It is springtime, the perfect time for Zaphod’s proverbial, “excitement and adventure and really wild things.” Douglas Adams fans are most active in celebrating their fandom from Douglas’s birthday, March 11, through Towel Day May 25. Adams fans vote for their Towel Day Ambassador and celebrate the works and author they love.
This year we will get an extra day because in honor of what would have been Douglas Adams’s 70th Birthday, Save The Rhino has announced an in-person Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture the day after Towel Day (the announcement promised that remote, online tickets are coming soon).
In true fan form, my adventure to the UK to finalize the Forty-Two Places Guidebook begins next week. Guidebook research is arranged in conjunction with attending Reclamation, the 72nd Eastercon. I have been supporting the convention through volunteer work because it is a wonderful chance to meet up with fans and friends, and discuss the literature and lore I love to geek out about.
My final convention panel schedule is as follows:
Start Time Duration Room Name Session ID Title
Fri 7:30 PM 1 Hr Bleriot 9 Creating worlds across the Hard SF-Fantasy Genre Divide
Sat 4:30 PM 1 Hr Armstrong 55 The Answer to Hitchhiker’s Guide: Why Are We Still Reading This 42 Years Later?
Sat 6:00 PM 30 Min Syndicate Room 13 182 Author Reading: Yvette Keller
Sat 7:30 PM 1 Hr Endeavour 107 Looms, Needles, Linen, Wool?
Sun 10:30 AM 1 Hr Discovery 62 Audiobooks for Everyone
Mon 10:30 AM 1 Hr Tereshkova 35 Build Your Ideal Book Club
Creating worlds across the Hard SF-Fantasy Genre Divide (Bleriot, Literature Panel, Fri 7:30 PM, Duration: 01:00)
Description: Kipling said, “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” but those who know The Ballad of East and West know it is not that simple. Despite an SF-Fantasy genre divide, both readers and authors have proven it is possible to cross that desert. How can authors build convincing worlds of science, magic, or both, without breaking the illusion of reality?
The Answer to Hitchhiker’s Guide: Why Are We Still Reading This 42 Years Later? (Armstrong, Media Panel, Sat 4:30 PM, Duration: 01:00)
Description: The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is enjoying a multi-year 42nd anniversary, as the milestones of the original Radio Programme, Novels, Television Show, and Video Game come along in turn. Our panelists discuss the lasting impact of Douglas Adams’ famous Trilogy of Five Books and why his work continues to breed spinoffs and new fans at speeds in excess of R17.
Author Reading: Yvette Keller (Syndicate Room 13, Literature Reading, Sat 6:00 PM, Duration: 00:30)
Looms, Needles, Linen, Wool? (Endeavour, Literature Panel, Sat 7:30 PM, Duration: 01:00)
Description: Whether in fantasy or science fiction, someone has to be making the clothes and sheets the characters encounter. (And if they really are all fabricated by machines, who’s creating the machines?) Where do we see fabric craft in SFF, when does it become part of the story, and when should it be part of the story but isn’t?
Audiobooks for Everyone (Discovery, Literature Panel, Sun 10:30 AM, Duration: 01:00)
Description: Despite the popularity of audiobooks, they are rarely discussed when we talk about writing and marketing. This panel looks at how audiobooks are prepared and used, and discusses other issues around creating and publishing them.
Build Your Ideal Book Club (Tereshkova, Literature Participatory Event, Mon 10:30 AM, Duration: 01:00)
Description: Do you love talking about books almost as much as reading them…but fear the pitfalls of a bad book club? This is your chance to meet up and discuss the best, or worst, bits of forming a club. Facilitators will provide specific guidance to jumpstart forming your ideal book club.
What do you think?