Readercon

Dear Readercongoers: in honor of the Marriott's absurdly renamed rooms, and inspired by phi, I give you the small gift of some small poems.

Embrace
as the lights come on
and the tide ebbs
two rivers
caress Manhattan

Enliven
Sewing is so old-fashioned.
I have woven this corpse
from strands of protein
and fragments of genes,
carefully following the pattern
from Frankenstein magazine.
Throw the switch!

Empower
they said she would never walk again
but it turns out
being a butterfly is pretty great

Envision
The worst thing about
these nightmares
is my nagging certainty
that they belong to someone else.
Whose warnings am I getting?
What fears could they conquer
if they only knew
they were afraid?

Ignite
I'm sorry. Antibiotics do nothing
for bronchitis. The only cure is rest.
Take a long hot lava bath.
Curl up on your hoard
and read a novel. Let your body heal.
And no flying! The cold thin air
will do your lungs no favors.
I know it's hard, but rest. Rest.
In no time at all, you'll be back
to your old self.

Imagine
no, small child, you cannot fit
the spoon up your nose
no matter how hard you try
but I admire you
for dreaming big

Inspire
her turret has an excellent view
of the training grounds
the ladies titter as she perches on the sill
and watches the squires spar for hours
she dreams of muscles and sweat
the whack of stick against padding
the cheers and laughter of comrades
a brotherly arm flung around her shoulders
as they stagger their bruises
off to the baths

Create
This parking lot is full of cars.
People drove the cars. Reverse that:
every car means a person. Maybe two or three.
You came by air and rail and road
because we said, "There will be a party
and we hope you can be there." Reverse that:
until you arrived there was no party,
only the hope of one.

Collaborate
He cooked you comfort food.
I took you shopping for baby clothes.
We squeezed your hands
as the doctor said, "Ready?"
Yes. Yes, we are ready. We are.

Dear friends of Readercon,

Readercon is pleased to share with you the Code of Conduct and policies that will be in place for Readercon 24, as well as the procedures we will be following in the event of a report of a violation of the aforementioned code of conduct.

Code of Conduct
Policies
Procedures

As always, we welcome all feedback at safety@readercon.org and look forward to seeing you next month.

Cheers,
Crystal Huff, con chair, conchair@readercon.org
Kim Riek, safety chair, kim@readercon.org
Rose Fox, program chair, rose@readercon.org

Inspired by Jim C. Hines's suggestion of a Best Pie Hugo Award, Readercon's Book Clubs will be Bake Clubs this year.

Readercon Classic Bake Club: share your family recipes!
Readercon Recent Bake Club: molecular gastronomy and other innovations!
Readercon Pie Bake Club: bring your Hugo-worthy contenders!
Readercon Gluten-free Soy-free Nut-free Raw Vegan Bake Club: open to everyone!

The Bake Clubs will be one-hour program items taking place consecutively on Friday afternoon, during which time a nearby room will be designated as a unisex vomitorium for those who want to participate in all four.

...just kidding! Here are the actual Readercon Book Club selections:

Readercon Classic Fiction Book Club: Tam Lin
Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, which reimagines the Scottish ballad as an account of young, bright Janet Carter's tumultuous time at college in the 1970s, was lauded upon its publication in 1991 and has endured as a classic since. We'll explore its resonance and relevance to present-day readers and writers in the context of real-world events that recall Janet's experiences—lengthy wars, challenges to reproductive rights, activism and tensions on college campuses—as well as the increasing popularity of folk tale retellings.

Readercon Recent Fiction Book Club: American Elsewhere
Robert Jackson Bennett's American Elsewhere is a complex work that only gradually reveals its speculative nature, blending magic and technology with horror and humor and something like a murder mystery. Along the way it addresses and critiques concepts of normalcy, nostalgia, family (especially interactions between parents and children), home, and the American Dream. We'll examine it in the context of recent works that touch on similar topics—Catherynne M. Valente's "Fade to White," Daryl Gregory's The Devil's Alphabet—and Bennett's other novels of darkness and strangeness in the American heartland.

Readercon Nonfiction Book Club: The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction
Lauded by Paul Kincaid as "one of the best and most significant works of science fiction criticism to have appeared so far this century," Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr.'s 2009 opus, The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction, is an expansive depiction of the genre as "a constellation of diverse intellectual and emotional interests and responses." We'll discuss and argue with the seven beauties themselves as well as the various notions and methods of analysis that they inspire.

