Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Readercon
Most recents (11)
The eighth panel I attended at #Readercon was "Hospitable Worlds," with @N_S_Dolkart, @elaineisaak, and @TracyATownsend, moderated by Eric Amundsen. This panel was on Saturday afternoon, which means it was on Shabbat, and that affected my note-taking.
I'm a Jew who keeps Shabbat in a way that precludes writing. This means I had to hold all of the key points in my mind until after Shabbat, when I could write that down. For more info on how I do that, check out this thread:
The short, short version: I attach the notes to an image in my mind. This means I remember key points, but not the order they were said in, definitely not direct quotes, and usually not who said what either. With that in mind, here are my take-aways from this panel:
The seventh panel I attended at #Readercon was "Compassionate AI," with @WriteTeachPlay, @mattkressel, @eilatan, and Kestrell Verlager, moderated by @tithenai. This panel was at 10 AM on Saturday and worth waking up for. It was also on Shabbat, which has note-taking implications.
I'm a Jew who keeps Shabbat in a way that precludes writing. This means I had to hold all of the key points in my mind until after Shabbat, when I could write that down. For more info on how I do that, check out this thread:
The short, short version: I attach the notes to an image in my mind. This means I remember key points, but not the order they were said in, definitely not direct quotes, and usually not who said what either. With that in mind, here are my take-aways from this panel:
A few of the panels I attended at #Readercon were on Saturday, which means they were on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. Before I put up my recaps for those, I want to talk about how attending panels on Shabbat is a different experience for me than attending panels on other days.
I keep Shabbat in a way that might described as traditional, or Orthodox. (I identify as a Conservative Jew, not an Orthodox Jew, but my observances often look Orthodox.) This means that when I attend a con that includes Shabbat, that day of the con looks different for me.
(And "a con that includes Shabbat" basically means every con I ever attend, because cons tend to be on weekends.)
The sixth panel I attended at #Readercon was "A Post-Police World," with L. Timmel Duchamp, Josh Jasper, @publichumanist, and Nicole D. Sconiers, moderated by @pablod. A more intense panel than I expected.
As with my previous recaps, I'm not sure which words in my notes are quotes, and which are paraphrases. Also, there's some terminology in here that I may not have a full grasp of. Feel free to correct what I get wrong.
A question from Josh Jasper: If we remove cops, can we still have procedurals?
The fifth panel I attended at #Readercon was "Latinx Authors Tear Down the Wall," with @LabyrinthRat, @omgjulia, and @WriteTeachPlay, moderated by @cafenowhere. I learned a lot, and not just about writing.
As with previous threads, I'm not sure which of my notes are word for word quotes and which are paraphrases. I'll also note that I am not Latinx myself, and this increases the chances that I will misrepresent something/get something wrong. Feel free to correct me if I do!
First, @cafenowhere asked @WriteTeachPlay to give us some background on Cuban immigration. He told us about the wet foot, dry foot policy that used to exist.
The fourth panel I attended at #Readercon was "Recent Nonfiction Essay Club: 'Decolonizing the Imagination' by Zetta Elliott" with Vandana Singh, @john_chu, @CadwellTurnbull, @ShiningComic, and moderated by @katenepveu. (Note: I haven't read the essay)
As with my previous recaps, I'm not sure which things in my notes are quotes, and which are paraphrases. I have fewer notes for this thread than the last one, probably because the panelists were speaking about things that felt more personal.
Panelists began by speaking about some of their own decolonization experiences.
The third panel I attended at #Readercon was "The 21st Century Makeover of Class Struggles in SF/F" with @m_older, Sarah Smith, @catvalente, @CadwellTurnbull, and moderated by @TXWatson. So many good things got said! This thread will be a long one...
(Note: most comments will be paraphrases rather than quotes. If I think I got the words exactly, I'll put quotation marks around it. Otherwise, assume I may have rephrased a bit.)
During introductions, @m_older noted that traveling to and living in other places is a way to change your class without changing it.
The second panel I attended at #Readercon was "Killing Characters 101" with @RobertVSRedick, @cballison421,
@KarenHeuler, Miriam Newman, and @mythicdelirium
as moderator. Here are some takeaways from the panel (all paraphrases rather than quotes, I think)
@KarenHeuler, Miriam Newman, and @mythicdelirium
as moderator. Here are some takeaways from the panel (all paraphrases rather than quotes, I think)
From @mythicdelirium: For some characters, death isn't horrible enough.
From Miriam: some purposes character death can serve:
- Story catalyst (such as in a murder mystery)
- Freeing death (such as when a mentor death allows a character to come into their own)
- cathartic death (at the end, after a build-up. It lets us come back down.)
- Story catalyst (such as in a murder mystery)
- Freeing death (such as when a mentor death allows a character to come into their own)
- cathartic death (at the end, after a build-up. It lets us come back down.)
The first panel I attended at #Readercon this year was "Being Vague to Make Space for Horror" with Stephen Graham Jones, Sonya Taaffe, @paulGtremblay, @intelligentwat, and moderator @ShiningComic. Given that I don't write horror, I learned a surprising amount!
@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic Here are some highlights. Most of these are paraphrases. If I think I have the exact words, I've put quotation marks around them, but they might not be exact.
@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic On having disorientation in horror: "To be able to express horrors about being a black woman in an antagonistic world, I create worlds with that disorientation. We have to put on armor, and that's disorienting." - @intelligentwat
Delightful news! My story "Elegy of Carbon" will appear in the anthology "The Internet Is Where The Robots Live Now" this September from @paperdogbooks! Soon you shall all see the epic journey of the Brave Little Mining AI.
This is delightful unto me not only because I want to share one of my favorite stories, but because I of the 4 short stories I've had accepted this year, this is the first one that's actually turned into a sale.
Also, if you attended my reading with @LabyrinthRat at #readercon last month, this is the story I read an excerpt from!
So glad this one came out! "After Midnight at the Zap Stop" by @ouranosaurus is an awesome story - full of late-night grease, and the luckless & the worthy. But also because it's a #neuroscience teaching opportunity. Might even be a #NeuroThursday!
One offhand line explains a technology as "stimulating a particular set of mirror neurons." Which works as a story element just fine. It sounds plausible and authoritative! But as a neuroscientist, I have strong opinions about #mirrorneurons. I don't think they're real.
To be clear, mine is a controversial opinion. Many neuroscientists would disagree. But it's a hill I'm willing to fight on, especially given how often "mirror neurons" crop up in popular science.
