Here’s my updated Wiscon schedule.
Friday, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm, Conference 2
“Caveman Issues: Evolution Narratives in SciFi”
Victoria Janssen [moderator], Seth Frost, Lesley Hall, Anonymous
Scifi loves to play with evolution, from de-evolution machines and “beer bad, tree pretty” to cavemen who miraculously wake up in the present day and have to sell insurance for some reason. What do these [totally incorrect] stories tell us about what is intrinsic to humanity? Which gender and race narratives about human evolutionary history do they reinforce? What might it actually mean to meet a Neanderthal?
Saturday, 10:00 am – 11:15 am, Capitol B
“Fantasy Worldbuilding in Comics”
Aaron Kashtan [moderator], Dylan Edwards, Victoria Janssen, Jennifer Margret Smith
Marjorie Liu/Sana Takeda’s Monstress and Kelly Sue Deconnick/Emma Rios’ Pretty Deadly set their stories in complex fantasy worlds outside of the more common superhero-based canon. How is worldbuilding for comics different from worldbuilding for prose fiction? And what does that mean for the reader? We’ll discuss the perks and challenges of fantasy worldbuilding in comics.
Saturday, 10:30 pm – 11:45 pm, Caucus
“When An Alien and an Astronaut Love Each Other Very Much”
Heidi Waterhouse [moderator], Robyn Fleming, Victoria Janssen, Charles Payseur
From gay werewolf shifters in heat to androids in love in space, speculative fiction is fertile ground for romance. This panel will discuss the general state of spec fic in romance and romance in spec fic – and talk about the difference!
Sunday, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm, Caucus
“Found Family”
Victoria Janssen [moderator], Maddy, Ariel Franklin-Hudson, Emily Jiang, Kiersty Lemon-Rogers, Isabel Schechter
Found family is a big theme in fiction, especially in speculative fiction. It’s also a reality for lots of us who live on the margins of society due to gender and orientation variances, disabilities, etc. What does it mean to be part of a found family? Can a found family include family members of origin or biological family members? Why are we so attracted to found family dynamics in our fiction? How is it that so many stories set in sci-fi or fantasy worlds have found families at their cores? Does isolation from the norm naturally lead to the need of forming alternative family structures? What are some of our favorite fictional found families? What do our real life found families look like? What are the connections there?
