Concussion Program Item List Please note that this list is provisional and is almost certain to change in detail by the time of Concussion. For up-do-date information, including details of panel participants, see the Read Me or Newsletter. Where an item is listed as in 'Argyll 123' this means Argyll 1, 2 and 3 merged together. The programme will also feature a schedule of readings and 'kaffeeklatsch' discussions again, see the Read Me or Newsletter for details. There will also be a video stream in the Orkney Room in the morning and evening, for which a separate schedule will be available. Friday - Saturday - Sunday - Monday Friday Fri, 1330-1430, Argyll 1 How Do New Things Happen? What is the process by which gadgets get into the real world? Fri, 1330-1430, Argyll 2 The Creative Possibilities of the Fanzine Fanzines have come a long way since being mimeo'd onto Twiltone. What further creative prospects are there? Fri, 1330-1430, Argyll 3 Costume Construction So, you have a wonderful idea for a costume. How do you implement it? Fri, 1500-1530, Argyll 123 Opening Ceremony Meet the Guests and Committee Fri, 1530-1700, Argyll 12 Guest of Honour - Elizabeth Hand Elizabeth Hand interviewed by Graham Sleight. Fri, 1700-1800, Argyll 1 "There ain't no such thing as Free Speech. And a good thing too!" Just where should SF writers avoid going, and what are the consequences when they go there anyway? Fri, 1700-1800, Argyll 2 Panel to Screen How faithful can a film adaptation of a comic be? What needs to change; what must be kept? Fri, 1700-1800, Argyll 3 Critical Movements Can critical movements survive the Singularity? Fri , 1700-1800 , Staffa Kaffeklatsch Charlie Stross, John Clute, Dan Abnett Fri, 1700-1800 , Boardroom Reading M John Harrison, Jon Courtenay Grimwood Fri, 1800-1900, Argyll 1 War of the Wells The Defence Secretary has predicted that the UK will soon be intervening in resource conflicts. How soon will wars over oil become wars over water? Fri, 1800-1900, Argyll 2 To Infinity and Beyond? How does a writer get across a sense of scale? Do you always want to? Fri, 1800-1900, Argyll 3 The Why and What For of Art Prizes Awards for art - what is it we're trying to recognize, why the split between 'serious' and 'whimsical' art awards? Fri, 1800-1900, Mezzanine Elastic Press / Pendragon Press Launch Party Fri, 1900-1945, Argyll 1 Making GAMERz The making of the recent Scottish gaming-themed film. Fri, 1900-2000, Argyll 2 Desert Island Geeks Which gadget would you want to be marooned with on a desert island? Fri, 1900-2000, Argyll 3 Location, Location, Location Why do some writers have such a strong sense of place? Fri, 1900-2000, Boardroom Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth Quiz A Tolkien-themed quiz, with special musical support from the Quodlibet vocal quartet. Fri, 1945-2130, Argyll 1 GAMERz Showing A feature presentation of Scottish film GAMERz. Fri, 2000-2100, Argyll 3 SMOFF: Make a Fan Fund The League of Fan Funds runs the very first Fan Race to take place entirely within one convention! Fri, 2000-2130, Argyll 2 Signing Session Featuring: Dan Abnett, Paul Barnett (aka John Grant), Stephen Baxter, Chaz Brenchley, Paul Cornell, Jack Deighton, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Elizabeth Hand, Amanda Hemingway, Ken MacLeod, Deborah Miller, Justina Robson, Mark Robson, Johanna Sinisalo, Charlie Stross and Freda Warrington. Fri, 2000-2130, Island Art Show Official Opening Join us for a special opening of the Art Show. Fri, 2130-2300, Argyll 1 Tartan - The Director's Cut Mark Slater leads a Director and Cast Commentary of David Wake's Captain Tartan Saves The World Again. Fri, 2130-2300, Argyll 2 Tales from the Green Room The Legends and Lore of Running Conventions. Fri, 