The Journal of Michael Merriam

I have my Diversicon Schedule. Come to the convention and say hello!

Friday

8:30-9:25 PM – Main Stage (Soo Line)
Panel: Can’t Rip a Chainmail Bodice: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and/or Feminist Romance: Romance has long had a foothold in SF/F as a subplot. Now the popularity of paranormal and urban fantasy, as well as science fiction romance, seem to be assuring it a place of primacy in the genre. On the other hand, often romances follow very traditional patriarchal rules, even when fairly feminist individuals are writing. What does a feminist romantic storyline look like? How can writers who like to think of themselves as feminist avoid falling back on the old standbys?
Catherine Lundoff, mod.; S.N. Arly, Rachel Gold, Axel Kohagen, Michael Merriam


Saturday

2:00-2:55 PM - Krushenko Annex (Northern Pacific)
Panel: This Was So Awesome When I Was A Kid: Some things that we loved in childhood, hold up over time and some don’t. Which spec fic books, comics, TV shows, and movies hold up well now that we’ve grown up? Which ones are best left as happy memories? What might help something endure? What things are hot now that will be regrettable when viewed in 20 or 30 years?
Rob Callahan, mod.;Ruth Berman, Michael Merriam,Tyler Tork

5:00-5:30 PM - Railroad Lobby
Massive Autographing: Jack McDevitt, Roy C. Booth, Catherine Lundoff, Aimee Kuzenski, Michael Merriam, Ka Vang

Sunday

11:00-11:55 AM – Krushenko's (Room 101)
Panel: Command and Distaff: Women’s Roles in Military Sci-Fi/Fantasy: Discussion of women’s roles from Marion Zimmer Bradley’s “Sword and Sorceress” series and David Weber’s Honor Harrington series to what’s current on the market today. “Distaff” is women’s work/domain, literally it’s the staff that holds flax while spinning.
Aimee Kuzenski, mod.; Tessa Johnstone Carlson, Kimbereley Long-Ewing, Michael Merriam


Originally posted at michaelmerriam.net. You can comment here or there. 

I have been writing on Dead Brew II (title pending). I’m about to the middle of the book and finally have the shape of the thing clear in my head. What I need to focus in now is writing the synopsis for Dead Brew and get it sent out.

Speaking of sent out, I submitted three new pieces to Anthology Builder. I have more pieces to submit to them, but I thought I would start with these three and once a decision was made, submit three more. If I can get all the stories on Anthology builder I would like, that would be 12 pieces. I also sent out a query on a small short fiction collection of my space opera pieces. The publisher in question has told me he is looking for more SF and space opera, so I have high hopes.

Attempts to integrate Belyn—aka Temp-to-Perm Kitty—with the Reverend Selena have been mixed. It would help if Belyn would read her signals (which are pretty obvious, considering how vocal she is) and back off when she’s angry. I wonder if the male inability to read signals a female is sending is a universal thing.

He is still very cute and we are patient. Belyn really wants to make friends with Selena. She is not all that interested right now. I think she might be willing to ignore him, if he would stop getting in her face.

Snippet four of Last Car to Annwn Station is more character and relationship development, with an indication that Jill is about to be drawn into the metaphysical mystery that Mae is dealing with.

I received my postcards and 8x10 prints from Carina Press for Last Car to Annwn Station. They are lovely, and I will have them to give away at 4TH Street Fantasy Convention, Convergence, and Diversicon if I attend.

( Snippet #4 Behind the Cut )
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Last Car to Annwn Station. Releases on June 27th. Pre-Order at Carina Press, Amazon U.S., and Amazon U.K.

Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Amazon, B&N, and in audio format at Audible.com

Here is a list of conventions and other events I will attend. If anyone wants to come up to me and say hello, I'm easy to spot: I'm the large man with the white cane. I'd love to visit with you.

Speculations Reading with Michael Merriam
Friday, February 4, 2011 6:30 PM
DreamHaven Books
2301 E 38th St
Minneapolis MN 55406

Con of the North -- February 18th-20th, 2011. The Twin Cities' longest running games convention, held at the Holiday Inn St. Paul East.

MarsCon -- March 4th-6th, 2011. Held at the Airport Hilton, Bloomington, MN.

Paganicon -- March 25th-27th, 2011. Held at the Doubletree Park Place Hotel, St. Louis Park, MN.

Minicon -- April 22nd-24th, 2011. The Grand Dame of Minnesota SF&F Conventions. This Con is held at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington, MN.

4th Street Fantasy Convention -- There hasn't been an announcement of dates yet.

CONvergence -- June 30th--July 3rd 2011. CONvergence is at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington, MN. This convention hosts the Tales of the Unanticipated magazine release party.

Diversicon -- July 29th–31st, 2011. A Twin Cities convention that celebrates and explores the connections between speculative fiction and diversity.

These are the conventions I'll be attending this year: Con of the North (gaming con), Minicon, CONvergence, and maybe Diversicon depending on a couple of things.

