Splinter Universe

And! the Final Boskone 60 schedules have arrived.

Things you need to know about this schedule:

1   All panels are 1 hour, by which Boskone means 55 minutes.

2   Our joint reading is 25 minutes, by which Boskone means 20 minutes.

3   The above time-slips are so that the room can be cleared, and allows the next event to start on-time.

4   You will note that there is no separate “autographing” item.  Please do bring your books to the Book Party on Saturday night and we’ll bring our pens.

5   Boskone 60, February 17-19 at the Westin Boston Seaport, featuring  Nalo Hopkinson, Victo Ngai, Tui T. Sutherland, Dave Clement, Jeanette Epps.  Here’s your link

Lee and Miller’s Boskone 60 Schedule

FRIDAY

Building Fandom and Community
Marina 2
Fri 5:30 PM
Duration: 01:00
Janice Gelb (Janice Gelb) mod, Steve Miller, Jen Wilson-Hughes, Scott Edelman, Lisa Hertel
Fandom is a glorious and multifaceted thing that spans generations and genres. It’s become more than a little fragmented over the years, but we are all still part of a larger whole. What have we lost with the fragmenting of fandom? How can its niche groups engage with the wider fan community while still honoring and protecting what makes them unique? This will be an inclusive session aimed at bringing people together.

Reading: Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Griffin
Fri 8:30 PM
Duration: 00:25
Featuring Sharon Lee & Steve Miller as they team up for this special Boskone reading from one of their published or in-process works. They will also host an author Q&A as time permits

SATURDAY

Worldbuilding from the Ground Up
Harbor 1 – Hybrid
Sat 10:00 AM
Duration: 01:00
Liz Delton (mod), Marshall Ryan Maresca, Suzanne Palmer, Steve Miller, Paul Di Fillipo
Some spectacular stories take place in worlds very different from our own: from life on (or in) a gas giant to a civilization that lives on a world-tree as big as the Himalayas. But there are perils associated with venturing far beyond human experience. An inconsistent or poorly described worldscape can result in a confusing story or challenge a reader’s ability to suspend disbelief. Hear from writers who have created fully realized worlds that their readers can almost see, touch, and smell.

Writing Romance across Genres
Marina 2
Sat 4:00 PM
Duration: 01:00
Christie Meierz (mod), Darlene Marshall, Sharon Lee, Andrea D Hairston
Romance plays well with other genres, creating threads that weave easily across stories, connecting characters and causing conflict. Our panelists explore the hallmarks of the romance genre, and how to pepper romantic plots and subplots in your fantastic and futuristic worlds. How can we best incorporate romantic tropes into other genres in a way that feels fresh and dynamic? And how do you write romantic conflict in realistic and compelling ways as couples try to survive your next plot twist.

Boskone Book Party
Galleria – Autographing
Sat 5:30 PM
Duration: 01:00
Jane Yolen, Andrea D Hairston, Annalee Newitz, C. S. E. Cooney, Cat Scully, Dana Cameron, Michael Green Jr., Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Theodora Goss, Steve Miller (and Sharon Lee), Mike Allen, Laurie Mann
Come join the fun at Boskone 60’s Book Party. You’ll meet the authors and publishers who have new books coming out at the con! This is your chance to see what’s new from writers you already love, as well as those you have yet to discover.

A Muddle of Mad Scientists
Marina 4
Sat 7:00 PM
Duration: 01:00
Chad Childers (mod), Gillian Lynn Daniels, Sharon Lee, Michael M. Jones
From Faust to Dr. Horrible, genre fiction is filled with crazily creative geniuses. Why do we love them? What makes the mad scientist character so appealing in horror, comedy, and everything in between? Join us for a mad, mad discussion featuring some of our favorite screwy scientists and inventors from the past, present, and future.
Participant information: Wearing of lab coats optional 🙂

SUNDAY

The Shadow of the City
Harbor 2
Sun 11:30 AM
Duration: 01:00
Walter H. Hunt (mod), Carole Ann Moleti, Annalee Newitz, Sharon Lee, Darrell Schweitzer
What are the challenges and benefits of using a real-world city in your urban fantasy or other spec fic? How accurate do you need to be before locals cry foul? London, Tokyo and New York have served as settings for innumerable novels. How would these stories change if the Tube were replaced by the New York subway, or vice versa? And if the setting was Paris, New Delhi, or Sydney, how would the story change?

Kaffeeklatsch 1: Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Galleria – Kaffeeklatsch 1
Sun 1:00 PM
Duration: 01:00
Join these writers and a few fellow fans for an informal chat.  Sign up at Program Ops on the Upper Level near Registration, on Saturday after 10am.  You must be attending Boskone in person to sign up for this session, and you can only sign up for yourself.

Steve Miller will be a virtual panelist at Boskone 59, February 18-20.  Boskone 59 is a Hybrid Convention this year.

Steve’s schedule is below.  All times are Eastern Standard.

