My Balticon 50 Schedule (so far)

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Michael A. Ventrella

Balticon is celebrating its 50th birthday by inviting some amazing guests to this convention!

I figured if I posted this picture, more people would read this than if I had posted a picture of myself

I’ll be rubbing shoulders with people like George R.R. Martin, Larry Niven, John Varley, Connie Willis, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Springer, Steve Barnes, Harry Turtledove, Allen Steele, Peter Beagle, Joe Walton, Phil and Kaja Folio, and many many more! (I’d list them all but it would take up the entire blog.) Seriously, if you read science fiction and fantasy at all, you know most of these names. A complete list is here.

The convention is Memorial Day weekend of 2016.

Here’s my schedule as it stands now (subject to change):

Reading (Friday 4:00 pm): I’ll be reading from my work along with Gail Z. Martin and Charlie Brown.

Social Media for Authors (Saturday 3:00 pm): There’s a skill to presenting yourself and publicizing yourself in social media; things to emphasize and things to avoid. Should you create an image? Avoid politics? Twitter or Facebook? How much is too much? The panel will discuss strategies for letting people know about your work without turning yourself into an advertisement or spam. With Gail Z. Martin.

The Greatest Animated Films Ever (Saturday 6:00 pm): The Our panelists try to come up with a Top Ten consensus of the greatest animated feature films ever. Which films will make the cut? And, more importantly, can they do it while avoiding violence?

Masquerade (Saturday 8:00 pm): The costume competition (in which my wife, award-winning artist Heidi Hooper, is one of the judges and I help out by assisting the performers).

Signing (Sunday 10:00 am): I’ll be signing books along with George R.R. Martin. Well, he’ll be signing a lot more than I will be.

The Biggest Mistakes Made by Beginning Writers (Sunday 11:00 am): The panel will discuss (from a reader’s point of view) not only writing mistakes but also promotional mistakes: How writers have screwed themselves over and killed their chances of making it in the publishing world after doing easily preventable things! With Christine Rake

Signing (Sunday 1:00 pm): Another signing session, this time with Phil Guinta and Lawrence Watt-Evans.

The Eye of Argon (Sunday 11:00 pm): One of the genre’s most beloved pieces of appalling prose” read by some of the best narrators, presented in all its theatrical glory and critiqued by those who can’t keep a straight face. When a panelist makes a mistake, they are required to get up and act out the story! Everyone in attendance can also make an attempt at reading. Come prepared to laugh!