Greetings from Confluence
Friday, July 25, 2008
I have arrived at Confluence and have my first program item in about two hours, a panel which I proposed on whether the Internet is essentially fungal, which I think it is.
Here's my program schedule. I'm expecting this will be a lot of fun.
Friday 6:00pm Is the Internet Essentially Fungal?
Kathryn Cramer (M)
Geoffrey A. Landis
James Morrow
Mary A. Turzillo
In his book Mycelium Running, mycologist Paul Stamets argues that fungi are nature's Internet. Perhaps it's really the other way around. Is the Internet essentially fungal? Discuss from the SF worldview (and perhaps from Lovecraft's as well).Saturday 1:00pm Critic Guest Talk: The Game of Genre
Kathryn CramerSaturday 4:00pm Trends in Short Fiction: From Original Anthologies to Online Fiction
Lawrence C. Connolly
Kathryn Cramer (M)
David Barr Kirtley
Paul Melko
Karina Sumner-Smith
Every year, we hear predictions of the death of short fiction. Yet, every year, some of the genres best works are not novels but short stories and novellas. And more new outlets are appearing. There are more good original anthologies than we've seen since the golden years of Universe, New Dimension, Orbit, and Dangerous Visions. And online markets are flourishing. The panel looks at some of the best new short fiction, where it can be found, and the prospects for the future.Saturday 5:00pm What's Best?
Kathryn Cramer (M)
David G. Hartwell
James Morrow
William Tenn
Never mind what's best THIS YEAR, how do we decide what is best in sf and fantasy anyway?Sunday 10:00am Kaffeeklatsch/Literary Beer
Sunday 12:00 noon Real Life Utopianism
Kathryn Cramer
Joe Haldeman
James Morrow (M)
Kathryn Morrow
Charles Oberndorf
SF as a literature is strongly concerned w /utopias and dystopias. How do we individually relate these visions to our real lives? What have we done lately at achieving utopia?
Right now I'm in my hotel room, having eaten lunch andd taken a shower. Against my better judgement, I spent a few minutes on the Internet and found myself trying to parse why Violet Blue is trying to get a restraining order against some guy who had never previously impinged on my consiousness (for his Wikipedia edits having to do with her Wikipedia entry). What he had done to upset her looked to me simply like standard fairly reasonable Wikicrat behavior. I never did figure out what this particular fuss is supposed to be about.
When oh when will I learn that I really don't need to try to follow the threads of this kind of Internet mycelium? Fungal. Yes, the Internet is fungal.