Am I Going to Further Confusion 2014?

The answer is, “Of course, it’s right in my backyard. I’d better be going!”

You can catch me in the mornings getting coffee at Philz or in the evenings getting a pre-dinner cocktail at Singlebarrel. In between I’ll be wandering around the convention space or taking advantage of the wonderful restaurants downtown San Jose has to offer. This year, the scuttlebutt is that FC will be sharing the convention space with HempCon and a…girl’s volleyball tournament thing? It’s going to be quite strange, I’m sure — I’ll be wanting to spend a little bit of time away from all of the chaos like a good little introvert.

This year I’ll be actually on three different panels! If you’re interested in seeing me talk about writing and/or Buddhism, feel free to show up to any one of these three:

Furry vs. the Mainstream
Friday, 1/17 @ 3 PM (Marriott: Blossom Hill II/III)
Here I’ll be talking about the relationship of furry art and literature with the broader sci-fi/fantasy community, and why some cross-pollination between the two largely insular worlds is a good thing. I’ll be sure to give a shout-out to Bookmarfs, because there needs to be more reading groups out there like it. Kyell Gold and my husband, NotTube, will be saying far more insightful things than I.

Why A Fox?
Saturday, 1/18 @ 11 AM (Marriott: Almaden)
Furry isn’t really a genre, it’s more a template that we can add to all sorts of literature — from westerns to fantasy, from sci-fi to slice-of-life fiction. What do adding furry characters add to a particular work? What sort of things can we explore by incorporating them? I’ll be discussing that here with Kyell Gold (who is on every writing panel you guys) and Bradley Cohen.

Transformation and Mindfulness Workshop
Saturday, 1/18 @ 4 PM (Hilton: Santa Clara)
One of the things I’m really passionate about is mindfulness and being present where you are. Here I’ll get to talk about Buddhist philosophy on the matter and offer a few bits of advice on how we can more present with the people who move through our day — on the computer and real life. Kannik will be talking with me, taking things from a Western philosophical and personal-empowerment standpoint.

If you’re going to FC 2014, excellent — I hope to see you there! There are quite a few panels on a tremendous variety of subjects. You can see the full schedule here at http://fc2014.sched.org.