Return to ProgrammingTropicon 18 Program Schedule
(Program descriptions can be found in the Program Book and following this table.)
Friday
| Time | Programming Room 1 | Programming Room 2 | Other |
| 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM | TV Fantasy in 1999-2000 Adam-Troy Castro, Carlos Perez, Bill Wilson (m) | ||
| 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM | SF & Fannish Web Sites Peter Barker, Carlos Perez, Joe Siclari (m) | ||
| 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM | 6:30 Opening Ceremony |
||
| 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM | Trivia Free-for-All Learn and earn tokens to spend in the Dealers room. Trivia Master: Edie Stern |
||
| 08:00 PM - 09:00 PM | Infamous Women Lynn Abbey, Adam-Troy Castro, Barbara Delaplace (m), Kathleen Ann Goonan, Mike Resnick |
||
| 09:00 PM - 10:30 PM | Velvet Comet Meet the VIPs party & casino by the Tiki Bar near the pool. To 10:30 PM. | ||
| 10:30 PM - 11:30 PM | RoboFilker: Joe Ellis in Concert |
||
| 11:30 PM - | Open Filk | Jacuzzi Horror Stories Adam-Troy Castro, Peter Rawlik. Yes, in the heat of the jacuzzi our writers will freeze your blood! |
Saturday
| Time | Programming Room 1 | Programming Room 2 | Other |
| 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM | Buffy the Archetype George Peterson, Edie Stern (m), Laurie Sutton, Bill Wilson |
||
| 11:00 AM - Noon | Things you Can't Get Away With Anymore in Hard SF and how to get away with them anyway -- A Hal Clement slideshow |
Readings: 11-12:30 PM Adam-Troy Castro & Mike Resnick | |
| Noon - 01:00 PM | SF Roadshow Judi Goodman, Cynthia Plockelman, Joe Siclari (m), Ron Walotsky, W> ingenfeld??? |
Continued readings until 12:30 ___________________________ |
|
| 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM | How Did We Get Here? An alternate approach to alternate history Lynn Abbey, Hal Clement, Joseph Green (m), Rick Wilber |
Charms to Soothe the Savage Breast (or maybe to enrage it) Joe Ellis, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Glenn Hammer, David Kushner (m) |
|
| 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM | Technology Today Peter Barker, Jack Haldeman II, Jeff Mitchell, Edie Stern (m), Peter Woods |
Whither Harry Potter, Alice and Dorothy - Children's Fantasy & SF Shirlene Ananayo-Rawlik (m), Charles Fontenay, Holly Lisle, Glenn Meganck> | |
| 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM | Righting for Pleasure, Righting for Fun Barbara Delaplace, Joseph Green (m), Holly Lisle, Glenn Meganck, Rick Wilber |
Narrated Slide Show of His Art by Guest of Honor Ron Walotsky | |
| 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM | Film From Different Angles - Herschell Gordon Lewis, interviewed by Carlos Perez | Africa, My Africa Carol Resnick, Mike Resnick, Pat Sims, Roger Sims(m), Dick Spelman | |
| 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM | Not Your Grandma's SF Lynn Abbey, Judi Goodman (m), Laurie Sutton, Ron Walotsky |
Art & Charity Auctions | |
| 06:00 PM - 06:30 PM | |||
| 06:30 PM - 07:00 PM | 6:30 Cash bar | ||
| 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM | Guest of Honor Banquet | ||
| 08:00 PM - 09:00 PM | GoH Speeches | ||
| 09:00 PM - 10:00 PM | Extra Special Program | ||
| 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM | |||
| 11:00 PM - | Open Filking | Irish Wake and Reading for the Wheels of IF |
Sunday
| Time | Programming Room 1 | Programming Room 2 | Other |
| 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM | Trivia Master Competition Edie Stern |
||
| 11:00 AM - Noon | The Body Alien Hal Clement, Jack Haldeman II, David Kushner, Holly Lisle (m), Judy Wilson | ||
| Noon - 01:00 PM | Facts to Fiction: Newspapermen & SF Charles Fontenay, Mike Resnick, Rick Wilber (m) | Masks, a workshop on creation and design by Ron Walotsky | Peter Woodward introduces Crusade |
| 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM | End of the World Prophecy - Hal Clement (m), Charles Fontenay, Joseph Green, Janice Scott-Reeder, Laurie Sutton | Writers Workshop - Holly Lisle | |
| 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM | Indigenous Peoples Kathleen Ann Goonan (m), Jack Haldeman II, Mike Resnick |
Art & Charity Auctions Auctioneer: Joe Siclari |
Performing, Writing & Producing - Peter Woodward interviewed by George Peterson |
| 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM | SF Lists, Part 1 Judi Goodman, George Peterson, Joe Siclari (m), Dick Spelman, | Peter Woodward signing | |
| 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM | Closing Ceremony |
There is so much SF&F on TV now. Our experts give you a considered view on what will be worth wasting your time on for the rest of 1999 and the new millenium.
