[ Text only, graphics coming soon ]
| Catherine Asaro | Kyle Kirkland | Ian Randal Strock |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen L. Burns | Mindy Klasky | Bud Sparhawk |
| Michael A. Burstein | Annette Klause | Michael Swanwick |
| Jack Chalker | Eric Kotani | Dave Theison |
| Robert Chase | Hal Lanse | Fran Van Cleave |
| Brenda Clough | Edward Lerner | Lawrence Watt- |
| Brett Davis | Paul Levinson | Evans |
| Scott Edelman | Will Ludwigsen | Bud Webster |
| David Hartwell | Tee Morris | |
| Peter Heck | Darrell Schweitzer | |
| John Hemry | Elaine Stiles | |
| Jane Jewell | Steve Stiles |
Welcome to the Washington Science Fiction Association's second annual gathering of friends, Capclave 2002. We are thankful that you have chosen to join us to celebrate our honored guests. Alexis Gilliland and Stanley Schmidt have given much to our science fiction community and have earned our appreciation many times over.
I was picking out some birthday greeting cards at my local supermarket and one of them had a funny joke. Two old men were walking by a pond and hear a frog cry out, "Kiss me and I'll turn in a beautiful woman!" One of the men picked up the frog and put it in his pocket and continued walking. His friend said, "Why don't you kiss the frog?" And the man said, "At my age, I would rather have a talking frog." It seems to me that people who read and create science fiction and fantasy are like that man. Yeah... a talking frog would be really neat.
We have chosen to focus our attention on science fiction and fantasy short fiction again this year. I remember joining the Science Fiction Book Club when I was a lad sometime in the mid 20th century. For one cent, they sent you four books of your choice and the anthology A Treasury of Great Science Fiction edited by Anthony Boucher. What incredible stories. I still recall reading those stories by John Wyndham, Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Poul Anderson, and all those other authors for the first time. I think the short story is the essence of storytelling, and isn't that what all the stories, novels, plays, television shows, movies, and so forth come down to? Telling a tale to entertain (and perhaps educate) is perhaps the human race's finest craft. Please join our exploration of this art.
Enjoy yourselves this weekend and hopefully get to know Alexis, Stan, and our other fine guests better.
--- Michael Nelson
Chair of Capclave
| Chairman | Michael Nelson |
|---|---|
| Programming | Samuel Lubell |
| Staff | Judy Kindell |
| Jim Kling | |
| Mike and Beth Zipser | |
| Treasurer | Robert MacIntosh |
| Hotel Liaison | Elspeth Kovar |
| Assistant | Elizabeth Twitchell |
| Registration | Robert MacIntosh |
| Dealers' Room | Michael Walsh |
| Con Suite | Lee Gilliland and Erica Ginter |
| Webmaster | Keith Lynch |
| GoH Liaison | Peggy Rae Sapienza |
| Filking | Andrew Williams and Harold Feld |
| Restaurant Guide | Aly and Paul Parsons |
| Tech Director | Kathi Overton |
| Green Room | Tracey Kremer |
| Party Czarina | Elspeth Kovar |
| Pocket Program | Samuel Lubell |
| Information Desk | Colleen Cahill |
| NASA Liaison | Michael Taylor |
| Lifeguards | Cathy Green |
| James Uba |
WSFA Officers
| President | Judy Kindell |
|---|---|
| Vice-President | Samuel Pierce |
| Treasurer | Robert MacIntosh |
| Secretary | Samuel Lubell |
| Trustees | Scott Hofmann, Eric Jablow, Nicki Lynch |
Capclave is pleased to present Stanley Schmidt as a Guest of Honor to mark his 25th anniversary of editing Analog Science Fiction and Fact. While he is best known as an editor, he is also a scientist, author, photographer, musician, and composer.
A polyglot student named Stanley
Liked SF (minus the fantasly),
With planets and stars
And rockets to Mars
And characters developed uncann'ly
With Ph.D (Physics) in hand
He watched Armstrong and Aldrin moon-land
At Heidelberg College
Stan showcased his knowledge
Writing stories Amazing and grand
But Analog SF and Fact
Sought a helmsman with judgment and tact.
From placement of rivets
To alien civets
Bova knew Stan would buff each Brass Tack
Now he writes, and reads slush from the pile
Of manuscripts brilliant and vile.
Involved calculations
And sharp speculations
Show his fresh take on John Campbell's style
So for we who prefer our SF pure
With cutting-edge science and humor
We'll stick with the editor
Who outshines competitors
At showing Which Way to the Future!
Analog magazine, which began its life in 1930 as Astounding, is the oldest continually published science-fiction magazine in the world. Stanley Schmidt has been the editor of Analog since 1978, longer than any other editor except the legendary John W. Campbell. Schmidt is also a Ph.D. physicist and an accomplished writer, whose novels include The Sins of the Fathers (1976) and Lifeboat Earth (1978). He is also a perennial Hugo nominee for his work as editor of Analog.
Burstein: Analog is the oldest continuously published science-fiction magazine in the world, and also the best-selling. Why do you think this is?
Schmidt: Part of it, of course, is that we've been very lucky; but I think another part is that we try very hard to do certain things that don't get as high a priority anywhere else. There are a significant number of people who appreciate what we do, and most of them gravitate to Analog because this is where they can find it. The other magazines tend to share their audiences, which may result in each of them having a smaller market share. Burstein: How does Analog differ from the other short-fiction magazines out there?
Schmidt: I think the main difference is that we usually put a more equal emphasis on the "science" and "fiction" aspects of our science fiction-that is, we expect our writers to give equal care to making both parts as good as they can, and as smoothly integrated as they can. It does not mean, as people who don't read us much sometimes assume, that we're more interested in machines than in people! On the other hand, neither are we more interested in people than in the entire rest of the universe. And we're not above the occasional bit of wild whimsy, sometimes involving themes that people think of as more fantasy than SF, but with our own kind of spin--e.g., Steve Kallis' story about the technologically unemployed leprechaun who invented the profession of gremlin, or Charles Harness' about the inventor using hell as the high-temperature reservoir for a heat engine.
Burstein: You've been editor of Analog for over 20 years now, longer than anyone else except the legendary John W. Campbell. How do you feel the magazine has changed under your editorship? For how long do you plan to continue editing Analog?
Schmidt: I suspect the fact that I worked closely with the two previous editors has led to an unusual degree of continuity in the character of the magazine through changes of editor and publisher (I've had the same job for 22 years, but I'm on my fourth employer!), but that does not mean keeping things the same. We're constantly exploring new idea territory; we've added "The Alternate View"; we have appreciably more women writers than we used to (though I still wish some of them would write even more for us). Some of the biggest changes that have happened are behind the scenes, in the way we produce the magazine. E.g., much of our production has been brought in-house via desktop publishing.
I couldn't say how long I'll keep editing. I'm still thoroughly enjoying the job and certainly have no immediate plans to leave; but if I should unexpectedly stumble into financial independence, there are a lot of other things that I'd like to do and haven't had much time for, including more writing. ...