2130-2300, Argyll 3 Fan Fund Auction The League of Fan Funds auction. Saturday Sat, 0900-1000, Boardroom Flash Fiction Workshop 1 Sat, 1000-1100, Argyll 1 Reading as a Writer A panel with M John Harrison Sat, 1000-1100, Argyll 2 Who's Telling the Story? The Voice of Historical Fantasy Can you write from an authentically historical point of view? Is it possible to avoid the sensibilities of the present - and is it really necessary to do so? And which historical authors best inspire writers? Sat, 1000-1100, Argyll 3 The New Calvinism: How Hardwired is the Soul? Does posthumanism mean uploaded salvation for the lucky few? Sat, 1000-1100, Boardroom Fannish Theatre Fannish theatrical productions have a long and distinguished history. Our panel discuss the highlights and pitfalls of Convention Dramatics. Sat, 1100-1200, Argyll 1 Special Guest - Johanna Sinisalo Interviewed by Saija Silvennoinen. Sat, 1100-1200, Argyll 2 How Much Hangs on the Chads? What Alternate History will we be writing about the timeline where Gore got elected? Sat, 1100-1200, Argyll 3 The Enduring Call of Cthulhu Nearly seventy years after HP Lovecraft died, why is Lovecraftiana so popular? Sat, 1100-1200, Boardroom Growing Up in the Virtual Village From LiveJournal to World of Warcraft and instant message groups, teenagers and pre-teens are growing up online in their own groups which are no longer based on mere geography. Do these groups introduce them to more diversity, or will their very self-selecting nature lead only to reinforcement of existing attitudes? Sat, 1200-1300, Argyll 1 The Work of Octavia Butler The writing of Octavia Butler, who died earlier this year. Sat, 1200-1300, Argyll 2 Aesthetics and Ethics in Children's Literature "A little bit of metaphor, a Sunday school lesson or two, and lots of misery". Does children's fantasy have to be like this? Sat, 1200-1300, Argyll 3 What Should A Good Museum Look Like? Museums are where many fans had their interest in science or history sparked. Can they engage today's youth without dumbing down into 'info-tainment'? Sat, 1200-1300, Boardroom True Names and Other Fannish Obsessions Real Names, Badge Names, LJ Names: who are you today, Darth Sidious or Chancellor Palpatine? Sat, 1300-1400, Argyll 1 Fandom - A Safe Space? What is a 'safe space' and is fandom one? How can fans and conventions reconcile the desire to express yourself freely and the desire to be in a welcoming and friendly environment? Sat, 1300-1400, Argyll 2 The Singularity: End of the Greens? If it doesn't kill SF, will it kill environmentalism? Who cares about the Greenland ice cap melting if there's a prospect that posthuman intelligences will recycle the planet into nanotech? Sat, 1300-1400, Argyll 3 Not The Clarke Award Our panel give their own verdicts on the 2005 Clarke shortlist. Sat, 1300-1400, Boardroom Is the Centre of Science Fiction at its Margins? How have women's, queer, black voices reshaped our ideas of what science fiction is? Sat, 1300-1400 , Orkney Reading Liz Williams, Frances Hardinge, Ken MacLeod Sat, 1300-1400 , TBN Kaffeklatsch Liz Wein, Justina Robson, Paul Cornell Sat, 1400-1530, Argyll 12 Guest of Honour - M John Harrison Elizabeth Hand interviews M John Harrison. Sat, 1530-1700, Argyll 1 Hay Lecture Alice Jenkins of Glasgow University talks on the interaction of science and literature in the Victorian age. Sat, 1530-1700, Argyll 2 Special Guests - Dan Abnett and Marc Gascoigne Dan Abnett and Marc Gascoigne interview each other in our Special Guest Double Presentation. Sat, 1530-1700, Argyll 3 When One Is Not Enough What influences a writer to use multiple viewpoints in a novel rather than just looking through one set of eyes? How well does the limited viewpoint work in this postmodernist age? Sat, 