First, and most importantly, we need to announce an identity change to our overseas guest. Sharon November, who had been scheduled as our international guest, has had to withdraw due to unavoidable circumstances. We are, of course, sorry to lose Sharon, but we’re very pleased to have arranged instead for Liz Gorinsky to attend in the capacity of overseas guest. Liz is an editor with Tor, in the US, and has worked extensively with both established big-name authors and up-and-coming writers. We’re very much looking forward to her involvement in the Con. You can find out more about Liz on the guests page

We’d also like to bring to your attention that Mark Shirrefs will also be attending Conflux, as a guest, and will be presenting a special screening of his BAFTA- and Oscar-nominated animated specfic short film, ‘The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello’. Mark has considerable experience in writing for TV and the big screen. You can also find out more about Mark on the guests page . There’ll be more about both Mark and Liz in the fourth and final Progress Report, which will be along soon.

Finally (for now), if you’re thinking of putting in an entry for the art show, laying claim to a dealers’ table, or booking for Saturday night’s Banquet, please don’t delay. We’re busy finalising the lists for all of these, so first in best dressed.

That’s it for now. Looking forward to seeing you in – what is it? – less than 20 sleeps now.

Welcome to the con – how to get the most out of the experience

Where to start – the must-reads

Writing the tie-ins – novels from series

Moving on from mobiles – where to next for technology

Filking 101 – the secret of the great song

Cultural tales – writing ethnicities into your work

What people want – spec fic booksellers tell all

Flying fire – dragons in literature and story

Fans v.2 – how do we grow fandom

Clarion revisted – do structured writing workshops work

AAAARRRRGGGHHHH! – the worst SF and Fantasy in history

Blinded by science – the state of psychological sci fi

Pilots with pms – women in sci fi

Blowing the ship with one shot – fiction of science fiction battles

Levels 1 to 10 – the role of gaming in developing the genre

How to find a hero – avoiding the king-hidden-as-shepherd type clichés

Beach balls and strobes – cheap but effective special effects

It came in a dream – how to generate story ideas

Writing for the end of the world – environmental sci fi

Returning to the world – when you have to go back.

It’s great – the art of the review

Type and photocopy – creating a fanzine

Scary or weird – what is horror

10 things beginning writers get wrong

Prayer and prophet – creating an authentic fictional religion

Keep the hero going – just what does he/she need to reach the end of the story? Looking at food, sleep and so on

Writing disciplines – the impacts of other styles of writing

The dead body – how to kill someone

Young adult fiction – is it real or just marketing

Blogs – the new community

What is fear and what is evil

Gothic romance – the genre

Literature vs film – where does horror belong

What makes a good villain in story and real life

Scientification – the history of fandom

Dr Who – the fans talk

Beasts of Burden – moving around in literature

Space opera – did it ever die

Love, crime and spells – cross-genre work

Scrolling through the story – past, present and future of webpublishing

Cons – why do it

Making you squirm – horror writers read their work

It’s over – what we think of Harry Potter

Authors blogs – good pr or a waste of time

Take me to your leader – who the aliens should talk to

Original versus derived – spec fic movies

Here’s a list of things we’ve thought of so far. Have your say, whether you’re a member or not. Vote for the ideas you like. Suggest the panels you’ve always wanted to see. And if you are coming, and there’s a panel you really want to do, then let us know so we can book you in.

Panel ideas:

Writer’s Idyll: our very own version of a certain reality television show. Five panels of writers during the convention will be set tasks, and the members of the audience will vote on who wins each session. On the last day of the con, the five winners of the semi-finals will be set the final challenge, which will be presented in the last panel session of the con. The members of the audience will choose the Writer Idyll.

10 things beginning writers do wrong

What’s the next button? (What new technology do you want to see?)

How to hire henchmen.

Authors’ blogs–necessary PR, or just a great waste of time?

The Dead Body Guy – how to die in one easy lesson.

Women in SF as characters and writers – How has the ratio changed over the years? Ho are women portrayed differently, if at all from in the past? Do subgenres influence how women are portrayed? Are women drawn to certain genres or subgenres as both writers and readers? Are women more likely to read a female author?

Kill it with Kindness. How plots die when the author is too nice.

When Viagra won’t help. Is your protagonist missing passion?

Is “slan” the next stage of human evolution… or a type of elvish waybread? It’s an SF version of Balderdash! Panelists will be asked to define terms from obscure works of science fiction or fantasy, taken out of context. They’ll try to fool the audience, whose votes will determine the winner.

SF Trivia Contest: A preliminary written test with the top contenders doing a event contest.

Portraying Race in SF

The Deep Roots of SF– SF before we had a name for it

Utopia: What would a utopia really be. Would yours look like mine?

The Noble Loser: the valiant schmuck who dies nobly and grotesquely.

How to Deal with Death through SF

How to deal with sex in SF

What is Fear and What is Evil

Dragons in literature and story

Story Creation How to generate ideas.

What makes a good villain in story and real life

The past, present and future of web publishing

The Worst SF and Fantasy in History.

Seducing the Young: How do we grow fandom?

Do you want to live forever?

What is Horror?

Storytelling from other ethnicities: Pitfalls, pratfalls and promise

Structured writing programs like Clarion, pluses and minuses

Literary versus Commercial in speculative fiction: Do some sell out to sell?

Creating your own religion for fun, profit and literary merit

Great Blunders in History

The Niche Society; Will the internet bring us together or tear us apart? Is that good or bad?

Filking 101

Portraying Race in SF

The Deep Roots of SF – SF before we had a name for it

Doctor Who: Where did it start and where is it going.

Alternate Alternate Histories: Not the typical “What if the Hitler had won the War” but more obscure events that might have created a different present.

Do you want to live forever?

SF from the rest of the world

Does War solve anything? Why or why not?

Peacekeeping and peacemaking for dummies

Madness in Leadership. Under what conditions?

Great Blunders in History

Great but unknown: events and discoveries that changed the world but most people wouldn’t know about

Do super heroes have any relevance to the real world? Are normal heroes better or more relevant? Can people relate better to normal?

The Physics of Sci-Fi Battles: Can the Death Star really blow up a planet? How do the Enterprise’s shields protect if from a Photon Torpedo? Doctor Robert Ryans of Queen’s University gives a highly entertaining and informative talk on some of the greatest Sci-Fi battles and weapons around.

Sunday Service: Gods in the Machines: Religions in Sci-Fi. Are they convincing? Examples from DS9, B5, Doctor Who etc

Beasts of Burden – donkeys, camels, cattle and so on in fiction