September 2003
© 2003 Ernest Lilley / SFRevu
columns - events - features - books - media        home  /  subscribe

The 61st World Science Fiction Convention
Victoria's Broad View
Torcon Site: http://www.torcon3.on.ca/  Date: 08/28/03

Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading
Friday night, 6 pm
Reported by Victoria McMannus
 

Even if I hadn't been reading myself, I would have attended the Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading; how could I miss a line-up like that?  Each writer was given approximately five minutes to read anything they liked, from works already published to stories still in manuscript--a buffet-style  reading, if you will; if you don't like something, well, in five minutes it will be over.  In the meantime, one can get a quick taste of multiple authors and perhaps even some guidelines for one's next trip to the mega-bookstore.

Broad Universe is a special interest group with the primary goal of promoting science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by women (you can learn more at http://www.broaduniverse.org ), providing opportunities for networking and publicity as well as a sense of community.  There's no publication requirement; readers at TorCon ranged from unpublished to award-winning.

Naomi Black read from an as-yet unsold short story entitled "Calling up the Dead,"  seemingly a dark fantasy.  Suzy McKee Charnas read from her new novella A Trick of the Dark, about a young shaman from another world who's doing a spirit journey in ours.  I am looking forward to seeing that one in print, just from hearing  five minutes of it!  Ellen Klages unveiled the newest story of the reading, which she had finished mere hours before and that turned out to be perfectly suited to being read aloud in Ellen's inimitable style.

I read from my in-progress genre novel set in 1919 Philadelphia.  Mary Anne Mohanraj enjoined audience participation and entertained everyone with selections from her erotic choose-your-own-adventure novel, The Classics Professor; who knew a trip to the Cloisters museum in New York City could be so stimulating? 

 Reading organizer Nancy Jane Moore read from her science fiction/detective story recently published in Keith R.A. DeCandido's anthology Imaginings.   Exotic aliens appeared in Therese Pieczynski's story in the anthology Imagination Fully Dilated: Science Fiction, an anthology based on the work of Oregon artist Alan M. Clark.

Amy Thomsen read a selection from Storyteller, a science fiction novel with some truly intriguing alien creatures, due out in December from Ace. Wen Spencer who, later in the weekend was the winner of the Campbell Award for Best New Writer (photo at right), read a selection from her new fantasy novel, Tinker. (see SFRevu's June'03 author  Interview).

Kathryn Sullivan read "The Demons' Storeroom" from her short story collection, Agents & Adepts, published by Amber Quill Press. 

Liz Williams read from her brand new SF novel, Nine Layers of Sky, out this month in mass market paperback from Bantam; some lucky visitors to the BU autographing session on Sunday received free copies of the book, which Liz kindly autographed.
(see SFRevu's June'03 author Interview)

As I was only able to attend one reading during TorCon, I was glad I chose this one!  I'll be looking for a Rapid-Fire reading at the next convention I attend.
 

© 2003 Ernest Lilley / SFRevu
columns - events - features - books - media                    home  /  subscribe