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Kansas City will be hosting the 74th Annual World Science Fiction Convention from August 17-21th.

I am extremely humbled to have been asked to participate as a panelist.

For those of you who will be attending, my panel schedule is as follows:

• The Imaginary Book Club

Thursday 11:00 – 12:00, 2502A (Kansas City Convention Center)

Let’s think beyond today as our panelists review movies and books that have not yet been written or filmed. Come and hear about wonderful entertainment possibilities that you’ll never have the option of actually enjoying…because they don’t (yet) exist! Our panelists longingly discuss their favorite (but, alas, non-existent) SF and fantasy books and movies that have never been written.

• Authors Before, During and After the Adaptation Process

Thursday 14:00 – 15:00, 2208 (Kansas City Convention Center)

I’m moderating this panel, which will feature Charlaine Harris (TRUE BLOOD), Melinda Snodgrass (WILD CARDS, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION) and Steven Gould (JUMPER).

Books are getting turned into films and television shows at a staggering rate. Our panelists include authors and screenwriters who share their experiences from different sides of the process as they discuss what it is like to see their creations reimagined before their eyes. From TV shows like True Blood to action films like Jumper, how does the adaptation process work? How much input does the original creator have in the final product? How does this experience translate to other mediums, and what happens when it deviates from the original to take on its own life within a shared world like Star Trek or Wild Cards?

• Attack the Gazebo! Running a Great RPG Session

Thursday 19:00 – 20:00, 2209 (Kansas City Convention Center)

We’ve all played bad or boring games, but how do we make a really good one? Our panel think of exciting ways to make your game really work, and also consider some ‘do-nots’ when planning a tabletop game.

• Game World, Fictional World: RPGs and Authorship

Saturday 14:00 – 15:00, 2504B (Kansas City Convention Center)

In Roleplaying Games, things don’t always go to plan. What happens when our games become fiction? Authors who love RPGs, have used them as a basis for their work, or have had their work made into RPGs discuss how roleplaying can help the creative process…or make it go horribly, horribly wrong.

The rest of the show, I’ll be attending other folks’ panels, and floating around the bar area.  If you’re going to be in KC for the show, drop me an email and give me a way to get in touch with you and we’ll meet up!

Been so busy on FAR WEST and teaching this week that I’ve slacked off on posting regular entries… but I’m not about to let Friday Music slip!

To start off, here’s one of my favorite hip-hop tracks, from 2002. Those of you getting into hip-hop via HAMILTON will probably like this one — it’s got that kind of nested-complex-rhymes thing that Lin-Manuel Miranda does so well, and the backing track is based around jazz samples. K-OS, “Superstarr, Pt. Zero.”

From around the same time, coincidentally, here’s a bit of indie pop/soul from Philadelphia-based singer Res. It was her breakthrough single, but her label was eventually phased out during a buy-out, and she eventually asked to be released from her contract when the new label owners weren’t releasing any of her material. She’s gone completely indie, and still records and releases work — including as part of a hip-hop/electronic duo with Talib Kweli, called IDLE WORSHIP. Res – “They Say Vision.”

This song is a helluva lot older than I thought it was. I knew it was a Lead Belly song from the 1940s, under the title “Black Gal.” Turns out that it’s actually a traditional Southern folk song, dating back until at least 1870, and possibly earlier, with the original title “In the Pines.” This is my favorite recording of it, under the title “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”, recorded live during Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged appearance in 1993. Cobain’s ragged voice, and especially the pained howl he gives during the climax of the performance, really sends chills down my spine. Nirvana – “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.”

I know almost nothing about this next artist, aside from the fact that her album, Skin, was just released, this single was featured on Apple Music, and one of the music blogs I read really, really likes her. After giving a listen to this alt-pop track, so do I. Carmody – “Skin.”

Sticking with the alt-pop genre for a while, I really like this one, too: Ardyn, a group comprised of 2/3 of a set of triplets from Glouchestershire, who have really put together some rousing, yet slightly melancholic, pop structures in this song. Ardyn – “Over The River.”

We’re gonna close out with more high-quality hip-hop — with the kind of genius verbal dexterity I really love, layered over a solid bass & horns 70s-soul/funk groove that I might love even more. Shirt is an indie Queens-based MC, and he’s getting some serious boost from the fact that this track was used in the closing credits of a recent episode of HBO’s Silicon Valley. I cannot emphasize enough how fucking GOOD this is. Enjoy: Shirt – “Phantom (Redux).”

There ya go, kids. See you back here soon.