Philcon: The Philadelphia Conference of Science Fiction and Fantasy

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Main Programming presents panels structured on the literature of the imagination, whether science fiction, fantasy, horror or a combination of those genres. It is also responsible for presenting the Principal Speaker, the other Guests of Honor and certain special programs such as the SF Quiz Show and other items of interest. If you have any questions relating to Main Programming, please contact Oz Fontecchio at OFontecchi@aol.com.

Oz Fontecchio
Program Director
& Main Programming Director

Darrell Schwietzer
Main Programming Co-head

P.D. Cacek, Nathan Lilly, Roman Ranieri, Suzanne Rosin
Main Programming Assistants

Main Program: The following is the list of potential main programs that will be run at Philcon 2003.

80 Years of Weird Tales: The history and continuing development of The Unique Magazine.
A Panel of Editors: Leading editors in the field.
A Report on H.P.Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror: Learn about the Horror field's most exciting publication.
A Weekend Trip to the Stars: What if interstellar travel were so easy and cheap that your 17 year old could borrow the ship and pop-off to Alpha Centauri?
Adapting Earth Religions to Life on Other Planets: How would life (both colonizing humans and indigenous aliens) on a multitude of worlds affect the existing earth religions.
Are There Any Science Fiction Novels That Can't Be Made Into Films?
Arrgh Matey - Pirates as Heroes: From space pirates to Pirates of the Caribbean, how did scurvy rotten scoundrels become romantic heroes?
Athens vs. Sparta: Some societies pass on their values, and others just die out. Will our society speak to the future?
Award-Winning Fiction?: Is it really the best that the genre has to offer?
Based on the Title By...: When Hollywood buys the book, then throws out the story.
Basic Klingon Grammar: One hour, and you'll be speaking real Klingon. Guaranteed! Learn it now, before the invasion. Cheat sheets provided. No extra charge for spitting.
Best of the Best: Science Fiction/F/H of 2003: Panelists argue over what is the best of the best in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
Beyond Bag End Books: What is the Tolkien fan to do after they've seen all the movies and read all the books?
Bloat Books and Bug-Crushers: If people are (allegedly) reading less, why do the books keep getting longer? What is the impact on the field of all these enormous books? Are there a number of Science Fiction books (or trilogies) which would have been better kept at half the length?
Books that Authors Never Expected to be Published: Literary jokes, hobby books, and self indulgences, that authors never expected to get into print, but somehow did.
But What Do You Really Do?: Some jobs and suggestions of jobs for writers that don't drain you of creativity.
By Any Other Name: Why would writers ever write under an assumed name?
Can This Writer Be Saved?: Some of us argue that even the author of 'The Eye of Argon' could have been trained to be a publishable writer. What essential characteristics must a writer have in order to be improved?
Care and Feeding of the "Monkey Mind": Being a sociopath - but only on paper. Tapping into our basic instincts to create a believable dark character.
Close Encounters of the 4th Kind: What happens when you get really friendly with aliens... and penicillin doesn't work?
Contract or Literary Law: What do writers need to look for in a contract?
Debunking John Edwards & Other Gypsy Tricks: How does the SciFi Channel's cold reader and other charlatans do their stuff. You too can learn to contact the dead for fun and profit!
Different Roles of Aliens in Science Fiction: Alien as ourselves, the alien as foreigner, the alien as plot device. What do Science Fiction writers do with aliens in theor stories and why?
Douglas Adams & H.P.Lovecraft: Surprisingly these two very different authors express a very similar pessimistic view of Life and the Universe. What did these two have in common and why did one of them find it funny?
Evolving a New Genre: Every few decades a new distinct form of fantastic literature emerges: Lost Race, Gothic Horror, Space Opera, Sword & Sorcery, Cyberpunk.... What's next? Can we deliberately make it happen?
Femme Fatales in Science Fiction: An Outmoded Image?: Does our hope for the future of gender equality make stories of women who lead men to their doom by using their sexual power a thing of the past?
For the Science Fiction Writer, the Great Depression Was 'The Good old days': In 1933 an average salary was around $15 a week. If you sold a 6,000 word story to a rock bottom pulp magazine for a penny a word - that's $60 - a month's salary. Why aren't writers paid that well today? Is it even possible?
From Odyssey to Space Chantey: Retelling ancient myths in Science Fiction and Fantasy - what is its purpose beyond stealing plots?
Future & Alien Pets: Beyond dogs and cats - will we have genetically altered or alien pets?
Future Evolution: What will humans look like 1 million years from now?
Future Venues for Science Fiction: First we had oral storytelling, then came books, film, TV, computer games, and interactive fiction. All of these media still exist, but what comes next?
Gaming Literature: Novels that are based in worlds that were originally created for role-playing games.
