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Hi everyone,
The full-weekend registration rate goes up to $45 tomorrow, so you can save $10 by registering today.
http://www.contextsf.org/registration.htm
Also, Paula Guran, last year's Editor GoH, will be returning to Context this year and is offering novel package critiques. She is the editor-in-chief of Juno Books, which is an imprint of Pocket Books (a division of Simon & Schuster).
For more information about her critique sessions:
http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm#var |
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Online registration for Context 22 (August 28-30, 2009 in Columbus, Ohio) is now open!
http://www.contextsf.org
Guest of Honor: James P. Hogan
Editor Guest of Honor: Jason Sizemore
Horror Guest of Honor: Christoper Golden
Music Guest of Honor: Michael "Moonwulf" Longcor
Music Guest: Tom Smith
Authors and editors who've signed on so far include: Gary A. Braunbeck, Lawrence C. Connolly, Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury, Timons Esaias, Ellen Klages, S. Andrew Swann, Diane Turnshek, and Tim Waggoner.
The convention is in a different, much nicer hotel this year (the Doubletree in Worthington) and as a new feature this year, they're raffling off a suite in the hotel! For more information, please visit:
http://www.contextsf.org/hotel.htm
They're also offering over a dozen writing workshops:
Characterization and Dialogue
Warfare For Writers
Maintaining Narrative Tension
Point of View
Improv for Writers
Emotional Realism in Fiction
How to Research
Getting the Science Right
Writing YA
Conflict and Plot
Writing Historical Fiction
How to Teach Genre Writing
Lucky 13
For more information on the workshops, please visit:
http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm
Please reload your browser if the workshops don't show up when you visit the page.
They may be offering still more workshops, so stay tuned!
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From the Context website:
The convention will be held September 26-28, 2008 at:
The Ramada Plaza Hotel & Conference Center
4900 Sinclair Road
I-71 and Morse Road
Columbus, OH, 43229 US
Phone: 614-846-0300 or 1-877-609-6086
The convention rate is $79.00 for a standard room and $99.00 for a two-room suite. We have requested some of the nicer business-class rooms to be included in our room block as well as some of the suites.
To get the discounted convention rate, be sure to mention FANACO and/or Context when you call -- if the agent at the 877 number doesn't know about the convention, or tells you that the room block is full, call 614-846-0300 during the day before 5 p.m. and you should be able to get a room at the correct rate.
The room block is sizeable, but expires on September 1, 2008. |
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They just posted the programming schedule:
http://www.contextsf.org/program.htm
It's subject to change, and many of the readings haven't been scheduled yet, and it also doesn't include the anime/video schedule. |
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soul
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Aug. 17th, 2008 @ 06:16 pm
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Soul
From the unripe fruits
a flavor of innocence
rises, distils soul. |
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Just got this update from the Context folks:
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We hope everyone is having a great summer!
This is just a quick note to let you know that after August 15th, the full-weekend registration rate will increase from $35 to $45.
So, if you'd like to take advantage of the better rate, you can register online at:
http://www.contextsf.org/registration.htm
If you want to send a check or money order instead of paying online, print out your filled-out online registration form and mail it to us -- as long as your envelope is postmarked August 15th or earlier, your $35 registration will be fine.
There are also seats available in the following workshops:
Creating the Comic Book Series
World-Building
Novel Package Critiques
Interactive Narrative and Game Design
Writing Great Openings
For more information, please visit:
http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm |
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Tanya Huff's going to be interviewed at Context ... anybody have any specific questions for her? Post 'em here!
http://www.contextsf.org/ |
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Context's Science Guest of Honor is Jeannine Davis-Kimball, who discovered the real-life Amazon warriors. Dr. Davis-Kimball works at the Center for the Study of Eurasian Nomads. Along with Mona Behan, she authored Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines and edited Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age.
This year's musical guest is the Indianapolis-based band Wild Mercy, who describe their music as "neo-Celtic-powered post-industrial electro-acoustic folk-rock with jazz influences and freeform choral structure".
