Ytterbium British National Convention

EasterCon is coming this weekend. I'm on two panels.

Mental Health: Fiction vs. Reality
Sunday April 21: 16:30 - 17:30 (1 hour)

Have you ever read a book and thought “is it really possible to have 25 completely different personalities”? Well if you have then this is the panel for you. Whether you’re living with mental health issues, just interested or simply walked into the wrong room.

Join us as we discuss the difference between how mental health is portrayed in stories and what it’s like to live with a mental illness and consider the challenges of writing about mental health. We will be exploring what it’s like to live in a world where mental health is a priority but where our entertainment industry considers it a commodity.

Military SF: Good, Bad, and Ugly
Mon, Apr 22: 12:45 - 13.45 (1 hour)

We are used to thinking of military SF as gung-ho jingoism, as the last bastion of the glories of space opera, as the one place where we can destroy aliens without moral qualm. But there have always been analytical and critical voices from both left and right: authors such as Ursula LeGuin and Joe Haldeman challenged the motivation for military adventure, David Drake and Karen Traviss asked us to consider how we treat the troops.

Military SF has often reflected the polarisation and anguish about the latest overseas adventures as newer authors seek to construct a moral high ground in a politically ambivalent and complex world. This panel considers what authors we think rise to the challenge of writing complex, believable military SF while avoiding the traps of jingoism and imperialism... or not.

Dysprosium: Panel List

I've just heard from the nice people at Dysprosium.  The bad news is that the panel about drones won't be going ahead due to scheduling conflicts, but the good news is that I'm now on three other panels.

SATURDAY

Asymmetric Warfare
Bleriot suite, time 16.15 to 17.15.

Despite massive military superiority, armies still lose out to insurgent forces who use asymmetric warfare techniques, some of which might be called terrorism, to pursue their goals away from the conventional battlefield.  How does this work, how does it win, and is there any way to fight against it?  What is the future of global conflict?  How will this influence genre writing about the future, both on and off the battlefield?  How does it affect characters entangled in global conflicts, be they warriors, politicians, refugees or victims?  This panel will use asymmetric warfare as a jumping off point to discuss fiction, world building, and character development in the face of this dramatic contemporary phenomenon.

Dev Agarwal (Moderator), Sean McLachlan, Roger Bell-West and myself.


The Game of the Book
Endeavour suite, time 17:30 to 18.30.

Adaption of games from original source material how true can you be?  Can you keep it playable?

Marcus Rowland, Jim Butcher, Tom Parker, and myself.


MONDAY

Big Boys Toys - Real Superhero Weapons
Discovery suite, time 10:00 to 11.00.

Batarangs, webshooters, fireball throwers and adamantium claws; people have tried them (YouTube has plenty of examples how real and how practicable they are), we demonstrate what other people have done, and judge the results.

Dave Mansfield (Moderator), Steve Lawson, Susan Booth, and myself.


Weekly Update

The sixth draft of my novel is done, and I've corralled a couple of new Beta readers to have a look at it; one of them is a very experienced writer, the other a former USMC Sergeant.  With volunteers like that how could I refuse?  I've also come to the conclusion, at long last some might say, that editing while writing is not easily measured by raw word count i.e: 531 words written.  Whereas what that really represents is three chapters and one novel's worth of editing.

Now the question is will I remember this lesson in the future?


Edit: Updated links and added a panelist for Big Boys Toys.

Work in Progress: 12th Mar 2015

LISA space probe that my partner did one of the circuit board designs for.

I'm late, I'm late for my weekly blog post, no time to say the things I want, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late.

Yesterday I managed to edit seven and a half thousand words.

I was so focused on what I was doing that I allowed my cup of coffee to go cold, which is no big deal, because I stuck it in the microwave and reheated it.  Again I forgot to drink it while it was hot, and so repeated the trick with the microwave.  After all technology is a wonderful thing, but then allowed the coffee to go cold again.  Third time's the trick right?  No not this time.  When I remembered to take the coffee out of the microwave it had gone cold again.

By this time it was six o clock, so I poured my coffee down the sink.  Wasting good coffee is pretty much a sin in my book, but it was too late to drink it, and expect to sleep OK.

However, Scrivener tells me I wrote a negative number of words, which is fair enough, but I rewrote three chapters, and did I mention that came to seven and a half thousand words?  So it was a good days work.  Looking back over the week I see I wrote 1,315 words to bring the running total to 88,911 words, which means the core narrative runs at 85,323 words; everything else being the "after matters" like the glossary.

News on other fronts.

I've been invited to be on a panel at Dsyprosium this years Eastercon talking about drones, but can't give you anymore details as to day and time.

Going to Brighton this weekend where we will have our Civil Partnership converted to a Marriage, with my Godson and his sister watching while their mum, who is a Registrar, does the ceremony.  So that's it for another week.  Thank you for reading.

LonCon 3: Updated Panel List

This is my final update with the complete listing of the five panels I'm on.  When and where they are,  what time, and who with.

THURSDAY

The Retrofuturism of JJ Abrams
Capital Suite 2 (ExCeL), time 16:30 - 18:00.
Val Nolan (Moderator), with Pawel Frelik, Sorcha Ní Fhlainn, Erin M. Underwood, and me.

