The 33rd annual Confluence conference was held July 26, 27 & 28, 2024
at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel
1160 Thorn Run Road Extension. Coraopolis, PA 15108
Guest of Honor Richard Kadrey
Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime,” and is in development as a feature film. Some of Kadrey’s other books include King Bullet, The Grand Dark, Butcher Bird, and The Dead Take the A Train (with Cassandra Khaw). He’s written for film and comics, including Heavy Metal, Lucifer, and Hellblazer. Kadrey also makes music with his band, A Demon in Fun City.
Featured Music Guest: Bonnie Gordon
Bonnie Gordon is a voiceover actress, singer, songwriter, & entertainer (not to mention a huge nerd!) based in Los Angeles, California.
As a voice actress, Bonnie is known for voicing such characters as: the Ship Computer in Star Trek: Prodigy; Rainbow Mika in Street Fighter V; Silque in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia & Fire Emblem Heroes; Eva in Code Vein; Bico in Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation; multiple recurring characters on 2 seasons of Cartoon Network’s Mighty Magiswords; and many many more!
Read more about Bonnie and see all the great musicians that will be performing during the 2024 Confluence weekend!
With performance ASL for select concerts by Judi Miller
Judi Miller has been active in the filk community since the 1980s. Winner of the Pegasus Award for Best Performer in 2006 and 2017 and admitted to the Filk Hall of Fame in 2017, Judi is best known for her sign-language musical interpretation, which she has done for concerts at our conference and elsewhere for many years. She was our 30th Anniversary Honors Guest in 2019 and we are very glad that she can be with us again.
Featured Artist, Christine Hutson
Christine has been running her own freelance illustration and graphic art business since 1999.
Her clients include corporations, non-profits and private art collectors from around the world, and she accepts commissions for illustration, calligraphy and other graphic design. Her art incorporates materials from the ancient to the very modern, often using handmade paints and inks. The work is all done by hand, with no digital media except for the printing process.
Christine created the artwork we will use for our program book, badges and t-shirts.
Writing Workshops with Barbara Barnett
Barbara Barnett is the author of three books, including the award-winning The Apothecary’s Curse, a finalist for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for a debut novel.
Pitch Sessions with Katharine Sands
Katharine Sands is an agent with the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency in New York City. She has worked with a varied list of authors who publish a diverse array of books including fiction, memoir and non-fiction.
Programming You Don’t Want to Miss!
Writing “Exercises” were held in the Equinox room this year.
Saturday and Sunday 9-10am – Attendees should bring a pen and paper or a computing device to write with—whatever suits you.
Facilitators: M. Christine Benner Dixon and Schereéya
No signup is required.
Saturday – Voice Lessons:
Come by the writing exercises room for a chance to play around with different voices in your writing. We’ll dig into the mechanics of creating a distinctive voice on the page, from worldview to word choice, syllables to silences.
Sunday – The Prop Closet: Writing About Objects
There’s only so much abstract musing that any one piece of writing can hold. Join us in the writing exercises room to raid the prop closet for your poems and stories. But these objects won’t just be set dressing! Every item will earn its place on the page.
Friday: Opening Ceremonies
Friday July 26 at 7p.m with our con chair Kevin M. Hayes, W. Randy Hoffman, AJ Smith, Richard Kadrey and more!
The Parsec Short Story contest* winners will be announced!
Technical Difficulties 2.0 (filkers T. J. Burnside-Clapp, Linda Melnick, and Jean Stevenson) will lead the singing of “Three Days Away from the Ratrace” with audience participation. Sheet music will be provided.
*The Parsec Short Story Contest winning story is printed in the Confluence program book. For a copy of the program book, contact Karen: publicity@confluence-sff.org. A $5 S/H fee applies.
Saturday: Featured Entertainers: The Confused Greenies
They’re back for a second run in 2024! Last year the Confused Greenies entertained us with a special Saturday evening performance and two fun workshops and they’ll be back in 2024 for more frollicking fun!
This year the Confused Greenies will be performing their new commedia dell’arte parody, “A Mockery of Mimicry“, their first D20 project play celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons!
Saturday July 27th in Ballroom 1. Door open for seating at 6:45. Performance starts at 7pm.
The Confused Greenies of the Players’ Patchwork Theatre Company are a devised / improvisational comedy troupe with roots in traditional commedia dell’arte and exploits in parody productions of modern geeky fandoms and improv games! The Confused Greenies can be laughed at during many sci-fi and anime conventions as well as medieval and Renaissance events throughout the Midwest and beyond! Of course! It all makes sense now!
