My Balticon Schedule
The Balticon 46 hotel is Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn, 245 Shawan Road, Hunt Valley, Maryland 21031 USA [north of Baltimore off of I-83] (Phone: 410-785-7000)
This is my schedule for Balticon this weekend, in case you need an autograph, or suffer the inexplicable need to hear my humble yet insufferable pontificating (or better yet, moderating) on choice topics of interest to fanboys, or, as we call ourselves, Homo Futurus (even though the official Linnaean classification is Homo Geeco Livsinmoms Basementicus).
*F-3. The Portrayal of Paganism in Literature*
*Saturday* at *3:00 pm* in *Parlor 1041* (50 minutes)
Roundtable Discussion. What is paganism? How is it portrayed in modern
literature? How does it influence modern literature.
*Moderator:* Carl Cipra
*Speakers:* T.J. Perkins; Art GoH Jim Odbert; Val Griswold-Ford; John C.
Wright; Steve Wilson; Izolda Trakhtenberg; Billy Flynn; Bernard Dukas
*speaker*
*R-43. Readers Ask Why*
*Saturday* at *5:00 pm* in *Salon A* (50 minutes)
A changing panel of authors is on the hot seat as their fans ask why their
characters behave as they do, why the author chose this sort of magic
instead of another, why the world a book is set in has certain dominant
properties/elements. Once a panelist (or moderator) answers a question,
they’ll swap seats with a panelist waiting in the first row to replace
them. Audience members who take more than 30 seconds to ask their question
will get buzzed and must sit down and shut up with their question
unanswered! Oh! And panelists who take more than 2.5 minutes to answer a
question must take the moderator role and can only answer another question
after all the panelists at the table when they took the moderator seat have
swapped out. Oh! And one more thing: Panelists who write SF/Fantasy/Horror
under more than one name can swap in again under their other pen name if
they — literally — wear a different hat. Starting Panel is: Moderator:
Catherine A. Asaro; Panelists: John G. Hemry, John C. Wright, Danny Birt,
Steven H. Wilson Panelists swapping in: Andrew Fox, Chuck Gannon, Nathan O.
Lowell, Janine K. Spendlove
*Moderator:* Catherine A. Asaro
*Speakers:* John C. Wright; Steve Wilson; Janine K. Spendlove; John Hemry
(Jack Campbell); Charles Edward Gannon; Danny Birt; Nathan O. Lowell;
Andrew Fox
*moderator*
*R-29. The Ethos of Homicide* — A Round-table Discussion
*Saturday* at *6:00 pm* in *Parlor 1041* (50 minutes)
Many fictional settings, from Harry Potter to Star Trek, have a safe,
mostly nonviolent and painless way to stop an enemy. What effect is there
in a world where killing is not necessary to end a threat? Is this a
cop-out or does it speak to a more moral mindset?
*Moderator:* John C. Wright
*Speakers:* Yoji Kondo/Eric Kotani; Jon Sprunk; Lyle Blake Smythers; Kate
Kaynak; Ian Randal Strock; James Maxey; James Daniel Ross
*speaker*
*F-23. Geek Parenting*
*Saturday* at *12:00 midnight* in *Parlor 1041* (1 hour – ends Sunday
1:00 AM)
Tired of having to defend your right to make your child memorize Star Trek
lines? Worried your geeklet is turning out just like all the other kids?
Discuss the finer points of Geek Parenting with our panel of experts.
*Moderator:* Bill T. Levay
*Speakers:* John C. Wright; Jay Smith; Collin Earl
*moderator*
*W-13. Designing a Religious or Spiritual System for Your Short Story or
Novel*
*Sunday* at *9:00 am* in *Salon B* (50 minutes)
Authors, theologists, theosophers and discuss designing a religious or
spiritual system for literary works.
*Moderator:* John C. Wright
*Speakers:* Barbara Friend Ish; Gail Z. Martin; Bernard Dukas; P.G.
Holyfield
*speaker*
*Autographing: Wayne Arthur Hall, Izolda Trakhtenberg and John C. Wright*
*Sunday* at *10:00 am* in *Maryland Foyer* (50 minutes)
Wayne Arthur Hall, Izolda Trakhtenberg and John C. Wright at the autograph
table in the Maryand foyer
*Speakers:* Izolda Trakhtenberg; Wayne Arthur Hall; John C. Wright
*moderator*
*R-45. The Fantasy of Physics*
*Sunday* at *11:00 am* in *Pimlico* (50 minutes)
Panelists discuss how to make your magic believable.
*Moderator:* John C. Wright
*Speakers:* Michael D. Pederson; Peter BL!X Bryant; Chris Evans; Jon Sprunk
*speaker*
*F-9. How to Get to Other Stars — If We Can*
*Sunday* at *3:00 pm* in *Parlor 1041* (50 minutes)
A Roundtable discussion. Panelists discuss serious and speculative ideas
for pushing our frontier beyond our solar system.
*Moderator:* John Hemry (Jack Campbell)
*Speakers:* John C. Wright; Tad Daley; Charles Edward Gannon; Ian Randal
Strock; Yoji Kondo/Eric Kotani; James Maxey; David Batchelor; Simone Caroti
*speaker*
*R-55. Fight and Action Scenes*
*Sunday* at *7:00 pm* in *Salon B* (50 minutes)
What are our expectations? What puts us right there in the action? Who’s
writing some really good stuff these days? Panelists bring brief examples
to read.
*Moderator:* David Wood
*Speakers:* Maria V. Snyder; John C. Wright; Lisa Adler-Golden; David
Sherman
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
