Minicon Schedule

[naomikritzer]

I should have posted this earlier, but I've been in ongoing denial that Minicon could possibly be this weekend because it's way too early to be Easter.

I will be at Minicon. Here's my schedule:

Friday

The Real Taboos in Fantasy and SF: Why Nobody Menstruates, Has Hot Flashes, Or Grows Middle-Aged in Our Books
There are some topics that even the most daring writers won't touch. Which ones are they, and why?
Naomi Kritzer, Lois McMaster Bujold, Patrick Rothfuss, Adam Stemple,
Jane Yolen (m)
Friday, 5:00-6:00pm ~ Room 3/4

(I once wrote an extended food poisoning sequence so vivid it made everyone in my writers' group queasy. THAT is why no one in fantasy novels ever gets food poisoning even though it's going to be pretty damn common in any place that lacks germ theory, water treatment plants, refrigeration, etc., etc., etc. I then did put a serious food-poisoning sequence in book three of the trilogy, but I toned it down a lot. There are things I like to make my readers experience viscerally but food poisoning, not so much.)

Hard SF’s Relationship with Public Education
Is hard SF suffering because of lower educational standards in the US? Where are the Heinlein juveniles of today to get young people into hard SF?
David Dyer-Bennet, Marissa Gritter, Naomi Kritzer, Kelly Strait (m)
Friday, 8:30-9:30pm ~ Room 5/6

Saturday

Unusual Jobs in Fantastic Worlds
Not everyone can be a hero, wizard or starship captain. There are other jobs out there, too: Wyrm Milker, Dragon Polisher or Griever, for example. What other jobs would have to exist in worlds we know? And what do everyday people do in unusual worlds?
Naomi Kritzer, Pat Wrede, Jane Yolen (m)
Saturday, Noon-1:00pm ~ Room 1/2

The Choose Your Own Adventure Panel
Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) novels are an artform unto themselves: multi-branching stories where the reader determines the outcome. We’ll share some of our favorites, as well as exploring the possibilities for this genre. If you would like to sing a CYOA song, turn to paragraph 213. If you would like to participate in CYOA theater, turn to paragraph 17. If you would like to experience a CYOA history of Judaism, turn to paragraph 73.
Naomi Kritzer (m), Sarah Monette, Patrick Rothfuss, Joseph Scrimshaw,
Thorin Tatge
Saturday, 2:00-3:00pm ~ Room 3/4

(The Rabbi of my Temple when I was a kid wrote a choose-your-own adventure book in which you are a Jewish teenager in Spain in 1492, and have to decide whether to convert, or leave. If you leave, you need to figure out where to go, and how to get their safely; if you stay and convert, you have to worry about convincing the Inquisition of your sincerity. It's awesome. I have a copy still and it's in my bag so I won't forget to bring it along.)

Signing
Naomi Kritzer | Saturday, 2:30-3:30pm, In front of Dealers' Room

(But if you have something you want signed, feel free just to randomly stop me or bug me after a panel. I will warn you that if you wander by during my signing and make eye contact and I know you, I will probably flag you down and talk your ear off.)

Minneapolis Magic, St. Paul Magic
The Twin Cities have very different styles; Minneapolis has been called the “easternmost Western city” and St. Paul the “westernmost Eastern city”. A discussion of how the two cities have come to have different aesthetics, attitudes and auras.
Naomi Kritzer, Betsy Lundsten, Michael Merriam, Lyda Morehouse (m), CJ Mills
Saturday, 7:00-8:00pm ~ Room 1/2

Reading
Naomi Kritzer
Saturday, 9:00-9:30pm, Grand Ballroom East B
(Readings room)

I will not be around on Sunday.

Comments

[springbok1.livejournal.com]

Oooh, the CYOA panel sounds really awesome, but probably not awesome enough to get a Saturday day pass to go. :) Still, it would be fun to see you moderate a panel with one of the Scrimshaws on it.

Also, was that Rabbi R.? I can't really see Rabbi B. doing something like that..

[naomikritzer]

Yes, that was Rabbi R. He also wrote a CYOA in which you immigrate to the U.S. and live on the lower east side of NYC and have to decide how to earn a living and so on. It wasn't nearly as dramatic, though, and I don't have that one anymore.

[wrenb.livejournal.com]

Wow. If I was in Minnesota I'd so follow you around -- those panels sound like so much fun! *sigh* I'm in snowy Wisconsin instead (not that I've ever been to a con, it's on my eventual to-do list).

[naomikritzer]

If you're near Madison, go to Wiscon sometime.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Now I wish I'd gotten a membership. We were thinking about buying a day pass tomorrow, but with the weather like it is, we'll probably chicken out. Besides, the best one already happened as I write this:
the one on real taboos. Though the Mpls magic, St Paul magic, one sounds quite interesting as well. Hope someone blogs about both, (hint, hint)

[naomikritzer]

Hmph. I spent a good part of the afternoon looking around and thinking, "Is that Magenta over there? No, it's not her. Where the heck are they? I hope no one's sick..."

The taboos panel was fun. Lois Bujold was the last to arrive and while we were waiting for her to properly begin the panel, I noted that nearly every taboo I'd thought up on the way over, Lois had done in one of her books. (Middle-aged character? check. Realistically written woman in labor? check. People born with birth defects? check...) Someone threw out urination, and I thought about and said, "No, she does that one, too, in Curse of Chalion. Cazaril's got blood in his urine and the contents of his chamber pot are discussed as possible evidence against him."

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

I am deeply jealous. I would love to go to these panels. Come down for D*C.

[naomikritzer]

The programming person for Minicon is jiawen and she is amazing. Clearly it's not that I need to come down but that you need to convince D*C to recruit her to do their programming. ;-)

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

I so wish I could be there.

Actually, one of my total of 3 published pieces has a character start menstruating near the climax - it's low key, rather than a Big Point, and if the editor hadn't liked it, the story could have been written without it. But it's also not gratuitous, in that it does effect what she thinks and does.