...is right around the corner! From Thursday, August 13 to
Sunday, August 16, Ms. B. and I will be there to plague many unsuspecting souls with our existence. The con is spread between the
Omni Providence Hotel
and the
Graduate Hotel (formerly the Biltmore). I will be participating on two panels (see
below) and doing a story reading.
View the full core programming schedule here.
At the last NecronomiCon Providence (2024), I stayed at the Omni, which is a fabulous hotel, but this year,
Brugger and I are planning to remain a few extra days to avail ourselves of
some of the nearby locales we'd like to visit, such as Salem, Massachusetts
and, possibly, Newport, Rhode Island, again, which we very much enjoyed on our
November 2024 visit. So, to save a bit of money, we've booked a nice AirBnB on
nearby Federal Hill. As any H.P.
Lovecraft reader knows, Federal Hill was featured in his writings, most
notably, "The Haunter of the Dark" (1935), which is among my favorites
of his tales.
Here is my panel and reading schedule:
PANEL: In Mountains Older than Bones: Appalachian Gothic. Rightly or
wrongly, on America’s cultural map, Appalachia is the equivalent to “Here
there be monsters”--a region assumed not only to be unknown but perhaps also
unknowable–where we credulously suspend our own disbelief. Panelists discuss
what defines Appalachian Gothic, good and bad examples of the genre, and why
the region has such a hold on the popular
imagination. Panelists:Jess Lewis, Mike Allen (Moderator), Shanna
Germain, Stephen Mark Rainey, Tonya Monteforte (Friday, 8/13, 11:00 a.m.,
Omni, Washington/Newport)
PANEL: Drifting Down the River of Night’s Dreaming: Karl Edward Wagner. Karl Edward Wagner (American, 1945–1994) was a poet, editor, and publisher born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Wagner is known for his Sword and Sorcery anti-hero Kane, the Mystic Swordsman, and more contemporary horror tales that often drew on his personal demons and training as a psychiatrist. Wagner co-founded Carcosa Press and was executor of Manley Wade Welman’s literary estate until his death. He edited many anthologies, including fourteen years of The Year’s Best Horror. Our panelists discuss Wagner, his influences, and his impact on horror, fantasy, and the greater weird. Panelists: Douglass Winter, F. Brett Cox, John Langan, Jordan Douglas Smith, Stephen Mark Rainey (Moderator) (Saturday, 8/14, 9:30 a.m., Omni, Washington/Newport)
PANEL: Drifting Down the River of Night’s Dreaming: Karl Edward Wagner. Karl Edward Wagner (American, 1945–1994) was a poet, editor, and publisher born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Wagner is known for his Sword and Sorcery anti-hero Kane, the Mystic Swordsman, and more contemporary horror tales that often drew on his personal demons and training as a psychiatrist. Wagner co-founded Carcosa Press and was executor of Manley Wade Welman’s literary estate until his death. He edited many anthologies, including fourteen years of The Year’s Best Horror. Our panelists discuss Wagner, his influences, and his impact on horror, fantasy, and the greater weird. Panelists: Douglass Winter, F. Brett Cox, John Langan, Jordan Douglas Smith, Stephen Mark Rainey (Moderator) (Saturday, 8/14, 9:30 a.m., Omni, Washington/Newport)
AUTHOR READING: Stephen Mark Rainey, "Night Crier" (Saturday, 8/14, 3:30 p.m., Graduate, Narragansett Bayview)
Note that some cruel miscreant had the gall to designate me the moderator of the
Karl Edward Wagner panel. I'm not fond of moderating, and I hadn't expressed
any interest in it, but, well, there it is. I had a fair amount of personal
experience with Karl, particularly since he wrote the column, "The View From Carcosa," for Deathrealm magazine back in the day.
I'll likely be hanging out frequently in the dealer's room (Omni), at the Lovecraft eZine table. I plan to have copies of several of my books available for sale at the table.
I hope to see y'all there.
