4,500,000,000 FORMATION OF years ago EARTH Cambrian Explosion 500,000,000 ‘Today’ First Hominids C.E. 2010 readercon 21 program guide 1,000,000,000 End of Biosphere SUN BECOMES RED GIANT 7,000,000,000 years hence The conference on imaginative literature, twenty-first edition readercon 21 The Boston Marriott Burlington Burlington, Massachusetts 8th–11th July 2010 Guests of Honor: Nalo Hopkinson Charles Stross Memorial Guest of Honor: Olaf Stapledon program guide Policies and Practical Information ..................................................................... 1 Bookshop Dealers ................................................................................................ 5 Readercon 21 Guest Index .................................................................................. 6 Readercon 21 Program ........................................................................................ 8 Thursday ........................................................................................................ 8 Friday ............................................................................................................. 9 Saturday....................................................................................................... 22 Sunday.......................................................................................................... 32 Readercon 21 Committee .................................................................................. 38 Readercon 22 Advertisement ............................................................................ 39 Program Participant Bios ................................................................................. 40 Hotel Map .......................................................................................................... 71 Program Grids ..............................................Back Cover and Inside Back Cover Cover Image Stapledonian Readercon Timeline ©2010 Michael Matthew Program Guide Contents ©2010 Readercon, Inc. PO Box 65, Watertown, MA 02472 (USA) [email protected] http://www.readercon.org program guide page 1 policies and practical information Policies Cell phones must be set to silent or vibrate mode in panel discussion rooms. No smoking in programming areas or the Bookshop, by state law and hotel policy. Only service animals in convention areas. No weapons in convention areas. Young children who are always with an adult are admitted free; others need a membership, see Children Attending Readercon below for more information. Any disruptive or inappropriate behavior may lead to being asked to leave the convention. Readercon reserves the right to revoke membership at any time for any reason. No refunds will be given. Readercon reserves the right to refuse membership. Party Policy: We encourage open parties, however parties in a room not in the party block will be shut down. Open parties (parties with an open invitation to all attendees and with an open door) may not serve alcohol. Closed parties (parties by invitation only and with a closed door) must make alcohol service arrangements with the hotel. No Eating or Drinking by customers in the Bookshop Flyers Flyers may be posted on the Readercon schedule tower which is located in front of the main panels spaces. Please do not cover flyers already placed by others. Flyers may not be posted on hotel walls unless they bear the Concom stamp of approval. To have your flyers approved, bring all copies to be posted to the information table for review. If approved, we will stamp them and provide you with hotel-approved adhesive materials and a list of places where flyers may be posted. We will aggressively hunt down and remove any unapproved flyers. Please do not staple flyers to hotel property or use adhesive materials other than the ones we provide. Hospitality Suite – Room 630 Our Hospitality Suite (or Con Suite) is in Room 630 again this year. Take the elevator to the 6th floor, turn left out of the elevator, left again, and Room 630 will be on your right. page 2 readercon 21 Harassment Readercon has always had a zero-tolerance harassment policy. Until recently, we did not feel it necessary to call attendees' attention to the details of this policy — but now we are being explicit. Harassment of any kind — including physical assault, battery, deliberate intimidation, stalking, or unwelcome physical attentions — will not be tolerated at Readercon and will result in permanent suspension of membership. As always, Readercon reserves the right to strip membership at its discretion. The Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Project Readercon has always had a zero-tolerance harassment policy. In an effort to improve this policy we have adopted goals of The Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Project, which works to make help against harassment visible and available, to create safer environments, to help women support other women, and men to challenge other men. We want sff, anime, comic, and other cons to be safer spaces for women and any other group who feels threatened. Some women at Readercon will be wearing stickers that say, "BACK UP"; they are there to help anyone who feels they are being harassed. You may also ask any concom member for help at any time. If you want to know more about this, ask at Information, Diane Martin, Adina Adler or visit http://backupproject.org. The Meaning of Badge Colors Purple .............................................Guest of Honor Orange .................................. Program Participant Red .........................................................Committee Green ............................................................Dealer Volunteer and Earn Exclusive Readercon Stuff! Readercon is entirely volunteer-run. Our volunteers help with Registration and Information, keep an eye on the programming, staff the Hospitality Suite, and do about a million more things. If interested, go to Information ⎯ the person there will know what to do. It’s fun, you’ll meet new people, and you can earn Readercon incentives that are available to volunteers only: 1 hour 3 hours 6 hours 8 hours Readercon Readercon Readercon 19 Readercon Pen Flashlight Travel Mug membership All these items will be awarded cumulatively, so work 8 hours and get all four! Kaffeeklatsches Kaffeeklatsches are small gatherings of attendees with a program participant, chatting informally. Because seating is limited, we ask that those interested sign up in advance at the Information Table. The Kaffeeklatsches are in Vineyard. program guide page 3 Children Attending Readercon There will be no child care provided at Readercon for 2010. Children under the age of 15 who will be staying with a parent at all times receive a free membership, a ReaderKids In Tow badge, and no conference materials. The badge must have the Readercon attending parent's name on the front of the badge and contact info on the back. This free badge must be worn at all times while on hotel grounds. Children under the age of 12 may not be left unattended in any convention area or public hotel space. If we see a child who is being disruptive, or seems to need a parent and has no parent around, we will try to contact the parent. If we cannot contact the parent within 15 minutes, we will contact hotel security and ask them to assume supervision of the child. Any disruptive or inappropriate behavior may lead to being asked to leave the convention. Readercon reserves the right to revoke membership at any time for any reason. No refunds will be given. This policy has been established for the folowing reasons: • Liability issues raised by the hotel due to unattended children left to play in hotel common areas and the pool area. • Liability issues raised by Readercon for the same reasons, as well as for the comfort of all attendees. • Liability issue of minor children left at Readercon without a parent or appointed guardian on hotel premises. Note that these children may be held by hotel security, the Department of Social Services contacted, and the child turned over to its care. • It’s all about safety. We want our children to be safe, and we want yours to be as well. Tiptree Bake Sale The James Tiptree, Jr. Award is an annual literary prize for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender. Created in 1991 by Pat Murphy and Karen Joy Fowler (one of this year's Guests of Honor!), the award is named after Alice B. Sheldon, who wrote under the pseudonym James Tiptree, Jr. and in doing so, helped break down the imaginary barrier between "women's writing" and "men's writing." For more information on the award see: www.tiptree.org. This year, the Tiptree Bake Sale will be on Saturday from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM (or until we sell all the food). It will be located in the coat room across from the Grand Ballroom, in the corner near the restrooms. If you are interested in donating home-baked goodies at Readercon, or if you would like to volunteer to help with the bake sale, please stop by the coat room. page 4 readercon 21 Accessibility We are committed to making Readercon accessible to everyone. • All the programming takes place on the ground floor of the convention hotel, and the conference rooms are quite close together, joined by wide hallways. The green room is also on the ground floor, as are the hotel restaurants and the restrooms. The consuite is easily reachable by elevator. • Each conference room will have a wide aisle and taped-off space reserved for scooter and wheelchair parking. • Unfortunately, we are