fiction and Fan Fiction Lyda Morehouse (m), Heather Urbanski, Sumana Harihareswara, TNH
Thursday 11 AM, KCCC 2209 The Future of Work Eric James Stone, Renée Sieber (m), TNH
Thursday noon, KCCC 3501H Is Cyberpunk Still a Thing? Pat Cadigan, Matt Jacobson, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, James Patrick Kelly, Cory Doctorow (m), PNH
Thursday noon, KCCC 2206 What Is a Fan Writer? Rich Lynch, Guy Lillian, Foz Meadows, Goldeen Ogawa, Lyda Morehouse (m), TNH
Thursday 1 PM, KCCC 2209 As You Know, Bob…: The Fine Art of Exposition Stanley Schmidt, Eric James Stone, Tamora Pierce, Kevin J. Anderson, Matthew S. Rotundo (m), TNH One of Teresa’s signature subjects.
Thursday 1 PM, KCCC 3501B An Introduction to Conventions for Professionals Gay Haldeman, Janice Gelb, Bill Sutton, Matt Wallace, PNH Professionals new to old-line SF fandom? Here’s what you need to know. Starting with, It’s Not About You.
Thursday 2 PM, KCCC 2203 Making Conversation: Reading and Autographing TNH Teresa reads from the new collection, then signs. Copies will be on hand for sale.
Thursday 3 PM, KCCC 2206 The Past, It Ain’t What it Used to Be Elizabeth Bear, David Gerrold, Ctein (m), TNH
Thursday 3 PM, KCCC 2503B All Our Yesterdays: How the Worldcon has Covered Fandom’s History Over the Years Joe Siclari (m), Clare McDonald-Sims, Rich Lynch, PNH
Thursday 4 PM, KCCC 2503A What’s New from Tor Tom Doherty, Beth Meacham, Liz Gorinsky, Miriam Weinberg, Jen Gunnels, Irene Gallo, Patty Garcia, PNH In which we announce that everyone at the Worldcon and the entire populations of Yorkshire, Barcelona, and Gary, Indiana have now been hired as editors at Tor Books. You will find your intake forms beneath your seats. Prepare to ascend.
Friday 11 AM, KCCC Art Show Art Docent Tour (advance signup required) Ctein, TNH Teresa and Ctein give their opinionated tour of the art show, as they have every year since mumble-mumble.
Friday noon, KCCC 2208 The Future Is a Different Country Andrea Philips, Edward Lerner, Kathleen M. Goonan (m), PNH
Friday 1 PM, KCCC 2210 Making Print: How Technological Changes Affect What We Read Beth Meacham, John D. Berry, Jim Murray, TNH I actually wrote the official precis for this item: “The history of publishing is a history of changing technologies. Web presses made the pulp magazines and cheap paperbacks possible. Cheap offset printing created a forest of tiny magazines. We all know, or think we know, about the first-order effects of DTP and the Web. And then there’s the intersection of technological change and distribution methods. What’s the history we don’t fully understand? And what’s next?”
Friday 1 PM, KCCC 2208 An Idiot’s Guide Revisited Karl Schroeder, Cory Doctorow, PNH In the long-ago futuristic year of 2000 AD, Alpha Books’ “Complete Idiot’s Guide” series published Cory Doctorow and Karl Schroeder’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Science Fiction, complete with cover quote and preface by me. Now, in the post-singularity world of 2016, we scrabble down from our hanging egg sacs to re-examine this period piece.
Friday 2 PM, KCCC 2209 Feminism in Science Fiction: When It Changed Jeanne Gomoll, Eileen Gunn (m), PNH Katy drives like a maniac.
Friday 3 PM, KCCC 3501D Moderation and Community Management John Scalzi and Teresa Nielsen Hayden A dialogue.
Friday 5 PM, KCCC 3501H Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden: Fractal, Interstitial, Fannish Tom Whitmore (m), PNH & TNH Tom Whitmore interviews us, without a net.
Friday 6 PM, KCCC 3501H Hamilton as Alternative History and Fan Fiction Rachael Acks, John Chu, Sunil Patel, Mark Oshiro (m), PNH Work, work!
Saturday 1 PM, KCCC 2210 Editors: Not Just a Single Job Anne Sowards, Jim Minz, Liz Gorinsky (m), PNH & TNH
Saturday 3 PM, KCCC 3501D The Secret History of Science Fiction Michael Swanwick, Gordon Van Gelder, Eileen Gunn, TNH All the gossip, some of it true.
Saturday 4 PM, KCCC 3501F In Memoriam: David G. Hartwell Kathryn Cramer, Tom Doherty, Michael Swanwick, PNH
Sunday 1 PM, KCCC 2209 Transcending the Genre Tom Easton, Rich Horton, Jennie Goloboy (m), TNH
Sunday 2 PM, KCCC 2211 Kaffeeklatsch (advance signup required) PNH & TNH
Sunday 4 PM, KCCC “Tucker Stage” Closing Ceremony Ruth Lichtwardt (chair), Pat Cadigan (toastmaster), Michael Swanwick, Tamora Pierce, Kinuko Y. Craft, PNH & TNH
Some great stuff there that I wish I could attend, especially:
An Introduction to Conventions for Professionals
and
Moderation and Community Management
Both of which sound fascinating.
