Continuum 8 @ Rydges on Swanston, 701 Swanston Street Carlton

Timetable | Tags | People

Friday

A Sendak Celebration

Rachel Holkner
Venue: Drummond Room
Tags:
Starts: 17:00 Ends: 18:00

An informal rumpus to celebrate the life of well-loved author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak (1928-2012). There will be old favourites to read and rediscover, Sendakian crafts and face-painting for all the Wild Things.

Beautiful Nightmares: Alien vs Predator

Terry Frost, Grant Watson, Jules Wilkinson
Venue: Pelham Room
Tags: Horror, Media, Sci-Fi
Starts: 22:00 Ends: 23:00

Ridley Scott’s science fiction thriller Alien terrified audiences worldwide with its groundbreaking blend of serious science fiction and visceral horror. John McTiernan’s smash hit Predator combined classic monster themes with 1980s American action cinema. After numerous sequels and forays into other media, the two cinematic monsters went head to head in Alien vs Predator. What is the core appeal of these two SF movie franchises? What are their influences? Do they work better as a single universe or separately? And what lies in each of their futures?

Book Launch: Walking Shadows, by Narelle Harris

Lindy Cameron, Narrelle Harris, Jason Nahrung
Venue: Faraday Room
Tags:
Starts: 18:00 Ends: 19:00

Continuum 101

Hespa , David McDonald, Sarah Lee Parker
Venue: Pelham Room
Tags:
Starts: 20:30 Ends: 21:00

Everything you wanted to know about fan conventions and con-going – an ideal starting point for anyone relatively new to conventions. Learn the secrets from those who have been around long enough to know better.

Crafty Characters

Trudi Canavan, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Jo Spurrier
Venue: Drummond Room
Tags: Craft, Multi
Starts: 16:00 Ends: 17:00

We take a look at craftspeople in speculative fiction, the stereotypes, and what crafts have been overlooked.

Daikaiju Go Heavenly!

Dirk Flinthart, David McDonald, Cat Sparks
Venues: Argyle Room, Lincoln Room
Tag: Entertainment
Starts: 17:00 Ends: 18:00

What if the gods were daikaiju? Could Buddha beat Jesus, could Loki outwit Allah? Is anyone strong enough to defeat Thor and his mighty Hammer? Jade Emperor, Kali, Ganesh. Which deity will reign supreme, or will king of the daikaiju Godzilla crush them all?

Fanvids: Meta In Motion

Liz Barr, Emilly McLeay
Venue: Pelham Room
Tags:
Starts: 23:00 Ends: 00:00

From character studies to parody, serious thematic commentary to wholly new narratives the original show never dreamed of… Basically, we think fanvids are awesome and we want to show you why! May contain spoilers for anything and everything.

Gender And Sexuality In Speculative YA

Kate Eltham, Alison Goodman
Venues: Argyle Room, Lincoln Room
Tags: Literature, Media, YA
Starts: 16:00 Ends: 17:00

Fiction is a vital forum to introduce different concepts of gender and sexuality to teenage and pre-teen minds. What ideas are being introduced by YA speculative fiction, how well are they being handled and what’s still missing?

I Don't Get It!

Peter M. Ball, Deborah Biancotti, Ian Nichols, Patrick O'Duffy, Alan Stewart
Venue: Pelham Room
Tag: Multi
Starts: 21:00 Ends: 22:00

There are certain works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that all of fandom seems to love…except me. What are these so-called classics? Why don’t I share the love? Is it possible that a lot of people like these things just because they know a lot of people like these things? Who’s missing the point, here – everyone else, or me?

I Flunked Physics: Hard Science Versus Accessible Science-Fiction

Alan Baxter, Steve Cameron, Gillian Polack
Venue: Faraday Room
Tag: Sci-Fi
Starts: 17:00 Ends: 18:00

Closed time-like curves? Light cones? Multi-dimensional manifolds? Or just reverse the polarity and beam us up? How important is accurate science in your science-fiction?

In Defence Of Romance

Louise Cusack, Amanda Pillar, Jane Routley
Venue: Faraday Room
Tag: Literature
Starts: 22:00 Ends: 23:00

Paranormal romance, or romance in general, is often dismissed as bodice-ripping fluff. But these are stories for and about women, written by women. They can be more than a guilty pleasure, exploring important issues. Do they have a duty to? Why aren’t novels written by and for men called dudelit and treated to the same derision? Are the cover designs doing the genre a disservice?

Project Sky Dinosaur

Louise Angrilli
Venue: Pelham Room
Tags:
Starts: 19:30 Ends: 20:00

Would you like to help fund a dinosaur drawn in the sky? Come along and find out more.

Sara Douglass Remembered

Russell B. Farr, Jane Routley, Lucy Sussex
Venue: Faraday Room
Tags: Fantasy, Literature
Starts: 20:30 Ends: 21:30

Sara Douglass’s (1957-2011) passing last year has left a void in the genre. Australia’s first fantasy bestseller, Sara was publishing right up until her untimely death. This panel will examine her impact and share stories of one of our most important writers.

Short Story Workshop - FULL

Kelly Link
Venue: Pelham Room
Tags:
Starts: 14:00 Ends: 16:30

Spicks And Speckulations

Sue Ann Barber, Alison Goodman, Narrelle Harris, George Ivanoff, Kelly Link, John Richards
Venues: Argyle Room, Lincoln Room
Tag: Entertainment
Starts: 21:00 Ends: 22:00

Inspired by the ABC music game show, two teams of ‘experts’ go head to head as their spec fic and music knowledge is tested to its hilarious limits. Who will prevail? How silly will things get? We suspect, quite silly.