The grant is sent and out of my hands. Now off to Diversicon this weekend. Yeah, I've been doing a lot of conventions this year.

Saturday:

Disabilities in Science Fiction: 1:00-1:55 pm Krushenko's Annex (Northern Pacific)
On the differently-abled in SF, from Wells' "The Country of the Blind" to Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon," John Varley's "The Persistence of Vision," and Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan saga. Geordi La Forge is blind without his visor; so are many without glasses. Well also talk about the challenges and solutions, technological and otherwise--encountered by SF writers with disabilities.
Michael Merriam, mod.; Roy C. Booth, Emma Hawkes

Genres and Subgenres: 3:00-3:55 pm Krushenko's Annex (Northern Pacific)
What is a genre? Who came up with these classifications and are they useful? What purpose do they serve? What's a subgenre? What makes it "hard SF?" What is "science fantasy?" What subgenres are currently recognized in speculative fiction? What are the rules/tropes/expectations of these various subgenres?
S.N. Arly, mod.; Dana M. Baird, Janice Bogstad, Tyree Campbell, Michael Merriam

Massive Autographing: 5:00-5:30 PM SF Minnesota Table (Lobby, by Registration)
Kay Kenyon, Michael Levy, Sandra Lindow, Michael Merriam, et al.

I haven't been posting as much lately because it seems like careswen and I are busy busy busy. There's just a lot going on in our lives right now, and I haven't able, or frankly, willing to spend any of the little bits of spare time I have posting to LJ. I have been making little quick hit posts over on my Facebook. Also, I'm going to go ahead and open a Dreamwidth account, since one of my flist was kind enough to spot me an invite code. On the other hand, I'm going to close and delete my MySpace page at the end of the month. I've mostly been keeping it to stay in contact with my family, and they are starting to open up Facebook accounts.

Rija's Tale is nearly done. I need to finish this chapter, maybe have one or two more and then wrap it up. Once I've hit the end of the first draft on Rija's Tale I'll go back and start my rewrites on Dark Water Blues. I'm still waiting to hear back from the agent who asked for the full manuscript of Last Car to Annwn station. Fingers crossed.

In "around the house" news, we had the annual cleaning of the dryer vents and inspection of the fireplace, in accordance with HOA rules. I also had them clean my air ducts and heater vents, which, given the amount of crap that came out of them, hasn't been done in this place in years. I thought the previous owners had done it when they remodeled, so I thought this years was the first time I needed to have it done. That's what I get for assuming.

Besides working on Rija's Tale, I also have my quarterly copywriting gig this month. I should have that one done by Monday. Anyone know any other catalog or mail order places that need a freelance copywriter? No? Time for me to start poking around looking for more work in that field.

I've put in my panel requests for both 4th Street Fantasy Convention and CONvergence. I still need to sort out of I'm doing anything for Diversicon.


Rija's Tale

I have been invited to be the guest speaker at a teleconference for a group of blind fiction writers and poets. One of the members read the piece I have up at Breath and Shadow and sent me an email, asking if I'd like to take part in a discussion session with their moderator, followed by Q&A with their members. The moderator said it follows a format similar to the one on Inside the Actors Studio. Of course I agreed! I am both honored and boggled.

I've settled on the conventions I'll be attending this year. I'll at Con of the North (gaming con), Minicon, 4th Street Fantasy Convention, CONvergence, and Diversicon.

Since all these conventions are local, careswen and I will only be staying at the hotel for Con of the North (because we need someplace to change into costumes for the nightly LARPs) and CONvergence, (because I always end up on too many programming items and because the con is super-frantic, making it important to have someplace quiet to retreat to). We'll be driving back and forth to Minicon and 4th Street (both of which are close to our home) and I suspect I'll only be at Diversicon on Saturday.

Finally, I'm thinking of taking an internet sabbatical in February. I would only be checking email twice a day, and staying off the internet and all the networking sights I frequent for one month. Unless, you know, I sold a book and needed to make an announcement.

I take sabbaticals from the news from time-to-time where I won't watch news, listen to news, or read news, because honestly, it depresses me. I've feeling that way about the internet in general and blogs in particular for the last couple of months. There just seems to be an awful lot of doom and gloom and bitching and fighting and anger out there right now, and while I know it's always been there (because I've been on the net for a long damned time) I find myself just--out of energy for trolling, internet slapfights, flame-wars, and even heated-if-polite discussions. This has begun to affect both my mood and my writing negatively, and it needs to stop. I'm thinking I need to step away for a while, hit the reset button, and get myself pointed back in the right direction again.

Registration is now open for 4th Street Fantasy Convention, and will be capped at a membership of 250. This means I need to decide if I am going or not. careswen said she will go if I do, but what I really want to know is, who else plans to be at 4th Street this year?

Also, I've decided to go to Diversicon, at least on Saturday.

So, who is attending 4th Street this year?