Julie and I are just back in Nottingham after a great few days at Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention held in Glasgow. The previous few blog posts list the agenda items I went to. They were all pretty good although one or two wandered a little bit off topic.
Had a great time and now realise how much good science fiction I have not read in the last ten years!
Why Does the Left Like Military SF?
There is a tradition that military SF is for the Right, but the Left has military SF writers too. What can the scenarios of war and brotherhood offer to the Left?
Robert Buettner, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison
Forgotten Fiction: Fantasy before Donaldson and Brooks
Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks are bringing some of the early classics within easy reach: a chance to hear the experts on what you really should read.
John Clute, Greer Gilman, George R.R. Martin, Maureen Kincaid Speller
The Aesthetics of Fantasy: Writing the Fantastic
How do writers create a sense of the fantastic? What techniques work? What styles and voices bring reality crashing around the reader’s ear?
Susanna Clarke, Greer Gilman, Jay Lake, Farah Mendlesohn, China Mi�ville, Ruth Nestvold
Superheroes, Vigilantes & Police Officers with Big Guns
The relationship between comics characters, law enforcement, and justice.
Fiona Avery, Alan Grant, Richard Morgan
Subverted Elves, Hard Assed Fairies with Attitude, and Dragons Taking Tea
Are sweet Princesses, pretty little Faeries and vicious Dragons not relevant to modern society or did we just get bored of them? What do the New fantasists have to offer? Is there any resonance with fantasy before the 18th and 19th century sanitised Faerie?
P. C. Hodgell, Juliet E McKenna, Terry Pratchett, Jo Walton
When I Were A Lad, We Used To Dream of 64K
Techno-nostalgia is increasingly popular. In these days of PDAs and gighertz processors, why do so many of us have fond memories of the Good Old Days?
Simon Bisson, Simon Bradshaw, John Dowd, Terry Pratchett, Francis Spufford
Hugo Awards Ceremony
The Hugo Awards, the highest honours in science fiction, will be presented at a glittering award ceremony hosted by Paul McAuley and Kim Newman. Be there and be photographed.
The New Doctor Who
The latest incarnation of Doctor Who has excited fans old and New and is already scheduled for more series and specials. What does this Doctor Who get right and wrong? What about Eccleston, Tennant, and Piper?
Paul Cornell, Gary Russell, Rob Shearman
Harry Potter Has Put Children’s Fantasy Back Fifty Years
Children love Harry Potter. But his universe is quaint, relies on gimmicks and is, "a little derivative" in its plots. Has its success been a good thing? Does New material, by the likes of Steve Augarde, Cornelia Funk, and K. A. Applegate, match up to the classics of the past?
Julie Bertagna, Sharyn November, Graham Sleight, Elizabeth Wein, Jane Yolen
How Do We Reinvent Time Travel?
The genre seems to have run out steam, no one even wants to subvert it anymore. What can we do?
Stephen Baxter, Harry Harrison, Kim Stanley Robinson, Connie Willis
The Drugged Out Worlds of SF and Fantasy
It’s not just Philip K. Dick… much SF and fantasy presents experiences which are the result of consciousness-alteration. What books can be read this way? Do they depict the negative and positive consequences responsibly? [Interaction does not endorse the use of Can-D or Chew-Z.]
Andrew M Butler, Steph Swainston, Gordon Van Gelder, Lucy Zinkiewicz
Masquerade
The masquerade is one of the highlights of a Worldcon, a theatrical presentation where you will see fandom’s best costumers briefly bring to life scenes from science fiction and fantasy.
Blake’s 7 : Is Story More Important than Special Effects?
The release of a 30-year-old show on DVD attracts New fans: why? New shows with a massive SFX budget fail before the first season is out: why? It certainly isn’t the latest special effects that give Blake’s 7 its staying power — what is it?
Ben Jeapes, Judith Proctor, John Campbell Rees, Steve Rogerson
Character vs. Science in Hard SF
It is sometimes said that in hard SF, the science is a character too. What does this mean, and can or should it be reconciled with a traditional understanding of character?
Greg Bear, Patrick J. Gyger, James P. Hogan, Justina Robson, Stanley Schmidt
Doctor Who Retrospective: The Best Years
What were the best years of Doctor Who ? It goes beyond the important matter of "who made the best Doctor?" Which years had the best scripts, the best major story arcs, the best free-standing episodes?
Chris Barkley, Paul F. Cockburn, Paul Cornell, Kathryn Sullivan, Nicholas Whyte
Whiskey, Whisky, Bourbon and Rye
Explore the delights of the grain.
Jeffrey Ford, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Richard Morgan, Steph Swainston
