Capclave this weekend at Washington DC/Rockville Hilton

Capclave is a terrific little con I’ve been going to for the last few years.  The emphasis is on reading.  The Guest of Honor this year is Harry Turtledove.  Also in attendance will be James Morrow and Michael Swanwick to name just a few.  The convention hotel is right on the red line, so it couldn’t be easier to get to from anywhere in the DC area.  There’s a great mix of panels and readings, and aspiring writers take note, several fiction editors in attendance.  I’ll be around most of the time.
My scheduled activities:

Friday 7 pm Modern Classics  (Lenny Bailes (m), Dennis Danvers, Doug Fratz, Peter Heck, George H. Scithers) What makes a book a classic? Everyone in SF still reads Dune, Foundation, Starship Troopers? What other recent books, since the 80s, do you think will someday be held up with these as a classic? why would you say this is a classic?

Saturday 1 pm Book Signing

Saturday 8 pm The Villain (Diane Arrelle (m), Dennis Danvers, C. Alan Loewen, James Morrow, Michael Swanwick) Is he an evil s.o.b. or just misguided?  How do you write your antagonists?  Can anyone be all bad? Would a benevolent Hitler be believable?

Saturday 10 pm Books with Multiple Personality Disorder (Larry Hodges (m), Mattie Brahen, Dennis Danvers, Dr. Charles E. Gannon, Michael Swanwick) How many characters, how many different points of view can you fit in a novel and make it work? What do you do to make the voices different?  How much repetition of the same scene from different POVs? How do you keep the reader from being frustrated when you change from one to the other?

Sunday 11 am Reading  Please come.

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