Gay Eye for the Straight Publisher: How easily can gay writers (or writers dealing with Gay characters and themes) succeed in mainstream Science Fiction publishing?
Genetically Enhanced Gerbils: What if we're not the most intelligent species on earth?
Get Rid Of Those Inconvenient Parents: Why is it that so many heroes in Science Fiction are orphans?
Harry Potter and the Future Reader: Will Harry Potter be the source of an entire generation of new readers?
Heinlein's Future History: Now That "The Crazy Years" Have Passed.: How does Heinlein's now 60 year old version of the future hold up today? What does this tell us about Heinlein and the nature of Science Fiction?
Hey! You Got Fantasy In My Science Fiction!: Mixing Genres for fun and profit!
Home Planet Defense: Just in case the aliens do want to destroy us (War of the Worlds, Independence Day, Signs) how do we defend ourselves?
How Writers Create Public Images of Themselves: Think of Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, or Neil Gaiman. Some writers are also celebrities. Can anyone do this deliberately?
How to Publish 600 Different Books in a Month: John Betancourt explains how Wildside Press did it.
Hugos, Nebulas, Howards, the Daedalus, the Coveted Balrog, etc.: What do the awards actually mean?
I Admire It So Much I Copied It: When does homage cross the line into slavish imitation?
I See Dead People (And I Also Write About Them): Do you have to believe in ghosts to write about them? Both believes and non-believers have written classics of supernatural fiction. Does either have an advantage?
I Want to Write That When I Grow Up: What did writers really want to be when they grew up - and how did they work that way into writing?
I'm Sorry Mr. Poe, You Have to Change With the Times: Lovecraft, Wells, Poe, and other great writers of the past - if they were alive today what would they be writing?
Imagining a Time Period, Other than Your Own: Writing about the past, or the future, as if you've lived there.
Immortality and the Generation Gap: Being immortal might be fun for the first couple hundred years or so, but how would a real immortal blend in with each succesive generation?
In the Beginning... of Science Fiction: What is the origin of Science Fiction? Was it Frankenstein?
Is Fandom Still a Community?: There was a time when everyone in Science Fiction knew everyone else. They all read the same fanzines (and agreed on what a fanzine was). They all understood the same jokes. Is there any sense of history or continuity left? How can we foster it?
Isolating the Active Ingredient: Can Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror be narrowed down to a handful of tropes which are essentially repeatable?
It's Raining Liquid Methane: How Science Fiction writers describe weather on other planets.
J.R.R. Tolkien as a Horror Writer: It's not all sweetness and light.
J.R.R. Tolkien in Popular Culture: Something for Everyone?: The literature of Tolkien has influenced a wide variety of works in other industries, including widely popular movies, games, animation, and merchandise. Is this the way that the best of our literature can influence other forms of entertainment? Why does some literature achieve this and not others?
L. Frank Baum: The Land of Oz: Exploring the life and works of the most popular children's writer (before J.K. Rowling).
Lawyers in Space: I just got a summons from Alpha Centauri: When humans begin exploring & colonizing space what laws will govern their actions and who will enforce those laws?
Let's Get Time Travel Back Into Fantasy Where It Belongs: Isn't time travel basicallty magic anyway? It was introduced to us in A Christmas Carol. Doesn't it work as well, or better, in fantasy?
Literary Gladiators: Two teams of Round Robin writers compete to create the best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror story in 20 minutes.
Mark Twain as a Science Fiction Writer: Dicussion of the Science Fiction works of Mark Twain.
Media Tie-Ins, Novelizations, and Franchises: What will it do to your career?
Mike Hinge: A retrospective: A noted Philadelphia Science Fiction and Fantasy Artist whose work appeared on everything from Amazing Stories to Time Magazine.
Milt Rothman: A retrospective: The PSFS Founder, first Philcon Chair, Chair of Two WorldCons, Science Fiction writer, eminent Physicist,and Author of The Skeptics Guide to Physics.
Moby Dick, Gunga Din, and All That: Non-Science Fiction that forms the basis of Science Fiction.
NASA vs. The Skylark of Space: Depictions of space travel in Science Fiction. Our panelists discuss what they think the likely future of space travel will be as opposed to depictions of space travel in Science Fiction.
NO SCI-FI HERE: The Boring Pretentious Panel for Stuck-up Intellectuals refusing to dumb down Science Fiction.
Neglected Masterworks: What works of Science Fiction and Fantasy did not find the audience that they deserve?
Novels about Fandom: From "Rocket to the Morgue" to "Zombies in the Gene Pool" these have become a 60-year old tradition. What do they have to tell us about ourselves? Is it necessary for such books NOT to be Science Fiction?
