Context SF Convention Blog

On Sunday, September 29th from 2pm-4pm, author Chesya Burke will offer "Writing the Other".

Are you worried about reinforcing stereotypes or offending others with your depictions of racial, gender and other minority characters? Do you want to find that balance between exploring different places and people, without exploiting them for cheap scares and entertainment? In this intensive two hour workshop for beginning and advanced writers, you will focus on creating characters who are different from your own perspective in a comfortable, safe space so that you can learn to avoid common pitfalls and mistakes. Chesya is currently getting her MA in African American Studies at Georgia State University and her 2011 fiction collection, Let's Play White, is being studied in several universities around the country and received high praise from Samuel Delany and Nikki Giovanni. She's also a juror for the upcoming 2013 Shirley Jackson Awards.

This 2-hour workshop costs $20.

For more information about the Context workshops, please visit:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.…

Attention prospective dealers! Dealer table information is now available on the Context site:

http://www.contextsf.org/dealer.htm

The programming schedule for Context 25 has been posted ... Context will be the weekend of Sept. 28-30 in Columbus, OH:

http://www.contextsf.org/

GoHs include Alex Bledsoe, L.E. Modesitt, Toni LP Kelner, Tom Smith, and Bill and Brenda Sutton; many authors and publishers will also be participating. Convention events include tabletop gaming, retro video gaming, a miniatures painting contest, a Friday Night Flash Fiction Contest, science programming, filk concerts, open filk on Saturday night, open poetry Saturday night, and writing workshops.

If you wish to register online, you have until the evening of September 20th; after that you will need to register at the door.

At 10pm on Friday, September 28th, Raw Dog Screaming Press will sponsor Context's first-ever Flash Fiction Contest!

Contestants will be able to sign up at registration; there will be room for 12 contestants, and sign-ups will be first-come, first serve!

For more information, please visit:

http://www.contextsf.org/program.h…

Hi everyone!

Context 25 will be the weekend of September 28-30 in Columbus Ohio at the Worthington Doubletree (the same hotel as last year). Full-weekend registration is $35 until the end of the month; after that it will increase to $45.

http://www.contextsf.org/

Our 2012 author Guests of Honor include L.E. Modesitt Jr., Alex Bledsoe, and Toni L.P. Kelner.

Participating authors and editors who've signed on so far include Maurice Broaddus, Lawrence C. Connolly, Tim Esaias, John Edward Lawson, Heidi Ruby Miller, Jason Jack Miller, Babs Mountjoy, Linnea Sinclair, Lucy A. Snyder, Maria V. Snyder, and Tim Waggoner.

This year's writing workshops include "Monster Wrangling", "The Science of Social Interactions", "50 Ways to Beat Writer's Block in 10 Minutes", "Done to Death: Avoiding Cliches in Horror and Dark Fantasy", "Diversity in Your Fiction", "Growing Your Brand", "Painting Your Setting", "Insider Tips for Working with the Small Press", "Fantastic Fight Scenes", "Self-Editing and Rewriting: What to Put In and What to Take Out", "Characterization Through Dialogue", "Sleuth Facts: Real PI Procedures For Your Plots", "Novel Structure and Synopsis Writing", "Endings and Beginnings", "How Far is Too Far? Boundaries in Horror and Dark Fantasy", "Mastering Flash Fiction", "Publicity, Promotions, Poisons, and Purple Cows", "Point of View", "Young Adult Vampire-Werewolf-Zombie-Dystopian-Steampunk Novels", and "World Building"

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.…

CORGS will be running our game room, and Context will be offering munchies and nonalcoholic drinks for gamers, so be sure to stop by for some great table-top gaming and retro video games. Special features this year include the Axis & Allies Masters Battle. Other attractions include Battleball, Rebels & Yankees, RISK, and a miniatures painting contest.

http://www.contextsf.org/games.htm

Our filk GoHs for Context 25 are Bill and Brenda Sutton, who perform together as Bed & Breakfast.

Bill is accomplished on guitar, mandolin, flute, penny whistle, and he's working on the violin and uilleann pipes. Brenda also plays guitar and whistles, but her forte is the Irish frame drum called the bodhrán. Both Bill and Brenda are talented singer/songwriters with numerous credits and awards. They were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2001. Bill has won Pegasus Awards for Best Performer in 1986 and Best Techie Song for his country space song "Stray Dog Man" in 1989; he has received nominations in several other categories. Brenda garnered her share of Pegasus Awards as well, winning Best Song for "Strangers No More" in 2001 and Best Spine-Chilling Song in 2002 for "In a Gown Too Blue". She also plays with the award-winning group Three Weird Sisters.

After the Sutton's concert Saturday night at Context, people are welcome to bring their instruments and join in open filk.

The programming schedule for Context 24 has been added to the front page of the convention website:

http://www.contextsf.org/

The deadline for registering online has been extended slightly; it is now August 20th at 7pm EST; after that, the online form will be disabled and you will need to register at the door.

Also, there are seats available in most writing workshops:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.…


If you were planning to send your registration by snail-mail, at this point you should probably wait and pay at the door.

To ensure that you get your room at the convention hotel at the special convention rate, please book your room by August 1st.

The convention will be held August 26-28, 2011 at:
The Doubletree Hotel
175 Hutchinson
Columbus, OH, 43235
Reservations Phone: 614-885-3334 or 1-800-222-8733

Standard rooms (2 double beds or one king bed) are $84.00
Suites are $135.00

To get the discounted convention rate on your room, you can either register online or call the hotel at 614-885-3334. Be sure to mention Context 24 when you call. The Group Code is CXT.

Our hotel liaison is Abby Janota, who can be contacted at hotel@contextsf.org.


If you would like to purchase an ad in the program book, you also need to purchase it (via our online registration form) by August 1st:

http://www.contextsf.org/registrat…

And finally, if you have been confirmed as a panelist or other program participant and would like your short (50 words or less) bio to be included in the program book, please send it to Dick Embs by August 1st ... he can be contacted at rjembs@att.net

The Context 24 room block is still open.

The convention will be held August 26-28, 2011 at:
The Doubletree Hotel
175 Hutchinson
Columbus, OH, 43235

Reservations Phone: 614-885-3334 or 1-800-222-8733
Standard rooms (2 double beds or one king bed) are $84.00
Suites are $135.00

To get the discounted convention rate on your room, you can either register online or call the hotel at 614-885-3334. Be sure to mention Context 24 when you call. The Group Code is CXT.


http://www.contextsf.org/hotel.htm

Context 24 will be taking place in Columbus, Ohio at the Doubletree Hotel (the same venue as last year) the weekend of August 26-28, 2011.

Guests who've signed on include L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire), David Hartwell, Erica Neely, Tom Smith, Mike Resnick, Nigel Sade, and Susan Fisher. I'll be participating as a panelist.

They still have dealers' tables:

http://www.contextsf.org/dealer.htm

They have posted a proposed list of panel topics and a panelist registration form on the front page of their site; the deadline for panelist signup is July 15th:

http://www.contextsf.org/

And finally, they've posted ten writing workshops; a few more are likely to be posted in coming months:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.…

Topics include:

Building Narrative Tension
How To Polish Your Novel Manuscript
Characterization and Dialog
Release Your Inner Teen: Writing Fiction for the Young Adult Market
Level One Writers Workshop
Pitches and Blurbs and Tag Lines, Oh My!
The Devil is in the Details
Engaging the Wary: Winning and Keeping the Impatient Reader
The Art, Craft and Business of Writing Genre Fiction
Character Torture 101
Pissing Off Editors, or How Not to Get Published