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New England Science Fiction Association
December 21, 2018

Join the Boskone Book Club, featuring WANT by Cindy Pon

One of Boskone’s annually featured panels is the Boskone Book Club. This year, we will be gathering on Sunday, February 17, 2018 at 11:00 a.m.

Join us for a lively conversation that brings con-goers together to discuss the YA science fiction novel Want by Cindy Pon (our Young Adult Fiction Guest).

Boskone’s own Bob Kuhn will lead the discussion; Cindy Pon will join the group halfway through for a Q&A session.

To participate, please read the book and come ready with your thoughts and questions. We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Want by Cindy Pon 

From critically acclaimed author Cindy Pon comes an edge-of-your-seat sci-fi thriller, set in a near-future Taipei plagued by pollution, about a group of teens who risk everything to save their city.

Jason Zhou survives in a divided society where the elite use their wealth to buy longer lives. The rich wear special suits, protecting them from the pollution and viruses that plague the city, while those without suffer illness and early deaths. Frustrated by his city’s corruption and still grieving the loss of his mother who died as a result of it, Zhou is determined to change things, no matter the cost.

With the help of his friends, Zhou infiltrates the lives of the wealthy in hopes of destroying the international Jin Corporation from within. Jin Corp not only manufactures the special suits the rich rely on, but they may also be manufacturing the pollution that makes them necessary.

Yet the deeper Zhou delves into this new world of excess and wealth, the more muddled his plans become. And against his better judgment, Zhou finds himself falling for Daiyu, the daughter of Jin Corp’s CEO.

Can Zhou save his city without compromising who he is, or destroying his own heart?

December 14, 2018

Book Your Boskone Hotel Room Today

Don’t miss a single moment of Boskone 56! Between our evening programming and morning workshops, a good night’s sleep can make all the difference!

westin_lobbyBoskone negotiates special rates with the convention hotel which is attached to the convention areas. No trucking in and out of the Boston winter required!

Choose a quiet room in the Non-party block, or if you’re feeling in the party mood, book in the Party block. Lock in the special convention rate by booking before January 15, 2019.

*Party Block Notice: When making your reservation for a room in the “Party Block,” please note that this year we’re requiring people to book for both Friday and Saturday to avoid holes in the party block that could potentially be filled with non-Boskone attendees would could potentially complain about noise and cause parties to shut down early.

More information is available at http://b58.boskone.org/hotel.

 

 

 

 

December 12, 2018

Come to the Boskone 56 Book Party!

Join the fun at Boskone 56’s Book Party, and meet the presses and authors who have new books coming out at Boskone! This is your chance to see what’s new from authors you already love as well as those you have yet to discover.

Boskone is once again holding a book party on Saturday night during the convention to give our authors and publishers the opportunity to show off their newly released titles.

The Boskone 56 Book Party

Day: Saturday, February 16th
Time: 6:30-7:30 pm
Location: Con Suite, in the Galleria Level, Westin Waterfront Hotel

Authors & Publishers: If you have a new book that was (or will be) published within a few months of Boskone, we invite you to participate in the Boskone 56 Book Party. Bring your books and swag to share with readers who come to mix, mingle, and talk fiction with Boskone’s authors.

Authors and publishers (with a new book and a membership for Boskone 56) who would like to join the party, should email us at Program@boskone.org with your book’s information, including:

  • Title:
  • Author Name:
  • Release Date:
  • Publisher:
  • Cover Image URL (if available):

Please note that space is limited. So, please be sure to contact us as soon as possible to let us know that you’re interested in joining the party. The more the merrier!

Register for Boskone 56 today!

November 17, 2018

Souvenir Book, Art Show, & Dealer’s Room Updates!

Looking for a way to sell your wares, show your art, or advertise at Boskone?

We have the perfect solutions for you: advertise in the Souvenir Book, purchase a table in the Dealers Room, or book space in the Art Show.

