The Murverse Mothership

I’m back from hiatus, and in a whirlwind of packing to get ready for the Dublin, Ireland WorldCon. I’m very excited for this one since I love Dublin, and I have many good friends nominated for Hugo Awards (Including Ditch Digger writer and electric monk, Alasdair Stuart, for Best Fan Writer–You can see his writing on the Ditch Diggers site, actually!) Now I just have to pack to get there…

I’m old now, 46, and half the stuff I’m packing are medications and vitamins. So it goes.

Anyway, I wanted to get a post up this week to talk about the con, and post my schedule. Note- I don’t have an autograph session, which irked me but I realized it after the deadline of “you can complain up to this date”– which I totally understand, they can’t muck with the schedule this close to the con; I’m more blaming myself. But if you want a book signed, you’re welcome to come up to me in the hallway or after a panel. Don’t be shy.

Here is my schedule! (sic)

• Fuzzy lines: decategorising creative work
  15 Aug 2019, Thursday 14:00 – 14:50, Liffey Room-2 (CCD)
  Authors write blogs, fanzines go online, publishers create fanzine-like websites, fancasts publish fiction, YouTube videos offer original dramatic performances. Is a fan artist defined by economics or by context, and what exactly constitutes a series anyway? How do we define the categories into which our creative outputs fall, and must every project fit into a category?
• Creating Podcasts: Ideas, People, and Themes
  15 Aug 2019, Thursday 16:00 – 16:50, Wicklow Hall-1 (CCD)
  Podcasts are living, breathing conversations that at their best entice the participants and the audience in the free flow of entertaining, engaging, and enlightening conversation.  How do you pull this off?  How do you you pick the ideas, people, and themes  that give the right mix of energy and chemistry?  Come get some clues into how the magic is done from some of the best in the business. (And then go see our panellists’ podcasts over the rest of the convention.)
• Kaffeeklatsch: Mur Lafferty
  16 Aug 2019, Friday 15:00 – 15:50, Level 3 Foyer (KK/LB) (CCD)
• Hugo finalists discussion: Best Novel
  16 Aug 2019, Friday 16:30 – 17:20, Stratocaster BC (Point Square Dublin)
  The panel will discuss the finalists in the Hugo Award category for Best Novel.
• Tabletop RPG as inspiration for creative writing
  17 Aug 2019, Saturday 16:00 – 16:50, Wicklow Room-3 (CCD)
  Tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs) take us to fantastical new worlds and allow us to explore these places with others; it’s no wonder that they inspire us far beyond the table. In this panel, authors will discuss how games they have run or played in provided inspiration or source material for future creative endeavours.
• What I read when I was young
  18 Aug 2019, Sunday 10:00 – 10:50, Second Stage (Liffey-B) (CCD)
  The books we read in childhood often have a lasting influence. In this panel, finalists for the Hugo Award for Best Novel discuss the books that had a profound effect on the people they became. How did these works change them? Was this influence a good or a bad one? Is there a book they think everyone should read at least once in their life?
• Ditch Diggers podcast: live recording
  18 Aug 2019, Sunday 14:00 – 14:50, Wicklow Hall 2B (CCD)
  Join the Ditch Diggers team of Mur Lafferty and Alasdair Stuart as they record their yearly live RPG where authors travel through the haunted woods of publishing to get to the golden castle of the NYT Bestseller list! On deck for this year’s game is Ursula Vernon. Promises to be asinine and include dice.