Favorite search arguments. Egoscanning the web. How to find what you're looking for, or at least a pointer to a pointer to a pointer to what you're looking for. Sites, pictures, stories, mythology, fannish intercourse. Come and find out the web sites that will keep you fascinated until the next Tropicon.
Welcome to Tropicon XVIII.
Learn and earn tokens to spend in the dealer's room. Everyone can play. The first person with the correct answer earns a wooden nickel worth a dime (inflation you know) which can be spent with the Tropicon dealers. Questions on SF, Fantasy, Fandom, Science, Space, and Tropicon.
Women you've known & loved in SF. What makes them interesting? Characters, characters based on real people, real people who should be SF characters. Are current female creations significantly different than Helen O'Loy? Do women write better women characters? Do men write women as men with breasts? What character is the best realized of SF women characters? What character is the worst? Why do readers sometimes think that women can write male characters, but that men can't write female characters?
Meet the VIPs, and be one yourself. The Velvet Comet welcomes all our guests, attendees, and high rollers. Try our chancy games,and enjoy the ambience patterned on the immor(t)al venue of some of Mike Resnick's finest tales.
Robofilker concert.
Have a taste for the outre? Join our resident horror mongers in or around the jacuzzi to hear tales you never heard around the campfire. If you've a delectable, dispicable, disquieting few words to add, they will be most welcome.
Bring a song on your lips, a guitar or bodhran if you play one (or whatever instrument you do play) and join the musically desirous as we sing of things that will be, and a few that never were.
What's going on with television? Where have all the fantasies come from? Is SF losing its popularity to TV fantasy? Buffy the Vampire Slayer has reached large popularity. What does it say to teenagers, and to adults? Buffy is not a shrinking violet, and neither is Seven of Nine, Xena, or other TV fantasy females. Do men find this threatening or interesting? Is the emphasis on fantasy detrimental to the desire of the young to aspire to scientific and technological careers? Are these heroines still bimbos?
Tenderfoot on Venus seem a little out of date? Hard to imagine yourself fighting Lunar denizens (or Lunarians) with umbrellas? Hal Clement on "Things you can't get away with anymore in hard SF, and how to get away with them anyway".
You've seen the Antiques Roadshow on TV. Now bring your SF related books, art, toys and memorabilia for evaluation by our panel of experts. Come prepared with one or two pieces and we will evaluate your treasures. Have the experts tell you about it, appraise it, and maybe tell you where to find more like it. Find out about your treasures and your white elephants.
Uses of music to tell a story.
Alternate histories are certainly a popular form of SF. Why are we drawn to Alternate history? Does it fulfill a different need than other forms of SF or fantasy? Watching the pivot points unfold and the shape of the history make itself clear is a large part of the fun, and often taxing to the imagination. This panel is part challenge round. We'll give you five scenarios at the start of the panel, and ask you to brainstorm how you would shape an alternate history to achieve these moments. Example: Amerindian nation lands on the moon on 1945.
A sample of what's available thanks to the benefits of modern technology. Have you heard about what's coming in pervasive computing? Supercomputers out of PCs? Have you heard about digital VCR technology such as TiVO and Replay? Everyone knows about on line trading, but what about the Nokia 9000? Everyone is getting into the media business - and technolgies include scene detection, face detection, voice recognition, speaker identification. What's new with rocket science? What's available in agricultural techniques? What's new in fertilizers? What genetically engineered crops are enraging European housewives? How is patent law aiding and abetting the new technologies? Rocket and e-books?
