It’s a busy weekend hereabouts. First up on Thursday night, 8:30 Eastern Standard Time, I’ll be interviewed live on Youtube by Matthew Yancik, where I’ll tell stories about RPGs and the creative process. Here’s your link.
The rest of the weekend will be spent at (virtual) Boskone, where I will appear on quite a lot of programming. Below are a list of my events. The times are Eastern Time.
Here’s a link to the whole schedule.
Creating Across Media Format: Panel
12 Feb 2021, Friday 17:00 – 18:00, Carlton – (Mtg Room) (Virtual Westin)
Versatility is an author’s greatest tool in today’s publishing market. Whether it’s books, blogging, comics, drama, film, gaming, graphic novels, non-fiction, short fiction, social media, or TV there is a story to be told. When switching from one to the other, what do you need to keep in mind? What are some of the key tips and tricks to creating compelling content no matter which medium you are writing in at the moment?
Christopher Golden, Walter Jon Williams, Scott Edelman (M), Gillian Daniels, Mur Lafferty
The (New) Future of Work through the SFnal Lens Format: Panel
12 Feb 2021, Friday 18:30 – 19:30, Harbor Ballroom (Webinar) (Virtual Westin)
We are in the midst of the 4th industrial revolution. People fear AI and robots taking over our jobs. While that has happened in limited cases, like robots counting pills and capsules in pharmacies, on the whole our jobs have been safe. Science fiction is a lens into the future and that future includes work of all kinds. Let’s take a look through this lens to get a better view at what the future of work may hold. What is coming soon? And what is it that that those looking at the oncoming change may not yet see.
Tobias Buckell, Walter Jon Williams (M), S.B. Divya, Fran Wilde
Entering the Cyberspace Era Format: Panel
12 Feb 2021, Friday 21:30 – 22:30, Burroughs (Webinar) (Virtual Westin)
It’s easy to dismiss the radical predictions cyberpunk stories made about cyberspace in the 21st century. How far off were they really? Video conferencing, virtual and augmented reality, gaming, online education, the Internet of Things. Let’s look at how far the web, AI, and information technology have come, and speculate about where it’s all going. Will the future be singular and pluralistic?
Beth Meacham, Errick Nunnally, Walter Jon Williams (M), Cory Doctorow
History’s Mysteries Format: Panel
13 Feb 2021, Saturday 16:00 – 17:00, Harbor Ballroom (Webinar) (Virtual Westin)
The past is full of odd occurrences, fantastical facts, and tremendous tales that we think must absolutely be fiction! How do these elements of the weird influence our creative minds? What (hi)stories are left untold and which are perennially retold? How do you incorporate them into your writing without having your readers think, “Well, that could never happen”?
Mark Olson, David B. Coe/ D.B. Jackson, Walter Jon Williams (Word Domination), Dana Cameron, Steven Silver
Imagining the World of the Future Today Format: Panel
14 Feb 2021, Sunday 13:00 – 14:00, Marina Ballroom (Webinar) (Virtual Westin)
It’s typical in the science fictional future, for the human population to not be jobless or homeless while robots take over work of all kinds or the Earth (dystopic or post-apocalyptic futures excepted). How do we perceive the evolution of human work? How do we avoid the parenthetical exceptions above? Everything is on the table and the future is ours.
Walter Jon Williams, Alastair Reynolds, Linda D. Addison, Allen M. Steele, Karl Schroeder