SATURDAY

2014 Hugos: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Capital Suite 13 (ExCeL), time 11:00 - 12:00.
I'm the moderator, with Iain Clark, Abigail Brady, Saxon Bullock, Jacey Bedford.

Military SF: Continuity and Change
London Suite 2 (ExCeL), time 12.00 - 13.30
Myke Cole (Moderator), Joe Haldeman, Jean Johnson, Rohan Shah, and me.

What is I?
Capital Suite 14 (ExCeL), time 16.30 - 18.00
Ken MacLeod (Moderator), Russell Blackford, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Martin Poulter, Tim Armstrong, and late addition me.

The Knowable Other
London Suite 2 (ExCeL), Saturday 19:00 - 20:00.
Viktoriya H (Moderator), Michael Morelli, Justina Robson, JY Yang, and me.

I've got a very busy on the Saturday, and will need my running shoes on to get between the Hugos and the military SF panel.

Been away this weekend partying before the big event, hence the lack of my usual Sunday update.  As I will be at LonCon 3 next weekend there will be no update next Sunday either.  However, I will be posting an after convention report with pictures etc. just as soon as I can.

LonCon Panel 5: What is I?

My fifth panel at LonCon Is the What is I?  I asked if they would like me on this one, and they said Yes!  This mean I'm working my little cotton socks off on Saturday.  The panel is being held in the Capital Suite 14 (ExCeL), starting at 16.30 and ending at 18.00.

The blurb for the panel is as follows:

What is consciousness? What is it that we think we are? What does science, religion, mysticism say about this, and are we any closer to working out what 'I' is

Panelists

Ken MacLeod (Moderator), Russell Blackford, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Martin Poulter, Tim Armstrong, and late addition me, so I'm not in the printed book.

LonCon Panel 4: Military SF: Continuity and Change

My fourth panel at LonCon is called Military SF: Continuity and Change, and it is on Saturday, starting at 12:00 and ending at 13:30, and is being held in the London Suite 2 (ExCeL)  .

The blurb for the panel is as follows:

Many of the classics of military SF, Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Haldeman's Forever War, sprung from the Korean and Vietnam Wars; the Cold War, with its looming threat of nuclear annihilation, spawned fresh responses.

How has military SF changed for modern audiences?  Have its themes kept pace with changing perceptions and forms of war?  What are some of the things military SF needs to be concerned with?

Panelists

Myke Cole (Moderator), Joe Haldeman, Jean Johnson, Rohan Shah, and little old me.

Log 2014 20th Jul: Countdowns

The first countdown is LonCon 3, with less than four weeks to go.  I'm on another panel too, details to follow during the week.  The other countdown is the rewrite of my novel Bad Dog, which I hope to have done by the time LonCon 3 comes around.  If only to say I have a novel out doing the rounds, but more importantly, just to get what feels like an anvil off of me.

So this week Hulk smash puny chapters that make up act three.  Word count hard to estimate, because I'm in negative numbers, with the running total now standing at 86,701 words.  When I started the rewrite the novel came in at a hefty 93,075 words; so Hulk smash!

We finished re-watching Stargate Atlantis this week.  Season five had the feeling of watching a cat take a pratfall, regain its composure and pretend what happened was what it meant to do all along.  By that I mean the ending was rushed to tie up all the loose threads of the plot before the show was cancelled.  As a season some of the stories, while nice enough, were quite frankly not necessary to the overall plot; namely the Wraith problem is left hanging.

We've started re-watching Person of Interest, and wow it's better than I remember it, and that is saying something.  Why this wasn't on the short form Hugo list is beyond me (perhaps people think of it as a contemporary police procedural conspiracy thriller, which given the Wikipedia entry is not that surprising).  Still, to me, it's quite clear by episode twelve that Person of Interest is so much more.  The Kurzweil shout out in the previous episode being the first giveaway, and the ending scene from the machine's point of view being the other.

I shall be keeping out an eye in case they drop in references to Hugo de Garis and Marvin Minsky next, because both of these men have made predictions about the future of AIs, which is a topic I find fascinating as someone who trained as a cognitive behavioural therapist.  It's also a central theme in Ghost Dog, my third novel.  So that's it for another week.  I hope you all had a great weekend, and catch you on the bounce.

LonCon Panel 3: The Knowable Other Update

The Knowable Other is now the fourth panel* I'll be on at LonCon.  It's on Saturday, starting at 19:00, and ending at 20:00 in the London Suite 2 (ExCeL).

The updated blurb for this panel is as follows:
 
SF has a long history of alien Other characters that function as representations of identities that depart from the dominant paradigm of white, male heterosexuality. Many of these have been problematic: such Others were kept distant and "unknowable", allowing them to be quarantined within a conventionally heroic narrative framework. In recent films and TV shows, however, we see more characters who fulfil the role of Other while being rooted in humanity in some way, such as the rebooted Cylons of Battlestar Galactica, the androids of Almost Human, or the undead of The Returned. Such characters can be seen as more "knowable", lacking the distance of conventional aliens.