Harry Potter is redefining children's literature. What are the differences between children's literature these days and in the days of Heinlein and Norton's juveniles. How sophisticated are these kids? With SF taking over the mainstream, is SF and fantasy also taking over the children's books? Is fantasy or SF easier to sell? At what age does sex come into it?
Heros, antiheros, and the rest of us. Morality in SF and Fantasy. Are virtue and righteousness victims of modernity? Have cynics made it unfashionable to have heroes? What's the difference between the protagonist and the hero? Why is it sometimes easier in modern fiction to identify with the antagonist? Have we settled for mundane characters, that sometimes act heroically instead of heroic role models? Is that good? Is it realistic? As we discover feet of clay on our national figures, have we lost our heroic goals? Who are your heros in fact or fiction? Who would you like to be?
A narrated slide show of his art, by Tropicon XVIII Guest of Honor, Ron Walotsky. He has done many book, magazine and album covers, among other things. You may be surprised at how familiar you are with his art.
An interview with Hershell Gordon Lewis.
Africa, the birthplace of man, the inspiration of Resnick(s), and apparently Mike's favorite spot for impressing (antiquated definition) fans. A personal view of Africa by four Resnick companions.
SF was once the province of lurid magazines, and the occasional comic strip. These days we also have graphic novels, cards, spinoffs, toys, games, too much television, movies (both grand and cheesy), etc. What's going on? Do these things challenge the imagination or stifle it? What's hot and what's not. What's interesting to work on? What's tiresome or repetitive? Who do you like to work with? What do you do to make the tedious worthwhile besides think of the paycheck? We're always talking about print and film. What's different about working in these industries?
Our Guests of Honor speak.
Creating reasonable alien creatures. How do you use the physical aspects of the alien in the story? What do you consider when you're creating an alien mind vs a human mind? What aliens have worked the best? Which are the most memorable? What aliens have worked the worst? Have you come across fictional aliens that just don't ring true? Why? Is it the physiology or the mental aspects? What humans are the most alien? James White created a classification system for aliens. Is it workable? Can you create an alien classification system without aliens to base it on?
Newspaper writing sometimes leads to science fiction, with authors such as Cliff Simak having an illustrious newspaper and SF career. Does it prepare one for the craft? Do you have habits to learn and unlearn? What's different? What's the same? Does fanzine writing and editing teach you some of the same crafts? Does newspaper assignment writing prepare you to write things you really don't like in exchange for money?
A demonstration of mask design and creation by our artist Guest of Honor, Ron Walotsky.
The Past, the Present, the Future. It's already so late, you better be right or people will remember you're wrong. Earthquakes in Turkey, mud in Mexico, nuclear accidents in Japan. What can you do for the end of the world in 41 days? What were the prophecies of the past and have they come true? What do the mystics or new age people say now? What do our sage SF forecasters say about the future?
Holly Lisle is running a writer's workshop. No, you don't have to bring a story with you. Holly will run everything onsite, working with people to develope story ideas and characters from scratch. Seating is limited to 25 active participants (others can look on). A sign-up sheet will be available at registration, but sign up early with your advance membership to guarantee a spot.
Recent SF has used various indigenous cultures as the base for development of alien species and cultures. Fantasy has mined the mythology and history of nearly every group from Australian aborigines (Roessner) to Celtic (everybody) to Hawaiian and American Indian and African. Has SF been politically correct? Why is this a good springboard for fantasy and SF. Is SF sucking the soul out of indigenous cultures? Is this analogous to earlier economic imperialism? Have any cultures escaped and why?
Peter Woodward showcase of upcoming media events he is involved in. Interview by George Peterson.
Fun with your new/old century. Listen to our experts' list the best of the century in books, magazines, movies, television, radio, writers, artists, artists' models, and conventions and fanzines and filksongs and games and ... Join us and find out what you've missed, and what you can still go back and find. The profundity of our experts in unmatched in SF circles. Maybe their rotundity too.
Handing over of the baton. Next year's location and guests. Fanhistoricon. Fan Fund. And have you heard about SMOFCon?
Return to Programming
Copyright© {year}, The South Florida Science Fiction Society