I’m excited to announce that I’ll be attending the Boskone 55 conference in Boston this year! Join me from February 16-18 in Boston MA for New England’s longest running science fiction and fantasy convention. Check out the details on The Boskone Blog, Twitter, and Facebook. I’ll be on a few discussion panels, as well as doing a reading, so if you want to come bask in my wisdom call my bullshit heckle me be part of the fun, please go to the Boskone website to register at http://www.boskone.org/register/.
More specifically, here’s where I’ll be when I’m not soaking up knowledge elsewhere:
Friday, February 16
The Real Hero of Hogwarts
3 pm – 4 pm, Marina 3 (Westin)
Everyone knows the Harry Potter series. Harry is at the center of the story with events swirling around him, but is he the real hero? In fact, is there any real hero at Hogwarts? Let’s discuss heroism. What does it take to be a hero — and what does that even mean in a place like Hogwarts?
Saturday, February 17
Technology and the Crisis of Conscience
10:00 am – 11:00 am, Marina 4 (Westin)
Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. Characters like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Masamune Shirow’s Major demonstrate some consequences of the headlong pursuit of scientific breakthroughs. What are the real stakes in the playing-god game? Will we use technological advances for good or evil? What will guide us? And how does fiction help inform our ethical dilemmas?
Colonialism and the New Space Race
11:00 am – 12:00 noon, Burroughs (Westin)
European expansion into the American West and other “new frontiers” used to be portrayed as a great adventure — and a civilizing enterprise. For those being invaded, however, colonial expansion has been less pleasant. The Space Act of 2015 allows the commercialization of space by private entities. But if powerful technocrats like Elon Musk use tropes from Westerns to promote Mars exploration, will we venture into space with the same old colonialist attitudes? Or can we learn from history, and approach space exploration with new mindsets?
Reading by Pete Hollmer
6:00 pm – 6:30, Independence (Westin)
Most likely I’ll read a scene with Fenris mouthing off. Folks seem to like that. It’ll be a scene from my new book, and if you show up, I may even tell you the title I’m considering. Also, I’ll have pens, T-shirts, magnets and other freebies. Everyone loves free stuff, right?
Soup to Nuts: The Life Cycle of a Book
9:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Marina 3 (Westin)
What is the life cycle of a book, from completion to publication? Our panel of agents, editors, and authors share advice on everything from querying an agent or an editor to dealing with revision requests, reviewing the contract, maintaining the relationship between editor and agent, and more.
And besides these, there as dozens more talks and things to geek out about. Even if you don’t want to see me, this conference is a lot of fun. You should go.
-Pete