2017 Nebula Conference: Full Schedule

2:00pm EDT

Navigating the gatekeepers of Middle Grade

As a middle grade writer, you are writing for an audience that often isn't the one with the wallet. How do find your audience through the gates of schools and parents?

Moderators

Merrie Haskell.

Author

Merrie Haskell’s novels are The Princess Curse, Handbook for Dragon Slayers and The Castle Behind Thorns. She won the Schneider Family Book Award (Middle Grades) and the DetCon1 Middle Grade Speculative Fiction award, and she was twice a finalist for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award... Read More →

Speakers

Jessi Cole Jackson

Writer & Professional Theatrical Costumer

Jessi Cole Jackson lives in the prettiest part of New Jersey. By day she builds costumes for a Tony Award-winning theatre. By night she studies Children’s Literature at Hollins University. Somewhere in between, she writes. Her short fiction can be found in Hidden Youth: Speculative... Read More →

Jane Yolen

SFWA Grandmaster

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA, Inc.) is pleased to announce that Jane Yolen has been named the 33rd Damon Knight Grand Master for her contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy. The award is given by SFWA for “lifetime achievement... Read More →

Thursday May 18, 2017 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

3:30pm EDT

Taxes and Incorporation

At what point should a writer consider incorporating rather than operating as a sole proprietor? There are benefits to both options, but sorting through it can be daunting for someone who isn't a tax professional.

Speakers

Kevin McLaughlin

Writer, Role of the Hero Publishing

Kevin McLaughlin is a USA Today bestselling author of science fiction and fantasy novels, with over thirty books published. He has been a speaker at DragonCon, the Nebula Conference, 20Books, WorldCon, Arisia, Boskone, and other events. He believes in giving back to the writing community... Read More →

Bud Sparhawk

Chief Financial Officer

Bud Sparhawk’s short stories collection NONPARALLEL UNIVERSES will be launched at Balticon17 . His next novel: SHATTERED DREAMS will be launched in autumn of 2017. His most recent novel, DISTANT SEAS is available from Amazon and other booksellers as trade paperback and eBook... Read More →

Thursday May 18, 2017 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

Audience Agents, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

5:00pm EDT

Imposter Syndrome vs. Archives.

In the computer age, it's easy to inadvertently lose your early-career (or current) work. Many early career writers also may feel like they aren't "important" enough to archive their work. We'll discuss strategies for current backups, selection for migration, and long-term maintenance of your literary papers, so that they are there when posterity calls.

Moderators

Lynne M Thomas

Editor/Publisher, Uncanny Magazine

Co-editor in chief/co publisher of Uncanny Magazine.11-time Hugo Award WinnerCo-editor of Chicks Dig Time LordsMember of the Verity! Podcast

Speakers

Laura Anne Gilman

David D. Levine

David D. Levine is the author of novel Arabella of Mars (Tor 2016) and over fifty SF and fantasy stories. His story "Tk'Tk'Tk" won the Hugo, and he has been shortlisted for awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, and Sturgeon. Stories have appeared in Asimov's, Analog, F&SF... Read More →

Bud Sparhawk

Chief Financial Officer

Thursday May 18, 2017 5:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

10:00am EDT

Gaming and Writing

What a writer needs to know to work in this market plus all the questions you didn't know but need to ask.

Moderators

Annalee Flower-Horne

@leeflower

Speakers

Liz Argall

Writer, Argall Creative

Liz Argall is a speculative fiction author, and creator of the all ages webcomics series Things Without Arms and Without Legs, a comic about creatures who are kind. Her fiction can be found in places like Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, This is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable... Read More →

S.B. Divya

S.B. Divya is a lover of science, math, fiction, and the Oxford comma. She is the Hugo and Nebula nominated author of Machinehood (Saga), Runtime (tordotcom), and the short story collection, Contingency Plans For the Apocalypse and Other Possible Situations (Hachette India). Divya... Read More →

Merc Rustad

author / AV

Todd Sanders

Director, Air and Nothingness Press

I have run my own press - Air and Nothingness Press - since 1997. I’ve published five books of the translated poetry of Robert Desnos, three of my own books of poetry and am now publishing the writing of Jamie Lackey and UK fantasy authors Steph Swainston and Jonathan L. Howard.I... Read More →

Friday May 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Marquis C

Professional Development, Panel

Audience Agents, Early Career Writers, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

11:30am EDT

Beyond Western Names

Writing diverse characters for Western markets can be a challenge when attempting to use traditional names for your characters. Authors may be asked to come up with shorter, easier to promounce names for English speaking readers or give their characters English nicknames. In some cases, authors may be asked to give up on a traditional name altogether.
Panelists can discuss ways to express diversity in their character names while still engaging an English speaking audience.

