My Philcon 2018 Schedule

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Michael A. Ventrella

I’m looking forward to the Philcon science fiction convention the weekend of November 10th. It’s Philadelphia’s oldest literary convention. It’s in New Jersey. (Look, it was cheaper, okay?) philcon_logo

I’ve been a guest at Philcon for years, and it’s always great to go back there and see so many of my friends. Guest of Honor this year is Steven Brust! (You can read my interview with him from a few years ago here). This year’s event will be on the weekend of November 16 – 18.

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Here’s my schedule:

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT: 30TH ANNIVERSARY (Sat 12:00) [Panelists: Rebecca Robare (mod), Michael A. Ventrella, Daniel Kimmel, Ray Ridenour] Join us as we remember the film that broke all the rules and set the benchmark for future movies. What made it so groundbreaking? Does it still hold up today?

RECIPES FOR CHARACTER CREATION (Sat 1:00) [Panelists: Vikki Ciaffone (mod), Steven Brust, Alan P. Smale, Philippa Ballantine, Michael A. Ventrella] How do you design characters that your audience will find not only three-dimensional, but memorable? What will adding a dash of this or that personality trait do to your audience’s opinion of them?

READING (Sat 5:00) [Panelists: Tom Purdom (mod), Michael A. Ventrella, Leigh Grossman] We’ll each be reading from our recent works.

AUTOGRAPHS (Sat 6:00) [Panelists: Leigh Grossman (mod), Michael A. Ventrella] … and then two of us will be signing anything you want signed.

SCIENCE FICTION AND THE MEN IN BLACK (Sun 10:00) [Panelists: Michael A. Ventrella (mod), Michael D’Ambrosio, Mark Singer, Martin Berman-Gorvine, Kevin Patterson] A discussion of conspiracy theories, secret societies, and themes of cover-ups / the creation of a false consciousness by shadowy organizations in science fiction. Should we be concerned about how paranoid society seems to be getting? Or is it all just a government ploy?…

SCIENCE FICTION AS SOCIAL EDUCATION (Sun 12:00) [Panelists: Rebecca Robare (mod), Dr. Valerie J. Mikles, Simone Zelitch, Phil Giunta, Michael A. Ventrella, Anastasia Klimchynskaya] How can science fiction help us become more socially aware? What allows science fiction to address social issues in unique ways not found in other forms of literature, and how can we meaningfully use it to better our society?