Burstein: Speaking of which-besides being editor of Analog, you're also an accomplished science fiction writer. In fact, you've just received your first Nebula and Hugo nominations for writing, for "Generation Gap," which appeared in Artemis. What's the difference for you between editing a magazine and writing stories?
Schmidt: Actually, I also had half a Nebula nomination last year, for "Good Intentions," a novelette Jack McDevitt and I wrote. If I may be forgiven a small plug, I'd also like to mention that I have a new novel, Argonaut, coming out from Tor early next year. And for those readers who sometimes ask where they can get my old novels, I'm pleased to report that they're all available again thanks to new digital technologies. The Sins of the Fathers and Lifeboat Earth are available as print-on-demand books from FoxAcre Press (either singly or as a two-volume set); Newton and the Quasi-Apple and Tweedlioop as e-books from Embiid. If it's not already true by the time you read this, all four titles will soon be available from both publishers.
For me, writing and editing use very similar kinds of mental energy, but not in quite the same way. As a writer, I must really dig into an idea and do all the hard detail work of turning it into a story. As editor, I assist in the birth of a lot more stories, working with writers to make their babies all they can be, but I don't get as deeply immersed in any one of them. As editor, I hope I never lose sight of the fact that no matter how much the editor and publisher might do for a magazine, the writers are by far its most important part, and I have tremendous respect for what they do. Being one myself part of the time keeps me reminded of what's involved, and also makes it easier for me to understand how the creative process looks from the writer's point of view. Which, I hope, helps me edit better than I otherwise might.
Burstein: By the way, I shouldn't forget to congratulate you for all those Hugo nominations you've received for Best Editor. Haven't you been nominated every year you've edited Analog?
Schmidt: Yep. I broke Susan Lucci's record a couple of years ago, I believe.
Burstein: What did you do to prepare for your career as editor of Analog?
Schmidt: I've read Astounding/Analog for most of my life, so I have a pretty good feel for what sorts of things appeal to its readers. In fact, my best qualification to be its editor may be that I'm a very representative reader. The main value of my doctorate in physics for this job may be that getting it gave me an inside familiarity with how science works. I'm also an informational pack rat, instinctively and indiscriminately collecting odds and ends of knowledge in all kinds of fields, and it's astounding how many of them eventually turn out to be relevant to editing science fiction.
As far as editing Analog in particular is concerned, I did quite a bit of writing for it in grad school and in my professing days, and in the course of that I had a chance to observe firsthand how John Campbell and later Ben Bova worked with writers. I'd long thought that Campbell's job sounded like it would be a lot of fun, with not only the chance to confer, converse and otherwise hobnob with a lot of fascinating writers, but his very own monthly soapbox from which to get people riled up. I never really expected to get his job, but when I was teaching at Heidelberg College and got the chance to invent one of the first science-fiction courses, I shamelessly stole a lot of my teaching methods from John. So the way I taught my students about SF had the side effect of letting me practice the ways John and Ben worked with writers.
When I got drafted onto the college committee that recruited outside speakers, I enticed Ben out to Heidelberg to give a lecture and visit my class. He says what he saw there made him think of me as a possible replacement for when he left--long before I had any idea he was thinking along those lines. But I'm very grateful that he was.
Burstein: You mentioned the "monthly soapbox" that Campbell had, by which I assume you mean the monthly editorials that were his privilege--and are now yours. What sort of topics do you choose to address in your editorials, and why?
Schmidt: Just about anything. Maybe a good way to suggest the range is by quoting the section headings from Which Way to the Future?, a collection of my editorials which Tor is bringing out in December: "Human and Other Natures: The Search for Intelligence"; "The Art of Arguing"; "Guessing the Future: A Matter of Perspective"; "Literature, Art, and Technology"; "Taking Chances: Risk Assessment, Philosophy, and Progress"; "Toward More Perfect Governments, Big and Small"; "Working to Live, or Living to Work?"; "Our Environment and Us"; "Training Our Successors: Myths and Challenges of Education." Like most Analog readers, I am interested in just about anything concerning the nature of the universe, how we learn about it, what we should do with what we learn and what kinds of futures we might build for ourselves. And, like John Campbell, I enjoy a certain amount of contrariness in considering these questions. If the popular media become too unanimous in espousing one viewpoint, I'll defend a quite different one (but not diametrically opposite; that would be too simple!). In principle, I'm even willing to propound an opinion that I don't hold at all, if it seems like the best way to get people thinking about a subject. In practice, that hasn't happened very often; but I reserve the right to remind readers that "opinions expressed in the editorials are not necessarily those of the editor."
Burstein: How do you feel about the current state of the magazine market? Are science-fiction magazines going to migrate to the Web, disappear entirely or stay with us forever?
Schmidt: Obviously I would like to see the magazines have stronger circulations, but I don't think they're going away. They may change form; in fact, I think one of the most likely changes, which we're already seeing, is diversification, with the same magazine being available in different forms--either the same stuff in different media, depending on the reader's preference, or different media complementing each other. For example, our Web site is an increasingly important part of what we do, even though it doesn't duplicate the contents of the magazine itself. Electronic media and the ways people are thinking of to use them are evolving so fast I wouldn't be so brash as to guess what the landscape will look like in 10 years.
Burstein: Oh, go ahead, make a guess.
Schmidt: OK, but with the understanding that it's purely a guess. I think we're going to see a lot more of it on the Internet, and though print magazines will still exist for those who prefer them, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them delivered as a print-on-demand product, instead of the present inefficient system of printing and distributing lots of copies to sell relatively few.
Burstein: Speaking of electronic media, do you ever watch science fiction on television or in the movies? If so, what do you like? Do such programs bring readers to the magazines, or do you think the audiences are totally separate?
Schmidt: I do watch some SF and fantasy movies and television, but not very much. In general, as someone raised on print SF, I've found the disappointment percentage in movies so high that I seldom watch them unless somebody I trust tells me, "This one's different." A good recent example was The Sixth Sense, which several professional fiction writers recommended to me because it managed to surprise them, in a big way, with a plot twist--something which is generally very difficult to do to a professional fiction writer. (And yes, it got me, too.)
I don't think the print and movie audiences are completely separate, but there's not as much motion between them as I'd like--especially in the direction from movies to magazines. Movies and television are usually so heavily promoted that nobody can help knowing about them. Magazines don't have the resources to do that, so moviegoers seldom even know that they exist.
Burstein: You have a reputation for publishing new writers. Who have you published recently and what did you see in their work?