1700-1800, Argyll 1 Orbital Cleavage, or Just How Do They Do That? "You Canna Break the Laws of Physics" - unless, it seems, you're designing underwear for sf covers! Our panel assesses the practicalities of sf costumes (with illustrations) and the way artists draw the female physique. Sat, 1700-1800, Argyll 2 Twelve Monkeys and a Chicken Global epidenics are a perennial theme in SF, and thanks to Bird Flu the topic is more relevant than ever. How would we really cope with a pandemic? Sat, 1700-1800, Argyll 3 "Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds" - Where Does Your Inspiration Come From? Amy Lowell felt that your muse always came with a price to pay. What are the wellsprings of inspiration for writers and artists? Sat, 1700-1800, Boardroom Reading Dan Abnett, Amanda Hemingway, Gavin Inglis Sat, 1700-1800, Orkney Reading Lisa Tuttle, Ian McDonald, Liz Wein Sat, 1700-1800, Staffa Kaffeklatsch Mark Robson, Liz Sourbut, Freda Warrington, Elizabeth Hand Sat, 1800-1900, Argyll 1 Who +1 - is British TV SF undergoing a renaissance? One year after many of us watched the first episode of the new Dr Who, a number of other new shows have appeared. But are Hyperdrive, Life on Mars and Eleventh Hour signs of a new beginning, or are they just attempts to cash in? Sat, 1800-1900, Argyll 2 "All Quest Fantasies are basically Pilgrim's Progress rewritten" Is this true? If so, is there anything that can be done about it? Sat, 1800-1900, Argyll 3 Writing the Taboo Sf and fantasy have long pushed the boundaries of what is considered acceptable. What taboos remain? Can they - or even should they - be tackled? Sat, 1900-2000, Argyll 12 Dr Who The start of the new season of Dr Who subject to technical feasibility. Sat, 2000-2100, Argyll 1 Call of Cthulhu Showing The HP Lovecraft Historical Society's acclaimed silent black-and-white version of Lovecraft's classic tale. Sat, 2000-2100, Argyll 2 Defining Sentience How will we recognise self-awareness? Will it recognise us? And when does 'which is the real me' stop being a meaningful question? Sat, 2000-2100, Argyll 3 It's Not Easy Being Green Is the tech v environmental divide become more complex (e.g pro-nuke environmentalists)? Sat, 2100-2130, Argyll 1 Award Ceremony The BSFA and other Awards, hosted by John Jarrold. Sat, 2130-2300, Argyll 1 Taff Party and Interaction Thank-You A special fund-raising event for the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, supported by Interaction, the 2005 Worldcon. Sat, 2130-2300, Argyll 2 Raagnagrok Describing themselves as "electric sitar and synth dronemusik", Raagnagrok will be playing a set at Concussion. Sat, 2130-2300, Argyll 3 Eastercon Quiz Saturday Quiz Night. Sat, 2200-2300, Mezzanine Blake's Seven Wobblevision Help recreate a classic B7 episode! Meet up at 10pm outside Video Programme (Orkney) Sunday Sun, 1000-1100, Argyll 1 The March of the MMORPG Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs have millions of participants, thriving online cultures and economies the size of small countries. What is life in cyberspace like? Sun, 1000-1100, Argyll 2 Up Close and Personal The Fantastic in the High Street: sf and fantasy about everyday life. Sun, 1000-1100, Argyll 3 Small Presses and Trade Publishers The issues, challenges, and opportunities facing small publishers today. Sun, 1000-1200, Boardroom Archers Listen-In and Panel Meet up to listen to the Archers Sunday Omnibus, then watch our panel dissect the burning issues of Ambridge. Sun, 1100-1200, Argyll 1 Eastercon Bid Session Your chance to vote on the bids to run the 2007 and 2008 Eastercons. There will be bids for both years being presented as there was no bid to run 2007 last year. Sun, 1100-1200, Argyll 2 "Why can't they just write it so