Saturday: Pittsburgh Sword Fighters
Pittsburgh Sword Fighters will present a sword demonstration on Saturday, July 27th
11:00 to 11:50 a.m in Ballroom 1.
2024 Staff
These are the people that volunteer their time to bring Confluence to you!
Confluence Masking Policy 2024
As of July 2024, The Confluence Committee has decided that
😷 masking will be optional, 🙂
and vaccinations will not be required
We have given due consideration to this policy. There are just too many people we can’t enforce masks on; hotel staff, other hotel guests, etc. We understand that we will lose some attendees no matter which way we decide. If you choose not to attend due to the masking policy, just know we will miss you and we hope to see you during a future Confluence conference.
We encourage attendees to take precautions, especially when attending the more crowded panels and presentations or if you are not feeling well.
Some masks will be available at the Confluence registration table, should anyone decide they *want* to wear them.
Thank you,
The 2024 Confluence Staff
Confluence 2024 Schedule
Room Locations
Registration/PARSEC Sales: Grand Ballroom Lobby
Music/Events: Ballroom 1
Art Show/Demos: Ballroom 2
Dealers Room: Ballroom 3/4
Program: All other 1st floor function space
Con Suite: 908
KaffeeKlatsches: 225
Most sessions are 50 minutes long, readings are 25 minutes long.
(M) – session moderator
Check our website for information on PARSEC and Confluence.
[Saturday 2024 Schedule] * * [Sunday 2024 Schedule]
Friday, July 26
| 3 pm | ||
| Grand Ballroom Lobby: Registration and PARSEC Table Open | ||
| 4 pm | ||
| 908: Hospitality Suite Opens | ||
| Ballroom 1: Filk Mad Libs | ||
| Randy Hoffman | ||
| Commonwealth West: Books Into Movies: What Works, What Would Work (but Hasn’t Yet), and What Won’t | ||
| Brandon McNulty, Elektra Hammond (M), Herb Kauderer, Jamie Lackey, Shannon Eichorn | ||
| We’ve had a number of successful SF and fantasy movies based on books or comics. The recent Dune films are examples. There have also been unsuccessful adaptations (I, Robot anyone?). What makes something a good adaptation? And are there some books that, no matter how good they are, are unlikely to make good movies. | ||
| 5 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Pegasus Awards Brainstorming Discussion | ||
| Randy Hoffman | ||
| Ballroom 3/4: Dealers Room Opens | ||
| Commonwealth West: Imposter Syndrome and Hating Your Own Stories | ||
| Brandon Ketchum, Barbara Doran (M), M. Christine Benner Dixon, Douglas Gwilym | ||
| Writers often reach the point of hating what they’ve just written, or with feeling that what they wrote isn’t really up to snuff. How do you get around that? | ||
| Commonwealth East: POD: My Journey as a SAR Geek | ||
| Ken Chiacchia | ||
| Ken talks about personal reflections on his research in probablity of detection for search-and-rescue operations. | ||
| 6 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Damon Buxton | ||
| Ballroom 2: Art Show Opens | ||
| Commonwealth West: The Writing Life: Balancing Writing and the Rest of Your Life | ||
| M. Christine Benner Dixon, R. K. Thorne, Susan Kaye Quinn (M) | ||
| Life can be hectic. Many writers have jobs beyond writing, as well as obligations to family and others. How do they achieve balance? | ||
| 7 pm | ||
| Grand Ballroom Lobby: Registration & PARSEC Table Close | ||
| Ballroom 1: Opening Ceremonies | ||
| Richard Kadrey, Bonnie Gordon, Christine Hutson | ||
| 8 pm | ||
| 908: Registration Opens | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Dream Quaffle | ||
| Ballroom 2: Art Show Closes | ||
| Ballroom 3/4: Dealers Room Closes | ||
| Commonwealth West: Candy Bullets: Humor in Action, Horror, and Dark Fantasy | ||
| Richard Kadrey, Douglas Gwilym (M), Nelson W. Pyles | ||
| We often talk about humor in science fiction and fantasy, listing such writers as Henry Kuttner/C.L. Moore and Terry Pratchett. But what about humor in horror? In dark fantasy? | ||
| Equinox: Pitch Session | ||
| Katharine Sands Attendance is limited so sign up at Registration is required. | ||
| 9 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Schaffer the Darklord | ||
| Commonwealth West: My Favorite Monsters: Cryptids, Monsters, Ghosts & Human Horror in Fiction | ||