VIRTUAL: Unhappy Endings Format: Panel
18 Feb 2022, Friday 8pm – 8:50pm, Marina IV (Westin)
Jane Yolen, Steve Miller, Julie Czerneda, Paul Di Filippo (M), Ada Palmer

Tragic plays from Shakespeare, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides are still with us … hundreds, even thousands of years later. Not all stories let the protagonist triumph — sometimes they lose; sometimes they even die losing. Some science fiction and fantasy writers’ unhappily ending stories are quite popular. Why do they succeed? Why do other such stories fail — even fail so hard their authors never try to write unhappily ever after?

VIRTUAL: My Favorite Character
18 Feb 2022, Friday 9pm – 9:50pm, Marina IV (Westin)
Olav Rokne, Jen Gunnels, Steve Miller, David Marshall, James Moore (M)

Google once estimated that humanity had published 129,864,880 books. If about half were SF/F/H trilogies — never mind, let’s ask it this way: from all the speculative fiction stories ever published, who’s your favorite character, and why? Heroine, villain, sidekick, romantic interest, alien bystander? Would you like to meet, have dinner with, or be that person? What does your choice say about your own character?

VIRTUAL: Solo Reading
19 Feb 2022, Saturday 12:30 – 12:55, Marina IV (Westin)
Steve Miller

The Chicago WorldCon has opened Hugo nominations.

Lee and Miller published a couple things in 2021 which we would like you to bear in mind while nominating.  They are:

Unless otherwise noted, all works are as by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

SHORT STORY
“Standing Orders,” Derelict, Zombies Need Brains, July 2021 (5,775 words)

NOVELETTE
“From Every Storm a Rainbow,” Baen.com (link to free story) December 2021 (7,957 words)

NOVELLA
“Dead Men Dream,” Change State: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 32, Pinbeam Books, March 2021 (19,800 words)

“Our Lady of Benevolence,” Bread Alone: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 34, Pinbeam Books, November 2021 (14,500 words)

SERIES HUGO
The Liaden Universe® currently includes 23 published novels, and dozens of short stories.  The very first Liaden Universe® novel, Agent of Change, was published in February 1988.  The twenty-fourth Liaden Universe® novel, Fair Trade, will be published in May 2022.  The series is qualified — perhaps overqualified — for the Series Hugo.  Wikipedia article here.

HUGO NOMINATION RULES

It’s been a busy month for us, what with Trader’s Leap taking its first steps into the world.  We’ve done a total of three interviews in support of it and the Liaden Universe® in general.

For those interested, here is a comprehensive list:

Baen editor Tony Daniel interviews Lee and Miller (your choice of audio or video.  Princess Jasmine Sprite makes a special guest appearance in the video)

Mysterious Galaxy reading and Q&A (video)

Paul Semel Interviews Lee and Miller (written)

Have fun!

If you one of those who missed last night’s Wild Party at Mysterious Galaxy in honor of the release of Trader’s Leap, the twenty-third novel of the Liaden Universe® created and written by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller — there’s good news!

Through the magic of the internet, and the kindness of Mysterious Galaxy bookstore, you can see how it all went down.

Here’s your link.

1   Today!  Is Trader’s Leap Book Day!  This means the hardcover and ebook editions are available from your favorite vendor.

1a   If you have Just Now Realized that you would like to have a signed copy of Trader’s Leap, Uncle Hugo’s has a few more pre-signed copies.  Here’s your link.

1b   If you — yes, you; I see you there in the corner — have finished reading Trader’s Leap and Want to Talk About It, there is a spoiler discussion in progress at this link.  This is a moderated venue, so your post will not appear immediately.  It will be made public within 24 hours, and usually sooner, but we do sleep, and having the cats moderate just hasn’t worked out.

2   Ambient Conditions:  Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 31 is now available from your favorite ebook vendor.  This chapbook contains two stories — previously published “A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom,” and title story “Ambient Conditions,” plus an authors’ foreword.

2a   The paper edition of Ambient Conditions is available from Amazon only.  Here’s your link.

3   Paul Semel interviewed Lee and Miller.  You can read the results here.

4   Tomorrow night — that’s Wednesday, December 2, at 7 pm PST — Steve and Sharon will be reading from Trader’s Leap, talking trash, and taking questions at Mysterious Galaxy.  If you’d like to be part of this festive occasion, you need to sign up in advance.  The instructions for doing so can be found at this link.

5   If you haven’t read “Preferred Seating,” the companion story to “Ambient Conditions,” and teaser for Trader’s Leap, you still have a couple of days to grab it while it’s free at Baen.com.  Here’s your link.

EDITED TO ADD 6:  The Theory, insofar as it has been expressed to us, is that, yes, there will be an Audible edition of Trader’s Leap.  No, we don’t know when.  We are sorry not to be more informative, but authors pretty much are the last to know.

And that?  Is all the news that’s fit to print.

Everybody stay safe and stay healthy.