Readercon Blog Club: "The Uses and Value of Realism in Speculative Fiction"
In response to the Readercon 23 panel "Why is Realistic Fiction Useful?", Chris Gerwel wrote a blog post exploring the aesthetic uses of realism in spec fic and other literature. He says, "To be effective, fiction must communicate or reveal something true.... That truth is not necessarily factual (such-and-such happened), but is rather more nebulous and insightful (such-and-such could have happened)." Gerwel goes on to argue that "realistic" descriptions of fantastic things can be a way to help the audience to deal with these concepts, giving them better access to the underlying metaphors of a dragon or a spaceship. He closes by saying, "I believe that quotidian speculative fiction has its place in the genre. And that is precisely because it speaks to different truths than most speculative fiction: it speaks to the little heroisms of daily life, and to the practical challenges that arise from our human and social natures"--an idea that echoes discussions of early science fiction stories written by women, and offers an alternative to the conflation of "realistic" and "gritty." We'll discuss the place of the quotidian in speculative fiction and other aspects of Gerwel's complex and intriguing essay, which resides at http://elflands2ndcousin.com/2012/07/17/the-uses-and-value-of-realism-in-speculative-fiction/ .

I'm also delighted to announce that this year's "How I Wrote" talks will be given by Margo Lanagan on The Brides of Rollrock Island, Alaya Dawn Johnson on The Summer Prince, and Daniel José Older on Salsa Nocturna.

We are, as always, "the con that assigns homework". Please join us in reading all these works and discussing them at Readercon.

See you in July!

What would you like to talk about at the next Readercon? We want YOUR program ideas! Send us a link to an interesting blog post that made you think, a one-sentence summary of a cool idea, or a fully formed program item description complete with pithy title--whatever you like. We'd especially love to see suggestions for our book clubs and program items celebrating and investigating the works of our guests of honor: Patricia McKillip, Maureen McHugh, and Roger Zelazny.

We also welcome suggestions for people who would be great additions to the program, especially working scientists, professionals in non-publishing fields, and members of minority groups. And if you saw someone on a panel in 2012 and thought they weren't quite up to our standards, let us know that too. All comments are seen only by the program chair and assistant chair, and will be kept entirely confidential.

The address for program ideas--open all year round--is brainstorm@readercon.org. Bring it on.

We are pleased to announce the initial composition of Readercon's safety committee.

Chair:
Kim Riek

Members:
Richard Duffy
Rose Fox
Steve Huff
Kate Nepveu
Miriam Newman
Naomi Rivkis
Veronica Schanoes
Nightwing Whitehead

The committee will advise the concom on revising Readercon's anti-harassment policy as well as other anti-harassment and pro-safety actions, and will handle all matters related to the health and safety of Readercon's attendees.

Please read the Readercon convention committee's statement on recent events: http://readercon.org/publicstatement.htm

July 27, 2012

We want to thank everyone who came forward - both in person and via email - to report a harassment incident at Readercon 23. We followed up those reports with interviews with the target of the harassment, various witnesses, and Rene Walling, the harasser. The information we collected and reviewed was consistent, consequently, we feel the facts of the incident are not in dispute.

When we wrote our zero-tolerance policy in 2008 (in response to a previous incident), we were operating under the assumption that violators were either intent on their specific behaviors, clueless, or both.

During the course of our conversation with Rene it became immediately apparent that he realized what he had done and was sincerely regretful of his actions. It was that recognition and regret that influenced our decision, not his status in the community. If, as a community, we wish to educate others about harassment, we must also allow for the possibility of reform.

Our decision was suspension of his membership for at least two years. In the three years between Readercons 23 and 26 we will actively look for evidence of real and permanent positive change in his behavior. It was made very clear to him that if we receive any substantiated reports of continued inappropriate behavior at any venue - during or after the suspension period - his suspension will become permanent.

Should any other incidents occur, we encourage witnesses to report them to us at info@readercon.org.

We want to reaffirm our continued support for all members of the community who are the targets of harassment, and our continued determination to make Readercon a safer space.



Bob Colby, Merryl Gross, B. Diane Martin, David G. Shaw, Eric M. Van

Readercon Board of Directors


(reposted from this LiveJournal entry)


EDIT: Please read the Readercon convention committee's statement on recent events: http://readercon.org/publicstatement.htm