Balticon 50 : Overview!

I just got back from 4 days of Balticon – A Science-Fiction and Fantasy themed convention, with the emphasis on books and the science behind it. That doesn’t mean that tv, comics, movies, anime, dancing, etc weren’t covered, though.

This year was the 50th anniversary and they had a fundraiser to bring back as many previous guests of honor as possible, plus George R R Martin. There were so many guests!

Despite some scheduling snaffus (apparently, at some point there were 3+ schedules floating around), the Guests and other panelists were great.

Last year? 19 panels attended.

This year?

21 panels attended

I may be insane.

I’ll be posting about them this week, but for starters, here’s the list.

FRIDAY

1. Flipping the Script: Does Gender Change the Story (sadly, a fire alarm cut in about 15 minutes in, so I ended up hitting dinner) [1]
2. Tales From The Slush Pile [1]
3. Buy My S#*% (the panelist couldn’t make it, so we turned it into a 30 min room discussion.) [1]
4. Created Religions in SFF [2]

SATURDAY

1. The Craft of Writing with Connie Willis [1]
2. Writers Workshop — And Here’s the Pitch [1]
3. Politics, Law, and Policy in SFF [2]
4. Writing: It’s My Job AND What I Do For Fun! [1]
5. Finding a Foot To Stand On [1/2]
6. Vetting the Editors [1]
7. Peter S Beagle Concert [3]
8. Finding Your Niche [1]

SUNDAY

1. Finding Balance [1]
2. The Biggest Mistakes Made by Beginning Writers [1]
3. Speak Your Words: Bring Your Written Work To Audible Life [1ish]
4. Balticon Short Film Festival [3]
5. “How Do You Do It?” Creating Around a Day Job [1]
6. Loveable Rogues in Media Fiction [2]
7. Mythic Science Fiction [2]
8. The Eye of Argon! [3]

MONDAY

1. Consequences [1]
2. How to Give and Get Critiques [1]

1 – Writing as a craft panels.
2 – Discussions about books/etc
3 – Media/Just for fun