people can understand?" What makes writing inaccessible? Are challenging ideas enough to make a challenging work of fiction, or must they be matched by complex language and structures? Sun, 1100-1200, Argyll 3 The Other Kind of Fantastic Mainstream fiction is more ambitious and interesting than it's been in years--from Ali Smith to Kevin Brockmeier and all points in between. Sun, 1200-1300, Argyll 1 Eastercon Forum The Pressing Questions of Our Time Sun, 1200-1300, Argyll 2 Special Guest - Dee Parker "Silhouettes of the Past and the Future" Sun, 1200-1300, Argyll 3 Battlestar Galactica: Civics 101 In Space? With its focus on political, legal and ethical issues, is the new Battlestar Galactica SF's answer to The West Wing? Sun, 1200-1300, Boardroom Philosophy and SF SF often has pretensions to philosophical thought, but how rigourous is it really? Sun, 1200-1400, Staffa Art Auction Art Auction Sun, 1300-1400, Argyll 1 Is 2001 an Odyssey or an Argonautica? Tony Keen analyses the Clarke/Kubrick film in the context of Greek myth. Sun, 1300-1400, Argyll 2 Shuttle at 25 It's exactly 25 years since the first flight of the Space Shuttle. What impact did it (and its failures) have on sf and real-world space exploration? Sun, 1300-1400, Argyll 3 Harrison, Harrison and Clute Niall Harrison, Mike Harrison and John Clute. Sun, 1300-1400, Boardroom Flash Fiction Workshop 2 Sun, 1300-1400, Orkney Reading Justina Robson, Liz Sourbut, Elizabeth Hand Sun, 1300-1400, TBN Kaffeklatsch Liz Williams, Johanna Sinisalo, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Ian McDonald Sun, 1400-1530, Argyll 12 Guest of Honour -Justina Robson Justina Robson interviewed by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Sun, 1400-1700, Outside Beyond Cyberdrome - Pirates! SMS and James present the latest incarnation of Beyond Cyberdrome: Pirates! Note that owing to the nature of this year's challenge, it will be taking place outside. Sun, 1530-1700, Argyll 12 Guest of Honour - Brian Froud Guest Artist Brian Froud. Sun, 1530-1700, Boardroom Scholarship in the Fan Community What is good scholarship in the context of non-professional criticism? Sun, 1530-1700, Orkney BSFA Award shorts book group Sun, 1700-1800, Argyll 1 Won't Get Fooled Again "Why don't we just completely trash the whole tired sf genre and try to take the discourse somewhere genuinely new?" Sun, 1700-1800, Argyll 2 Model Making and SFX How is new technology revolutionising the way both professional and amateur modellers can work? Sun, 1700-1800, Argyll 3 The Writer-Critic Why does sf have so many good critics who are active fiction writers? Sun, 1700-1800, Boardroom Reading Freda Warrington, Chaz Brenchley, Mark Robson Sun, 1700-1800, Orkney Reading Stephen Baxter, Rhiannon Lassiter, Jack Deighton Sun, 1800-1900, Argyll 1 Digging up the Past in the Future What would researchers make of the remains of a typical fantasy or sf culture? Our panel examine some artefacts Sun, 1800-1900, Argyll 2 How Children's SF influences future reading What is big in SF for young adults these days? What sort of sf readers will come out of reading it? Sun, 1800-1900, Argyll 3 Writing Other Cultures Writers frequently want to explore or present unfamiliar cultures, be they human or alien. Can you do this convincingly, and if so how? Sun, 1900-2000, Argyll 12 Masquerade Rehearsal Sun, 1900-2000, Argyll 3 Staging the Fantastic What are the challenges of depicting the fantastic on stage and screen? Sun, 1900-2000, Mezzanine Parietal Games' Launch The Science Fiction Foundation and Concussion present the official launch of the SFF's collection of critical writing by and on Guest of Honour M John Harrison. Sun, 2000-2130, Argyll 12 Masquerade Sun, 2000-2130, Argyll 3 Mad Bio-Medical Tales Tall