And finally, the writing workshops continue to fill up; if there's one you'd like to take, you should register soon to ensure your spot.
http://www.contextsf.org/ |
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Some of you may know Context's masquerade director Julie Washington. Her mother died earlier this month; I know it's been a very sad and difficult time for her.
If you like, you can give your condolences and leave a note at Myrtle Washington's obituary guestbook:
http://tinyurl.com/2pchy2 |
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Hi everyone,
For the past three months, we've been running ads on the Context website:
http://www.contextsf.org/
Please do take the time to check out the website before you go further.
In accordance with our nonprofit status, we will only take ads from people/groups who offer events, services, or products in line with our goals as a convention.
In other words, we'd be happy to host an ad for your science fiction novel, horror comic, fan group, or mystery convention. Do you have a product that we could imagine being served in our consuite or sold in our dealer's room? That's fine too. But are you hawking an investment service? Sorry, that's outside our sphere. And we will reject ads that go directly to sites with pornographic content.
At present, there are three sizes of ads available on our site: a 468x60 banner ad, a 125x125 sidebar ad, and two 117x30 button ads. The ads are hosted through the Project Wonderful bidding system.
So far, the ads are earning Context about $16 a month; however, site traffic is historically low this time of year and as site traffic increases, the money earned from the ads will increase because we will receive more bidders.
Despite earning $50 and vetting the ads before they're approved for the website, a few people have objected to them on the grounds that the mere presence of ads (regardless of what's being advertised) could offend some people who would then refuse to attend the convention.
However, fandom being what it is, some people will inevitably turn up their noses at a convention that offers filk, or which features horror programming, or which doesn't offer a big room of computers for gaming.
No matter what we do or don't do, some portion of the fan community will inevitably decide we're not for them.
So, with elections on everyone's mind, we'll be democratic about this. Thus, a poll.
Poll #1137725 Website ads
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllShould we continue to run ads on the Context website? |
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The big news is that bestselling author Brian Keene will be our horror GoH next fall!
He is the author of many books, including Dark Hollow, The Rising, Ghoul, City of the Dead, Terminal, Dead Sea, The Conqueror Worms, Fear of Gravity, and many more. Several of his short stories have been adapted into graphic novels and several of his novels are slated for film and video game adaptations. The winner of two Bram Stoker awards, Keene's work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, the History Channel, CNN.com, Fangoria, and Rue Morgue.
The next bit of news is that The Midwest Hotel is now the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center. The location is the same as last year, but the hotel hasn't just changed in name. The new owners have been doing extensive remodeling to address the mold/water damage issues that affected some rooms last year. The con committee has seen the updates and are pleased with what's been done.
Third, we've just posted the 2008 writing workshops, and our schedule is bigger and better than ever before.
- Michael A. Arnzen: Fiction in a Flash
- Gary A. Braunbeck: Short Story Masterclass
- Paula Guran: Novel Package Critiques
- Tim Waggoner: Story/Novel Excerpt Critiques
- Diana Botsford: Plotting
- Gary A. Braunbeck: Creating Character Through Dialogue
- Tobias Buckell: Effective Blogging
- Timons Esaias: World-Building
- Tobias Buckell and Paul Melko: Writing Great Openings
For more information, please visit the writing workshops page:
http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm
And finally, we've reopened online registration at:
http://www.contextsf.org/registration.htm
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Hi everyone,
We're in the beginning stages of putting together the writing workshops for Context 21, and we're looking for feedback from people as to what they'd like to see us offer. Most of the workshops will be aimed at a mixed group of people interested in writing science fiction, fantasy, horror, and related genres, but we may be able to offer some "master class" type workshops for people who are already being published.
So, a poll:
( Read more... ) |
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Context 21 will take place on September 26-28, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio, at The Midwest Hotel & Conference Center. The main GoH will be Tanya Huff; other guests will be announced soon.
The hotel is the same one they had this year. The con committee has heard from some people who had problems with mold and leaks in their rooms. The hotel was in the process of being sold to a new owner when Context 20 was going on; the new owner plans intensive remodeling and has promised clean, mold-free facilities next year.