| Nelson W. Pyles, Jamie Lackey, Alan Irvine, Richard Kadrey (M), Christine Hutson | ||
| Bigfoot? The Loch Ness Monster? Dracula? What are your favorites in fiction? | ||
| 225: Beer Tasting | ||
| Attendance is limited so sign up at Registration is required. | ||
| 10 pm | ||
| 908: Registration Closes | ||
| Ballroom 1: Open Filk Song Circle | ||
| Midnight | ||
| 908: Hospitality Suite Closes | ||
Saturday, July 27
| 8:00 am | ||
| 908: Hospitality Suite Opens | ||
| 8:45 am | ||
| Grand Ballroom Lobby: Registration Opens | ||
| 9 am | ||
| Grand Ballroom Lobby: PARSEC Table Opens | ||
| Equinox: Writing Exercises: Voice Exercises | ||
| M. Christine Benner Dixon, Schereéya | ||
| Come by the writing exercises room for a chance to play around with different voices in your writing. We’ll dig into the mechanics of creating a distinctive voice on the page, from worldview to word choice, syllables to silences. Bring a pen and paper or a computing device to write with—whatever suits you. | ||
| Club Room – 9th Floor: Writers Workshop: Character, Plot and Your World: Playing Nicely Together in the Sandbox Note that this workshop is full | ||
| Barbara Barnett | ||
| 10 am | ||
| Ballroom 1: Voiceover 101 | ||
| Bonnie Gordon | ||
| A workshop with our Featured Music Guest. | ||
| Ballroom 2: Art Show Opens | ||
| Ballroom 3/4: Dealers Room Opens | ||
| Commonwealth West: Still Fresh After All These Years: Classic SF and Fantasy that We Still Read and Reread | ||
| Grant Carrington, R. K. Thorne, Barton Paul Levenson, Stephen Fisher, Susan Dexter (M) | ||
| Commonwealth East: The Challenges of Writing a Long Series | ||
| Richard Kadrey, Frederic Durbin, Barbara Doran | ||
| 225: Kaffeeklatsch | ||
| Amabilis O’Hara, Hazel Zorn Attendance is limited so sign up at Registration is required. | ||
| Art Show: Art Demo | ||
| 10:30 am | ||
| Art Show: Art Demo | ||
| Christine Hutson | ||
| 11 am | ||
| Ballroom 1: Swordfighting Demo | ||
| Pittsburgh Sword Fighters | ||
| Commonwealth West: Making Magic Real: Making Magic Systems in Fantasy Novels Believable | ||
| Lesley Wheeler (M), Brandon Ketchum, Clif Flynt, Susan Dexter | ||
| Writers of fantasy have a difficult line to straddle: how to make magic seem real but still seem magical. The panel discusses examples of how this is done well (and perhaps of examples where it’s not). | ||
| Commonwealth East: Not Everything Is a Series: The Best Stand-Alone Novels of the Last Decade | ||
| Rich Horton (M), Albert Wendland, Lawrence C. Connolly, Alan Bailey | ||
| It seems these days that everything is part of a series, but there are still good stand-alone novels being published. The panel discusses some of their favorites. | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Barbara Doran | ||
| 225: Kaffeeklatsch | ||
| Timons Esaias, Scot Noel Attendance is limited so sign up at Registration is required. | ||
| 11:30 am | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Charles Oberndorf | ||
| Noon | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Gwendolyn Grace | ||
| Commonwealth West: Fantasy Art | ||
| Christine Hutson | ||
| Commonwealth East: Not Just a Twenty-first Century Thing: Women and People of Color in SF and Fantasy History | ||
| Eric Leif Davin | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Marie Vibbert | ||
| 225: Kaffeeklatsch | ||
| Brandon McNulty, Brandon Ketchum Attendance is limited so sign up at Registration is required. | ||
| 12:30 pm | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Elektra Hammond | ||
| 1 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| ilyAIMY | ||
| Commonwealth West: The Social Impact of A.I. | ||
| Lawrence C. Connolly (M), Elektra Hammond, Scot Noel, Ken Chiacchia | ||
| We are already seeing some of the social impact — and controversy — around AI. What impact can we expect in the near future and beyond? | ||
| Commonwealth East: Space Opera, Robots, and Dystopia: 21st Century SF | ||
| Marie Vibbert (M), Albert Wendland, Herb Kauderer, Alan Bailey, Shannon Eichorn | ||
| What are the trends in SF over the last 20 years? What are the best works? | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Amabilis O’Hara | ||
| 225: Kaffeeklatsch | ||
| Barbara Doran, Susan Kaye Quinn Attendance is limited so sign up at Registration is required. | ||
