Obsidian Wings

Snog In The Fog: Science Fiction And Weekend Open Thread

by Gary Farber

If you happen to be in the environs of the San Francisco Bay Area from March 11th through 13th, I'll be here:

FOGcon: March 11-13, 2011, at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway Hotel

Fogcon is this (links mine):

The Friends of Genre Convention (FOGcon) is a literary-themed San Francisco SF/F con in the tradition of Wiscon and Readercon. Each year we’ll focus on a new theme in speculative fiction and invite Honored Guests ranging from writers to scientists to artists. We will build community, exchange ideas, and share our love for the literature of imagination.

Theme for 2011: The City in SF/F

Honored Guests: Pat Murphy and Jeff VanderMeer; Honored Editorial Guest, Ann VanderMeer; Honored Guest (Posthumous) Fritz Leiber

“There is more than one road to the City.”—Ursula K. Le Guin

The theme of this, the first FOGCon is:

Whether a glass-edged utopia or a steampunk hell, the city plays a central role in many works of speculative fiction. It can be an arena for conflicts between cultures, a center of learning or vice, a court of power and corruption. In its gutters and government buildings, the city reveals the values a society claims and those it actually honors. Because the city is open to everyone, it’s a place where new things can happen. No wonder it is such a rich topic for so many writers.

Lots of other kewl people will be there.  There will be programming!

I'm particularly, given the time-change, and our ability as science fiction people to slipstream, looking forward to these bits of programming:

Shameless Friend Promotion

by publius

But it's for a very good cause.  Filmmaker Sasie Sealy -- scratch that, award-winning filmmaker Sasie Sealy is a finalist in Netflix's "Find Your Voice" competition.  If she wins, it would give her a full budget to begin shooting this fall (which I would eventually leverage into an LA premiere party invite, which is the first step in my elaborate plan to become BFFs with Anne Hathaway).

So it's easy -- go watch the trailer for SarahN_12, and give it 5 stars.  And you can say you voted for her when...