Finding good hotel space for Context is a challenge every year; they can't hold the convention on a weekend when a home OSU football game is going on, because OSU fans take up pretty much every decent hotel in the city. Also, they have to be careful not to schedule during the annual Quarter Horse Congress, which goes on during the entire month of October and attracts more than 650,000 people to the Columbus area.
There's a new Context site design:
http://www.contextsf.org/
One big change you'll notice is that they're selling ads on the website. They're only taking ads from people whose products/services/events are in line with the convention's mission. The ads are run through the Project Wonderful system, and the top banner ad is a minimum $1/day bid, and the square sidebar ad has a $0.50/day minimum bid.
Information about obtaining an ad can be found here:
http://www.contextsf.org/ads.htm
In other news, there's a new blog attached to the site:
http://www.contextsf.org/blog/
If you are a past/current Context programming participant and you have news about upcoming convention appearances, publications, CD releases, etc., send your news to contextsf(at)gmail.com and they will include it on the blog.
For the blog, they're also looking for short reviews of SF/F/H books, movies, comics, other conventions. The ideal length is 150-400 words, and they will include your byline and a short (10-30 word) blurb for your website or other project. They reserve the right to fix spelling/grammar errors. Please also send reviews to contextsf(at)gmail.com
The registration form on the website will be live once they have the writing workshops arranged.
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A quick thank you to everyone who put Context 20 together. They persevered through hotel 'hell' , putting on a conference that brought the best people together to share reading, writing and general insanities. As well as some not so general ;-)
Thanks to Lucy, Susan, Dan and all the rest! |
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We've received word that Tim Powers' father passed away this morning.
Although this is surely a very sad time for him, Tim is still planning to come to Context, but won't be here until Saturday. |
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I just found out that Friday night at the convention, CGP/Liaison Press plans to host a party, and Saturday night Apex Publications will be throwing a party. Both these parties will feature tasty adult beverages, so minors will not be admitted.
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Context treasurer Bob Hillis fell down some stairs at his home and broke his back along with three ribs. The good news is that he can move his arms and legs; however, he's going to be in the hospital for a while. |
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The Context 20 staff now have the programming schedule set (at least in plaster, if not actual stone). You can find it by going to the Context website:
http://www.contextsf.org/
Please click on the link on the lefthand side that reads "Panels and Programming". They've also fleshed out the page for the Sixth Annual Science and the Future Symposium.
They've tried to get all attending authors listed on the front page of the website -- if you're a published writer and you've registered but don't see your name listed, please email the web staff at contextsf@gmail.com and they will correct the omission as quickly as possible. |
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Hi everyone,
The Context 20 registration rate goes from $35 to $45 after Wednesday this week ... so if you haven't registered, you can save $10 by doing it in the next two days.
http://www.contextsf.org/
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Dan writes:
There will be a Costume Contest on Friday of the convention. The time will be 7 PM in the Columbus room. The theme is a Star Trek: The Next Generation fashion show. Attendees are encouraged to come in uniform or costume and participate. Costumes do not need to be Star Trek based however. The Contest is mainly for fun but there will be prizes with judges and an emcee.
Second, The Charity Auction/Raffle to benefit First Book will have many great items to be won by lucky attendees. Laura Reynolds has donated one of her dragon figures; Nigel Sade, a couple of prints; Bill Levy, a decorated blank journal; Susan Van Camp has donated a beautiful fanciful black cat T-shirt; autographs from Kate Mulgrew, Tim Russ, Stephen Furst, John Billingsley, Bill Mumy, Cirrock Lofton, Andrea Thompson and more to come; books, books and more books including The Star Wars "Admiral Thrawn" trilogy signed by Timothy Zahn; A Free Pizza donated by Clintonville Pizza Primo; a DeConpression membership from Nick and Linda Winks; DVDs; Computer Games; Posters and still much more to come.
In other news, full weekend registration rises from $35 to $45 on August 15th, so you should register soon if you want to take advantage of the less expensive rate.
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