| 1:30 pm | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Nelson W. Pyles | ||
| 2 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Super Guitar Bros | ||
| Commonwealth West: High-Performance AI | ||
| Ken Chiacchia | ||
| Commonwealth East: It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: A Look Back as the SF and Fantasy of 1974 | ||
| Charles Oberndorf (M), Darrell Schweitzer, Rich Horton, Eric Leif Davin | ||
| 1974 was a great year for SF and fantasy. Novels included The Dispossessed (which won both Hugo and Nebula), The Mote in God’s Eye, Fire Time, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, 334, and The Godwhale. Short fiction included “A Song for Lya,” “Born With the Dead,” “The Day Before the Revolution,” and others. What did the awards get right? What did they miss? | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Albert Wendland | ||
| 225: Kaffeeklatsch | ||
| Herb Kauderer Attendance is limited so sign up at Registration is required. | ||
| Art Show: Art Demo: The Art of Stenciling | ||
| Susan Dexter | ||
| 2:30 pm | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Hazel Zorn | ||
| 3 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Guest of Honor Interview | ||
| Richard Kadrey, Damon Buxton | ||
| 4 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Technical Difficulties 2.0 | ||
| Commonwealth West: Speculative Poetry | ||
| Lesley Wheeler, Frederic Durbin, Clif Flynt, Marie Vibbert, Amabilis O’Hara (M) | ||
| What is speculative poetry and what are some good examples? The panel discusses and cites examples, perhaps even some poetry of their own. | ||
| Commonwealth East: The Enduring Legacy of Tolkien’s Middle Earth | ||
| Timons Esaias (M), Alan Irvine, Darrell Schweitzer, Hazel Zorn | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Scot Noel | ||
| Art Show: Art Demo: The Art of Stenciling Encore | ||
| Susan Dexter | ||
| 4:30 pm | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Brandon McNulty | ||
| 5 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Steel Samurai | ||
| Commonwealth West: Frail Flesh: A Look at Body Horror | ||
| Hazel Zorn, Lawrence C. Connolly, Richard Kadrey, Amabilis O’Hara | ||
| Commonwealth East: Crossover Books: SF and Fantasy by Non-Genre Writers | ||
| Rich Horton (M), Charles Oberndorf, Eric Leif Davin | ||
| Mainstream writers often used to ignore SF and fantasy. But now a number of major writers from outside the genre — Anthony Doerr, Emily St. John Mandel, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Richard Powers, just to name a few — have written major works using SF tropes and plots. The panel looks at some of the major works, and discusses why things have changed. | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Shannon Eichorn | ||
| Art Show: Anyone Can Wire Wrap | ||
| Heidi Pilewski | ||
| 5:30 pm | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Clif Flynt | ||
| 6 pm | ||
| Registration, PARSEC Table, Art Show & Dealers Room Close | ||
| 7 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Play: A Mockery of Mimicry | ||
| The Confused Greenies | ||
| Commonwealth West: A Very Different Character: Writing Characters Whose Gender, Race, Orientation, and Other Characteristics Are Different From Your Own | ||
| Susan Kaye Quinn (M), Amabilis O’Hara, Nelson W. Pyles, Frederic Durbin | ||
| 8 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Featured Music Concert | ||
| Bonnie Gordon | ||
| Commonwealth West: Cosmic Horror: Lovecraft and Beyond | ||
| Darrell Schweitzer (M), Frederic Durbin, Richard Kadrey | ||
| Cosmic horror has been popular since at least the time of H. P. Lovecraft. It’s still popular today, as evidenced by the works of writers such as Brian Lumley and Charles Stross. | ||
| Commonwealth East: Poetry Reading | ||
| 225: Triangulation Party (lasts until 11) | ||
| 9 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Open Filk | ||
| Commonwealth West: Ghost Stories | ||
| Alan Irvine | ||
| 10 pm | ||
| 11 pm | ||
| Commonwealth West: Incredibly Impromptu Improv at an Indecent Hour | ||
| The Confused Greenies | ||
| Midnight | ||
| 908: Hospitality Suite Closes | ||
Sunday, July 28
| 8:00 am | ||
| 908: Hospitality Suite Opens | ||
| 8:45 am | ||
