I’m excited about Readercon. Nicola is a Guest of Honor (GoH), which I’ve decided makes me an unofficial Wife of Honor (WoH!). I’m officially a wife, to be clear: it’s the Honored part that I’m co-opting because it’s fun to be a team with Nicola in the science fiction world (and anywhere else).
The lovely people of Readercon have been amazingly patient with all this, and have even agreed to throw an 80s dance party so I can exercise my exhibitionist streak. I’ll also be talking about Nicola’s work, as well as conducting the official GoH interview with her onstage; appearing on a panel about Bad Influences, and one about women over 40 in science fiction. Otherwise you can find me at all of Nicola’s events, or hanging out in the bar.
And I’m giving a Special Talk about the book-to-script process of the movie based on Solitaire. Many of you know that I’ve been working as the lead screenwriter on the film for many years (after talking my way into the opportunity to revise the original script). Those years of work are close to fruition, friends. I very much hope to have some detailed news to share soon, but in the meantime I’m looking forward to the chance to talk about my screenwriting journey so far, and the ins-and-outs of the Hollywood and indie film models as I’ve experienced them so far.
Here is the full schedule of events for both me and Nicola, with editorial comments appended. We think Readercon’s going to be a blast, and we hope to see you there!
Thursday July 10
8:00 PM The Long Slow Burn of Critique.
(Jedediah Berry, John Clute, Nicola Griffith, Elizabeth Hand, Gary K. Wolfe)
A critique can become embedded in a writer’s brain, helpfully influencing their future work or causing lingering pain. Nicola Griffith can still quote chunks of the Locus review of her 1992 novel Ammonite. From the other side, Gary K. Wolfe has said he felt haunted after being told that a writer whose work he reviewed subsequently developed a writing block for over a year. Our panel of critics and writers (and critics who are also writers) will share stories of critiques that stuck and stung, ranging from humorous to bitter and back again.
Editorial comment: My current FOAD critique experience is the one that opines that A) Solitaire is crap, which I can handle, and B) clearly Nicola contributed all the best bits, which makes me want to explode with rage. I have other war stories about critique, and I’m looking forward very much to hearing what the panelists have to say.
Friday July 11
2:00 PM Reading: Nicola Griffith.
Nicola Griffith reads new stuff.
Editorial comment: I know what she’s reading and it is all AWESOME. Seriously, not to be missed. One of the best essays I’ve ever read from her, and a bit of the new Hild.
3:00 PM The Genre-Sized Chip on the Shoulder.
(Nicola Griffith, Sandra Kasturi, Eugene Mirabelli, Kenneth Schneyer, Peter Straub)
Discrimination against speculative literature still exists, but it appears to be fading quickly. Literary awards and critics are recognizing speculative works, and major publishers are publishing them. The nerd/jock distinction still exists among teens, but the line has blurred considerably. Is there value to continuing to see the genre as belittled and beleaguered, and genre fans as an oppressed minority? Or do we have a sort of community PTSD, where we’re reacting to memories of mistreatment more than to actual recent events? If the literary world is ready to accept us, are we ready to be accepted?
5:00 PM The Works of Nicola Griffith.
(Jonathan Crowe, Kelley Eskridge, Alena McNamara)
Nicola Griffith was born in Yorkshire, England, but has lived in the U.S. for many years with her wife, Kelley Eskridge. She began publishing SF with “Mirror and Burnstone” in Interzone in 1987. Her novels include Ammonite (1992, Tiptree and Lambda Award winner), Slow River (1994, Nebula and Lambda winner), The Blue Place (1998), Stay (2002), Always (2007), and Hild (2013). She has also co-edited three anthologies with Stephen Pagel: Bending the Landscape: Fantasy (1997), Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction (1998), and Bending the Landscape: Horror (2001). She has published a memoir, And Now We Are Going to Have a Party: Liner Notes to a Writer’s Early Life (2007), another Lambda Award winner. Join us for a discussion of her work.
Editorial comment: I’m delighted to be included in this discussion, and hope the audience won’t find it weird that one wife is talking about the other’s work. There is no Right Perspective on any author’s work, in my opinion, but I think I have a particular window into this author’s work. I look forward to sharing it, and to hearing the other panelists’ ideas.
10:30 PM Meet the Pros(e). Meet the writers attending Readercon!
AND AFTERWARDS… 80s Dance Party!
Editorial comment: I want to dance with the world. I’ll start with Readercon.
Saturday July 12
9:00 AM Kaffeeklatsch. Nicola Griffith, Elaine Isaak.
11:00 AM Autographs. Nicola Griffith, Paul Tremblay.
12:00 PM “Bad” Influences.
(Suzy McKee Charnas, Ellen Datlow, Kelley Eskridge, Elizabeth Hand, Maria Dahvana Headley, Kit Reed, Julia Rios)
This female writer and editor roundtable discussion will focus on the non-genre, possibly “inappropriate” readings of our formative years that contributed to our current careers in the feminist fantastical universe. Teenage obsessions with Charles Bukowski, Henry Miller, Herman Hesse, Salvador Dalí, and Vladimir Nabokov often led us to people like Angela Carter and Claude Cahun. What do we keep of those first artistic obsessions, and what do we critique? Which of our early influencers helped make us into the artists we are today—and which ones make us shake our heads in bewilderment?
Editorial comment: This has been so interesting to think about! I may have to bring up Playboy magazine…
2:00 PM What Joanna Russ’s Work Meant to Me.
(Elizabeth Bear, Lila Garrott, Nicola Griffith, Eileen Gunn, Gary K. Wolfe)
Russ, Alice Sheldon, Ursula K. Le Guin, and other feminist writers of the 1970s inspired a whole generation of female writers and readers—and also stirred things up within fandom as a whole, upending expectations of what women could write and what they should write. Now a new generation of writers is reading Russ through the lenses of third-wave feminism, womanism, and other philosophies both distinct from and responding to that pioneering work. Our panelists will talk about their experiences of reading Russ (and her contemporaries) and the ways that her work invigorates, challenges, and connects with today’s writers and readers.
3:00 PM Beautiful and Terrible as the Morn: Celebrating Spec Fic’s Older Women.
(Beth Bernobich, LJ Cohen, Samuel Delany, Kelley Eskridge, Eileen Gunn, Diane Weinstein)
In a 2014 blog post, Kari Sperring wrote, “Most women who are now over about 40 have been told their whole lives to be good, to keep their heads down, to keep on working away quietly and to wait their turn. And now, within sff, at the point when their male contemporaries are celebrated, these same women are being told, No, it’s too late for you, you don’t matter enough; that space is needed. Get out of the way.” Judith Tarr concurred in a post on Book View Café, saying, “Our culture makes a cult of youth…. But males as they age manage to stay visible, and even manage to keep matinee-idol status—and if they’re writers, they become literary lions. Females simply drop off the radar.” Women over 40 have been shaping the genre since its beginning, as readers, writers, editors, agents, publishers, artists, critics, and more. This panel will celebrate the past, recent, and forthcoming work of older women, and help to put it back on everyone’s radar.
Editorial comment: I love this panel already for the title, and I have opinions for sure.
4:00 PM Nicola Griffith Interviewed by Kelley Eskridge.
Sunday July 13
10:00 AM Reading Stance and Genre.
(Peter Dubé, Chris Gerwel, Nicola Griffith, Alex Jablokow, Sarah Pinsker)
In 2013, Nicola Griffith’s Hild was nominated for the Nebula award, alongside Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. Under Best Novella that same year was “Wakulla Springs” by Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages. Going further back, Peter Straub won a World Fantasy Award for Koko. By most critical definitions none of these are works of speculative fiction, but, as Gary K. Wolfe said on an episode of the Coode Street Podcast, “if you approach Hild with the expectations of a fantasy reader, you’ll still get most of the asethetic delights you’re looking for.” He asked, “What if we approach genre not from the point of view of theoretical definitions or market categories or even the author’s intention, but from how we choose to read a particular work?” This panel will explore the many answers to that question, from many perspectives.
11:00 AM The Shirley Jackson Awards.
(Mike Allen, John Chu, Ellen Datlow, Daryl Gregory, Nicola Griffith, Gary K. Wolfe)
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.” Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work. 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 2014 in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.
1:00 PM The OtherLife of Solitaire. Kelley Eskridge.
Kelley Eskridge will discuss the production of the film OtherLife, based on her novel Solitaire. Eskridge has been involved in the film at every stage, and will discuss the ways the translation from book to film has changed the work and her story.
A literary convention full of great conversations, drink, dancing, and Special Talking. What could be better? I hope you’ll join us.
Enjoy your day.