Boskone 53
I'm both excited and nervous to be a part of the program at Boskone this year. It was an honor to have been asked and I'm on several panels. I also have the privilege of participating on a panel with one of my favorite authors—one I never thought I'd have the opportunity to meet. I will not disclose the name here, because if we end up in a knife fight or something, I might have to change my tune.
Join me at Boskone (February 19-21, 2016) in Boston, Massachusetts, for New England's longest running science fiction and fantasy convention. It's going to be a fun weekend filled with books, film, art, music, gaming, and more. For more information about Boskone, start with the web site or jump right to the program schedule.
Diversity in Illustration For Fantastic Fiction/Comics/Graphic Novels
Friday 19:00 - 19:50, Harbor III (Westin)
Illustration powerfully shapes your sense of a story. A character's skin tone, build, beauty, age, socioeconomic status — writers may leave them up to the reader, but illustrators must make conscious decisions about all these matters, and more. How sensitive are you to whether (or how) an artist portrays diversity? In genre art, which titles and creators do diversity well? In general, do you think illustration makes a genre story more vivid, or limits its imagination?
Robert Howard (M), Thomas Kidd, Sheeba Maya, Errick Nunnally, Brianna Spacekat Wu
Noir at the Bar Special Edition Boskone
Friday 21:00 - 22:20, Galleria-Stage (Westin)
Noir at the Bar comes to Boskone for a special night of reading and fun with our noir, crime, mystery, and horror writers. Hosted by Chris Irvin and Errick Nunnally.
Chris Irvin (M) , Errick Nunnally (M), Dana Cameron, Christopher Golden, John Langan, Sarah Langan, James Moore, Melinda Snodgrass, Paul G. Tremblay
Marvel Films vs. Marvel Comics
Saturday 13:00 - 13:50, Harbor II (Westin)
Marvel’s film and comics divisions are now under separate management. But differences have been apparent from the first as they expanded the mix of characters and story arcs. From Blade to Iron Man and X-Men to The Avengers — from Pepper Potts to Peter Parker, and Ben Grimm to the galaxy’s most motley "Guardians" — how have your favorites made the transition from panel to pixel, or back again? What elements of the comics should be retained, mixed in, or discarded? How true are they staying to the original source material? And most importantly, for you, which genre is the most pure fun?
Gillian Daniels (M), James Bacon, Robert Howard, Errick Nunnally, Lauren Roy
Kaffeeklatsch 2: Errick Nunnally
Saturday 16:00 - 16:50, Harbor I-Kaffeeklatsch 2 (Westin)
Fight vs. Flight: Great Action Scenes
Saturday 17:00 - 17:50, Harbor III (Westin)
Climbing the Cliffs of Insanity, sword fighting with Inigo Montoya, and wrestling Fezzik: all action scenes are not the same. Describing them so that the reader sees them in her mind's eye and holds her breath for the outcome — that's the art of writing action scenes. But what does it take to pull it off?
Craig Shaw Gardner (M), Wesley Chu, Tom Easton, Flourish Klink, Errick Nunnally
Writing: The Value (and Pitfalls) of Oft-Given Advice
Sunday 12:00 - 12:50, Marina 3 (Westin)
In fantasy, should you write what you know — or something that no one has even imagined? Received wisdom isn't always correct. But flout its conventions at your peril ... or listen to our panelists to find out what today's writers really think about yesterday's best advice.
F. Brett Cox (M), Errick Nunnally, Walter Jon Williams, E. Lily Yu, David Gerrold
The Changing Landscape of Comics
Sunday 14:00 - 14:50, Marina 3 (Westin)
Comic books have seen many changes since the first big boom of the 1930s. From the superheroes of the Golden Age to the romance comics of the 1950s and 1960s to today's darker, more complex characters and stories, the landscape always alters and shifts. We've moved away from the Comics Code; indie and web comic publishers flourish. What roles have TV and film played in putting comics on the map worldwide? What's coming next? Can comics maintain the momentum?
Brenda Noiseux (M), Gillian Daniels, Grady Hendrix, Robert Howard, Errick Nunnally