One More Time
By Lee Martindale on Wednesday, April 24 2019, 11:11 - Conventional Matters - Permalink
I’m prepping and packing for Wholanta and, throughout the process, a song has been running through my head. It’s from the musical Serafina!, although I first encountered it in a 1989 movie called Sing. In both shows, the song serves the plotline of diaspora, celebrating what has been before moving on to what might be.
The folks behind Wholanta have announced that this convention’s fourteenth year will be its last “for a while”. What that means, we don’t know. What we do know if that this one is shaping up to go out in grand style. And I have a tasty programming schedule as Exhibit A.
Friday, May 3
6:00pm - Opening Ceremonies - Wherein we get this party started!
7:00pm - “Why We Read.” Why do we, as fans, read? Panelists: Lee Martindale, Sue Phillips, Dawn Benton
8:00pm - Author Readings. Kathleen Sullivan/Lee Martindale. According to the schedule, I’ve got the second half of the hour.
10:00pm - “Kill Her! Kill Her A Lot!: The Legacy of Buffy”. The write-up: “The show that wrote the book for the teenage-angst-interrupted-by-monsters genre was riding high twenty years ago.” Join our panel of Buffy fans & experts as we walk the dark alleys of Sunnydale. Panelists: Lee Martindale, Ken Spivey, Georges Jeanty, Aaron Dunne.
What? You didn’t know I was a Buffy fan?
Saturday, May 4
noon - “Starting To Write”. The write-up: “You want to write a book. How do you get started and how do you continue? What might you need to know?” Panelists: Lee Martindale, Debbie Vigue, Robin Burks.
2:00pm - “Goodbye, Doctor: Companion Farewells” - Over the years, companion departures have been almost as traumatic as Doctor regenerations. I suspect we all have our favorites. Panelists: Lee Martindale, Courtland Lewis, Kelly Yates.
7:00pm - “Hard SF or Soft?” - The write-up: “What is Hard SF? What qualifies as soft sf? How do we tell the difference?” Panelists: Lee Martindale, Sue Phillips
10:00pm - “FanFiction As A Writing Exercise” - The write-up: “Over the years a number of very good pro writers have written fanfic. We discuss how this may help or hinder their craft.” Panelists: Lee Martindale, Sue Phillips
Sunday, May 5
1:00pm - “Why We Write” - The write-up: “Why do we write? What drives us to create with words?” Panelists: Lee Martindale, Robin Burks
3:00pm - “Literary Track Closing Ceremonies” - The write-up: “We say goodbye to the Lit Track for the last time.”
5:00pm - “Closing Ceremonies” - One More Time.
Note to self: pack a box of tissues.