| Grand Ballroom Foyer: Registration Opens | ||
| 9 am | ||
| Grand Ballroom Foyer: PARSEC Table Opens | ||
| Equinox: Writing Exercises: The Prop Closet: Writing About Objects | ||
| M. Christine Benner Dixon, Schereéya | ||
| There’s only so much abstract musing that any one piece of writing can hold. Join us in the writing exercises room to raid the prop closet for your poems and stories. But these objects won’t just be set dressing! Every item will earn its place on the page. Bring a pen and paper or a computing device to write with—whatever suits you. | ||
| Club Room – 9th Floor: Writers Workshop: Scrivener Made Easy | ||
| Barbara Barnett | ||
| This workshop still has openings. If you want to be eligible to take this workshop, you must have a laptop or other device that will run Scrivener, you must to have installed a free trial version of Scrivener on the device and you must have the device with you at Confluence. | ||
| 10 am | ||
| Art Show & Dealers Room Open | ||
| Commonwealth West: Writing Groups | ||
| Kevin Hayes (M), Scot Noel, Brandon Ketchum, Timons Esaias | ||
| The panel discusses writing groups, how they work, what writers gain from such groups, and how to find one. | ||
| 225: Kaffeeklatsch | ||
| Charles Oberndorf, Marie Vibbert Attendance is limited so sign up at Registration is required | ||
| 11 am | ||
| Commonwealth West: Which Way to the Globe? Shakespeare’s London as a Model for Building Fantasy Stories that Work | ||
| Alan Irvine | ||
| Commonwealth East: The Future of Biology and Medicine | ||
| Bernadette Harris, Donald Firesmith, Susan Dexter | ||
| Where are medicine and biology headed? What new treatments can we expect, and how will medicine function? How does what we might expect in reality to compare to what science fiction has projected in works like Star Trek and the stories of James White. | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| M. Christine Benner Dixon | ||
| 225: Kaffeeklatsch | ||
| Richard Kadrey Attendance is limited so sign up at Registration is required | ||
| 11:30 am | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Darrell Schweitzer | ||
| Noon | ||
| Grand Ballroom Foyer: Registration & PARSEC Table & Art Show Close | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Steamcordia | ||
| Commonwealth West: The Oracle at Delphi | ||
| Timons Esaias | ||
| Commonwealth East: Those We’ve Lost: Looking at the Great Writers We’ve Lost Recently | ||
| Charles Oberndorf, Stephen Fisher, Laurie Mann (M) | ||
| In the last couple of years we’ve lost a number of great writers, including Michael Bishop, Greg Bear, Christopher Priest, Howard Waldrop, Steve Miller, and D.G. Compton. The panel looks back at those we’ve lost and at their works. | ||
| Solstice: Reading | ||
| Susan Dexter | ||
| 1 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Jeff Whitmire | ||
| Ballroom 2: Art Show Auction and Art Pick-up and Pay | ||
| Commonwealth West: The Enduring Popularity of Stephen King | ||
| Nelson W. Pyles, Brandon McNulty (M) | ||
| Stephen King’s first novel was published more than 50 years ago, but he continues to publish and continues to remain popular. What is it about King that his works have become such a widespread phenomenon. | ||
| Commonwealth East: Traditional Publishing, Self Publishing, or Something Inbetween: The Pros and Cons | ||
| Jamie Lackey, Donald Firesmith, R. K. Thorne (M), Frederic Durbin | ||
| Some writers opt for self-publishing, others submit to traditional publishers. Many publish in both paper and electronic formats, but some chose just one or the other. And yet others take other approaches. The panel looks at the many faces of publishing and the pluses and minuses of various approaches. | ||
| 2 pm | ||
| Ballroom 1: Concert | ||
| Members of WMGSO | ||
| Commonwealth West: Regenerated: Doctor Who | ||
| Jim Mann (M), Barbara Doran, Ken Chiacchia | ||
| Russell T. Davies has returned, and we have three specials a new season under our belt. How successful is the latest regeneration of Doctor Who? | ||
| 2:30 pm | ||
| Ballroom 2: Art Pick-up and Pay Closes | ||
| 3 pm | ||
| 908: Hospitality Suite Closes | ||
| Ballroom 1: Dead Dog Open Filk | ||
| Ballroom 3/4: Dealers Room Closes | ||
| Evening | ||
| 908: Undead Dog Filk | ||