What does this shift mean for the exploration of marginalised identities on screen, at a time when we're also seeing more (if still not enough) actual representations of such identities in heroic roles? What are the advantages and disadvantages of human-seeming characters, and what is the impact of presenting them -- all too often -- as antagonists? Is there still a space for new visually alien characters, or are they inevitably tainted by the history that precedes them?

Panelists

Viktoriya H (Moderator), Michael Morelli, Justina Robson, JY Yang, and me.

Updates

I have updated the LonCon Panel 1: The Retrofuturism of JJ Abrams post with location, and a change of panelists too.

Also I've added the location for LonCon Panel 2: 2014 Hugos: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form panel too.

* Yes, this means I'm on another panel, which I'm totally stoked to have been asked to do.  More details in a separate post.

LonCon Panel 3: The Knowable Other

My third panel at LonCon is called The Knowable Other, and is on Saturday, starting at 19:00, and ending at 20:00.

The blurb for the panel is as follows:

"SF has a long history of (mis)representing identities that depart from the dominant paradigm (e.g. queer and/or non-white characters) as distant and unknowable non-humans. In some recent TV shows, however, we see characters positioned as other yet in some way still rooted in human-ness; the AIs of Almost Human or the undead of The Returned, for instance. How do the stories told about such "knowable others" differ from the use of "conventional" aliens? Do they offer advantages or opportunities for exploring marginalized identities, or is it an inherently conservative gesture that forecloses the possibility of genuine alterity* -- or even an avoidance of writing about actual human diversity?"

I have to admit that when I read the above blurb I was stumped by at least one word that I had to go look up to see what it means.  I've suggested that perhaps a blurb written in plain English would be less opaque, though I'm told this is supposed to be an academic stream panel, so who knows.  "Not I," she said. 

Unfortunately, I can't list the other people who are doing this with me at the moment, because the original moderator and one of the other panelists pulled out, and I've not heard from the other person who I sent an email too.  I understand that this problem is being resolved, and as soon as I know who I'm on this panel with, I shall let you all know the details.

Still, I can see why I was chosen to be on this panel, and look forward to talking about the representation of alien minds in both fiction and film.

NB: alterity is a philosophical term meaning "otherness", strictly being in the sense of the other of two (Latin alter).  I would have just said otherness, and not limited myself by implying a binary, but heh that's the way I roll.

LonCon Panel 2: 2014 Hugos: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

The second panel I am on at LonCon, which I'm acting as the moderator, is the 2014 Hugos: Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form, which is on Saturday starting at 11:00 and finishing at 12:00 noon in the Capital Suite 13 (ExCeL).

The nominees for this year's Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form, are:

• An Adventure in Space and Time written by Mark Gatiss, directed by Terry McDonough (BBC Television)
• Doctor Who: “The Day of the Doctor” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Television)
• Doctor Who: “The Name of the Doctor” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Saul Metzstein (BBC Televison)
• The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot written & directed by Peter Davison (BBC Television)
• Game of Thrones: “The Rains of Castamere” written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, directed by David Nutter (HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television and Generator Productions)
• Orphan Black: “Variations under Domestication” written by Will Pascoe, directed by John Fawcett (Temple Street Productions; Space / BBC America)

But which should win? Our panel will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the nominees, try to second-guess the voters, and tell you what else should have been on the ballot.

Panelists

Ashley Pollard (Moderator) with Iain Clark, Abigail Brady, Saxon Bullock, Jacey Bedford and here too, but for Jacey's film reviews see here.

Well, I've been emailing my fellow panelists and reading their blogs, and I seem to have drawn a good team all of whom have a strong interest in media SF.  Just a reminder that I commented on The Day of the Doctor here.

LonCon Panel 1: The Retrofuturism of JJ Abrams

The first panel I'm on at LonCon is The Retrofuturism of J J Abrams, which is on Thursday starting at 16:30 and scheduled to go on to 18:00 in Capital Suite 2 (ExCeL).

The blurb for the panel is as follows:

"From Super 8 to Star Trek to Almost Human, JJ Abrams-developed projects often seem to take particular delight in updating or simply inhabiting the futures of days gone past. To what extent is this simple nostalgia, and to what extent can elements of critique or challenge be identified in his work? And what are the implications for the upcoming third Star Wars trilogy?"

This reminds me of a panel I was on last year at Nine Worlds Con where we discussed Star Wars versus Star Trek, and what the effect of having J J Abrahms involved in both franchises would be.  Looks like it will be a lot of fun.

Updated List of Panelists

Val Nolan (Moderator), with Pawel Frelik, Sorcha Ní Fhlainn, Erin M. Underwood, and me.

LonCon 3: The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention

I'm going to LonCon 3, being held funnily enough in London.  I am as you can imagine quite excited to be on three panels during the convention.

The Retrofuturism of JJ Abrams
Thursday 16:30 - 18:00

2014 Hugos: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Saturday 11:00 - 12:00

The Knowable Other
Saturday 19:00 - 20:00

I'm moderating 2014 Hugos: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form panel, which is a first for me.  I'm currently emailing and tweeting with my panelists to find out more about them.  So I will post more details about each of these panels over the coming few days.