OY! We're Really Going To Space This Year?: Exploration of Judaism in Science Fiction.
On Thud and Blunder: Realism for the Fantasy writer. Why you can't ride a horse all day, why you can't swing a 25-pound sword, and other things that Fantasy writers overlook.
Past Hugo Award winners: Where are they now?: An award is no guarantee of immortality. Which Hugo winners still speak to us? Which are mere historical curiosities? Why?
People Eating People: The last taboo or the last frontier? Under what circumstances could cannibalism become socially acceptable?
Philadelphia in Science Fiction: How our city has been portrayed in fantastic works.
Practical worldbuilding: We're in charge of the planet, now what? How do authors create new worlds?
Prejudices We Haven't Thought of Yet: Slavery, child sacrifice, and other things that weren't frowned on in their day. What about our society will be unacceptable in the future?
Psionics: Then and Now: Mind powers and mutant super men have been with us for decades, from Odd John and Slan to total saturation in Astounding in the '50s. The Psi-theme has never gone away. How has it evolved and developed since?
Raising the Fannish Family: How to raise the next generation of fans.
Re-reading the First Science Fiction I Ever Read: How has it changed? How have we changed?
Reading: "The Eye of Argon": Reportedly a fantastic work, in that it is fantastically bad. How far can *you* get without laughing?
Recycled Science Fiction in Popular Belief: Which came first, the Science Fiction magazine cover or the bug-eyed Grey alien?
Remembering Fritz Leiber: Exploring the works of a grandmaster of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, who was a Philcon principal speaker in 1990.
Ringu & Others: Fantastic Literature from around the world.
S.F.U.: Science Fiction as Education: Science Fiction is now being taught from Grade school through College. What is the current state of Science Fiction in the classroom.
Science Fiction & Baby Boomer Demographics: There was a boom in the mid '80s. Suddenly Science Fiction writers who had been building readership since the '50s sold huge numbers in hard cover - because their readership had grown up reading them. This wave seems to have passed. What now? How will the field change when Generation X takes up.
Science Fiction Quiz Show: A jeopardy-style quiz show with Oz & Trish.
Science Fiction and the Image of the Scientist: Does the portrait of science and scientists n Science Fiction match reality? Does Science Fiction have a resposibility to educate the Public about the ways of science?
Science Fiction and the Sexual Revolution: In the 1950's Science Fiction spurred the exploration of Outer Space. Did it do the same in the 1960's for the Human Body? What will Science Fiction tell us about sex in the future?
Science Fiction as a Vehicle for Otherwise Unacceptable Ideas: The subversive aspect of Science Fiction. Is the message of Science Fiction that "what everybody knows" or "common morality" are not universal laws of the Universe?
Science Fiction in Philadelphia: Local Writers, past and present.
Science Fiction on the Internet: The best sites, resources, markets, etc.
Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Erotica: Who does the best sex?
Science Fiction vs. SciFi: Isaac Asimov defined 'SciFi' as material which had the trapping of Science Fiction without its substance. Does SciFi have any legitimacy of its own and does it contribute anything to Science Fiction?
Science Fiction: The Next Generation: The HOT new writers... who are they?
So You'd Like To Be a Writer: What do you need to know? What should you avoid?
Sources for the Lord of the Rings: Shakespeare? Plato's story of the ring of Gyges? Beowulf? The Elder Eddas? What are the literary antecedents for Tolkien's epic?
Starting Your Own Science Fiction magazine: You don't like what's being published these days? You think you can do better? here's how to do it without losing your shirt.
Still talking about H.P. Lovecraft: Haven't we exhausted this subject yet? We've talked about him as philosopher, artist, pulp writer, etc. So what else is there?
Supporting your fans: What can the writer do to keep their fans interested in them and their work?
Suspended animation, then what?: What makes you think that the future is under any obligation to thaw you out and give you a palatial villa? You might end up as slave labor, hamburger, or a doorstop.
Tales from the Slush Pile: Truly ghastly things that editors get in the mail.
Technobabble vs. Techno-documentation: The difference between the way science is described in novels and manuals. How much is a fiction writer allowed to make up?
Teleportation in Science Fiction: How would it work? How have Science Fiction authors dealt with it? What are the implications for society?
The Anthology I've Always Wanted to Edit
The Creator as Icon: When and why does the fascination shift from the work to the person who created it?
The Evolution of Robots in Science Fiction: From Moxon's Master to Terminator and everything in between (not failing to mention Isaac Asimov several times).
The Fringes of Science Fiction: Exploring literature that is almost Science Fiction, but not quite - from slipstream to magic realism.
The Heinlein Female: Is she really a he? Nevermind PC, are Heinlein's portrayals of female characters believable?
