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Confluence

Vera’s highlights from Confluence 2022

This weekend (July 29-31) I attended my first Confluence in Pittsburgh, and I’m so glad I did!

Confluence is a small but incredibly fun, welcoming & inspiring conference that brings together writers, editors, readers & fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It’s organized by Parsec, Pittsburgh’s speculative fiction organization, and I highly recommend it. I had a blast.

Confluence logo. Beige text on black background.

Here are some highlights.

Meeting friends, old and new

Writing can get lonely, and I haven’t been to any writerly event since the pandemic started, so the biggest highlight of the conference for me was the people (isn’t it always?).

I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to catch up with old friends, see some of my Twitter friends face to face for the first time, and make new friends & connections. (I wish I remembered to take more photos!)

It was lovely to finally meet Susan Kaye Quinn, a scientist-turned-science-fiction-writer like myself, and my long-time inspiration and role model in the indie publishing world. Like Susan, I crave and try to write science fiction that’s hopeful & optimistic, at least to some degree, including solarpunk. After all, science fiction can do more than identify problems and warn of dangers ahead. It’s also a laboratory for ideas and a testing ground for solutions. (In my excitement, I forgot to take a photo with Susan. Next time!)

It was also terrific to hang out with my writer friend Marie Vibbert; to talk short fiction with Scott H. Andrews (editor of Beneath Ceaseless Skies), Neil Clarke (editor of Clarkesworld), and Charlie Oberndorf; to swap novels with Shannon Eichorn (I can’t wait to read Rights of Use); to chat about the writing life with Herb Kauderer; to play board games with Michelle Steiner and Mowgli Assor, both librarians extraordinaire; and to meet so many other amazing writers, editors, publishers, and fans.

A selfie of Vera Brook and her friend Marie Vibbert, both smiling at the camera. Marie is wearing awesome crystal cube earrings.
Marie Vibbert (left) and Vera Brook (right) at Confluence 2022.

Conference programming

Another highlight of the conference was the programming. Lots of fun & informative sessions to attend! But don’t take my word for it – see for yourself. The full Confluence 2022 schedule can be found here.

I had the pleasure of moderating two panels (with thanks to the Confluence organizers for trusting me with the job!):

  • “Reading Short SF: Why You Should Be Reading Short Fiction, Both Classic and New“ – with panelists Neil Clarke (Confluence’s Guest of Honor) and Michael Swanwick, and moderated by yours truly
  • “Suspended animation, FTL, AI: Which common SF ideas may become reality (and which are unlikely)” – with panelists Marianne Porter, Alan Katerinsky, Charles Oberndorf, and Barton Paul Levenson, and moderated by yours truly

Writing workshop

Finally, I participated in “Your Story’s First Five Pages” writing workshop taught by Scott H. Andrews, and it was excellent! A lecture on short-fiction craft from a long-time editor is always a treat, but we also submitted, read, and discussed each other’s work (the first five pages of a short story, as the name of the workshop suggests). Thank you, Scott! The workshop was super helpful. Now to apply it to my own short fiction…

In conclusion, I can’t wait for Confluence 2023!

Filed Under: News/Media Tagged With: conference, Confluence, Parsec, Short Fiction, writing workshop

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