Technical Tales goes soft and squishy! The popular panel on scientific urban myth and laboratory legends takes a break from rocket science and looks at folklore of medicine and biology. Sun, 2130-2300, Argyll 12 Guest of Honour - Ian Sorensen Our Fan Guest of Honour goes on trial: Ian Sorensen, This Is Your Life (Sentence)! Sun, 2130-2300, Argyll 3 Edinburgh Writers' Bloc Readings by the Edinburgh SF Writers' group. Monday Mon, 0900-1000, Boardroom Flash Fiction Workshop 3 Mon, 1000-1100, Argyll 1 Feedback Session Your chance to provide feedback on the convention to the current and future Eastercon committees. Mon, 1000-1100, Argyll 2 From Book to Game or Game to Book How do you turn a role-playing game into a setting for fiction? What does it take to turn a book or comic into a role-playing game, and what does the process tell us about the original writer? Mon, 1000-1100, Argyll 3 Mining the Heart M John Harrison in conversation with Elizabeth Hand and Colin Greenland Mon, 1000-1100, Boardroom Communal Criticism Is blogging bringing reviewers out of their ivory towers? Mon, 1100-1200, Argyll 1 Special Guest - Mat Irvine Mat Irvine's illustrated talk on "Space - As It Should Have Been". Mon, 1100-1200, Argyll 2 Equal Pay? Now We're Talking Fantasy "The gender pay gap is bigger in Britain than anywhere else in Europe ." Does it matter? How will it affect our future? Mon, 1100-1200, Argyll 3 It's Not Just D&D Any More Role-Playing Gaming has come a long way since the early days of D&D. What does it offer now and what do modern gamers get out of it? Mon, 1100-1200, Boardroom Rise of the comic artist as Artist In the world of comics, has the artist's style become as big a selling point as the writer's name? Mon, 1200-1300, Argyll 1 Victim or Survivor? Human Responses to Alien Invasion Psychology lecturer Dr Sarita Robinson explores the factors affecting our responses to disaster. Mon, 1200-1300, Argyll 2 V for Vendetta: Comics and Politics The release of the film of V for Vendetta is highlighting the graphic novel as a serious political tract. How has the genre developed in the last 20 years? Mon, 1200-1300, Argyll 3 Return of the Robinsonade Lost, 1632 - the small community stranded and trying to survive is a concept that seems to be making a comeback. But is an excuse for formulaic plots, info-dumping and libertarian fantasy? Mon, 1200-1300, Boardroom The Golden BSFA How should the BSFA mark its 50th anniversary? Mon, 1300-1400, Argyll 1 Does Anyone Watch Broadcast TV Any More? Between downloading episodes and buying the DVD compilation, does anyone actually watch the original broadcast of SF series any more? How might this change the culture of mutual appreciation of a show? Mon, 1300-1400, Argyll 2 How to write the truly terrifying. How do you craft words to make the blood freeze? What elements go into good horror to make it more than just scary or gruesome? Mon, 1300-1400, Argyll 3 Swordfighting Demo 1 Learn about swordfighting, with a chance to try swordplay in a safe and supervised environment. Mon, 1300-1400, Boardroom Kaffeklatsch Ken MacLeod, Chaz Brenchley, Jack Deighton Mon, 1400-1530, Argyll 1 Does your towel know where you are? RFID chips to track our shopping, and wireless video camers in every mobile phone: what happens when universal communication becomes ubiquitous surveillance? Mon, 1400-1530, Argyll 2 Promoting Yourself Everyone has a writer inside them. Our panel explore how to help them stage a breakout, and where to go next. Mon, 1400-1530, Argyll 3 Swordfighting Demo 2 Mon, 1600-1630, Argyll 123 Closing Ceremony Mon, 1700-1900, Argyll 1 Lucas Back in Anger Showing A video of Guest of Honour Ian Sorensen's Hugo-nominated play from the last Worldcon Mon, 1900-2300, Argyll 1 Dead Dog Party