I hope you all have a great time, and congratulations once again to Theresa and Patrick on the GoH gig.
Moderation and community management sounds like an excellent panel.
I'm disappointed to learn that I'll not be a Tor editor, since I'm not going to be attending, nor do I live in one of the three alternate locations.
That blur in the hallway is TNH and PNH rushing to their next panels.
Oh, how I wish I could be there... even if only to see you guys rocketing from panel to panel. I'm particularly fascinated by the Making Print panel, given my new immersion in book-making technology of 100 years ago.
Looking forward to seeing you there, and to serving on a panel with TNH.
How far out are we from being able to watch this stuff online?
Some of those sound really interesting. I wish I could be there.
I really kind of resent missing that first Big MAC panel. Probably I didn't pay enough attention to available information when I made my travel arrangements or something, but no chance we'll be there that early. Have a blast!
I don't live in Yorkshire any more, but my father does. I must tell him...
(I originally read 'Yorkshire, Barcelona' as parallel to 'Gary, Indiana', but I'm fairly sure that was not what was meant.)
Any chance those conversations with Scalzi and Whitmore will be recorded or videotaped?
Not a clue, we're just guests.
The page about Charities misses sounding an important historical note: the habit of holding blood donation drives at conventions (or at least at worldcons) was started because the Pro GoH at MidAmeriCon (Adam Stink, the World's Most Lifelike Robot) requested (required?) that the convention actively support a cause he found very important.
As you know Bob's medical circumstances at the time were such that having a fresh supply of human blood was a cause close to his heart.
Is there going to be time for a Gathering of Light at the con?
Lee, if there is one, we'll do our best to attend, but we're not in any position to organize it. If someone does, obviousluy it would be best for us if it wasn't in any of the hours on which one or the other of us is on the program.
There will be a Tor party: 9 PM Friday, in a function room at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Ending at 1 AM.
Wow, they (we) are really getting bang for the buck! That's quite a workload.
Wish I could make the Hamilton panel, but alas, I'm moderating something opposite it.
What I was really asking was whether anyone was organizing a gather, and this seemed to be an appropriate place to ask. I'm not in a position to do it either, because I have to be in the dealer room all day. But failing all else, I'll see you at the Tor party!
I wish wish wish I could be there. Big Mac was my first Worldcon, and I had an utterly awesome con. Hoping for a great convention for you and everyone.
Man, that's a pretty dense schedule. I'm glad to know I'm being hired as a Tor editor, though that first day is going to be hell.
I dearly wish that I was going to this year's "WorldCon" - the annual gathering of SF fandom, held later this month in Kansas City - especially so that I could attend the Thursday 1 PM session.
Ooh, a community management panel! I am morally obligated to be there (and I look forward to it.)
I just heard that Tor is sponsoring water for panelists at Worldcon (the venue charged too much for water for the con to be able to afford it).
Kudos, guys!
Because of a recent retinal detachment and emergency surgery, I'm really sad I won't get to attend this year's WorldCon. Was very much looking forward to being on the panel "Is Cyberpunk Still a Thing?" listed above, and a host of others. Best wishes to everyone involved. Hope to see y'all in 2017.
Alvaro: Suggestion: get somebody to Skype you in on their iPad.
And now, the W. Skeffington Higgins schedule for Worldcon.
Thursday in the academic track, I'm connecting Iceworld and Kepler's exoplanets.
I have a kaffeeklatsch Thursday. (The signup rules seem complicated.)
I'm on several panels considering science or technology, often with some of the Usual Suspects, well mixed with names new to me.
Saturday afternoon reunites Fizz and Fuse, the Reactor Brothers, for improvised advice modeled on Car Talk. The essential ingredient: the fabulously talented physicist (and sometime Fluorospherian) Jordin Kare. Bring your spacecraft-repair questions.
Sunday, I'll give a Pluto talk. Have you already heard me talk about Pluto? But wait! I'll tell you what's been learned about Pluto since my last Worldcon Pluto talk!
Annoying. Looks like attendance at the Business Meeting precludes going to any Kaffeeklatsches or the TNH/Ctein art show tour. Oh well, there'll be other stuff to do, and maybe I'll have better luck in Helsinki.
Sounds like loads of fun, however I have to cancel my plans to attend Worldcon. In hyperlocal news, local couple learns the hard way that they are among the minority of Americans who can handle an unexpected $1000 expense. But to pay for repairs to both cars ($2400 total), some planned expenses have to be cut.
Have fun, everyone, and I endorse the advice in the open thread to get enough sleep and real food.
Allan, #26: Sympathies. That sucks, for multiple reasons.
As far as I can tell, P&T have been having a really good time keeping up with that schedule. And they are doing a really good job of managing being Guests of Honor: they are available, engaging and interesting with a very wide variety of fans. It's a joy to see them here, being honored. They deserve it.
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