Blogflog - Tentative DragonCon Schedule

[blogfloggery.livejournal.com]

Link: Tentative DragonCon Schedule
Disclaimer: This blog entry is verbatim, as originally posted on LKH's blog. Copyright belongs to Ma Petite Enterprises.

Title: An Hour With Laurell K. Hamilton
Description: Audience Q&A with the bestselling author of the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series.
Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: Augusta Ballroom – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Laurell K. Hamilton)

——————-
Title: Autograph Sessions
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: International Hall South – Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: David Weber, C. L. Wilson, Laurell K. Hamilton)

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Title: The Uses of Enchantment: Magic in Urban Fantasy
Description: Authors in the field discuss the various magical systems used by their characters
Time: Fri 10:00 pm Location: Augusta Ballroom – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Laura Anne Gilman, D.B. Jackson, Linda Robertson, James R. Tuck, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jim Butcher)

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Title: Autograph Sessions
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: International Hall South – Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Keith R.A. DeCandido, M. B. Weston, Christopher Golden, Laurell K. Hamilton)

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Title: The Hunter and the Hunted: Conflicted Protagonists in Urban Fantasy
Description: Fictional characters who save the world (or even just their friends) by dispatching evil sometimes begin to identify with their prey.
Time: Sat 05:30 pm Location: Augusta Ballroom – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Faith Hunter, James R. Tuck, Laurell K. Hamilton, Christopher Golden, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jeanne C. Stein)

——————-
Title: Autograph Sessions
Time: Sun 10:00 am Location: International Hall South – Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Travis Walton, Dr. Charles E. Gannon, Milton J Davis, Laurell K. Hamilton)

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Title: Fabulous Ladies of Fantasy
Description: A panel of exceptional women writers discuss developing compelling characters and exciting plots.
Time: Sun 11:30 am Location: Centennial I – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Katherine Kurtz, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Nancy Knight, Laurell K. Hamilton, Lynn Abbey)

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Title: Monster Menagerie: Supernatural Variety in Urban Fantasy
Description: Urban Fantasy features a wide range of supernatural beings, often in the same book, and our authors discuss their diverse approaches.
Time: Sun 04:00 pm Location: Augusta Ballroom – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Christopher Golden, John G. Hartness, Kat Richardson, Laurell K. Hamilton, Linda Robertson, Jim Butcher)

Comments

[apep727.livejournal.com]

First, a good thing - this is actually useful and of interest to LKH's fans. Good job, Laurell. Have a cookie.

Now, more personal comments. I'm going to be at DragonCon (or is it supposed to be Dragon*Con? I can never be sure). On the one hand, this means I can easily avoid any panels she's on, and the signings won't even be a problem. Down side, she's on two panels with Jim Butcher, so that means deciding which I want more - seeing him on a panel, or avoiding Hamilton. But at least it's only two panels.

And to wrap up, a question - why is Hamilton on a panel about "Conflicted Protagonists in Urban Fantasy"? Having the protagonist occasionally go "am I a bad person?" and then having everyone else go "no, you're not a bad person" does not make them conflicted.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

I also don't really see why she's on the one about a variety of supernatural beings either. Vampires, witches, and shapeshifters are all very standard UF fare, and, aside from the swanmanes, there's really nothing unique about hers.

[apep727.livejournal.com]

At a guess, I'd say because of the sheer variety of shapeshifters. To the point of redundancy in some cases - I mean, do we really need weredogs and werewolves? And a were-every-kind-of-big-cat?

And the fact that she was one of the first UF writers might have something to do with it.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

In the little I've dabbled in other UF, big cats are pretty normal, maybe even as much as wolves. I've also seen werejackals and werebison in other works too. She's not actually that unusual in her shifter variety, imo.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

Werebison? That sounds awesome.

LKH doesn't have very many kinds of shapeshifters, certainly not many who are important (defined as "those who fall into Anita's crotch regularly.) There's big cat color #1, big cat color #2, big cat color #3, big cat color #1 mixed with #3...

