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WisCon Panel Conceptualizing * 3
Thursday, January 14th, 2010 05:04 pmWisCon panel submission closes 22 January. Everyone and anyone can suggest topics here: wiscon.info/programming.php
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sasha_feather and I stirred and blended some ideas today, and they are in need of further baking. Can you help? More/better examples, suggestions of good panelists or other-than-panel formats &c&c&c.
1. Doris Lessing. Her literary fiction was a bedrock of 2nd wave feminism, but since 1979 onwards she's published principally science fiction (and she claims it, unlike Margaret Atwood). Her books are closer to fables than fantasy, all told from a safe distance which protects the writer more than the reader. Her SF titles are here in the FSFWiki
2. The Appeal of the Apocalypse. Why is writing and reading about the end of the world so cathartic? Do you prefer ice or fire? home-front or front-line? famine or war? zombies or aliens?
3. The Mad Seer, the Holy Fool, and the God-touched. Mental illness is not always framed as a medical problem: visions, hearing voices, and altered perception can be interpreted as signs of spiritual power. From the Firefly/Serenity character River to Tiptree's story Your Faces, O My Sisters! Your Faces Filled of Light! to Watts' entire crew in Blindsight, SFnal characters often exhibit diagnosable behaviors. Do these characters help us understand living with mental illness? Are they role models or stereotypes? Do their impairments function as narrative shortcuts, permitting their authors "they're just craaaaaazy" non-resolutions?
If these seeds make you think of better ideas, go forth! submit them! I have no ownership!
sasha_feather and I stirred and blended some ideas today, and they are in need of further baking. Can you help? More/better examples, suggestions of good panelists or other-than-panel formats &c&c&c.1. Doris Lessing. Her literary fiction was a bedrock of 2nd wave feminism, but since 1979 onwards she's published principally science fiction (and she claims it, unlike Margaret Atwood). Her books are closer to fables than fantasy, all told from a safe distance which protects the writer more than the reader. Her SF titles are here in the FSFWiki
2. The Appeal of the Apocalypse. Why is writing and reading about the end of the world so cathartic? Do you prefer ice or fire? home-front or front-line? famine or war? zombies or aliens?
3. The Mad Seer, the Holy Fool, and the God-touched. Mental illness is not always framed as a medical problem: visions, hearing voices, and altered perception can be interpreted as signs of spiritual power. From the Firefly/Serenity character River to Tiptree's story Your Faces, O My Sisters! Your Faces Filled of Light! to Watts' entire crew in Blindsight, SFnal characters often exhibit diagnosable behaviors. Do these characters help us understand living with mental illness? Are they role models or stereotypes? Do their impairments function as narrative shortcuts, permitting their authors "they're just craaaaaazy" non-resolutions?
If these seeds make you think of better ideas, go forth! submit them! I have no ownership!