Why Boskone? Boskone is the longest running science fiction convention in New England and attracts approximately 1,300+ members annually. Programming includes approximately 170 program participants (check out our this year’s program participant list) as well as a wonderful list of featured Guests, which include:

SOUVENIR BOOK ADVERTISING:
Each year we produce a lovely Souvenir Book, which is a high quality print and PDF publication, that features the art of our Official Artist on the cover with special introductions for each Guest as well as other engaging content inside. You can read the printable PDF of our Ad Rate Sheet for Boskone 56 and the PDF from of last year’s Souvenir Book (Boskone 55). The advertising reservation deadline has been extended to December 15, and our ad copy deadline is January 5, 2019. To book your ad in the Souvenir Book, all you need to do is click here to pay online. If you have any questions about placing an ad in the Boskone 56 Souvenir Book, please contact us at boskone-ads@boskone.org.

DEALER’S ROOM TABLES:
The Boskone Dealers Room provides a varied shopping experience for members and vendors alike. Our attendees are fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, but members also include writers, science enthusiasts, musicians, artists, and crafters. Space in the Boskone Dealers Room usually sells out quickly. So, please be sure to process your table request by December 1st since we cannot guarantee that space will be available beyond that date. Learn more about our Dealer’s Room requirements and opportunities, and book your table(s) today. If you are unable to process your space request online for any reason, please contact dealers@boskone.org.

ART SHOW PANELS:
Boskone is known for its long history of supporting excellence in speculative art and offers several opportunities to display your artwork. Our art show is considered the best speculative art show in New England, and regularly includes such artists as Bob Eggleton, Tom Kidd, Charles Lang, Wendy Snow Lang, Gary Lipincott, Gregory Manchess, Reiko Murakami, Omar Rayyan, Ruth Sanderson, Dave Seeley, Michael Whelan, and more as well as this year’s Official Artist Jim Burns! In addition, the Boskone 56 Art Show will include a special exhibit of rare work from many of the most significant artists in the speculative art world, curated by Edie Stern and Joe Siclari. If you are interested in having your art exhibited at Boskone? Please be sure to review the Art Show Rules. After reviewing the rules, you can review the Artist and Reseller Options. If you have questions about the art show, please contact artshow@boskone.org.

We look forward to seeing you at Boskone 56!

 

 

October 22, 2018

Look Who’s Coming to Boskone 56!

We are going to have another stellar convention with a fantastic selection of activities and program items for everyone to enjoy. This year, we are looking forward to welcoming several new program participants as well as some returning favorites who have been away for far too long.

We’re still in the process of confirming program participants, but listed below is a sneak peek at some of our new and returning friends. Check out our full list of Boskone 56’s list of program participants, which is being updated daily.

Laurence Raphael Brothers
Laurence Raphael Brothers is a writer and technologist with five patents and a background in high-tech R&D, including work in AI, Telecom and Internet applications, and on-line gaming. He has published stories in such magazines as Nature, PodCastle, the New Haven Review, and Galaxy’s Edge. He is seeking representation for a WWI-era historical fantasy novel and a near-future military-aviation alien-invasion AI romance. Visit his webpage at https://laurencebrothers.com/ for links to more stories that can be read or listened to online, and follow him on twitter: @lbrothers.

S. A. Chakraborty
S. A. Chakraborty is a speculative fiction writer from New York City. Her debut, The City of Brass, was the first book in the Daevabad trilogy and has been short-listed for the Locus, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. When not buried in books about Mughal miniatures and Abbasid political intrigue, she enjoys hiking, knitting, and recreating unnecessarily complicated medieval meals for her family. You can find her online at www.sachakraborty.com or on Twitter at @SChakrabooks where she likes to talk about history, politics, and Islamic art.

