Schedule for Laurel Anne Hill at RavenCon, Holiday Inn Koger Center, Richmond, VA, April 8-10, 2011

Friday, April 8, 2011
3 pm, Room E, Have goggles will travel.  (Tera Fulbright, Laurel Anne Hill, Jonah Knight, Susan Z)  Authors discuss the problems involved in moving past the fashion of steampunk and actually writing a story set in a steampunk world.  Does human nature itself make steampunk unrealistic?

5 pm, Anna Room, The biggest mistakes new writers make. (Tera Fulbright, Laurel Anne Hill, Michael Ventrella)  Like children, fools, and drunkards, new writers need someone to look out for them and keep them from doing silly, self-destructive things.  Lucky for you our panel is here to do just that.

8 pm, Board Room, A visit with Laurel Anne Hill. Author Laurel Anne Hill talks a bit about her published stories, especially upcoming ones, and answers fan questions about the stories and about being a writer and such.

Saturday, April 9, 2011
12 noon, Room F, The steampunk brain vs. the cyberpunk brain. (Laurel Anne Hill, James Prego, Tedd Roberts).  Is the human brain digital or analog?  Will a fast enough computer be able to surpass the human brain or is there still a bit of clockwork and a spark of lightning inside our heads?

1 pm, Room F, Every generation has its own disease. (John Cmar, Laurel Anne Hill, Debra Killeen, Duncan Langlois, John Monahan)  What does the future hold for infectious diseases?  Will the next great plague arise naturally or be created in a laboratory?

4 pm, Dealer’s Room, Signing, Laurel Anne Hill

5 pm, Room F, Shadow of the Torturer. (Christiana Ellis, Laurel Anne Hill, KT Pinto, Peter Prellwitz, Bud Webster)  Writing’s potential for self-revelation may be its most powerful and terrifying aspect.  How do you cope when your story is telling you something you don’t want to know about yourself?

Sunday, April 10, 2011
9 am, Room F, The waiting is the hardest part. (Andrew Fox, Laurel Anne Hill, Stuart Jaffe, Gail Martin, Edmund Schubert, Matthew Warner)  You have sent manuscripts to agents.  What do you do now?  Listen to authors who are waiting (and still waiting) to hear from editors and agents, and find out what they are doing to pass the time before hearing the final word…and what to do when the news comes back.

10 am, Anna Room, Writing for blogs. (John Cmar, Laurel Anne Hill, Stuart Jaffe, Tedd Roberts, Michael Ventrella)  Is there a science to writing blogs, or is it merely a stream-of-consciousness?  Bloggers of different backgrounds discuss what motivates them, how they do what they do, and what their intent is.

1 pm, Room E, A TARDIS full of smallpox. (John Cmar, Laurel Anne Hill, James Prego)  Entire cultures have been decimated when introduced to a new pathogen.  What are the biological implications of time travel?  Is Dr. Who a vector for the Black Death?

2 pm, Cove Room, The discreet charm of historical fantasy. (Laurel Anne Hill, Jagi Lamplighter)  What prompts otherwise sane writers to spend years researching Imperial Japan, the Silk Road or the Ripper’s London?  How do they know when they’ve gotten it right?

Hope to see some of you there.

Laurel Anne Hill  (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com