These are my panels at ArmadilloCon 44 in Austin, TX this weekend. The Naming panel was cool, and from here I’m headed to the next:

-Chek Lonescrum: The Art of Making Fantastical Character Names – Fri 5:00 PM
Panelists discuss notable speculative character names, naming conventions and techniques, and apply fresh fantasy names to audience members.

-Human Nature/ Alien Nature – Fri 10:00 PM
Our panelists talk about the often implicit assumptions authors make about what makes humans or aliens tick. Are we/they inherently greedy or self-serving or violent or empathetic or subservient or… is writing a true “alien” mind something we aren’t even capable of?

-Pushing Characters To Their Limits: How Do They Survive Your Stories? – Sat 11:00 AM
How much can you punish your characters? How much damage can they take and reasonably keep going? How long can they go without food? And if the situation is extreme enough, where will they find it? How much can magic or technology save them before it’s not believable, or just removes all tension from the story?

-Kaffeeklatch – Eva L. Elasigue Sat 2:00 PM

-Signing Session – Sat 3:00 PM

-Integrating Your Hobbies Into Your Writing – Sat 5:00 PM
“Write what you know” they said. So the best way to do that, even when writing SFF, is to bring what you know– the things that you obsessively do in your spare time– into the story. Here’s how to tap into that deep love and knowledge you have to enrich your stories, while going so deep that you lose everyone but the true believers.

-The Future of Identity in SF – Sat 7:00 PM
As SF continues to explore transhumanity, artificial intelligence and alien life, concepts of who we are, of what defines the self and personhood— in terms of consciousness, gender, humanity, even physicality— can be explored through wider and wider lenses. How do we best express these explorations of the possible?

-Reading – Eva L. Elasigue – Sun 10:30 AM

-The World of Analog Horror – Sun 1:00 PM
Local 58, The Mandela Catalog, Gemini Home Entertainment. Explore the world of this unique subgenere of horror, and why it can be so effective.