Brenda W. Clough
Brenda W. Clough spent much of her childhood overseas, courtesy of the U.S. government. Her first fantasy novel, The Crystal Crown, was published by DAW in 1984. She has also written The Dragon of Mishbil (1985), The Realm Beneath (1986), and The Name of the Sun (1988). Her children’s novel, An Impossumble Summer (1992), is set in her own house in Virginia, where she lives in a cottage at the edge of a forest. Her novel How Like a God, available from BVC, was published by Tor Books in 1997, and a sequel, Doors of Death and Life, was published in May 2000. Her latest novels from Book View Cafe include Revise the World (2009) and Speak to Our Desires. Her latest novel, A Most Dangerous Woman, is being serialized by Serial Box.

John Clute
John Clute has been reviewing science fiction and fantasy since 1964. He has also been working on the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction since 1975, recently passed the 6,666 solo entries marker. In addition, he has done other encyclopedias as well. John has assembled his reviews and criticism in several volumes, beginning with Strokes (1988); a new volume, and The Gaze of Attention: Reviews, due 2020. His SF novel is Appleseed (2001).

David B. Coe/D.B. Jackson
David B. Coe/D.B. Jackson is the author of twenty novels and as many short stories. As D.B. Jackson (http://www.DBJackson-Author.com), he is the author of Time’s Children (October 2018), the first book in The Islevale Cycle, a time travel/epic fantasy series from Angry Robot Books. He also writes the Thieftaker Chronicles, a series set in pre-Revolutionary Boston that combines elements of urban fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction. Under his own name (http://www.DavidBCoe.com) he has written the Crawford Award-winning LonTobyn Chronicle, the critically acclaimed Winds of the Forelands quintet and Blood of the Southlands trilogy, the novelization Ridley Scott’s, Robin Hood, and a contemporary urban fantasy series, the Case Files of Justis Fearsson. He is the co-author of How To Write Magical Words: A Writer’s Companion. He is currently working on several projects, including his next book for Angry Robot, his first editing endeavor, and a tie-in project with the History Channel. David has a Ph.D. in U.S. history from Stanford University. His books have been translated into a dozen languages.

Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ
Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ, is Director of the Vatican Observatory. His scientific research studies meteorites and asteroids. He is a native of Detroit, Michigan, received SM and SM degrees from MIT (where he served as MITSFS Skinner), and earned his PhD in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona in 1978. Along with more than 200 scientific publications, he is the author or co-author of several popular astronomy books including Turn Let at Orion (with Dan Davis, 5th edition, 2018) and Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial (with Paul Mueller, paperback edition 2018). In 2014 he received the Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences for excellence in public communication in planetary sciences.

Ellen Datlow
Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for over thirty-five years as fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and editor of Event Horizon and SCIFICTION. She currently acquires short fiction for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited more than ninety science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year, The Doll Collection, Black Feathers, Mad Hatters and March Hares, The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea, and The Best of the Best Horror of the Year. Forthcoming is Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories. She’s won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre,” and has been honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association and by the World Fantasy Convention. She lives in New York and co-hosts the monthly Fantastic Fiction Reading Series at KGB Bar. More information can be found at www.datlow.com, on Facebook, and on twitter as @EllenDatlow.

Sarah Beth Durst
Sarah Beth Durst is the award-winning author of seventeen fantasy books for adults, teens, and kids, including The Queens of Renthia series, Drink Slay Love, and The Stone Girl’s Story. She won an ALA Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and has been a finalist for SFWA’s Andre Norton Award three times. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she spent four years studying English, writing about dragons, and wondering what the campus gargoyles would say if they could talk. Sarah lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat. For more information, visit her at sarahbethdurst.com.

Kate Elliott
Kate Elliott has been writing science fiction and fantasy fiction and non fiction for thirty years. Her twenty-seven books include her recent YA trilogy Court of Fives, the Afro-Celtic post-Roman alt-history fantasy adventure with lawyer dinosaurs the Spiritwalker trilogy (Cold Magic), the SF Novels of the Jaran, the Crossroads trilogy (Spirit Gate) & Black Wolves, and the massive AND complete seven volume epic fantasy Crown of Stars (King’s Dragon). Expect gender-bent Alexander the Great as space opera in 2019. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, World Fantasy, RT, Norton, and Locus Awards. Kate was born in Iowa, raised in Oregon, and now lives in Hawaii, where she paddles outrigger canoes and spoils her schnauzer, Fingolfin, High King of the Schnoldor (Finn for short).