Schmidt: We have so many issues in various stages of production at any time that it's sometimes hard for me to remember who's how new, so I apologize in advance to anybody I leave out or include inappropriately. Two who come to mind right offhand are Rajnar Vajra, who has a delightfully outrageous imagination and a style which is sometimes engagingly playful and sometimes downright poetic, and Ramona Louise Wheeler, who tells old-fashioned adventure with a fresh, vivid voice of her own. Oh, yeah--there's also this guy named Burstein--Michael A., if I remember rightly--who strikes a very nice balance of scientific speculation and human drama. And Shane Tourtellotte, who does likewise but in his own way. Both Burstein and Tourtellotte were at least nominated for the Campbell Award, and lately they've started teaming up as still another "new writer," beginning with their cover story in our July/August issue.
Burstein: Um, thanks for the plug.
Schmidt: Don't mention it. (But don't forget to put the check in the mail.)
Burstein: Finally, what advice would you give to anyone trying to break into science-fiction writing today?
Schmidt: Read, but don't imitate. If you're reading something now, I don't want to buy it again to publish next year. Try to come up with an idea that makes me think about something in a way I've never done before, and then tell me an irresistible story about something that happens because of it. And remember, first impressions are very important. Your first page should make it very hard for me to consider putting the story down--and in the stories I most remember, I often find that the first sentence does that.
This interview originally appeared in Science Fiction Weekly (issue 222, July 23, 2001). http://www.scifi.com/sfw. Thanks to Stan, Michael, and Scott Edelman for letting us reprint it.
Occasionally (not often) someone asks why the editorials in Analog are seldom about science fiction. The short, glib answer is: for the same reason why articles in microbiology journals are seldom about microscopes. A slightly less flippant answer is that Analog is a magazine of science fiction, not about science fiction, and its nonfictional parts are about the same kinds of things that science fiction is about. Those answers are both true and appropriate, but the question is a legitimate one and deserves a more thoughtful, in-depth answer. A large part of that answer will involve an examination of the related question: what is science fiction about?
So this one is, at least in large part, about science fiction. (See? It says so right up there at the top.)
Science fiction is a complicated, wide-ranging, diverse thing. Its first function, at least as most of our readers and writers see it, is to entertain--that is, to provide an experience that readers find intellectually and/or emotionally satisfying on one or more levels. I'm always tempted to put this as succinctly as possible by saying it should be fun, but that tends to draw objections from serious-minded folk who think it implies frothy frivolity and rules out anything tragic or profound. I don't agree; I'm using words like "entertain," "enjoy," and "fun" in a very broad way that includes everything from Macbeth to the Marx Brothers. All I require is that the reader should be left with the feeling that the time spent reading a piece was well spent and rewarding. If in addition it's particularly thought-provoking or instructive, that's a bonus.
But this requirement by no means defines science fiction. It applies equally well to any literature or art (which I also define quite broadly). So what makes science fiction different from the others?
Its second main function, and the one that might well be viewed as defining it, is as a tool for examining the nature of the universe and our place in it--with a special emphasis on how we got to be what we are and what we might become in the future. Science fiction writers, through their stories, explore such questions as: What kinds of worlds and life-forms might exist out there? What kinds of new technologies might be invented by applying science as we know it? What kinds of science, not yet known to us, might be discovered in the future? How might all of these things affect the way people live in the future?
That last includes everything from such mundane details as how people will cook and travel and communicate, to how they will govern themselves, to how they will define right and wrong, to what role religion will play in their lives. Imagining new discoveries and new ways of doing things will suggest new practical, moral, ethical, and philosophical questions that real people will have to wrestle with, and find answers to, if those discoveries or inventions ever happen.
Chances are that they won't happen in exactly the same way fiction writers envisioned them, but they may well happen in ways similar enough for the fictional "Analog simulations" to be good practice for the real thing. Science fiction writers like to provide such exercises, partly because they know we will eventually need answers to such questions, and partly because they know that the kinds of people who read science fiction like to think about them, too. As former editor John W. Campbell put it (in what I believe was the only one of his 400 or so editorials that was about science fiction), "Astounding [Analog's former name] has, throughout its history as a Street & Smith magazine, never pretended it was kidding, and has, for twenty years, been the non-escape literature that seeks to meet the problems of tomorrow in the only possible way--'git them before they git you!'"
We're still doing that--which is not, of course, to say that we're simply repeating what Campbell already did. We're always thinking of new problems and potentials, as one writer's thought suggests new angles to another, and real-world research forces us to consider new possibilities that nobody had thought of before.
People read this magazine primarily for fun, and secondarily--but very importantly-because they enjoy and realize the importance of thinking about both the potentials and the problems that lie ahead. It's hardly surprising that the writers of the nonfiction portions of the magazine--editorials, Alternate Views, and letters to the editor--explore those problems and potentials in their work, too. Quite often the fiction and nonfiction portions egg each other on. A story suggests the general form of an idea; an essay subsequently critiques it or suggests a specific way to make it happen. An essay may throw out an idea; a storyteller imagines what might happen to actual people if that idea became real.
And since our possible futures will necessarily evolve from our present circumstances, it's completely appropriate that people exploring ideas in our pages, whether through fiction or nonfiction, should sometimes look at things quite close to home. Not current events, exactly, in the sense of forecasting or commenting on the outcome of a particular election, policy decision, or other specific event. Our lead time is too long to be able to do that in a timely fashion; and in the long run, those fine details will not usually prove to have much cosmic significance anyway. But general trends--things like the pervasive social influence of the internet, the development or non-development of space resources or genetic engineering, the effects of new media on politics and how people relate to their nominal leaders and other celebrities--these things will have profound effects on what sort of future we get, and decisions about them have to be made right now. So it is very much the concern of science fiction--and the kinds of people who read and write it--to consider what recent changes in technology and society have done to us, where they might be taking us, and whether that's really where we want to go.
Thus we will continue to explore such things in both fiction and nonfiction, and encourage each approach to lead the other into new territory. Certainly science fiction itself is one worthwhile subject for thought and discussion, but it is far from the only one, or even the most important one, of interest to science fiction readers. Science fiction itself is valuable mainly as a means to certain ends, which might be summed up neatly, if perhaps over-simply, as entertainment, enlightenment, and exploration. Certainly those of us who work in it have, and should have, a strong interest in using its techniques and arts as skillfully and effectively as possible. To that end we often talk among ourselves about how it might be best be done, how others have done it, and what significance it all has. I've written quite a bit about science fiction myself, in articles and books elsewhere, and occasionally even in editorials here.
But I don't think Analog is the best place to do very much of it. Readers whose main interest is literary how-to or criticism can look elsewhere, in places specifically dedicated to those matters. Doing too much of it here would smack of omphaloskepsis. Science fiction is certainly important to the people who read or write it, but the things science fiction is about are more important to all of us. So we are well advised to devote more of our attention to those than to the science-fiction-ness of science fiction.
When I was in high school, there was a time when I wanted to become an amateur radio operator, partly because I found electronics intriguing but at least as much because I imagined it as a means of conversing with people all over the world about all kinds of things. My interest in it dwindled somewhat when I listened to a lot of ham radio and found that radio amateurs on the air seemed to talk mostly about amateur radio. The medium had become the message--almost the only message that seemed to get much air time.
