MarsCon is less than 3 weeks away, and I've got my programming schedule all set! If you want to see me at MarsCon, March 7-9 at the MSP airport Hilton, here's my event schedule:
FRIDAY, MARCH 7
7pm, Mainstage
Opening Ceremonies
Thank you for joining us for the 27th annual MarsCon Sci Fi/Fantasy/Gaming Convention! We will open MarsCon with live sketch comedy, welcome and introduce our wonderful Guests of Honor, and learn important stuff that will help you get the most out of MarsCon 2025.
9pm, Re(a)d Mars (III Eagle’s Nest)
Tropes
Flying cars, bending space and time, telepathy, life on Mars, genetic engineering, rogue robots, dystopian governments, etc… Which overused tropes should be avoided? What tropes have changed? Can your favorite trope be redeemed or refreshed?
Kathryn Sullivan, GOH Ozgur K. Sahin, C. M. Alongi, M. R. Moraine
10pm, Re(a)d Mars (III Eagle’s Nest)
A Writers’ Conversation
Informal conversation amongst authors.
GOH Ozgur K. Sahin, T. Aaron Cisco, C. M. Alongi, M. R. Moraine & other authors
SATURDAY, MARCH 8
10am, Re(a)d Mars (III Eagle’s Nest)
Best of Classic Who: A Doctor Who Retrospective Celebrating the First 26+ Years
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The main character, the Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which externally appears as a British police box. As the Doctor periodically needs to regenerate into a new body, the character has been recast numerous times. This discussion of “classic” Who will cover portrayals by William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, as well as Paul McGann’s attempted revival of the franchise, and the movies which featured Peter Cushing as the Doctor.
GOH Ozgur K. Sahin, Kathryn Sullivan
12pm, Re(a)d Mars (III Eagle’s Nest)
Author GOH Ozgur K. Sahin Readings
Ozgur K. Sahin is an internationally award-winning author of the Brethren of the Spanish Main series of historical privateer novels. His first book, The Wrath of Brotherhood won an international Editor’s Choice award from the Historical Novel Society in 2015. More recently, his second book, True Colors, won second place in the Fall 2023 BookFest awards for Historical Nautical Fiction. He is currently working on the final book in his historical pirate series as well as The Narcissism to English Dictionary, with more non-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy and other projects queued up to explore in the future. Join us and listen in as our Author Guest of Honor reads from his works.
1pm, GOH Book Signing in the GOH signings area.
2pm, Re(a)d Mars (III Eagle’s Nest)
A Pirate's Life For Me
Description: Pirates have been around since five minutes after boats first floated, but why did people choose that life, and why do some still choose it? Join the discussion of why people of many different time periods and cultures (and fandom characters) reached the end of their rope and became pirates...even when the end of a rope is exactly what awaited them afterwards.
Ozgur K. Sahin, Patrick W. Marsh
4pm, Re(a)d Mars (III Eagle’s Nest)
Indie Author Buffet
A round-robin reading where local authors will take turns reading their works.
GOH Ozgur K. Sahin, Cheryl Arko, T. Aaron Cisco, Michael Merriam, Sherry Merriam, M. R. Moraine and more authors
6pm, Re(a)d Mars (III Eagle’s Nest)
Why Are Rogues In Vogue?
Description: From fantasy to sci-fi, anime to romance, and Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean to Marcus Cole of Babylon 5, the appeal of rogues is omnipresent. What is it that we find so fundamentally appealing about them, and why do people genuinely look to the rule-breakers for heroism in fiction?
GOH Ozgur K. Sahin, Sherry Merriam, M. R. Moraine
9pm, Re(a)d Mars (III Eagle’s Nest)
Fic-able Moments
What makes a book or show open to fan fiction? There is a theory that there are moments of ambiguity in the original shows or books that seem to be common launch points for fan fantasy. These may be places where deeper relationships between characters are hinted at but not actually explored. Let’s call them “ficable moments.” What are these moments like? Which shows/books have them? Are there good shows/books that are lacking in these moments?
Lisa Freitag, M. R. Moraine, GOH Ozgur K. Sahin, Kathryn Sullivan
SUNDAY, MARCH 9
1pm, Re(a)d Mars (III Eagle’s Nest)
Dragons in SF/Fantasy
Discuss everything dragons. From the unnamed dragon in Beowulf, and Sir Gawain’s “worms”, to The Hobbit’s Smaug, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern, Eragon, and the many dragons featured in other works of fiction such as George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.
C. M. Alongi, GOH Ozgur K. Sahin, Kathryn Sullivan
4pm, Mainstage
Closing Ceremonies
Say “farewell” to the guests & “thanks” to volunteers. Hear news about next year’s convention plans, pre-register for next year, and wonder why the weekend went so quickly.
Keep an eye out for more panelists to get added to these, and look here for the full convention programming schedule: https://marscon.org/sides/25schedule.php
Personally, as a big Babylon 5 fan, I intend to catch a few of Jason Carter's events.
Ticket prices are currently at the at-the-door rate, but I hope to see you all there!
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