My expanded WindyCon schedule

WindyCon is coming up in two weeks. It is Chicagoland’s oldest science fiction convention. Windycon 44 will be held on November 10-12, 2017, at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center (70 Yorktown Shopping Center, Lombard, IL 60148).

I've posted my schedule before, but here is the expanded schedule panel descriptions and panelists. As you can see, I am moderating two of the panels.

10am Autograph Session - Saturday, 11-11-2017 - 10:00 am to 11:00 am - Signing Tables
Lou Antonelli / Lance Erlick
L. Antonelli
L. Erlick

11am Readings - Saturday, 11-11-2017 - 11:00 am to 12:00 pm - Boardroom
11:00am Lou Antonelli 11:30am Lance Erlick
L. Antonelli
L. Erlick

Everything Old is New Again - Saturday, 11-11-2017 - 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm - Grand Ballroom H
Remember 1967's The Time Tunnel? Well Time Travel is back on TV. How has time travel on TV changed?
L. Antonelli (M)
J. Nikitow
J. Ward

VillianCon Submissions - Saturday, 11-11-2017 - 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm - Lilac C
What if writers of dystopian stories are really submitting their world domination plans for peer review?
L. Antonelli
S. Burke (M)
C. Gerrib

Developing a Language (Texters need not apply) - Saturday, 11-11-2017 - 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm - Grand Ballroom H
Since your work is being read here we know it'll probably be in English but your world may have it's own unique slang, terms, or profanities (we won't ask). How to acquaint your reader to this language without interrupting the flow of you narrative.
L. Antonelli
W. Boyes
S. Burke (M)

Will They Get It? - Saturday, 11-11-2017 - 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm - Lilac B
When and what popular culture references/jokes can you write into a story or novel and how can you be sure your reader will understand them.
L. Antonelli (M)
E. Distad
R. Garfinkle
A. Woolard

Writing for Kids - Saturday, 11-11-2017 - 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm - Lilac B
An Adult discussion about sharing ideas with our youth.
L. Antonelli
R. Frencl
U. Vernon (M)

How RFID/NFC works - Sunday, 11-12-2017 - 11:00 am to 12:00 pm - Maple
How Radio Frequency IDentification / Near Field Communications work how they fit into our everyday life.
L. Antonelli
W. Boyes
J. Higgins
R. Waterson (M)

Will The Internet Survive the End Times? - Sunday, 11-12-2017 - 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm - Grand Ballroom H
Only the Nodes know for sure. Could the internet technology evolve to survive the end of times?
L. Antonelli
C. Johns (M)
F. McDonald

Curse you, auto correct!

I was going through the final file for More Alternative Truths - which is being released Nov. 11 - and saw that in my story "Queens Crossing" somebody's auto correct changed "DeBlasio" to "Delusional".

Sheesh...

Remember the date: 11/11 at 1

I have a reading half hour at the WindyCon convention in Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. and I will take the opportunity to read my short story "Queens Crossing", which is featured in the new anthology More Alternative Truths.

This will be the public unveiling of the story, whose launch party is the following weekend at Orycon in Portland.

It's an alternate history that riffs off the fact that Donald Trump and Jerry Springer are roughly contemporaries who both grew up in Queens, New York, and... well, you'll just have to buy the book - or come see me at WindyCon.

Coming soon!

This is one of my best ever alternate histories.

A tale of two pretties...

 Here's a small point in my background of growing up: I went to one school district for seven years, and then another for five.

We all know people who went from the first day of kindergarten to graduation in the same school district. We also know people who bounced from district to district growing up - this is especially common in military families.

I am right in the middle. I spent seven years in one school district north of Boston, then we moved when my father was transferred in his job to a town south of Boston.

Although I spent more years in the first district, I've always considered the second my home because that's where I graduated from high school.

Now, because of the internet and digitization, high school yearbooks are now available to view on-line. I had a thought the other day - to look up the yearbook of the Class of 1975 at the FIRST school district I attended to see what it looked like.

In other words, what did the school and the students look like in the school I MIGHT have graduated from?

It looks a lot like my own yearbook - mainly because, I suppose, they're contemporary. The clothes and hair styles and furniture all look the same.

I was a bit surprised at how many of the seniors I still remembered despite not having seen them after seventh grade. The girl who I gave my first elementary Valentine card in second grade to. The girl I had my first serious crush on.

One thing that jumped out at me is that I somehow knew some of those students would have filled the same relationship roles as other students with me at the second school. The quiet friend. The goofy friend. The wild friend. I saw one student and he even had the same hair and expression as the guy who was my best friend in high school.

I thought to myself, "Omigod, if I had stayed there, HE would have been my [best friend's name]."

It's personal alternate history. I guess.

There was a girl in the first school who struck me years ago as having been very much like the girl in my graduating class who I took to the Senior Prom - the girl I dated my senior year.

When I looked up the first high yearbook, I read her entry, and yes, she was involved in many similar activities.

But what was the most striking is how much the two young ladies even looked alike. So I've cut and pasted the photos here.

There an alternate history triple play here. In one parallel world, my family didn't move and I dated and married the first girl.

In another parallel world, I dated and married the second one.

Now in point of fact, the girl I did date in high school had the good sense to dump me, and left me to mature and get a little wisdom so that years later I would be able to date and marry my wife. This is the best of those possible worlds, I'm sure.

Oh, you may be thinking, which of these girls is the one I dated and which is the one that was left behind when I moved.

I'm not saying. Does it really matter?

My WindyCon schedule

Here is my schedule for the upcoming Windycon Nov. 11-12:

Saturday, 10:00 am-11:00 am - Signing Tables -
10am Autograph Session

Saturday, 11:00 am-12:00 pm - Boardroom - 11am Readings

Saturday, 12:00 pm-1:00 pm - Grand Ballroom H - Everything Old is New Again


Saturday, 1:00 pm-2:00 pm - Lilac C - VillianCon Submissions
Saturday, 2:00 pm-3:00 pm - Grand Ballroom H - Developing a Language (Texters need not apply)

Saturday, 3:00 pm-4:00 pm - Lilac B - Will They Get It?

Saturday, 8:00 pm-9:00 pm - Lilac B - Writing for Kids

Sunday, 11:00 am-12:00 pm - Maple - How RFID/NFC works

Sunday, 1:00 pm-2:00 pm - Grand Ballroom H - Will The Internet Survive the End Times?

Weeky Roundup

Last Saturday, as part of the Red River County Historical Society's annual Fall Bazaar, the Red River County Public Library hosted a half dozen authors from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Thanks go to Library Director Rachel Ellsworth, who purchased a copy of "Another Girl, Another Planet" for the library's collection.

I think Rachel bought a book from every author who was that day, which was a great thing to do.
She also bought a copy of AGAP for herself. Thanks, Rachel!

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Only 12 days left in the Word Fire Press Adventure Science Fiction Story Bundle. For only $15 you get "Another Girl, Another Planet" PLUS another dozen excellent titles by authors Robert Asprin, Jody Lynn Nye, Kevin J. Anderson, Robert J. Sawyer, Gray Rinehart, T. Allen Diaz. Paul Di Filippo, Raymond Bolton, Andrew Keith, William H. Keith Jr., Louis Agresta, Brenda Cooper, and Jonathan Brazee.

Can't beat that deal with a stick! Click here!

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It's another good day, meaning I signed yet another contract, this time with the Planetary Stories: Mercury anthology to publish my short story "Last Call".