Moderators

Piper J. Drake

Author

Piper J. Drake (or “PJ”) began her writing career as “PJ Schnyder” writing award-winning sci-fi & paranormal romance and steampunk. She has received the FF&P PRISM award for her work as well as the NJRW Golden Leaf award and Parsec award. Now, Piper J. Drake is a bestselling... Read More →

Speakers

Philippa Ballantine

Author

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Philippa Ballantine has always had her head in a book. At the age of thirteen she began writing fantasy stories for herself. Her first professional sale was in 1997, and since then she has gone on to produce novel length fiction. In 2006 she became... Read More →

Anatoly Belilovsky

writer

Anatoly Belilovsky is a Russian-American author and translator of speculative fiction. He was born in a city that went through six or seven owners in the last century, all of whom used it to do a lot more than drive to church on Sundays; he is old enough to remember tanks rolling... Read More →

Gwendolyn Clare

S.B. Divya

Friday May 19, 2017 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
Marquis C

Professional Development, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Editors, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

2:00pm EDT

Assistive devices in zero-G environments

Imagining a future in which space travel is commonplace, how would assistive technology need to adapt for zero-g or microgravity environments?

Moderators

Kate Baker

Executive Director, SFWA

Kate Baker is the Podcast Director and Non-fiction Editor for Clarkesworld Magazine.Kate won the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine in 2011 and 2013, the British Fantasy Award for Best Magazine in 2014 and the World Fantasy Award for Special Award: Non Professional in 2014 alongside... Read More →

Speakers

William Ledbetter

Writer

David D. Levine

Kjell Lindgren

Astronaut, NASA

Dr. Kjell N. Lindgren was selected by NASA in 2009. He spent most of his childhood abroad and returned to the U.S. to complete his education and earn a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Colorado. He is board certified in emergency and aerospace medicine. After serving as... Read More →

Kevin McLaughlin

Writer, Role of the Hero Publishing

Friday May 19, 2017 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
Marquis C

Professional Development, Panel

Audience Art Directors, Early Career Writers, Editors, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

3:30pm EDT

Dealing with Discouragement

The short story you're sure is good is rejected by every publisher you send it to. Your carefully crafted novel is shrugged off by 20 agents. Your self-published novelette earns one star on GoodReads. This discussion will cover personal strategies to deal with disappointments, rejection, and other setbacks.

Moderators

Barbara Krasnoff

Barbara Krasnoff has published over 30 pieces of short fiction in a wide variety of publications, including Clockwork Phoenix 5 (and 4 and 2), Mythic Delirium, Crossed Genres, Space and Time, Broken Time Blues: Fantastic Tales in the Roaring ’20s, Weird Tales, and Memories and Visions... Read More →

Speakers

Siena Leslie

Co-founder, Habitica

Bishop OConnell

Writer, Harper Voyager

Bishop O'Connell is the author of the American Faerie Tale series, a consultant, writer, blogger, and lover of kilts and beer, as well as a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. Born in Naples Italy while his father was stationed in Sardinia, Bishop grew up in... Read More →

Trevor Quachri

Editor in Chief, Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Before taking the reigns of ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION & FACT as editor in 2012, Trevor Quachri started off as an editorial assistant in 1999 and worked his way up the ladder at ANALOG and ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION, under Stanley Schmidt, Sheila Williams, and Gardner Dozois, respectively... Read More →

Elizabeth Shack

Shanna Swendson

Shanna Swendson earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas but decided it was more fun to make up the people she wrote about. She’s written a number of fantasy novels for teens and adults and spends her spare time on knitting and music.