I saw radio as a tool for dealing with subject matter beyond itself, and so do I see science fiction. Certainly I'm interested in the tool, but I would not want Analog to become a medium that is more interested in itself and how it ponders the universe than in the universe itself.
Capclave: How did you get involved in science fiction fandom?
Alexis: I started writing letters in the 1940s to Planet Stories and Thrilling Wonder. When I went to the army in 1953 I stopped. I knew about fandom; I was aware of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) but its meetings conflicted with the Washington Chess League. I was playing chess seriously for the GWU Chess Team so only went to WSFA once or twice. In 1963, Dolly and I had our first kid. We went to Discon I because Bill Evans, who was the treasurer, worked in my branch at the NBS. He knew I was a fan and said I should go and took my money on the spot since it was payday. I went the first day and Dolly watched the baby, and she went the second day. We didn't know about the parties. A few years later, someone at WSFA sent out The WSFA Journal, Vol. 1 #1, to local fans who went to Worldcon. Since babies were more welcome at WSFA, I dropped the chess and went to WSFA.
Capclave: How did you start writing novels?
Alexis: After Michael was born, I didn't want to leave Dolly alone with the baby, but wanted to do something. I wrote a novel a few pages a night and Dolly typed it during the day. I submitted it to Analog and got back a six page letter from John W. Campbell. It got rejected elsewhere in spite of Dolly's excellent typing. Parts of the novel were excellent, but I'm not going to do anything with it.
In the late 1970s, they reorganized my job at work. I was doing lots of correspondence one year and the following year less than a quarter of the year before. They had essentially abolished my job without abolishing the position. Other people got bored and stretched things out. I used the time to write in longhand, took it home and typed it on an electric typewriter I got for Christmas. The deal I made with myself was that the government work took precedence but if you take care of everything as it comes in, it takes remarkably little time. In the other time I wrote. I wrote my first four novels that way.
I knew all these people in the club who were writing; Chalker, Joe and Jay Haldeman, S.P. Somtow, so I said, I'm as smart as they are, and they're selling, so I was encouraged to write. Chalker encouraged me to send a novel to Del Rey, Revolution from Rosinante; they bought it in ten months. I thought then that was a long time but it really was a prompt response. The novel and its sequel came out in 1981, putting me in contention for the Campbell award, which I won in 1982. The Campbell award came with translations into French and German that amounted to the price of one of the novels. Then I went and got a Kaypro computer when I retired. And of course when writing on a computer, you don't write SF, you write fantasy. Lots of revisions were made easier by the computer. The Kaypro was a bigger improvement over the typewriter than any subsequent computer was over the Kaypro.
Capclave: Are you still writing?
Alexis: I have a novel and a short story in submission.
Capclave: So when did you start cartooning?
Alexis: Before I could write, I drew. I've drawn since I could hold a pencil. When I became acquainted with fanzines, I drew knowing I'd have to cut a wax stencil for duplication, so my lines had to be heavy without much black. I did this for a few years trying to be funny but I just drew simple illustrations without captions. People ignored them so I added captions. The captions made a stir, and resulted in Hugo nominations. I was doing cartoons before writing novels. Cartoons require a lapidary quality, forcing you to eliminate any unnecessary words, getting sentences to have punch. This was useful training for a writer.
Dick Geis saw my cartoons. He paid one dollar per cartoon for his Science Fiction Review, a big circulation fanzine with 2,000 subscribers. I sent him up to 40 cartoons a month. I drew at work as a way of blowing off steam so I didn't punch my fist through a wallboard. Geis was publishing them, not just Geis but he was a major factor behind my being nominated for a Hugo in 1978. I didn't win, the only cartoonists to win the first time were Jack Gaughan and Von Bodé who came in with an enormous quantity of high quality work but withdrew from fandom after ten months. I'm drawing cartoons even while writing novels, holding a conversation with the world. I can sit in the bar making fun of people's conversations even while they are talking and show it to them before they forget what they were saying.
Capclave: How did the anthologies of your cartoons come about?
Alexis: I was approached by Michael Hoy, a libertarian who had seen some of the cartoons I did while in the government, which were pretty angry. So he did The Iron Law of Bureaucracy and that sold so he did Who Says Paranoia Isn't In Anymore? My third collection, The Waltzing Wizard, was done by Ted Dikty of Starmont but he died and it got remaindered. These were done for a small payment upfront, some copies, and promise of a percentage. So I have seven novels, three cartoon books, and assorted short fiction. That was enough to get me into Who's Who in America. Lee's step-mom looked me up and was very impressed. Lee's stepmother is a bit of a socialite so the fact that I was in Who's Who made the marriage more palatable to her.
Capclave: You've done a lot of cartoon collaborations with Bill Rotsler. How did those start?
Alexis: He would provide me with the set up and I'd put the generated joke in. It's a lot of fun and good creative energy. It started when we were standing in line at the Brighton Worldcon. We were both candidates for the fan artist Hugo, which he won that year. He was signing program books with a cartoon so I started drawing cartoons in response, playing off his. Some fans then went back and showed him my drawings. Then he sent me a bunch of set-ups by mail and we sold a bunch of them to George Scithers of Amazing Stories and split the money. In my cabinet I have a bunch of his set ups with my responses. Not everyone can do this. My style and Rotsler's were quite similar so the cartoons look like they belong in the same universe. Other people's drawings would fit as well together.
Capclave: When did WSFA start meeting in your house?
Alexis: In 1967, we went to Worldcon in New York. Ted White was chair and when we came back, we discovered that WSFA, which had been meeting in Mrs. Cullen's house, was homeless. Her dog, McDuff, had died and her nephew put her in a residential hotel and sold the house. So there was a question of where WSFA would meet. They passed the meeting location around and we took one and since 1967, WSFA's been meeting in my house once a month. At that time we were living on Pennsylvania Ave. We moved to our present house in Virginia in 1974, when we noticed our workaholic landlord stopped coming early, started talking about taking long vacations; we realized he was not long for the world. So we looked around and found a good party house. One of our main considerations was that it had to have space for parties and lots of parking.
Capclave: What were some memorable moments that resulted from having WSFA in your house?
Alexis: (laughing) There were moments yes, but I'm not sure I want to remember them.
Capclave: Your son Charles is also a fan. How did you transmit the science fiction fan gene down?
Alexis: He went to all the WSFA meetings before he was born and then went to meetings in a bassinette. So he grew up think that all this was the way the world was.
Capclave: You owe your wife, Lee Gilliland, to fandom. How did that come about?
Alexis: I knew Lee because she and her then husband came up from Richmond, VA to attend WSFA meetings. After her divorce, she moved to the DC area. She was at the right place at the right time. I started to court her after I'd known her for seven or eight years. We actually met about twenty years ago, when I gave her a costume prize at an Ad Astra in Toronto, Canada, but neither of us remembered that until after we were married.
