Letter from the Chair

Letter from the Chair Welcome to the symposium. If you have been here before, welcome back. If this is your first time, then welcome for the first time. I hope you enjoy yourselves. The symposium is a great and magical thing and I hope you all appreciate that. There may be nowhere else in the world that has quite the unique blend of science fiction and fantasy, academics, and Mormonism. More amazing still is the way that the symposium brings people in and keeps them here. There are people here who have been attending Life, the Uni- verse, & Everything since its inception. There are many more who started attending during thefi th year. Or the tenth. Or twentieth. Or twenty-fith. They’re still here. I have this grand hope that someday I will meet someone at the symposium who is a time traveler from the future who decided that he had to be at all the symposia and has been jumping from year to year so that by this point, he has been at Life, the Universe, & Everything for several months straight. Admittedly, in my dream, this man has showered. By illustration, allow me to share the story of how I came to be involved in the symposium. My father is Jonathan Langford, a previous chair of this fine symposium. He and my mother met at Quark, BYU’s science fiction club. Throughout my childhood, I heard stories about the symposium. I heard about past guests. I heard about interesting speakers. I even heard about the people whom my father ran the symposium with, some of which are still helping to run the symposium. So when I came to BYU, I had to get involved with LTUE. And when I did, not only did I meet people whom I had only heard about, listen to lots of fascinating talks, and get to hobnob with famous authors, but I got a new family, a large extended family that is only marginally dysfunctional. The point I’m trying to get across is that Life, the Universe, & Everything, the Marion K. “Doc” Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy (a name that while some might argue is too long, others might argue is, in fact, several paragraphs too short) is amazing. If this is your first time, you are in for a treat. If not, you’re still in for a treat; it just happens to be a treat that you have tried before and enjoy. The symposium is like a family. So welcome to the family. Which brings me to the point of the letter where I beg. I know it’s undig- nified, but I just can’t help myself. What I’m begging for is this: If you love the symposium, help out. This can be done through any number of different means. You can sign up to be part of the committee that organizes this 1 every year. You can talk to us and ask to be on panels or do presentations for future years: we’re always looking for interesting people to talk about their areas of specialty. You can be a gopher (the ubiquitous minions who ensure that the symposium runs smoothly). You could even donate money. Finally, I would like to close with giving credit where it’s due. Many of you reading this realize the work that goes into the symposium. I know that I certainly couldn’t have organized the symposium by myself. So here is a public expression of my gratitude to all of the committee members, gophers, attendees, and guests that make the symposium possible. Thank you. Nathan Langford LTUE 2013 Committee Chair North 2 Wonder about the different Contents badge colors? Etiquette with the Pros 4 Yellow Committee Member Guest of Honor 5 Hot Pink Volunteer Special Guests 6 Dark Blue Guest of Honor Movie Screenings 8 Local Restaurants 9 Light Blue Special and Participating Guests 10 Participating Guests Grid Schedule 20 Orange Panelist Educator’s Conference 29 Green Chair Emeritus Listing of Events 30 Recordings at LTUE 33 White Attendee Signings, Readings, Filking 39 Tan Educator’s Conference Acknowledgments back cover Symposium Committee Chair Nathan Langford Guest Liaisons Diana Ault, Assistant Chair Jessica Rhees Megan Gadd, Heidi Grover, and Track Coordinator Charlene Harmon Tricia Levenseller Writing Steve Setzer Volunteer Coordinator Toad Cox CYOW Logan Kearsley Social Media Heidi Grover Media Anthony Applegate Webmaster Jenna Eatough Art Leigh Owens and Vendor Liaison Steve Harmon Charlene Harmon Mailing List Administrator Academics Marny K. Parkin Joe Monson Gaming Becca Clegg Guru/Venue Liaison Dave Doering Educator’s Conference Coordinator Staff Robin Ambrose, Caitlyn Byers, Diana Ault Aly Gidewall, Nathan Hinckley, Contest Administrator Erin Kearsley, Vance Lee, Jenna Eatough Alicia McIntire, Kyra Nelson, Publications Director Ryan Noorda, Charles Stanford Marny K. Parkin Any one can join our staff. Students are especially needed, from both UVU and BYU. If you are interested in helping make the next symposium bigger and better than this one, come to our staff meeting on March 2, 2013. Watch our Facebook page for more details. 