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Source: rec.arts.sf.announce posting

The County of Lambton Presents:

GenreCon 2003

Our names are Jeff Beeler and Ellen Dark, and we are co-chairs for the
genre fiction convention GenreCon. We are looking for published
authors to come and participate in our convention. 

We pride ourselves on offering a wide range of panels on the writing
of genre fiction and some examples of genres are Mystery, Science
Fiction, Fantasy, Romance and Horror. Last year's panelists included
Jack Allen,  Diana Barron, Albert Bell Jr., Dennis Collins, Jeff
DeLuzio, Barbara Fradkin, Anne Harris, Rick Lieder, Mary Jane Maffini,
Caro Soles, and Mark Terry.

GenreCon is a free convention presented by the Sarnia Branch of the
Lambton County Library. It is a friendly, intimate convention. Our
past panelists speak highly of their experiences, and we hope you will
consider attending.

If you would like to attend the convention and participate in
programming, please take a look at the preliminary panel list.
GenreCon starts at 11 AM with a meet and greet reception and runs
until library closing at 5:30. Attendees are then invited to join in a
group dinner at a local restaurant. In addition, we will be holding a
track of author readings. Please let us know if you would like to
participate in a reading.

Email <genreconca@yahoo.ca> is the best way to reach us. 

Alternately, you can mail us at:
Jeff Beeler or Ellen Dark,
The Reference Department, Sarnia Branch, Lambton County Library,
124 Christina St. South, Sarnia, Ontario N7T 8E1

Or by phone at 519-337-3291

Sincerely, 
Jeffrey Allan Beeler and Ellen Dark
Co-Chairs GenreCon


Details: 

Name: GenreCon 

Where: Sarnia Branch, Lambton County Library, 
124 Christina St. South, Sarnia, Ontario N7T 8E1
Sarnia is one hour west of London on highway 402.

When: Saturday May 10, 2003 11 AM to 5:30 PM


Preliminary Panel List:

By hook or by crook or by desktop
How to get your first book published. What are the current and
possible future alternatives to traditional publishing? Fiction is now
available online and as books on tape. Future possibilities include
printing on demand and the ascendance of small presses. Whose needs do
these forms of publishing address?

Murdering your Grandfather 
Examine the trials, paradoxes & possibilities of time travel stories.

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Fictional Characters
It's a chapter meeting. Come air your concerns; bring examples to
share with the group. Panelists will discuss when it is meaningful
to have violence happen to your characters, and when it is just plain
cruel and exploitive.

Genre Definers
What books set the standard in their genres?

The Joy of Short Story Writing
Why we write them and where you can read them.

Artists or Storytellers 
Is there a place for stylistic writing and multilayered plots in genre
fiction or should authors just try to tell a good story?

Weird reading strategies 
Have you ever read the ending of a novel first? Some readers don't
want to commit to characters that won't survive, or they simply want
to get major surprises out of the way. Some people also deconstruct a
story by reading it out of order, or even totally at random. These
strategies obviously won't work with everything but can produce
interesting new views of your favorite fiction.

The blurb ruined it for me 
Blurbs are generally misleading and can give too much away, as can
reviews. Grrrrr--we all have favorite examples of monstrous misprision
to recount. Can a blurb honestly describe a book without spoiling it?
What are the best ways to entice a reader to make a purchase?