My OryCon 35 Schedule

ETA(2013-11-04): better link destinations for co-panelists, sign-up info for ORCs, Twitter stuff.

If you're anywhere near Portland, Oregon (the science fiction capital of America!) during the second weekend of November, stop by OryCon 35 and have some fun--not necessarily involving steampunk cosplay, though I'm sure there will be plenty of that.

As seen on Portlandia. Sort of. Not really.

As usual, my major activity is running the Open Read and Critique (ORC) sessions: two on Friday, two on Saturday. The second Friday session is at 8PM, to better accommodate volunteers and panelists who are too busy earlier in the day. Sign up each morning (or the night before) to get some quick feedback on your writing!

Here's where you'll find me at the con:

Friday, November 8th

2:00pm-3:00pm
ORCs: Open Read and Critiques (Session A)
Madison
Friday afternoon Open Read and Critiques (ORCs) allow writers of all skill
levels to read the first 750 words of their work to a round table group of
the same. Sign-up sheets will be outside Madison no later than Friday morning!

8:00pm-9:00pm
ORCs: Open Read and Critiques (Session B)
Madison
Friday evening Open Read and Critiques (ORCs) allow writers of all skill
levels to read the first 750 words of their work to a round table group of
the same. Sign-up sheets will be outside Madison no later than Friday morning!

Saturday, November 9th

11:00am-12:00pm
Social media, time suck or revolution
Idaho
Social media played a major roll in the Arab Spring, oppressive
governments have turned off the internet. What is next?
(panel with Rob Wynne and Jason Andrew)

1:00pm-2:00pm
ORCs: Open Read and Critiques (Session C)
Madison
Saturday afternoon Open Read and Critiques (ORCs) allow writers of all
skill levels to read the first 750 words of their work to a round table
group of the same. Sign-up sheets will be outside Madison no later than Saturday morning!

2:00pm-3:00pm
ORCs: Open Read and Critiques (Session D)
Madison
Saturday afternoon Open Read and Critiques (ORCs) allow writers of all
skill levels to read the first 750 words of their work to a round table
group of the same. Sign-up sheets will be outside Madison no later than Saturday morning!

Complete convention schedule online at: orycon35.sched.org

I'll be tweeting from the con "officially" as @curtiscchen and just-for-fun as @sparCKL. Double your pleasure by following both accounts!

Book Report: Boneshaker

Our second Virtual Speculative Fiction Book Club selection was much better than the first. Our second club meeting was also an improvement, since Kathy and Brian were visiting Portland that weekend and we discussed zombies and airships while enjoying coffee downtown. It wasn't quite Seattle, but close enough.

Though we all enjoyed Boneshaker, we did remark on the lack of any significant character development. It's a fun ride, but definitely a plot-driven story. I felt at times like I was in a video game, which is not always a bad thing: I wanted to explore the world and spend more time with the characters, especially the colorful supporting cast. (And then I went and played Bioshock for a while. Punchline!)

Alternate histories can be tricky, but though this book diverges from fact, it succeeds because it diverges in the direction of desirable fantasy. People love airships and zombies and crazy electro-mechanical gadgets that were ahead of their time in the 19th century. It wasn't so, but you want it to have been so. Seattle wasn't yet a big city in the 1800s, but it is now; having some well-known landmarks pop up earlier in the timeline doesn't really tax readers' imaginations.

The sequel, Dreadnought--which we picked up at Cherie's author event in Portland last week--deals with a different part of the same world, but despite being set in the thick of the Civil War, also looks like it'll be fun. And, as Cherie said of steampunk in general: "If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong."

Buy the book: Powell's, Amazon

Up next for VSFBC: China Miéville's Kraken. Ping me if you'd like to join our discussion on November 18th!