Friday May 19, 2017 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

5:00pm EDT

Flash Fiction and its benefits

Flash fiction forces writers to make every word count, a skill that is useful for longer stories, too. We'll discuess what makes a good flash story, give tips and tricks for writing flash, and suggest markets for finished flash stories. With the possibility of Patreon or Kickstarter rewards, knowing how to write flash can offer a surprisingly low-impact source for income, if you can learn to write it.

Moderators

Caroline M. Yoachim

Speakers

Brooke Bolander

Writer

Brooke Bolander is a chaos-sowing trickster girl of indeterminate employment, half-tornado, half-writer. Originally from the deepest, darkest, swampiest regions of the southern US, she attended the University of Leicester from 2004 to 2007 studying History and Archaeology and is a... Read More →

Trevor Quachri

Editor in Chief, Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Cat Rambo

John Wiswell

John (@Wiswell) is a disabled writer who lives where New York keeps all its trees. His work has appeared at Uncanny Magazine, Weird Tales, Fireside Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, Pseudopod, Podcastle, and Flash Fiction Online.

Friday May 19, 2017 5:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
Marquis C

Professional Development, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

1:00pm EDT

Erasure is not equality

Authors often that leave things out to a) avoid depicting them "wrong" or b) because they are trying to be "sensitive," or c) don't want to be "political" with their fiction. Marginalizions are routinely excluded from work that is otherwise trying to be progressive and inclusive (such as fat/body acceptance, aroace erasure, or aro erasure in general; or trans being often left out of the LGBT shorthand, in particular transmasc folks; etc.)

Moderators

Merc Rustad

author / AV

Speakers

KT Bryski

Author

KT Bryski is an award-winning fantasy author. Their short fiction has appeared in Best American SFF, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Strange Horizons, Apex, the Deadlands, PodCastle, Lackington's, and others. KT has won the Parsec Award and has been a finalist for the Eugie, Sunburst, and... Read More →

Curtis Chen

Secretary, SFWA

Once a Silicon Valley software engineer, Curtis C. Chen (陳致宇) now writes stories and runs puzzle games near Portland, Oregon. He's the author of the Kangaroo series of funny science fiction spy thrillers and has written for the Realm originals Ninth Step Station, Machina, and... Read More →

Jessi Cole Jackson

Writer & Professional Theatrical Costumer

K. M. Szpara

Author

K.M. Szpara is a queer and trans author who lives in Baltimore, MD, with a tiny dog. Kellan's debut alt-/near-future novel, DOCILE (Spring 2020, Tor.com Publishing), explores the snowballing debt crisis, consent, and privilege, and can be described as "really gay". He is the author... Read More →

Saturday May 20, 2017 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
Marquis C

Professional Development, Panel

Audience Art Directors, Early Career Writers, Editors, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

2:30pm EDT

What Teens are Looking for in YA Literature

YA Literature is consumed, enjoyed, and written by people of all age groups. But what about its original target demographic? What, exactly, do teenagers enjoy about YA? What makes or breaks a good YA book? In this panel, a group of teenagers and SFWA's newest grandmaster discusses what they love and hate about the genre and its many subgenres, tropes, and traits. Come listen and learn.

Moderators

Diane Turnshek

Carnegie Mellon University

Diane Turnshek is an astronomer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. She has been on the Board of Directors for both the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and Parsec, Pittsburgh’s premier science fiction organization. For nine years, she mentored graduate... Read More →

Speakers

Kyra Boisseree

Kyra Boisserée is a Comparative Literature major at Reed College. While she unironically adores Shakespeare and Les Misérables (yes, the book), she has a lot of thoughts about the literary field as a whole (specifically its hierarchies and standards of worth) which she has been... Read More →

Ana Maria Curtis

Student, Swarthmore College

Ana studies English Lit, Economics, and Mandarin Chinese. She wrote some words once.

Alina Sichevaya

Jane Yolen

SFWA Grandmaster

Saturday May 20, 2017 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT
Marquis C

Expert Knowledge, Panel

Audience Agents, Early Career Writers, Editors, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

4:00pm EDT

Creating and Depicting Invented Cultures

From Tolkien’s Dwarves to Star Trek’s Klingons, invented cultures have always been a major part of science fiction and fantasy. But how do writers create and write about these new cultures? We’ll take a look at the three main models for inventing cultures, from human cultures in disguise to the completely new and unfathomable, three ways to put culture on the page, from “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all” to intersectionality that puts a new spin on the fictional melting pot, and three common pitfalls that can hamstring your story and alienate readers.