Capclave: Any final words for the people attending Capclave?
Alexis: I've been a fan, a pro, a writer, and an artist. Probably, I should have concentrated my fire. In the Worldcon program book, I'm the only one to win for both artist and author (Campbell award).
This interview was conducted by Samuel Lubell at the WSFA meeting of October 4, 2002.
Capclave Program Participants
Catherine Asaro was born in Oakland, California, and grew up in El Cerrito, just north of Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. in chemical physics and M.A. in physics, both from Harvard, and a BS with Highest Honors in Chemistry from UCLA. She has done research for the University of Toronto in Canada, the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik in Germany, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and published scientific papers in Physical Review Letters and the Journal of Chemical Physics. Catherine was a physics professor until 1990, when she established Molecudyne Research, which she currently runs. A former ballerina, Catherine has performed with ballets and in musicals on both coasts and in Ohio. In the 1980's she was a principal dancer and artistic director of the Mainly Jazz Dancers and the Harvard University Ballet. Catherine's fiction blends hard science fiction and exciting space adventure with some elements of romance. She is best known for her Saga of the Skolian Empire. Her books include Primary Inversion, Catch the Lightning, The Last Hawk, The Radiant Seas, The Veiled Web, The Quantum Rose, Ascendant Sun, The Phoenix Code, and the upcoming Moon's Shadow. She is also the editor of Irresistible Forces, an anthology of science fiction romance novellas that will come out in February. Ask her about the evolution of her books' covers.
Stephen L. Burns is the author of well over two dozen stories published in Analog, making him a member of the MAFIA, or Making Appearances Frequently In Analog. He describes himself as "...typical for Analog writers, I have a buzzcut on top and a foot and a half of ponytail in the back, a little soul patch under my lower lip, an earring -no, wait, I guess I look more like someone who should be writing for an alternative music magazine." He claims to do most of his writing between late December and early to mid-April "writing at least six full hours a day, seven days a week, doing my best to crank out a year's worth of writing in three and a half months." His novel, Flesh and Silver, was the winner of the Crompton Crook/Stephen Tall award for best first novel. In addition to Analog, he appeared frequently in the Sword and Sorceress anthologies edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley. He has been married to herbalist and perfumer Sue-Ryn for twelve years (no kids, just a dog and a cat). He writes, "Hint for future writers: plan to be treated like crap, and understand that easily marketable drivel is valued more highly than artistic merit. Careers are like veal calves."
Michael A. Burstein is a science fiction writer with about two dozen stories in print. His very first published story, "TeleAbsence," (Analog July 1995) was nominated for the Hugo Award and was chosen by the readers of Analog its best short story in 1995. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer at the 1997 World Science Fiction Convention. He served as Secretary of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1998 to 2000. Born in New York City in 1970, Burstein lives with his wife Nomi in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts, where he is an elected Town Meeting Member. When not writing, he is the science coordinator K-8, middle school science teacher, and advisor to student publications at the Rashi School in Newton, Massachusetts.
Jack Chalker is an internationally known author of over 50 science fiction and fantasy novels; much of his work is now in over 25 languages. He is best known for his Well of Souls novels. Born in Baltimore, Chalker has taught history at the high school and college levels, and been a lecturer at the Smithsonian, The National Institutes of Health, and numerous colleges and universities. He is founder and now sole owner of The Mirage Press, Ltd. (a small press publisher.) He joined WSFA in 1959 at the age of 15. He married Eva C. Whitley on the ferryboat Roaring Bull in the middle of the Susquehanna River in 1978. Recent books include the Wonderland Gambit novels, an omnibus of the three Changewinds novels, Priam's Lens, Ghost of the Well of Souls, and the three Tales of the Three Kings novels. His short stories are collected in Dance Band on the Titanic.
Robert Chase is the author of The Crucible, Game of Fox and Lion, and Shapers. He has published many stories in Analog
Brenda Clough writes science fiction and fantasy, mainly novels. Six of her novels have been published in the last couple of decades. The latest novel, Doors of Death and Life, was published by Tor Books in May 2000. Doors was released, bound with its predecessor, in a Science Fiction Book Club edition titled Suburban Gods. She also writes short stories and occasional nonfiction including a story appearing in Patrick Nielsen Hayden's anthology Starlight 3 and a story in the July-August 2002 issue of Analog. She teaches "Writing F&SF" at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD.
Brett Davis is the author of Hair of the Dog, The Faery Convention (set here in D.C.), Bone Wars, and Two Tiny Claws.
Scott Edelman is the editor of Science Fiction Weekly (http://www.scifi.com/sfw) and Sci-Fi magazine. He was the editor of the much-missed Science Fiction Age during its brief existence, and edited Sci-Fi Entertainment/Magazine, Sci-Fi Flix, and Satellite ORBIT. He worked as an assistant editor and writer at Marvel Comics as well as a district manager for an imported beer company and a mortgage banker. He has written over 40 stories and a novel. He also edited Rampage, a wrestling magazine, and dared to write an unauthorized biography of wrestler "Stone Cold Steve Austin." Recent stories have appeared in Once Upon a Galaxy anthology, the Summer/Fall 2002 issue of Absolute Magnitude, the Mars Probes anthology, and the horror anthology The Book of All Flesh. He lives here in Montgomery County, MD.
Alexis Gilliland is a Capclave Guest of Honor. He is a Hugo-award winning fan artist, John W. Campbell award-winning winning novelist, and long-time host of WSFA. He's also sold two stories to Analog.
David Hartwell edits the annual Year's Best SF and Year's Best Fantasy (with Kathryn Cramer) anthologies. He is senior editor at Tor Books and previously worked at Arbor House, William Morrow, and Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster. He co-edited (with Kathryn Cramer) The Ascent of Wonder, an anthology on hard sf that will be followed by The Hard Sf Renaissance this November. He also serves as Reviews and Features Editor for the New York Review of Science Fiction.
Peter Heck writes the "Mark Twain Mysteries" from Berkley Prime Crime, which feature titles that are twists on Mark Twain's books. He also wrote Phule Me Twice and A Phule and His Money based on Robert Asprin's concept. Born and raised in Chestertown, Maryland, Heck taught English at Indiana, Temple, and Dowling College. He has reviewed books for many publications, most recently Asimov's Science Fiction, and spent ten years as writer/editor of Waldenbooks' SF/fantasy and mystery newsletters. He also played lead guitar and sang in the Don't Quit Your Day Job Players. He also was a science fiction editor at Ace Books. He lives in Chestertown with his wife Jane Jewell.
John G. Hemry has four books published by Ace. Stark's War (April 2000), Stark's Command (April 2001), and Stark's Crusade (March 2002) as well as the upcoming A Just Determination (Ace Books, coming in 2002/2003). Hemry is a retired U.S. Navy officer. He grew up living everywhere from Pensacola, Florida, to San Diego, California, including an especially memorable few years on Midway Island. In the U.S. Navy, Hemry served in many important positions including the Defense Intelligence Agency and Navy Anti-Terrorism Alert Center. He lives in Maryland with a wife and three kids.
Jane Jewell serves as executive director of the Science Fiction Writers of America and is also a photographer. Jane Jewell lives with her husband, author Peter Heck, in Chestertown, Maryland
Jim Kling is a freelance science writer based in Washington, DC, with a focus on biotechnology and drug discovery, but with credits in magazines ranging from Scientific American to newsletters of the Harvard Business School. He has written about marketing, anthropology, ecology, geology, physics, and corporate management. He wrote a science fiction story that was published in the science journal Nature.
Kyle Kirkland has a PhD in neuroscience. He has written several science fact articles a couple of stories for Analog. Most authors, when asked about where they get their ideas, say Schenectady or some other joke; Dr. Kirkland can tell you exactly where inspiration comes from.
Mindy Klasky attended law school and practiced trademark and copyright law with a major Washington firm and then earned a degree in library science. She now manages the library reference department in a large DC law firm. The Glasswrights' Apprentice was awarded the Maiden Voyage 2000 award by Barnes & Noble for the best first speculative fiction novel, as determined by Barnes & Noble readers. She wrote three other Glasswrights novels (The Glasswrights' Test will appear in the summer of 2003) and Season of Sacrifice. She has lived in a suburb of DC for 15 years.
Annette Klause was born in Bristol, in the Southwest of England, on June 20, 1953. Growing up, her best friend was an imaginary ghost. Her first book, The Blood Ridden Pool of Solen Goom, was written at the age of 10. Naturally, she grew up to write children's fantasy and horror. As a child she read science fiction, but had a problem with the absence of girls in the stories. "That's the reason why, years later, I wrote Alien Secrets. It was for my twelve-year-old self who wanted to be part of the adventure without having to pretend she was a thirty-year-old American male." She moved to America at age 15. She works as a children's librarian (with a Master's degree in Library Science.) Her books include Blood and Chocolate, The Silver Kiss, and Alien Secrets.
Eric Kotani (Yoji Kondo) headed the astrophysics laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston during the Apollo Mission, served as director of the geosynchronous satellite observatory for 15 years, and has taught at several universities; currently he teaches at the Catholic University of America. He has published over 200 scientific papers and has edited 12 volumes, including Examining the Big Bang and Space Access and Utilization Beyond 2000. He has received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and had an asteroid named for him in 2000. He has published eight science fiction books and edited Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein and Tributes to the Grand Master.
Hal Lanse, Ph.D., is an educator and teacher trainer. He lives in a converted warehouse in New York City, which is located on a small planet in a remote corner of the Milky Way. He works with the United Federation of Teachers (U.F.T.) Teacher Center, helping teachers achieve excellence. Dr. Hal continues his education through his Buddhist practice. He is the author of enelope Quagmire and the Lizard Men from Outerspace and Penelope Quagmire and the Planet of the Zombies, two books for children.
Edward M. Lerner describes himself as a perpetrator of science fiction and techno-thrillers. A long-time science fiction fan he got a degree in physics and a masters in computer science. He worked at Bell Labs, Honeywell, and Hughes Aircraft, and an Internet startup. He helped develop the Earth Observing System and even flew the shuttle training simulator twice. After completing an evening MBA program he had more time for reading and criticizing what he read. After his wife said if he thought he could do better, he should, he started writing. His first story "What a Piece of Work is Man" appeared in Analog February 1991. Since then he has published several other stories in Analog and the novel Probe (Warner Books, 1991).
Paul Levinson, Ph.D. writes science fiction, sf/mystery, and popular and scholarly non-fiction. The Silk Code (Tor 1999) won the Locus award for Best First Novel of 1999. He has published more than 25 science fiction stories and two other novels, Borrowed Tides (Tor 2001) and the sf mystery The Consciousness Plague. He has published seven books and more than 100 scholarly articles on the history and philosophy of communication and technology. Paul Levinson was President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from December 1998 through June 2001. He is now Professor and Department Chair of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, New York City.
Will Ludwigsen has sold stories to purveyors of strange fiction like Weird Tales, Outer Darkness, Artemis, and Dark Muse. When not writing horror fiction, he writes horror nonfiction as a technical writer and web developer for Internet companies in the metro DC area, most recently at the United States Mint as a technical writer documenting software systems. Before that, he lived for twenty years in Florida learning the true nature of the dark arts: hurricanes, sweltering heat, polyester-clad tourists, and flaky voters.
Tee Morris met his writing partner Lisa Lee Minfong on-line while she lived in Malaysia. Their role-playing adventures formed the basis for MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana, published by Dragon Moon Press. Tee actually played Rafe Rafton for two seasons at the Maryland Renaissance Festival and acted in several other productions of Vpstart Crow, Studio Theatre, and the Classika Theatre. He appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street as Reuben Stone. He works as a freelance computer specialist.
Stanley Schmidt is the long-time editor of Analog magazine. He is also a writer, anthologist, musician, photographer, and teacher. As Capclave's GOH, his achievements are detailed in this booklet.
Darrell Schweitzer is the author of about 250 published stories, many of which are collected in We Are All Legends, Tom O'Bedlam's Night Out, Transients, Refugees from an Imaginary Country, and Nightscapes. He won the World Fantasy Award (with George Scithers) for co-editing Weird Tales. His fiction has been published in Interzone, Amazing, Twilight Zone, Chronicles of the Round Table, Shakespearean Whodunnits, and numerous other anthologies. His three published novels are The White Isle, The Shattered Goddess, and The Mask of the Sorcerer. Schweitzer has also worked editorially on Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, Amazing Stories, and Weird Tales (including its Worlds of Fantasy & Horror incarnation). He is also the author of much nonfiction, including book-length studies of HP Lovecraft and Lord Dunsany and is a frequent book reviewer.
Steve Stiles received his first fanzine in 1957 and has been enthusiastically active in SF fandom ever since, publishing fanzines and writing and drawing for them. In 1968, he was elected TAFF representative, and in 1998, he won the first annual Bill Rotsler Award. As a professional artist he's been active since 1973, starting out with underground comics and Marvel's British department, and going on for a ten-year stint with the Eisner and Harvey award-winning Xenozoic Tales as well as a wide number of other comics. One of his favorite works is The Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle and His Incredible Aether Flyer, a collaboration with author Richard Lupoff.
Ian Randal Strock is the Director of Publications of Artemis Society International, editor of Artemis Magazine, and the president and publisher of its parent company, LRC Publications. Previously, Ian was the associate editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Asimov's Science Fiction magazines for six years. Ian served as the treasurer of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for two terms. He won two readers' awards from Analog (for Best Short Story and Best Fact Article). His writing has appeared in many publications, including Analog, The New York Times, Absolute Magnitude, Science News, and The Sterling Web. He has served two terms as President of Greater New York Mensa. Ian is an award-winning freelance photographer
Bud Sparhawk started reading science fiction around 1948 and has been reading Astounding Science Fiction/Analog since 1951. Trained in communications-electronics, he ran communications stations for some years and then transferred to intelligence work. Although he had two stories published in Analog in 1976 and 1977, grad school and careers in the Air Force and in information systems as a communications and information systems architect interfered with writing. Then, while writing a story about his sailboat, he rediscovered his interest in writing and began selling stories to Analog again. He is working on expanding his story, "Magic's Price," into a novel. He currently lives near Annapolis, MD, where he is frequently found on his 23-foot sloop sailboat.
Michael Swanwick has received the Hugo, Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards for his work. Stations of the Tide was honored with the Nebula Award and was also nominated for the Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. "The Edge of the World," was awarded the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award in 1989 and nominated for both the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. "Radio Waves" received the World Fantasy Award in 1996. "The Very Pulse of the Machine" received the Hugo Award in 1999, as did "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur" in 2000. He is highly prolific with stories in many of the leading magazines and anthologies as well as on-line. His books include In the Drift, an Ace Special; Vacuum Flowers; Griffin's Egg; Stations of the Tide; The Iron Dragon's Daughter, a New York Times Notable Book; and Jack Faust. His short fiction has been collected in Gravity's Angels, A Geography of Unknown Lands, Moon Dogs, Tales of Old Earth, and a collection of short-shorts, Cigar-Box Faust and Other Miniatures. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Marianne Porter, and their son, Sean. Since his second Analog story has just been published, rumors suggest that the Analog Mafia might "recruit" him at Capclave.
Dave Theison is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Maryland. Dr. Theison created "The War of the Worlds: Mars in Fact and Fiction Room" at the university. He also teaches a course in "the science in science fiction."
Fran Van Cleave started reading sf when she was 9 or 10 years old and was the only kid in her third grade class who read John W. Campbell's editorials in Analog every month. She had a few stories published in Analog, including her first story and one in Artemis. Heavily involved in Libertarian activism, Van Cleave served as the chairman of the Arizona Libertarian Party and now works as pharmacist at Bloomington Hospital in Indiana. She lives with her philosopher husband (a fellow Mensan sf buff), a dog, and two cats, in rural Indiana.
Lawrence Watt-Evans was born and raised in eastern Massachusetts, the fourth of six children in a house full of books. He began writing at the age of eight and his first sale was actually to the American Atheist. Perhaps best known for his seven Ethshar novels, beginning with The Misenchanted Sword, Watt-Evans has begun a new series with the Obsidian Chronicles and has a short story collection, Crosstime Traffic. Other books include Touched by the Gods, Dragon Weather, The Cyborg and the Sorcerers, and Nightside City. His books are being reprinted by Wildside press and FoxAcre press. He has sold over a hundred short stories.
Bud Webster's science fiction career was set at a young age when he pretended to be an astronaut instead of playing cowboys and Indians. He published his first professional story in 1994 ("Bubba Pritchert and the Space Aliens"). Since then he has appeared in everything from comic books to hobo magazines. His "The Ballad of Kansas McGriff," a science fiction poem, won first place in the National Hobo Association Rendezvous 2000 Poetry Contest. He read it in front of an audience of over 5,000 hobos. He is an expert on the Groff Conklin anthologies. He's promised to read a brand new Bubba Pritchert story, "Triumph in the Desert," at Capclave.
Panels are one hour with time between panels so they can run over, take extra questions, or continue the discussion.
Time Room Panel
6-7 PM Council Neglected Authors
We've all read Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke. Who are the authors who
should be famous but aren't? Who should we be reading instead of
dragging out the old familiar names? Panelists: Scott Edelman,
Alexis Gilliland, Annette Klause, Bud Sparhawk (M), Steve Stiles
7:30 - 8:30 Council I Was an
Analog Virgin
Analog writers talk about their first time -- getting into
Analog. What did you do, how hard was it, and what was it like
to see your words on those famous pages? And is there a formula for
writing an Analog story? Panelists: Robert Chase, John Hemry
(M), Edward Lerner, Fran Van Cleave, Bud Webster
7:30 - 8:30 Severin The Buffy Prophecy:
What Should Happen on the Last Season and Then What?
How do you provide a fitting climax to end a series when you've
already killed the heroine twice? What do you think should be done
in the final season? And then what should they do with this universe
next? Fans prophesize the ending of Buffy. Panelists:
Michael A. Burstein, Eric Jablow, Jim Mann (M)
9:00 - 10 PM Council Space Opera
and Space Adventures.
Lately there's been a rethinking and reemergence of space opera and
space adventure. What do you think is taking place in this field and
why? What do authors gain by setting stories in space? What science
do authors need to know to write space adventures? Panelists:
Catherine Asaro (M), John Hemry, Eric Kotani, Hal Lanse, Michael
Swanwick
9-10 Severin WSFA Meeting
The Washington Science Fiction Association are your hosts for
Capclave. WSFA meets on the first and third Friday of every month.
Tonight is a third Friday so WSFA is meeting in the middle of our own
party. Come and see how you can have the fun of Capclave twice a month.
10:30 --> Severin Filking
Fans sing the music of Science Fiction.
10:30 --> Council Mystery Capclave
Theater 2002
Join Host Mike Nelson for an evening of heckling at bad movies with a
special surprise theme.
10-11 Council Influence of Your Day Job
What do you do to pay the rent and how does that influence your
writing for good or for ill? Is there a connection between what
happens to you on the job and how productive you are in your writing?
Does that evil alien in your novel bear more than a slight resemblance
to your boss? And would you quit your day job if that novel becomes a
best seller? Panelists: Brett Davis, Hal Lanse (M), Will Ludwigsen,
Tee Morris
10 - 11 Severin The Science Fictional
Series
Why are series so common in sf and fantasy (and mysteries) but rare in
mainstream fiction? Is writing a series easier because you don't have
to think up new backgrounds and characters or harder because you have
to stay consistent? Do you know you are writing a series from the
start or do you finish a stand-alone and only later think you have
more to say with these characters? Panelists: Brenda Clough, Mindy
Klasky, Edward Lerner (M), John Hemry,
11:30 - 12:30 Council Short Stories Are
Good For You
Why do authors write short stories (when they get more money for
novels) and why do readers read them? What can you do in a short story
that you can't in a novel? Why do some authors do better at short
stories than novels? How do short stories reflect the health of the sf
field? Panelists: Stephen L. Burns, Scott Edelman, David Hartwell,
Will Ludwigsen, Michael Swanwick (M)
11:30 - 12:30 Severin SF Empowerment:
Adolescent Angst or Human Commentary?