Leigh Grossman
Leigh Grossman (www.swordsmith.com @SwordsmithLRG) is a writer, college lecturer, editor, and publishing consultant. He teaches in the English Department at the University of Connecticut and does typesetting, book development, and book production for various publishers and authors via his company, Swordsmith Productions. Grossman is the author of sixteen published books, most recently fantasy novel The Lost Daughters. He compiled and edited Sense of Wonder, the largest single-volume science fiction anthology ever produced.

Nicholas Kaufmann
Nicholas Kaufmann is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated, Thriller Award-nominated, and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of two collections and six novels, the most recent of which is the horror novel 100 Fathoms Below (2018, Blackstone Publishing). His short fiction has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Black Static, Nightmare Magazine, Dark Discoveries, and others. In addition to his own original work, he has written for such properties as Zombies vs. Robots and The Rocketeer. He and his wife live in Brooklyn, New York.

Mur Lafferty
Mur Lafferty is a Hugo and Nebula nominated writer, most recently of Six Wakes and Solo: A Star Wars Story. She’s also known for being a Hugo winning and Hall of Fame podcaster and co-host and producer of Ditch Diggers and I Should Be Writing. She’s the co-editor of the science fiction podcast Escape Pod, nominee for the Best Semiprozine Hugo Award in 2018.

Fonda Lee
Fonda Lee is the award-winning author of the Green Bone Saga, the genre-blending gangster fantasy series beginning with Jade City (Orbit) and continuing in Jade War, which releases in May of 2019. She is also the author of the acclaimed young adult science fiction novels Zeroboxer (Flux), Exo and Cross Fire (Scholastic). Fonda’s work has been nominated for the Nebula, Andre Norton, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards, and she won the Aurora Award, Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award, twice in the same year for Best Novel and Best Young Adult Novel. Fonda is a recovering corporate strategist, black belt martial artist, and an action movie aficionado residing in Portland, Oregon. She can be found online at www.fondalee.com and on Twitter @fondajlee.

Charles Stross
Charles Stross, 54, is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. A former Boskone guest of honor and the author of seven Hugo-nominated novels and winner of three Hugo awards for best novella, Stross’s works have been translated into over twelve languages. His most recent novel, The Labyrinth Index, was published by Tor.com in October 2018; his next novel, “Invisible Sun” is due out from Tor in late 2019.

Tonia Thompson
Tonia Thompson is the creator and executive producer of Nightlight, a horror podcast featuring creepy tales from Black writers. Tonia has been writing horror since the second grade, much to the dismay of the teachers in her rural East Texas community. She is currently working on her first audio drama series, described as a podcast version of American Horror Story meets Superstition. Tonia tells horror stories regularly on Twitter, and in her spare time, she loves to hike, but normally chooses to sleep in instead. She lives in Texas with her husband and son, but dreams of living in Colorado, especially in the summer.

Cadwell Turnbull
Cadwell Turnbull is a graduate from the North Carolina State University’s Creative Writing MFA in Fiction and English MA in Linguistics. He attended Clarion West 2016. His debut novel, The Lesson, set in near-future U.S. Virgin Islands after an alien colonization, is forthcoming from Blackstone Publishing. His short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Nightmare, and Asimov’s Science Fiction. His short story “Loneliness is in Your Blood” was selected for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018. His novelette “Other Worlds and This One” was also selected as notable story by the anthology.

Come see this fantastic group of authors along with over 150 other authors, artists, scientists, engineers, musicians, creators, publishing professionals, and more!

August 24, 2018

Meet the Boskone 56 Guests & Share Your Program Ideas!

Worldcon 76 may be over, but Boskone 56 is coming coming to Boston, MA, February 15-17, 2019!

