Easter is a-coming and the eggs are getting fat. So, I thought I’d let you know where you can find me over the next few weeks.
Firstly, this Sunday 21st March I’ll be at the 42nd International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (aka ICFA), as part of this year’s event on ‘Climate Change and the Anthropocene’. I don’t think it’s quite sunk in that I’ll be presenting at a conference with Jeff Vandermeer, Nalo Hopkinson and Ted Chiang, and that’s probably a good thing. My co-supervisor Darshana Jayemanne and I will be nerding out about presenting our work on Final Fantasy VII: Remake and why the Whispers were such a great addition to the game.
Gaming the Anthropocene: Survival of the Fittest?
21st March 15:00 EDT (19:00 UTC), Dogwood
Chair: Lillian Marie Martinez (University of Florida)
“Boundless, Terrifying Freedom”: Ecocriticism and Ludographic Metafiction in Final Fantasy VII: Remake (2020).
Ruth Booth (University of Glasgow), Darshana Jayemanne (Abertay University)
The End of the Zombie Era: Sustainability and Security at the End of The Walking Dead.
Steven Donald Holmes (University of Hawai’i-Māno)
For the full schedule click here.
Secondly, on 17th – 18th April, I’ll be at Flights of Foundry! While Dream Foundry‘s annual convention is going virtual for 2021, this is technically my first US con (I’m counting it anyway). Dream Foundry’s mission is to support and provide development opportunities for new Speculative genre professionals. And I like the fact that, as a result, Flights of Foundry shares the same ethos of blending of industry pros, creators and fans that you find at UK fan-run conventions. I’m hoping I’ll feel right at home.
We’re a month out at present and the programme is still being finalized, so I’m reluctant to reveal my schedule just yet. However, I should be talking about my work-in-progress, and hopefully that’s an incentive to pick up your ticket now!
Get your free ticket or donation ticket at the link below:
https://flights-of-foundry.org/
So, um… any questions?
What do you mean “more?”?
There’s some other stuff coming up later this year that I can’t quite talk about yet.
Are you doing Eastercon?
I’ll be there, but at present I’m not planning on being on any panels for this one. The reason is that in recent weeks I’ve developed sort of a burn-out when it comes to computer screens, which ultimately means I have to limit my time online. What makes this especially difficult with Eastercon is that I’ll also be working on social media for the Glasgow in 2024 Worldcon Bid during the convention. So, I’ll be attending this one only casually in order to give myself a little extra recovery time over the Easter weekend.
So, what else is coming up?
I’m currently in discussions to run a couple of workshops in July and November this year with a certain author who I’ve worked with before. We’ve got lots of plans and we’re looking forward to having you join us.