Happy New Years! We are almost one month away from Boskone 57 now! Today we are interviewing Darrell Schweitzer, Sharon Lee, and Paul Di Filippo!

Darrell Schweitzer

Darrell Schweitzer has published four novels, most recently THE DRAGON HOUSE (2018) and about 350 stories over the past forty-some years. He is a former editor of WEIRD TALES (1987-2007) and an active anthologist, having most recently edited MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS REVEALED (PS Publishing 2019), a “Lovecraftian global warming anthology.” THE BEST OF DARRELL SCHWEITZER (2 volumes) will appear from PS Publishing late in 2019. He is a 4-time World Fantasy Award nominee (and one-time winner) and has been a Shirley Jackson Award runner-up. He is a regular contributor to THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION.

Visit Darrell on their Facebook.

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

A friendly & literate convention devoted to intelligent discussion without ideological bias.

What topics are you most looking forward to talking about at Boskone?

SF history & criticism. This is pretty general. You always come up with good topics.

Bonus: Up for a challenge? Give us a haiku or limerick about Boskone!

It shall evermore be my intention
to attend every Boskone convention.
They’re always such fun
and admirably run,
your invite has got myattention.

Authors: Fans often ask authors to talk about their favorite main characters, but what about the side characters? Who is one of your favorite sidekicks or secondary/tertiary characters who have had a lesser role in your work?

I don’t have that many sidekicks in my work. One who stayed with me for six stories was Nick the Gaoler in the Tom O’Bedlam stories, who was originally rather cruel and petty, but once Tom was let loose and Nick became his companion on the road, then Nick was redeemed by enlightened lunacy. We should all hope to go mad just like that.

What will you be working on in 2020? Any new releases or dates that fans should be looking forward to hearing about?

A new PS Publishing anthology, SHADOWS OUT OF TIME, about Lovecraftian conflicts with time. Great Race of Yith optional.Lovecraft thought that the conflict with time was the most potent of all weird themes. I hope my authors can prove this.

If you could bring any object or device into the real world from fiction or film, and it would work perfectly, what would you choose? Why would you choose that item?

A STAR TREK transporter system. If you use it right, it is a fountain of youth. The signal can be edited. Remember that episode of NEXT GENERATION in which everybody suddenly became 12 years old, but retained their adult memories. As you approach 70, that becomes an attractive proposition.

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Sharon Lee

Sharon is most often seen writing as half of the blockbuster team of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, authors of the long-running Liaden Universe® space opera novels. Occasionally, however, she sneaks off and writes something on her own, such as the near-word fantasy Carousel Trilogy: Carousel Tides, Carousel Sun, and Carousel Seas. Her latest novel, co-written with Steve, is Accepting the Lance, the 23rd novel in the Liaden Universe®, published by Baen in December 2019. Upcoming in 2020 is Trader’s Leap. Sharon is a member of the National Carousel Association and the United States Lighthouse Society. You can keep up with Sharon, Lee-and-Miller and their cats at http://www.sharonleewriter.com.

Visit Sharon on their Facebook, Twitter, and website.

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

Steve and I try to attend Boskone every year.We have missed a few in the 30 years that we’ve been living in Maine, which makes Boskone our “home” convention — because or prior commitments, or health issues, or — ahem — day-job issues, but more often than not, if it’s mid-February, we’re at Boskone.This may seem an odd choice, given what the weather is typically like in the Northeastern US in Feburary, but Boskone is worth getting on a train at way-too-early on a frigid February morning, and gambling with the weather.

For long-term attendees, like Steve and me, there’s the obvious draw of a winter party attended by a sizeable number of our friends and colleagues in the science fiction community, but Boskone has a lot to offer new attendees, as well, which is one of the things I’ve always liked about it.In addition to its welcoming atmosphere, there are several tracks of thoughtful — and frivolous — panels, discussions, and demonstrations. Attendees have the chance to meet artists, authors, experts, musicians, other fans; to tour a really splendid art show; shop in an extensive dealer’s room; listen to filk music; and to talk — or listen — as mood and temperament dictate.

If I had to pick one thing that I, personally, like most about Boskone — it would be the Big Living Room; a grouping of comfy chairs, sofas,and tables, where people can sit and read, or knit, or chat, put together jigsaw puzzles, bead, or just decompress.It’s a splendid space and eloquent of Boskone’s “fan family” philosophy.