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

It was actually a weremoose I was thinking of (one of the members of Clan Heavy in the Kate Daniels series) but a werebison is also mentioned very briefly in Harry Dresden now that I think about that. There were also wereaurochs in the World of Darkness, though they're extinct.

Still, I don't really think that "more types of animals" really counts as variety in terms of supernatural creatures, since it's all just variations of the same thing (human that can turn into an animal); for me personally, variety would be more along critter types seldom used in UF. There's a wide, wide range of folkloric creatures in every country/culture but it always seems like UF, with few exceptions, draws on the same ones most of the time (the bulk of non-Western and Native American creatures will be especially ignored except for the very biggest names: Wendigo, skinwalkers, naga, and kitsune, namely) For instance, I've yet to see a luison, cadejo, simurgh, sharabha, crocotta, jogah, baykok, buggane, or samebito in any UF I'm aware of, but I've seen variations of vampires, human-to-animal shapeshifters, witches, ghosts, fairies, angels, demons, and creatures from Celtic and Greco-Roman lore a lot. Of course, just what "variety" is will be very subjective, this is my personal standard and definitely not THE standard (and I also have not read by any means a lot of UF, so for all I know there could be a BUNCH of supernatural diversity in the genre that I'm missing)

Back to LKH though, like you said, the number of IMPORTANT shapeshifters (or anything) is actually pretty small. Sure, weresnakes and werefoxes are mentioned, as are gargoyles and trolls and and djinn and dragons, but they don't get anything more than just a mention. The important creatures are the vampires, werewolves, and werecats, and the others are pretty much various levels of ignored. Heck, the werewolves, non-JC/Asher vampires, and non-tiger werecats are even starting to be pushed aside for her special rainbow kitties. The variety is really more in theory, not at all in practice.

[jessica collett (from livejournal.com)]

I am very tempted to ask you to go and see what she's like IRL.

[apep727.livejournal.com]

I saw her on a panel or two last year. She wasn't as bad as you might think.

[magdalen77.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that LaLa's publisher must have made some demands or requests about how she participates in conferences. I don't remember her being on so many panels in the past few DragonCons.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Or so many signings. I'm pretty sure she only did two panels (one by herself, one with others) and only one signing last year. And wasn't there that one time she missed her signing due to being unable to navigate around the parade?

[magdalen77.livejournal.com]

I think the missed signing was two years ago (and as a DragonCon vet she should have know about the parade and how to get around it). As I remember from previous years she typically did just one event/ day. This year it looks like she's doing whatever she can, almost like a professional writer (gasp).

[dwg.livejournal.com]

The real test will be if she can be a professional on her panels. But I don't care if I'm a bad person for hoping she says/does something that her peers slam her for.

[magdalen77.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'll probably burn in hell for hoping she does something really aggravating to her fellow panel members, so that someone has to call her to task. That would be entertaining.

[wilma howe-bennett (from livejournal.com)]

That's because NOBODY would sit on the stage with her. I agree with you on this, though: she's at the end of her current contract - and, given that her last WhoreNita book was largely ignored while the reviews of the MerrySlut books have been at best tepid - I expect that her agent, AND her publisher, told her to get OUT there, make yourself available and DO NOT ACT like you're still a NY Times best-selling author.

Serious rehabbing of the image going on here, don'cha think?

[magdalen77.livejournal.com]

Definitely, this is almost 3 times the effort she normally puts into a conference. It will be interesting to see if she actually makes the panels and signings and behaves halfway normal.

[alondra-del-sol.livejournal.com]

Wow, sex shaming much? It's not that Anita and Merry have tons of sex and that's the problem with the series, it's that they (and their creator) have very unrealistic ideas about sex (not to mention copy and pasting sex scenes and repetitive language) and relationships and very unhealthy relationship standards.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

Thanks for saying this.

[alondra-del-sol.livejournal.com]

No problem. :)