Speakers

Erin Roberts

Attendee

Saturday May 20, 2017 4:00pm - 4:30pm EDT
Marquis C

Professional Development, Solo presentation

Audience Early Career Writers, Editors, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

4:30pm EDT

'Starting a Reading Series in your Town: Lessons We've Learned in Seattle and Portland'

In this presentation, we take a look at what SFWA has learned from starting the SFWA Northwest Reading Series in Portland, OR.

Moderators

Mark Nieman Ross

Author

Mark Niemann-Ross is a Portland-based writer of hard science-fiction with an emphasis on the impact of technology on society. He is a two-time winner of Analog Magazine Reader's Choice Award, has appeared in Stupefying Stories, narrated audio books, and is working on his first novel... Read More →

Saturday May 20, 2017 4:30pm - 5:00pm EDT
Marquis C

Expert Knowledge

Audience Agents, Early Career Writers, Editors, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

10:00am EDT

Work For Hire

When trying to diversify the income stream, work for hire is a potential option. Our panelists discuss possible pitfalls to look out for in contracts, and how to be creative on demand.

Moderators

Liz Argall

Writer, Argall Creative

Speakers

Kenneth Chiacchia

Senior Science Writer, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center

Ken Chiacchia’s bio reads like a random sampling of events from different people’s lives. A defrocked biochemist, he has since been a public relations writer, freelance newspaper reporter, science fiction author, EMT, search-and-rescue dog handler and search manager, firefighter... Read More →

N.R. (Nancy) Lambert

Nancy Lambert is an author from New York City. As N.R. Lambert, her stories appear or are forthcoming in Lightspeed, VASTARIEN, The Modern Deity’s Guide to Surviving Humanity, Don’t Turn Out the Lights, and elsewhere. She’s also written for Entertainment Weekly, TIME, LIFE... Read More →

Jody Lynn Nye

Author

Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as “spoiling cats.” She lives near Atlanta with three feline overlords, Athena, Minx, and Marmalade; and her husband, author and packager Bill Fawcett. She has published more than 50 books, including collaborations with Anne McCaffrey... Read More →

Sunday May 21, 2017 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Game Writers, Hybrid, Traditional

11:00am EDT

Writing What You DON’T Know: Going Beyond Research

There is an old adage amongst authors of “Write What You Know” but what if you want to bring something new, something unknown to your work. What if you want to bring more diversity to your work, especially when an inspiration hits you? They have been called “Sensitivity Editors” but some authors dedicated to getting their fiction right prefer to call them “Cultural Consultants.” Panelists talk about the importance of reaching out to communities outside their own comfort zones and cultural circles, and writing in arenas that are not second nature to them.

Moderators

Piper J. Drake

Author

Speakers

Susan Forest

Secretary, SFWA

Three-time Aurora finalist, Susan Forest writes SF, fantasy and horror, and is a freelance fiction editor. Her stories have appeared in Asimov’s, Analog, Tesseracts, AE SF Review, OnSPEC, and her collection, Immunity to Strange Tales. Susan has judged the Endeavour Award, and she... Read More →

Vanessa Rose Phin

Associate Editor, Strange Horizons

Ness is a developmental editor, learning designer, writer, sensitivity reader, and calligrapher--sometimes all at once. Ve is a Midwestern transplant to Baltimore, where ve somehow earned a history degree writing about crossdressing sailors and genderqueer deities.

Elsa Sjunneson

Attendee

Hugo, BFA and Aurora award winning editor Elsa Sjunneson is a Deafblind hurricane in a vintage dress. Her written work has appeared in CNN Opinion, Uncanny Magazine, Women of Marvel #1, and many other projects and venues. Being Seen, her debut memoir on media and disability releases... Read More →

Sunday May 21, 2017 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
Marquis C

Professional Development, Panel

Audience Agents, Early Career Writers, Editors, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional