I’ve mentioned a few times here that I’ll be one of the Guests of Honor at this year’s Arisia in Boston, haven’t I? Well, now I’m mentioning it again. Here are the events I’m scheduled for, if you’ll be there too:
The Map and the Story
Fri 7:00 PMMaps are a familiar sight in our field, but lately a number of stories have placed maps and cartography at the core of the stories themselves. Maps serve as portals to other worlds, cartographers remake the world in a map’s image, and mapmaking itself becomes a means to discuss the distance between perception and reality, between the map and the territory. Panelists will discuss the ways in which maps and cartography have escaped from the endpapers in recent works of fiction.
Panelists: Lee Moyer as mod; Greer Gilman; N. K. Jemisin; Walter H. Hunt; Erik Amundsen
(I’ll be debuting the map for The Fifth Season at this one! And possibly talking about my general distaste for maps.)
Tricksters of All Trades
Fri 8:30 PMTrickster gods pop up in the folklore of many cultures. Coyote, Loki, The Monkey King, and Hermes all play tricks and struggle to escape punishment. How have they been revisited in fiction and stories? Has contemporary literature cultivated its own tricksters?
Panelists: Daniel José Older as mod; N. K. Jemisin; Catt Kingsgrave-Ernstein; Vikki Ciaffone; Andrea Hairston
Art Show Collectors Preview and Reception
Fri 10:00 PMErasure Is Not Equality
Sat 10:00 AMA discussion of the erasure of people of color in history-based SF/F. Good writers research their subject matter, so why are we seeing SF/F set in the Old West or major cities or anywhere that doesn’t include the actual people of color who were present and who are part of the historical record? Everything from the Moors in Scotland to Chinese laborers in the Old West to Africans in the Roman Empire will be discussed.
Panelists: Victor Raymond as mod; Mark Oshiro; Daniel José Older; N. K. Jemisin; Nisi Shawl
Does the Real World Belong in Games?
Sat 11:30 AMWhile some games may be escapist pastimes, they will always be a reflection of the world we live in. Should we be able to ignore reality when we dive into our games? Our panelists will discuss whether “fun” is necessarily opposed to “social commentary”, and games that have successfully combined the two. Can we use “it’s just a game” to avoid discussing the extreme violence in games or the ongoing questions about how women and minorities are treated in the industry?
Panelists: William C. Walker III as mod; N. K. Jemisin; T Christopher Davis; Frank Wu; Brianna Wu; Maddy Myers
N.K. Jemisin Reading Saturday Session
Sat 4:00 PM
(I’ll be reading an unpublished vignette set in the Inheritance Trilogy world, probably. Unless I change my mind.)Race and Identity Issues in SF
Sat 8:30 PMRace and identity have been issues in science fiction for about as long as SF itself. From the whitewashing of SF settings to “the black guy dies first” phenomenon to the underrepresentation of minority authors in the genre, there’s a long way to go. What can we do as individuals and as a community to encourage progress?
Panelists: Mark Oshiro as mod; Victor Raymond; N. K. Jemisin; Nisi Shawl; Jessa Phillips
CLAMP: The Good, The Bad, and The Strange
Sun 10:00 AMCLAMP is an all-female Japanese manga artist group that formed in the mid-1980s. For more than 20 years CLAMP has created a universe that could rival anything Marvel or DC could create, except their series (for the most part) come to an end. They’ve done everything from magical girl series to mecha stories. A look at the long history of this artist group and discussion on their body of work.
Panelists: Hanna Lee Rubin Abramowitz as mod; Jared Griego; N. K. Jemisin; Richard Ralston; Elizabeth O’Malley
N.K. Jemisin Reading and Q&A Sunday Session
Sun 1:00 PM
(I’ll be reading a chapter from THE FIFTH SEASON, probably. Unless I change my mind.)Pitch Session with N.K. Jemisin
Sun 4:00 PMHave a novel you’d like to get published? Aspiring fantasy writers can sign up to pitch their novel ideas at our Writer Guest of Honor and discuss how to move forward with them. Fantasy novels only, please! This is first come, first served as signup is limited to 8 spaces. Signup sheet available at con in the Program Nexus on the Mezzanine.
Masquerade
Sun 8:00 PM
(The GoHs are the judges for this.)The Gods of The Inheritance Trilogy
Mon 10:00 AMThe pantheon in N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy is less artificially structured and more like a family. In addition, they have some fascinating ways of being bound by their natures. We’ll discuss the gods and demigods of the series and the way they interweave with the story.
Stuff I’m excited about: the chance to see old friends! The chance to meet new ones in person, like Mark Oshiro, at whom I am totally going to fangirl! Being back in Boston again (although at my least-favorite time of year to be in Boston, brr)! Maybe getting some time to hit up Finale before I leave! Stuff I’m mildly anxious about: being at a con, as usual. As You (Probably) Know Readers, I’m a bit of an introvert. So, Arisia attendees, if you see me beelining it for the door after a panel, it’s not you, it’s me. I just need to go hide for awhile, and recharge. I don’t have a signing session (mostly because I don’t have a new book out right now), so if you see me lurking about the lobby — I’ll do it periodically, just for this reason — then it’s OK to approach me to sign books and such. Just please not at meals, or at my room, or when I’m in the middle of a conversation… yeah, I know that’s basic, but I do kinda have to say it, because occasionally folks have done these things to me. Stuff I’m going to try to remember: the “Acknowledgement of Genre” that I’ve been noodling for the past couple of years. I won’t do it before panels since time’s limited and we need to get on with things, but if I remember (I have the worst memory in the world), I’ll do it before my readings. Practicing what I preach, and all.
See ya there, Arisians!
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