Join us at New England’s longest running science fiction convention. This year’s list of Boskone guests is fantastic and we are going to have a lot of fun. Please help us give them a warm welcome.

Announcing Boskone 56’s Guests:

*In honor of our friend Gardner’s memory, Gardner Dozois will remain as the NESFA Press Guest for Boskone 56.

As we gear up for Boskone 56, our program team is beginning to pull together ideas for next year’s convention.

Did you see a great panel somewhere else? Are there any themes that keep coming up that would be interesting to talk about? What about interesting discoveries or inventions? …new TV series? …fun music? …diverse art?

Share your program ideas with use today through Boskone’s online idea form!

June 2, 2018

Gardner Dozois, Boskone 56’s NESFA Press Guest Update

Gardner Dozois 1992 – Photo Credit Beth Gwinn

It is with great regret that we mourn the passing of our friend, NESFA Press author, and respected science fiction editor Gardner Dozois.

We were honored that Gardner agreed to be Boskone 56’s NESFA Press Guest in conjunction with the publication of his forthcoming travel memoir On the Road with Gardner Dozois: Travel Narratives 1995-2000, which will be the Boskone 56 book.

In honor of his memory, Gardner Dozois will remain the NESFA Press Guest for Boskone 56. We are working on special program items and special program participants to further honor his memory and will post details as they are finalized. If you would like to participate in Boskone 56’s program, please email program@boskone.org.

~ * ~

Gardner Dozois (1947-2018) was the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine for nearly 20 years and was also the editor for the anthology series The Year’s Best Science Fiction. He has received dozens of awards for his work, including 30 Locus Awards, 15 Hugo Awards, several Nebula awards, a Sidewise Award to honor his work as an editor and as a writer. He also received NESFA’s Skylark Award for Lifetime Achievement in Science Fiction, and in many ways had a direct hand in shaping the future of science fiction during his career.

He has edited hundreds of books, including solo and co-edited anthologies as well as novels written in collaboration with authors such as George R.R. Martin, Michael Swanwick, and others. His work has topped the New York Times bestseller list, he has been inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and he has been a member of the science fiction community and fandom for decades. Born in Salem, MA, he lived much of his life in Philadelphia, PA with his wife Susan Casper (1947-2017).

Gardner and Susan were longtime fans, who enjoyed exploring the world together, and spending time with friends at conventions all around the world. In addition to his work as an editor, Gardner was known for capturing their adventures in delightful narratives that preserved these moments in time. Both he and Susan will be missed.

February 16, 2018

Helmuth, Friday at 5pm – Boskone’s At Con Newsletter with Updates

Hey Con-goers! The first Helmuth Newsletter is available. Check it out at Helmuth 55 – Friday Night Edition. Be sure to take a look at the Program Changes listed below:

The following people have dropped from Program:

Steve Berman
Debra Doyle
James D. Macdonald
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Karl Schroeder
Fran Wilde
Frank Wu
Brianna Wu

The following items have been added:

Meet Up: The State of Black Science Fiction Facebook Group
Harbor I – Discussion Group Westin
Friday 06:00 PM

Join Gerald Coleman for a discussion focused on the popular Facebook group The State of Black Science Fiction and visit the group online at https://www.facebook.com/groups/blackscifi/
Gerald L. Coleman

Meet Up: Emerson College Popular Fiction
Harbor I – Discussion Group Westin
Saturday 02:00 PM

Join the Emerson College popular fiction meet up for a casual discussion about writing, MFAs, and popular fiction.
Jessica Treadway

Dublin 2019 Late Night Meet Up
Galleria – Meetup Spot Westin
Saturday 10:30 PM

Join the Dublin 2019 Worldcon team for a meet up in the Galleria for some Irish snacks and music.
Vincent Docherty Erin Underwood Jackie Kamlot Ginjer Buchanan John R. Douglas

Friday item changes:

Evolution and Alien Psychology
Now begins at 9:00 pm in Burroughs. (Change from 9:00 pm in Marina 3.)