Much sf and fantasy is about people with special powers or more than
human abilities, ranging from comic book action and Lensman adventures
to works like Dune and More Than Human. What is the
line between wish fulfillment/adolescent angst and social commentary
on the limits and definition of humanity? How does an author portray
beings with powers and abilities far beyond those of mere human
mortals? Panelists: Brenda Clough, Brett Davis, Dave Theison (M),
Bud Sparhawk, Fran Van Cleave
11:30-12:30 Assembly Sat AM Cartoons Alexis Gilliland
1 - 2 PM Council Bored of the Rings:
Non-quest Fantasy
We've all read the fantasy quest where a bunch of heroes gang up to
find the magic orb of whatever while traipsing all over the map in the
flyleaf so many times that (with apologies to the Lampoon) we're bored
of the rings. Why is this so overdone? What alternatives exist and who
should we be reading to see them? Panelists: Robert Chase, Alexis
Gilliland, Mindy Klasky, Lawrence Watt-Evans (M), Tee Morris
1 - 2 PM Severin Bioscience
What are new advances in biology and how writers can use them in their
work? What is the truth behind such sf concepts as cloning, modifying
humans to fit alien environments, and creating designer humans? What
new ideas would make neat sf stories? How do sf writers stay ahead of
the science? Panelists: Stephen L. Burns, Kyle Kirkland, Jim Kling,
Paul Levinson (M)
1 - 2 PM Assembly Reading Bud Webster
2:30-3:30 PM Council 25 Years of Stan
Stan Schmidt has been editor of Analog for 25 years. What has
he done with this time? How has his tenure changed science fiction?
Stan's friends, writers, and peers share stories. Panelists:
Michael A. Burstein, Scott Edelman, David Hartwell (M), Bud Sparhawk,
Ian Randal Strock, Stan Schmidt (rebuttal)
2:30-3:30 PM Severin Crossing the Genres
You got mystery in my science fiction! No, you got science fiction
into my fantasy! What happens when you mix the genres? Why do authors
make life tough for bookstore clerks by doing this? Do you use
different writing techniques when you write in just one genre than
when you write in the other, and, if so, what happens when you combine
them? Panelists: Catherine Asaro, Jack Chalker, Peter Heck (M),
Paul Levinson, Lawrence Watt-Evans
2:30-3:30 PM Assembly Reading Michael Swanwick
4 - 5 PM Council GOH Speech Stan Schmidt
5:30 - 7 PM Dinner Break
7 - 8 PM Severin Future of Short Stories
and Magazines
Are the science fiction magazines dying? Will the Internet and other
alternatives to traditional digest magazines save the field? How can
short stories recapture the attention of the science fiction reading
public? Panelists: Paul Levinson (M), Stan Schmidt, Darrell
Schweitzer, Bud Sparhawk, Ian Randal Strock
7-8 PM Assembly Reading Michael A. Burstein
9 PM -> 12 Assembly Special Autographing
Party
Party to celebrate Stan's 25-year reign in Analog and all his
achievements, the many contributions of Alexis Gilliland, and all
our guests and members. Party will feature cake and some surprises.
Authors will autograph their books and stories.
9-10 PM Severin Filking Panel
Filking is the music of science fiction. Filkers discuss the relationship
between filk and sf and sing examples from the history of filking.
10 -> Severin Filking
Filk until the voices run out.
10 - 11 AM Council Indistinguishable
from Magic
Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from Magic. How can well-known magic from fairy
tales and stories be duplicated by current or near-future technology?
How do you distinguish between magic and advanced technology in your
fiction? Does a fantasy novel stop being a fantasy novel if the last
page reveals it was all done through tech? Panelists: Catherine
Asaro, Michael A. Burstein, Jane Jewell (M), Kyle Kirkland
10 - 11 AM Severin The Appeal of Mars
From HG Wells to Bradbury to Robinson to Bova, what's the continual
appeal of writing about Mars? How has the Mars novel changed? How
realistic are the visions of settling on Mars? Panelists: Robert
Chase, Eric Kotani, Ian Randal Strock (M), Dave Theison, Fran Van
Cleave
10 - 11 AM Assembly Reading Annette Klaus
11:30 - 12:30 PM Council SF Protocols
How is reading (or writing) an sf story/novel different from reading
(or writing) a mainstream or mystery story/novel? Is sf read in a
different way? Do authors make assumptions about what readers know
from reading the field that make it difficult for a new reader to
understand their work? Panelists: Brenda Clough, David Hartwell,
Peter Heck (M), Michael Swanwick, Bud Webster
11:30 - 12:30 PM Severin Future
Breakthroughs
What would be the effects on society of cheap and portable
desalination of water? Of life extension technology? Of human cloning?
What plausible future scientific breakthroughs would have the greatest
effect on society? If you could wish for one, what would it be and
why? Panelists: John Hemry, Kyle Kirkland (M), Eric Kotani, Jim
Kling, Ed Lerner
11:30 - 12:30 PM Assembly World Fantasy
Convention
Next year WSFA will be running the 2003 World Fantasy Convention in
Washington DC. What is World Fantasy Con? Why should you attend? What
do you want to see at a Fantasy convention? Michael Walsh
1 pm - 2 pm Council Legacy of John W.
Campbell
John W. Campbell was an extremely influential editor of Analog
who almost singlehanded reshaped the science fiction field. Why was he
so influential and does it extend into today? What are the positive
and negative aspects of his legacy? Panelists: Peter Heck, Jim
Mann, Stan Schmidt (M), Darrell Schweitzer
1 - 2 pm Severin How Do You Make
SF Fans?
How can we take Harry Potter readers, Star Trek/Buffy viewers, and
students who take classes on sf and turn them into lifelong readers of
science fiction and fantasy? How can we keep our favorite literature
alive for another generation? Panelists: Jack Chalker, Jane Jewell
(M), Annette Klause, Elaine Stiles, Dave Theison
1 - 2 pm Assembly Reading Paul Levinson
2:30 - 4 Severin BWSMOFs
Fan groups and conventions in the Baltimore and Washington area meet
to talk about running conventions.
2:30 - 3:30 PM Council Mission
Debriefing
Come tell us what you liked about the convention and what you would
like changed for next year.
| Con Suite | Dealers' Room |
|---|
| Annapolis Room | Chesapeake Room | |
|---|---|---|
| Friday: 6 PM - Midnight | Friday: 4 PM - 6 PM | |
| Saturday: noon - 1 AM | Saturday: 10 AM - 6 PM | |
| Sunday: noon - 3 PM | Sunday: 10 AM - 3 PM |
The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA), the people who put on the annual Capclave convention, meet in the Washington, DC area twice a month. We meet on the first Friday of every month in Virginia and on the third Friday in Maryland; both meetings start at 9 PM (or somewhat after). At our meetings we plan Capclave and other activities and outings, hear the adventures of exciting committees, party with good food and drink, and yes, occasionally even talk about science fiction. And we always adjourn unanimously.
Join WSFA and experience the fun of Capclave twice a month. For more information check our website at http://www.wsfa.org. For directions to our meetings contact the Gillilands at (703) 920-6087.
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