We're supposed to attend Boskone this weekend. David is definitely going, since we have a dealer's table.
Given that both kids are still sick, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to make it. I am scheduled to be on the program.
UPDATE: OK. I'll be there. (I may not have much of a voice though.)
Here's where to find me: First of all, we have a dealer's table, so David will be in plain sight much of the time. Second, here is my schedule:
Saturday 10:00 am Republic B: A Child Shall Lead Them: Children as SF Protagonists
How well do we avoid building kids who are just miniature adults? Is the advantage of worldbuilding for the reader as the child learns his own environment balanced by the problem of giving him any movement beyond the parental orbit? Are Paul Atriedes and Thorby Baslim too competent? Does Hermione Granger know too much? Can kids just be kids and still make a good story?
Michael A. Burstein, Orson Scott Card, Bruce Coville (m), Kathryn Cramer
Saturday 12:00 noon Republic B: Fiction for Free-Range Children
What's wrong with most of the so-called "YA science fiction" published in the past twenty years? Consider the thesis that modern YA sf is mostly not science fiction. It isn't interested in kids going out, exploring the galaxy, and staying out there to change the universe. Instead, it wants children to go out into the galaxy, discover it's a really scary place, learn some lessons and come home to apply those lessons to home and family. Instead of socializing children to move outwards, these stories are socialising children to come home.
Orson Scott Card, Kathryn Cramer, Farah Mendlesohn (m), Jane Yolen
Saturday 1:00 pm Clarendon: Great SF Cover Art
We'll address both the general and the specific. In general, what makes for great cover art? Is it great illustration (and thus must it be realistic) or is it great creativity? (And why have abstracts like those of Richard Powers and Paul Lehr gone out of fashion?) The specific: Genre artists may receive recognition for a year's — or a lifetime's — achievement, but rarely for specific works. Let's remedy that right here. Each rave may include what made a favorite not only great art, but also a great cover for that book. Visual aids greatly encouraged.
Kathryn Cramer, Bob Eggleton, Irene Gallo, Joe Siclari (m)
Sunday 2:00 pm Hampton: The Latest in Short SF
Is short science fiction becoming more literary? What styles and trends dominate today's magazines? Whose short fiction should be sought out? What makes a successful short science fiction story vs. fantasy story vs. horror story? And is anyone reading short fiction anymore?
Kathryn Cramer (m), Gavin Grant, David G. Hartwell, Kelly Link