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Here's the first of my panel reports from this year's Readercon. This was the first panel I made it to, starting at 1600 on Friday.
[These are reconstructions by memory based on notes. I apologize in advance for any mistakes, and nothing here (even if in quotes) should be assumed to be an exact or even inexact version of what someone said without checking it with them. Comments of the form [ckd: bracketed text] are my own glosses, comments, or snarky bits.]
( my notes on the panel )
Fun panel. I was interested in the way the discussion hit both technique and what for lack of a better word I'll call "mode", the distinction between fact-based and tone-based worldviews. I'm a sucker for inter-book connections ( the cameo appearance of a couple of characters from Michael Flynn's In the Country of the Blind in his later Firestar, for example), so I was hoping for more examples and fewer tricks of the trade, not that I actually need more books on my to-be-read pile.
Smooth and Lumpy Expanded Universes.I generally enjoy the interconnections between books, whether they be major (closely linked but with different protagonists) or minor (a quick name-check or historical reference).
Michael Cisco, James Alan Gardner (L), Yves Meynard, Ian Randal Strock, Rick Wilber.
There are convincing and unconvincing ways for a writer to build on a created world. The introduction of the Bene Tleilax in Dune Messiah strikes many readers as an off-note, because it's inconceivable that the organization wouldn't have been mentioned in the original novel. In contrast, the Order of the Phoenix fit beautifully into J. K. Rowling's world. Isaac Asimov spent the last years of his career relentlessly expanding and merging his created universes, with controversial results. What other examples stand out? What are some of the tricks of the trade?
[These are reconstructions by memory based on notes. I apologize in advance for any mistakes, and nothing here (even if in quotes) should be assumed to be an exact or even inexact version of what someone said without checking it with them. Comments of the form [ckd: bracketed text] are my own glosses, comments, or snarky bits.]
( my notes on the panel )
Fun panel. I was interested in the way the discussion hit both technique and what for lack of a better word I'll call "mode", the distinction between fact-based and tone-based worldviews. I'm a sucker for inter-book connections ( the cameo appearance of a couple of characters from Michael Flynn's In the Country of the Blind in his later Firestar, for example), so I was hoping for more examples and fewer tricks of the trade, not that I actually need more books on my to-be-read pile.