Splicing Genres

Jenny Blackford, Claire Corbett, Rjurik Davidson, Lisa Hannett, Jane Routley
Venue: Faraday Room
Tags: Literature, Multi
Starts: 16:00 Ends: 17:00

Fantasy murder mysteries, horror spy novels, science fiction romance… do the best stories defy genre boundaries?

Taking Wing: From Daedalus To Deus Ex

Claire Corbett
Venue: Pelham Room
Tag: Sci-Fi
Starts: 19:00 Ends: 19:30

A personal reflection on the history and mythology of the passion for human flight drawing on my research for When We Have Wings.

Tales As Old As Time

Jenny Blackford, Lisa Hannett, Kirstyn McDermott, Jane Routley, Angela Slatter
Venues: Argyle Room, Lincoln Room
Tag: Fantasy
Starts: 18:00 Ends: 19:00

Fairytales are in vogue again, all over TV and movie screens and for years collected by Ellen Datlow in retold anthologies. Why are we so fascinated with these stories? And with so many retellings and versions out there how do writers make them new again?

The Best Games You Never Heard Of

Hespa , Ben McKenzie, Alan Stewart
Venue: Drummond Room
Tag: Gaming
Starts: 22:00 Ends: 00:00

Forget Monopoly, who’s up for some Tsuro? Bartok? Martian Coasters? Join us for a quick introduction to what’s out there and where to get it, after which we open our game-boxes so you can give something new a try.

The Forgotten Frontier?

m1k3y , Alexandra Pierce, Jonathan Strahan
Venue: Pelham Room
Tag: Sci-Fi
Starts: 17:00 Ends: 18:00

In the late 90s and early 2000s space opera was THE thing and reinventing itself with a gritty realism. Less than a decade later it’s nowhere to be seen. What happened? What’s new and noteworthy in the genre today?

Turning The Gears: Steampunk Craft

Nicole Canal, Paul Poulton, Michael Pryor, Jo Spurrier
Venue: Drummond Room
Tags: Craft, Sci-Fi
Starts: 18:00 Ends: 19:00

The steampunk aesthetic is based on power: pistons that pump and cogs that turn. So is it cheating to just stick gears on something and spray-paint it brass? Does steampunk craft need to be functional?

Twelfth Planet Press Hour

Narrelle Harris, Alisa Krasnostein, Jason Nahrung
Venues: Argyle Room, Lincoln Room
Tags:
Starts: 19:00 Ends: 20:00

Ever wondered how your favorite Twelve Planet collection would taste like in cupcake form? Then come along to the Twelfth Planet Cocktail hour, to celebrate the launch of the newest Twelve Planets, ‘Through Splintered Walls’, by Kaaron Warren, and ‘Cracklescape’ by Margo Lanagan, plus the new TPP novella ‘Salvage’ by Jason Nahrung and a surprise announcement! Each book will be lovingly interpreted as a cupcake by master baker, Terri Sellen. Your cocktail choice is entirely your own…

Whedonites Assemble!

m1k3y , Nicole Canal, Alice Clarke, Cheryse Durrant
Venues: Argyle Room, Lincoln Room
Tags:
Starts: 23:00 Ends: 00:00

We have to talk about The Avengers, right? Right! We’ll also explore why evil, faceless corporations like Wolfram & Hart, Rossum and Blue Sun are recurring entities in Joss’s work.

Workshop: 10 Ways to Improve Your Story

Michael Pryor
Venue: Faraday Room
Tags:
Starts: 14:00 Ends: 15:30

Ten nitty-gritty, highly practical tips for improving your writing, explained and demonstrated. Proven effective in clinical trials!

Workshop: Legocraft

Sue Ann Barber
Venue: Drummond Room
Tags: Craft, Workshop
Starts: 19:00 Ends: 20:00

What says “potential” like a big pile of coloured bricks waiting to be snapped together?

Workshop: Write The Fight Right

Alan Baxter
Venue: Drummond Room
Tags:
Starts: 14:00 Ends: 16:00

A workshop looking at the things that make a fight scene in a story read as realistically as possible, while maintaining excitement and pace. By looking at the various factors that go into a real fight, paying attention to the things that we train for when we learn to fight, we can write fight scenes that stay exciting without breaking the rules of realism that shatter believability.

Writing Different Genders, Sexualities And Cultures

Deborah Biancotti, Trudi Canavan, Louise Cusack, Gillian Polack
Venue: Pelham Room
Tag: Writing
Starts: 18:00 Ends: 19:00

In which our fearless authors delve into the ethics, issues and techniques for writing characters who are ‘different’. We’ll discuss how to work with unfamiliar, alien, or just plain diverse perspectives, and we’ll delve into the dangers and satisfactions of writing from another point of view. Finally, we’ll examine some of the reactions to ‘other’ writing and ask what motivates a writer to keep working with genders, sexualities and cultures that are not their own.

You Say You Want A Revolution

m1k3y , Dave Cake, Rjurik Davidson, Roman Orszanski, Sarah Stokely
Venues: Argyle Room, Lincoln Room
Tags:
Starts: 22:00 Ends: 23:00

“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
— Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

In the last 18 months multiple decades-old dictatorships have fallen, people are occupying the streets worldwide protesting capitalism, and Twitter has been at the centre of it all. Is Twitter the catalyst or the tool of the global social revolution? Why was it Twitter and not Facebook? Is Twitter here to stay, and if not, what will replace it? And where is all this revolution leading? Are we headed into a brave new world or will it be more of the same?