Boskone 57

Later this month, I’ll be at Boskone! It’s New England’s longest-running science fiction and fantasy convention and always a delight. For more info, visit The Boskone Blog, Twitter, and Facebook, and if you want to join me, register here!

Saturday, 15 Feb

12 pm — 100 Years From Now…

The world as we know it has changed dramatically in the last 100 years. How about the next 100? What might everyday life be like a century from now? What technological marvels will the near future bring? What social changes will take place? How about natural and human-made disasters? Overall — where will we be, and how will we get there? Is the Singularity coming? “Day Million”? Or will our grandchildren herd sheep and shiver in the dark?

Allen M. Steele (M), Cadwell Turnbull, Jeffrey A. Carver, Karl Schroeder, Andrea Martinez Corbin

Sunday, 16 Feb

11 am — Adventures in Eco-Fiction

Since the ancient tales of Great Floods, storytellers (like our panelists, for instance) have set their adventurers moving through half-drowned cities, poisoned hills, deserts that eat men, and worlds overgrown by plants. When does a story’s ecology stop being a setting and become a character? How much real science should be behind a good eco-adventure? Can a story be eco-centric without being eco-catastrophic?

Steven Popkes (M), Isadora Deese, Robert V.S. Redick, Kim Stanley Robinson, Andrea Martinez Corbin

12:30 pm — Reading

I will read something to whoever shows up. I may bring treats. I may turn it into a Socratic method examination of what a story is and can be. It’s the last day of con! Anything goes!