Bonus: Up for a challenge? Give us a haiku or limerick about Boskone!

Grey sky, icy wind
Friends inside mingle and meet
Will it snow, or not

What was your first book event or literary convention? Tell us about it! Perhaps you even have a photo to share?

Well…if I’m going to talk about my first book event or literary convention, that would have been Book Expo, back in…2005, I think.Instead, I want to talk about my first science fiction convention, which was BaltiCon 10, held in Baltimore (I’m originally from Baltimore).I was an attendee by accident, sort-of.I didn’t know anything about science fiction conventions, and if I had known anything, I wouldn’t have attended because I was Much Too Shy and did not voluntarily seek out large groups of people.

I did, however, want to be a writer, and BaltiCon 10 sponsored a short story contest, the winner to receive a free membership to the convention, a cash prize, and an opportunity to meet the convention’s guest of honor who was, that year, Isaac Asimov.Since I did want to be a writer, and a writer of science fiction, I entered the contest*.

I also won the contest.And so I attended my first con, met Isaac Asimov, spent my winnings in the dealer’s room, met a handful of convivial people, and in general had a confusing, but exhilarating, adventure.I didn’t make it to BaltiCon 11, but I did attend BaltiCon 12, where Anne McCaffrey was guest of honor, and the rest is, as we say — History.Even, Ancient History.
__________
*I may have also, maybe, gotten a little impetus to compete because my then-boyfriend’s best friend had determined to enter, also, and was, loudly and obnoxiously, IMHO, assured of his win over a field of “amateurs,” and I, well…thought not.

What will you be working on in 2020? Any new releases or dates that fans should be looking forward to hearing about?

Oh, let’s see…March 2020 will see the re-issue, in mass market paperback, of the third-ever Liaden Universe® novel, Carpe Diem.Toward the end of the year, Trader’s Leap, the twenty-third novel of the Liaden Universe®, will be published….Leap is the…companion novel to Accepting the Lance, which came out in December 2019.

If you could bring any object or device into the real world from fiction or film, and it would work perfectly, what would you choose? Why would you choose that item?

Oh, look! A barrel of fish.Obviously, I would import the autodoc from the Liaden Universe® by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, primarily because Fuck Cancer, though there’s nothing wrong with getting a broken arm healed by spending a couple hours in the ‘doc, either.Mind you, we’d have to figure out a way to keep this technology from falling into the hands of those who would exploit it for their own profit, ignoring the suffering and shortened life expectancies of those who can’t pay. . . but that’s another story.

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Paul Di Filippo

Born in 1954 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Paul Di Filippo discovered fandom in 1973 by attending his first convention, Torcon II. He went to Rhode Island College, where in 1976 he met Deborah Newton, his life partner ever since. In 1982, his long-simmering desire to become a professional writer could no longer be denied. Adopting Ray Bradbury’s advice to write a story a week, he did so for a year or more without selling any. Then he began to click, landing two near-simultaneous sales. In the subsequent four decades he’s amassed over 200 short fiction sales, and accumulated them, plus his novels, into over forty books.

Visit Paul on their Facebook and website.

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

Boskone is a bastion of fannish tradition and fantastika classicism, while still exhibiting that vaunted and beloved stefnal openness to new ideas, new faces, new themes and new fun!Run by bighearted and knowledgable people, this con blends the best of the old with the best of the new.

If you could be a fly on the wall during any scene or event in literature of film, which scene would it be and why? 

I want to watch Anita Ekberg frolic in the Trevi Fountain during the filming of LA DOLCE VITA.

Looking back, what was the first piece of work (whether it be from literature, cinema, art, music, video game, toy, or whatever it may be) that first made you love science-fiction and fantasy?

The year was 1961, the summer between first and second grades, and one of my relatives–probably my indulgent grandmother–bought me a 25-cent Dell Giant titled MIGHTY MOUSE IN OUTER SPACE.That sealed the deal.

If you could bring any object or device into the real world from fiction or film, and it would work perfectly, what would you choose? Why would you choose that item?

I think the “portable holes” from Warner Brothers cartoons would be very useful.

Register for Boskone 57 today!