My appeal for people to complain to the World Fantasy Board about failings in this year’s convention seems to have fallen on deaf ears. I’m not entirely surprised. Fandom generally prefers to blame other fans when things go wrong, rather than the people whose fault it is, and who might be able to change things.
That left this year’s WFC badly short of knowledgeable panelists. So I had a choice: either join the boycott and let this year’s ConCom take the rap, or accept panel slots and use the platform to talk about why this year’s original programme descriptions were so bad in the hope that someone might actually take note.
There were a whole bunch of things that informed my decision. High on the list was the fact that the convention told me that they had a lot more international members this year. WFC is very expensive and almost always in North America. If going virtual this year meant lots of new members from around the world, I wanted to be able to talk to those people.
I confess also to wanting to rub certain people’s noses in it. The usual rule for WFC is that no one gets more than one panel slot. This year I have three. Take that, Steve Jones! Doubtless this will be an excuse for him to declare this year’s convention the new “Worst WFC Ever!”
Another important factor was that I got offered a panel on small press publishing, and I have a duty to my authors to promote them were possible.
Anyway, here’s what I am doing. All times are US Mountain Time.
Queering Fantasy
Date and Time: Thursday Oct 29, 4:00 p.m.
Panelists: S. Qiouyi Lu, Jerome Stueart (M), Cheryl M. Morgan
This is the one that originally had a trans-exclusionary description. Kudos to Jerome for writing something much more interesting.
Tropes and Archetypes
Date and Time: Friday Oct 30, 3:00 p.m.
Panelists: Kryssa Stevenson, Sarah Beth Durst, Cheryl M. Morgan, Sharon Shinn
This one was originally a “women in fantasy” panel. I’m pleased to see that the new description actually addresses one of the issues that causes the problem. Mythology and folklore are full of misogynistic tropes and archetypes.
Small Press Impact: Great Books Not Published by the Big Five
Date and Time: Saturday Oct 31, 2:00 p.m.
Panelists: Yanni Kuzia (M) Cherise Papa, Kathryn Sullivan, J.R.H. Lawless, Cheryl M. Morgan
Yanni is with Subterranean, so from my point of view I am totally playing with the big boys here.
The full panel descriptions are available here.
Of course WFC is expensive, so most of you won’t get to see me in action. I’m hoping that you might hear about it, though.
I’m going to be there but I also have three panels and a reading. However, the emphasis of one changed from “mature writers” to “experienced writers.” I…Have Thoughts On That (cough-cough is ageism acceptable?). Seriously, I was going to pitch a project at WFC when I bought the membership. Welp, Covid happened. So the project is now being released as I have doubts about any serious interest in a so-called “debut author” in her 60s by the majority of publishers under current circumstances. Ah, selfpub my old friend….
It probably will be my only WFC as I couldn’t attend before due to work scheduling, and we’re not flying anywhere–a choice made before Covid. It was a prime location for me. Oh well.
Well, those are two very different panels. People who are older are not necessarily experienced, and people who are experienced are not necessarily old. This is what happens when the people writing the programme don’t understand the words they are using.
I’d say pitch your project to me, except that my schedule for 2021 is looking very busy.