The Hidden History of Women's Science Fiction: We're told that women miraculously appeared (in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, take your pick). A recent article in Fantasy Comentator has found 911 stories that were unambiguously bylined by women in Science Fiction magazines from the late 20's through 1960. Exploring the first wave of female Science Fiction writers.
The Influence of Post-Adolescent Vampire Hunters on the Serious Literary Fan: Why do serious literary fans like Buffy?
The Lost City of Pennsylvania: If archeologists discovered Philadelphia 5,000 years from now, what would they find and how would they reconstruct our civilization?
The Mysteries of A. Merritt: He was a phenomenon - the best selling fantasy author of the first half of the 20th century. He had a magazine named after him. He sold millions of books. Who was he? Is he still worth reading?
The Politics of Literary Acceptance: Factors other than quality that make a book published, successful, or critically acclaimed.
The Psychology of Fairy Tales and How It Influences Science Fiction
The Role of Science Fiction in Preparing Social Change: Heinlein intentionally designed his juvenile novels to educate teh next generation to go into space. More generally, Science Fiction is the best cure for Future Shock. How often can authors do this intentionally without looking silly.
The Three Editor Theory of Science Fiction: Science Fition has become what it is due to the efforts of Hugo Gernsback, John W. Campbell, and Anthony Boucher. Perhaps a bit simplistic model, but each introduced a thread of the development which is still visible and important today.
The Transgender Experience in Science Fiction: From The Season of the Witch (Stine) to Triton (Delany), Science Fiction has occasionally described and speculated about changing genders and gender roles.
The Utopian Tradition in Science Fiction: Is it still viable? There doesn't seem to have been a major Science Fiction Utopia novel since "The Dispossessed" How does the writer balance literary concerns with serious political or social concerns which could turn the book into a polemic.
The Weirdness Horizon: The incomprehensible future. At what point does the future become impossible to imagine.
The Worst Science Fiction stories that we love: We confess our guilty pleasures.
Throwing Jehovah: Down for the count: Isis, Zeus, Amen-Ra... history suggests that the life span of the average divinity is about 3 millennia. Will the future produce a whole new set?
Tolkien's other works: What else did he write besides Lord of the Rings?
Transformation of the Graphic Novel: Serious Literature, or just "comics"?
Truth, Beauty, and the Wolf at the Door: Balancing Art and Commerce.
Turkey Readoff: Professional writers read from their early (bad) attempts.
Turning the Wheels of If: A discussion of likely change points for alternate realities, universes, and histories.
Visualizing Tolkien: Various Artists describe how they have, or would like to, illustrate Tolkien.
We'll Pay You Ten Times As Much If You Don't Call It Science Fiction: Vonegut, King, Kootnz - when do you deny writing Science Fiction?
Web Comics: the next big thing?
Were We Born Fans?: What compels someone to move beyond just liking Science Fiction to joining Fandom and going to conventions? Is there a propeller-beanie-shaped chromosome they're not telling us about?
What Do Critics See That Readers Don't?: Can we actually make a case for elitism of taste?
What Do Readers See That Critics Don't?: Why some of the best loved books have been panned by critics?
What If the Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Missed?: Suppose Dinos hadn't gone extinct. How would they have developed?
What if Science Fiction Never Existed?: What would the world be like if Science Fiction never existed? What kind of world would never have produced Science Fiction?
What the Science Fiction Professional Needs to Know About Web Design: HTML? UNIX? FTP? DIY? WYSIWYG? Ever feel like the Internet is a foreign language? How can you make better use of the Web? Should you build it yourself, get your nephew to do it, or spend the money on a professional? Get an overview of web page design process, technologies, and the Internet's infrastructure.
When Did Science Fiction Begin For You?: Was your first experience Star Trek? Jules Verne? The Matrix?
When Should an Author Self-publish?: Is it ever a good idea or is it really one step below unpublished?
When the Aliens Land: How will Science Fiction Fans be prepared in ways that normal people won't?
Where Have All the Heroes Gone?: Are we just too sophisticated to create iconic heroes like Tarzan, Doc Savage, ot the Gray Lensman anymore?
Whispers at Midnight: Bedtime stories for Adults.
Who's Going to be the Next Grandmaster?: Who are the writers that are writing great Science Fiction?
Why Conventional Publishers Miss Much of the Good Stuff: The Really eccentric books don't come out of mass-market anymore. What would a latter-day R.A. Lafferty do in today's market?
Why Hasn't Lovecraft Spawned a Good Movie Yet?
Writers Living Amongst the Normals: How to cope with mundane relatives and people who think you don't do anything fo a living.
Y2K and other predictions that didn't happen: Whatever happened to the future we were promised? Where's my flying car? My vacation on the Moon?
You don't know Science Fiction: Until you've read these classics (list subject to change without notice).