Name That Tune: What’s Next?
Now begins at 10:00 pm on Friday in Marina 1. (Change from 2:00 pm on Sunday.)
Generation Ships

Dropped participant: Jeffrey A. Carver

Saturday item changes:

Reading by Geary Gravel
Now begins at 1:00 pm in Independence. (Change from Sunday at 12:00 noon.)

Sunday item changes:

A Wizard of Earthsea
2018-02-17 – 12:00 (Harbor II, Westin)
Now begins at 12:00 noon in Harbor II. (Change from 12:00 noon in Harbor III)
New participant: Jeff Carroll

Stories for Themed Anthologies
Now begins at 12:00 noon in Griffin. (Change from 12:00 noon in Harbor III).

Reading by Tamora Pierce
Now begins at 12:00 noon in Harbor III. (Change from 12:30pm in Griffin.)

February 15, 2018

Boskone, Travel, Traffic, and the Boat Show!

For those of us who are driving to Boskone, and that includes cabs as well as Uber and Lift, please be aware that the New England Boat Show is happening at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, which shares a driveway with the Westin.

When driving, please be aware that traffic will likely be heavy at times, especially during the opening and closing hours of the Boat Show. On the bright side, this means that their parking lot will be open during the day (and I believe that parking is around $18 per day, but you should verify that with the BC&EC’s attendant). Since their lot does close at night, please also be sure to also ask how late they will be open (each day that you use their lot) so that you can retrieve your car.

A nice alternative to driving is to take the Silver Line, SL1 or SL2, to the World Trade Center Station. For details on how to navigate the MBTA system see the Boskone website. We also have parking information listed as well.

Please be sure to plan some extra time to arrive at the convention before the first program item that you would like to attend. Safe travels! We look forward to seeing you there!

February 12, 2018

Remembering Ursula K. Le Guin at Boskone

This year at Boskone, we have several items that are either dedicated to the work of science fiction icon Ursula K. Le Guin, including a few items that also touch on her contributions to the SF field. We hope that you will be able to join us and to share in these events.

Ursula K. Le Guin
21 October 1929–22 January 2018

Photo © Marian Wood Kolisch

Saturday, February 17, 10:00 am-8:00 pm
Memory Book for Ursula K. Le Guin
In the Maker’s Space, located in the Galleria, we will have a memory book for fans and friends to write memories and notes dedicated to our dearly departed friend Ursula K. Le Guin. At the end of the convention, we will send the book to Ursula’s family with a note of thanks for all she has done for our community.

Friday at 6:00 PM
Exploring Gender in Speculative Fiction
Julie Holderman, Inanna Arthen, Stephen P. Kelner Jr., Suzanne Palmer, Stacey Berg (M)
Harbor III · 60 min · Panel
In 1969, Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness famously featured an androgynous culture. More recently, Ann Leckie’s celebrated Ancillary series and her latest novel, Provenance, treat readers to a society in which gender doesn’t matter. What other SF/F/H writers offer us gender-expansive characters or societies? Why and when should gender matter?

Friday at 8:45 PM
Opening Ceremony: Meet the Guests
David G. Grubbs (M), Gay Ellen Dennett (M), Catherine Asaro, Mary Robinette Kowal, Craig Miller, Tamora Pierce, Marianne Plumridge, Nat Segaloff
Galleria – Stage · 15 min · Event
Welcome to Boskone, New England’s longest-running convention for science fiction, fantasy, and horror! Whether you are attending for the first time or the fifty-fifth, we invite you to join us in the Galleria to meet this year’s guests. Guest of Honor Mary Robinette Kowal will also say a few words acknowledging our departed friends, including SF icon Ursula K. Le Guin.

