My Norwescon 40 Schedule

Convention season is just around the corner, and I’ll be starting my year off with the fine folks at Norwescon 40 in SeaTac, Washington April 13th – 16th. This year happens to be their 40th Anniversary, which is pretty dang amazing for a regional convention.

Unlike the last few years (Norwescon 38, Norwescon 39) I won’t be running a table on Writer’s Row. I love doing it, but I wanted to take a break this year and allow myself some time to enjoy the convention. So look for me in the halls! I’m a friendly sort. Stop me and say hi! Let’s play a game or get a beer and talk shop. I’m the big guy in black.

I’ll also be on a few panels and I’ve listed out my schedule below. You can find out more about my fellow panelists by clicking on their names, links go to their respective corners on the web. (Buy their books.) As before, it’ll be an honor sitting among such talent.

Not going to lie, listing all of this out got me excited. Is it April yet?

THURSDAY, APRIL 13th

8:00 PM – 10:00 PM — Art Show Reception

Location: Art Show
Details: It’s an art show! Drink wine, eat cheese, look at art, get introspective!

FRIDAY, APRIL 14th

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM — Advanced Self-Publishing

Location: Cascade 5 & 6
Moderator: Tori Centanni
Panelists: Annie Bellet, Mark Teppo, Elliott Kay, K. M. Alexander
Details: Self-publishing 201! Already self-publishing but want to take your career to the next level? This panel is for you. Pros will discuss how best to brand your books, how to increase sales and visibility, and how to avoid the newest pitfalls. We’ll talk strategy, branding, and how to manage your career so that you have the greatest odds of success.

8:00 PM – 9:00 PM — Worldbuilding: Alien Cultures that Don’t Dehumanize

Location: Cascade 10
Moderator: Liz Argall
Panelists: Stephanie Weippert, Rhiannon Held, K. M. Alexander
Details: Set a Cowboy-and-Indian yarn on another planet. Swap the cowboys for space rangers and the indigenes for monstrous aliens – the premise for countless space operas of the pulp era. The metaphor was clear: Native Americans are monstrous. How do you mirror alien societies with their earthly counterparts without portraying non-Western races and religions as inhuman themselves?

SATURDAY, APRIL 15th

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM — SF/Fantasy Battle Royale

Location: Evergreen 3 & 4
Moderator: Matt Youngmark
Panelists: K. M. Alexander
Details: Who would win in a fight? A fast-paced, bracket-style, breathtakingly unscientific showdown to determine this year’s Ultimate Fictional Champion. Ready…? Fight!

7:00 PM – 8:00 PM — The Changing Landscape of Worldbuilding

Location: Cascade 5 & 6
Moderator: Brenda Carre
Panelists: Raven Oak, K. M. Alexander
Details: Nature is rewriting the once immutable rules of worldbuilding. There’s liquid water on Mars. Who knew? Dinosaurs had feathers. Exoplanets exist in defiance of everything we knew about planetary mechanics. What does it mean for today’s writers when the building of credible landscapes is proving a much more organic and free-flowing process than once believed?

9:00 PM – 10:00 PM — Location, Location, Location: Horror’s Unsung Character

Location: Cascade 5 & 6
Moderator: Jaym Gates
Panelists: Nathan Crowder, Evan J. Peterson, K. M. Alexander
Details: A returning panel from last year where we discuss the importance of setting on a horror narrative, complete with favorite settings from our panel of horror professionals.

SUNDAY, APRIL 16th

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM — Urban Renewal

Location: Cascade 3 & 4
Moderator: Kristi Charish
Panelists: Rhiannon Held, Annie Bellet, K. M. Alexander
Details: Join our panelists as they discuss the common tropes in urban fantasy and the unique ways in which those themes can be reimagined for the audience.

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM — Worldbuilding: This is How the World Ends

Location: Cascade 10
Moderator: Catherine Cooke Montrose
Panelists: Rhiannon Held, Jaym Gates, K. M. Alexander
Details: Whether you’re writing zombie horror or post-apocalyptic romance, you need to figure out how the broken world got into that state. Super virus? War? Natural disaster? Pros will talk about manufacturing the end of the world as we know it in order to give your post-apocalyptic world a solid foundation.

As usual, I’ll be active on Twitter throughout the weekend. I’m @KM_Alexander, follow me! You can preregister for Norwescon 40 here and get passes to all four days for only $65. There’s also a lot of information at Norwescon.org including details on this year’s guests of honor (Ian McDonald, Cory & Catska Ench, Ethan Siegel, Nancy Kress, and Angry Robot Books), The Philip K. Dick Awards, information on the Doubletree Hotel, and a lot more. Hopefully, I’ll see you there!