3 Etiquette with the Pros One question any symposium-goer inevitably asks is, “How do I talk to authors and artists?” Getting to know them takes a few common sense rules of etiquette that will make the experience enjoyable for both of you. First, remember that the authors and artists are only human. Just because they write fantastic books or draw fabulous pictures doesn’t mean they are ready to be on stage at any moment. An author or artist may have just had a lousy night or be suffering from something the symposium committee fed them at lunch. Don’t take it personally if they don’t want to talk to you right then. Also, don’t try to dazzle them with your latest story idea or pet project. Most authors are paid to edit material; don’t expect them to do it for free. And don’t make the mistake that one convention attendee made when he tried to discuss the wage differences between British and American actors with a main guest. We promise you, brilliant as they may be, authors and artists don’t know everything. When you want to meet the authors or artists, wait for a good moment when they aren’t busy. If they are talking with someone else, wait patiently for them to finish, then introduce yourself. Try to say something nice before you fire away with criticism. Remember, they may be as shy of meeting you as you are of meeting them. Most importantly, don’t monopolize! Share with others these mar- velous people you’ve just met. Rather than saying everything at once, try talking to them on several occasions. (Even your mother would rather hear from you for three minutes once a week than for three hours once a year.) Just remember to be courteous. Respect their privacy and respect their time. They have come to the symposium to meet people, though, so don’t be afraid to approach them. That is why they came! 4 Megan Whalen Turner Megan Whalen Turner is the author of award-winning books for children and young adults. Her first novel,The Thief, was a Newbery Honor Book in 1997. Her most recent book, A Conspiracy of Kings, fourth in the series that began with The Thief, won the LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature in 2011. The series was awarded the Mythopoeic Award for Children’s Literature in 2011, as well. Turner’s stories take place in a world with similarities to Byzantine Greece. Influ- enced by writers such as Rosemary Sutcliff, Henry Treece, Peter Dickinson, and Joan Aiken, she writes fantasy with a nod to histori- cal realism. Turner graduated from the University of Chicago with honors in 1987 and worked for several years as a children’s books buyer in Chi- cago and Washington, D.C. Married to a professor of cognitive science, she moves frequently to live for a year at a time in a new place while he does research. Most recently, they were in Oslo, Norway, where she was writing short stories about trolls. They are now back in Ohio. MeganWhalenTurner.org 5 Special Guests Larry Correia Larry Correia is an accountant and firearms instructor turned writer. His first novel, Monster Hunter International, was originally self-published and did extremely well, bringing him to the attention of the traditional publishing industry. Larry has two other series, an alternative history/fantasy set in the 1930s and a contemporary thriller with Mike Kupari. Larry Correia.word press .com David Farland David Farland is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author who has penned nearly fity science fiction and fantasy novels for both adults and children. Along the way, he has also worked as a creative writing instructor, a videogame designer, and a movie producer. In 1991, Dave was invited to act as a judge for the Writers of the Future Contest, the world’s largest science fiction and fantasy writing contest for new authors, and was soon promoted to the position of Coordinating Judge. Recently, Dave accepted the position of Director of Storytelling for a new ani- mation studio, Crocodiles Not Waterlilies Entertainment, where he will help guide the company’s production of books, videogames, and animated films. Dave has also worked as something of an acquisitions consultant for publishers. In 1992 and 1993, he worked for Gibbs Smith Publishers, helping them find manuscripts for children’s books, and he recently accepted a similar position for Tor books.

Load more