Saturday  at 12:00 NOON
A Wizard of Earthsea
Catherine Asaro, Vandana Singh, Robert V.S. Redick, Max Gladstone (M)
Harbor II · 60 min · Panel
Ursula K. Le Guin’s masterpiece was published 50 years ago. A classic coming-of-age story, A Wizard of Earthsea continues to cast its spell over teens and adults alike. Why is Ged such a compelling character? What makes the story as fresh and appealing today as in 1968? What does it have to say about words, magic, ambition, patience, truth, death? Our panelists share their insights — and favorite parts.

Sunday at 12:00 NOON
Women Who Write Science Fiction
LJ Cohen, Victoria Sandbrook (M), Catherine Asaro, Erin Roberts, Marianna Martin PhD
Marina 3 · 60 min · Panel
Mary Shelley, Leigh Brackett, Ursula K. Le Guin, Connie Willis, N. K. Jemisin — women have been in the thick of writing science fiction for a very long time. Let’s discuss some of their landmark publications that captured our imagination. Why do we love these stories? What works should we look for the next time we’re browsing the shelves?

~

As Boskone’s Head of Program this year, I hope you are able to share in some of these program items that acknowledge the work, life, and contributions of Ursula K. Le Guin. She was a force within the genre and her loss was felt throughout our community and beyond its borders. Many people have already shared their thoughts and feelings than I ever could upon hearing that Ursula had passed away. Since nothing I can say would be nearly as elegant or touching, I am sharing a short interview that Nancy Holder and I did with Ursula K. Le Guin in 2011 for our column in the SFWA Bulletin, which  focused on diversity in SF.

Diversity is a topic that has always been important to both Nancy and me. So, when we had the opportunity to talk with Ursula, we jumped at the chance because she has always included characters who were not white, and in some cases none of her characters were white. Given that covers don’t always reflect the characters within the story, we wanted to know what experiences she had with cover designs and diversity. Ursula responded without mincing words.

URSULA: I hardly know where to begin about covers. The most egregiously silly one was the first British Wizard of Earthsea, a Puffin paperback. Ged is a skinny, dead-white-skinned fellow in a nightgown in a drooping Pre-Raphaelite pose. You sort of have to laugh. Puffin did better later, but never was my bronze-skinned Ged shown as anything but white.

The only early Earthsea covers where everybody wasn’t white were the beautiful cover paintings Margaret Chodos-Irvine did for the joint Houghton-Mifflin/Atheneum hardcover set of the first four books — but that edition was a well-kept secret; it got no PR, and hardly anyone seems to have ever seen it.

As I got more clout, I began demanding cover approval, and sometimes got it, and sometimes it made a difference. Mostly my people are people of color, and mostly the cover picture whitewashes them. Dips them in the Clorox.

…[T]he arrogance of any illustrator or designer who insists on a right to contradict and thus betray [emphasis Ursula’s] the text is unforgivable. Especially when something as genuinely, morally important as skin color is involved.

When asked if  she had experienced any challenges portraying/including diversity in young adult fiction, she responded with an equally thoughtful answer.

URSULA: No. Partly because I have been very fortunate in my choice of agent and my luck in editors. Partly because during a good deal of my writing career there was no diversity bandwagon to hop on. And partly because right from the beginning, which would be in the late 1960’s, in my SF and fantasy books, at least one of the main characters was not white, and sometimes none of them where white. I made no big deal out of this–the societies in the books made no big deal out of it. That made it easier for the editor to just pass over it. (The problem came with the Cover Department–sheeeeesh–you want some growling and snarling about covers??) Making my main people brown, bronze, black, etc. (green once) and doing it quietly was a conscious and deliberate ploy. I was just so sick of thinking–What is it with this far future, or this alternate earth, where everybody is named Jim or Bob or Joe and is as white as Shirley Temple? I mean, what the hell?

I hope you will be able to join us at Boskone and that you too will have an opportunity to appreciate and celebrate one of the great women of science fiction. I also hope you have enjoyed these short interview answers from Ursula K. Le Guin. If you have time, please stop by the Maker’s Space in the Galleria and leave a note for Ursula in the Memory Book dedicated to her.

It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.
– Ursula K. Le Guin