http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/readercon http://io9.com/tag/readercon

Several of the most imaginative minds in science fiction (and science) gathered at this year's Readercon to discuss a fundamental question of our existence: Why does it seem like we're alone in the universe? Writers Jeff Hecht, Steven Popkes, Robert J. Sawyer, Ian Randal Strock, and Michael A. Burstein offered their recommendations for the best fictional explorations of this question, commonly known as the Fermi paradox. See their picks, and find out more about one of the greatest paradoxes in human existence. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5028035&view=rss&microfeed=true

One of the most interesting panels at this year's Readercon was an exploration of the steampunk design movement, as it emerged into the mainstream with May's New York Times Style article. Writer/puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal, YA fantasy novelist Holly Black, Tor editor Liz Gorinsky, and speculative fiction writer Sarah Micklem gathered to show off their steampunk creations, discuss steampunk's literary origins, share their favorite steampunk websites ... and, of course, to design a Gibson chair for the fannish masses. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5027021&view=rss&microfeed=true The book-focused scifi gathering Readercon starts on Thursday, and includes guests of honor Jonathan Lethem and James Patrick Kelly. It also includes the first public showing of the late Thomas Disch reading his poem sequence "Winter Journey," which he wrote after the death of his partner Charles Naylor. Based on Schubert's lider cycle "Winterreise," the poems are bleak, funny and heart-rending according to Elizabeth Hand. Disch asked his friend, filmmaker Eric Solstein to film him reading the poems as a suicide note, and planned to kill himself at the end of the recording to help publicize it. But Solstein made a deal with him: he'd tape the reading, if Disch would postpone the suicide for an indefinite period. The poems, with a DVD of the reading, will be published later this year by Payseur and Schmidt. [Readercon, via Ellen Datlow] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5025054&view=rss&microfeed=true