The panel, “When Toxic Masculinity is the Problem,” was a not so subtle reminder of the power of the pen over the sword; the “sword” taken literally, literarily, metaphorically, and euphemistically.

Erik Amundsen, Max Gladstone, Daniel José Older, and moderator Josh Jasper, led a discussion on the dangers of authors telling stories where the characters comport with and therefore contort themselves into a vestigial form of masculinity where the hero is emotionally restricted (except for anger), invulnerable, has misogynistic relationships, and is driven to succeed by having a greater (and often secret) capacity for violence.

The series of James Bond movies was one very clear example given by Max, though apparently the movie Bond is an allergically toxic reaction to the more complex novels, which often happens when a story is retold for mainstream audiences. But, the conversation really started at last year’s Readercon when Josh had noted how the WB horror drama “Supernatural” was a prime example of a narrative where the main characters were caught in a cycle of death fueled by blatantly stupid toxic masculinity.

Part of the show’s failure in storytelling, beyond its over the top misogyny (and mediocre plot), is in not really knowing or at least not writing for their audience, which is majority female and much more diverse in sexual orientation. I hear that’s changing. But if their fan base was as young, white, and male as the show’s writers seem to want, then it would seem even more important to tell a better more inclusive story.

​We subconsciously live out the stories we associate with. Through his work as a community organizer and paramedic, Daniel has seen the literal “blood and guts” consequences of toxic masculinity gone untreated in all walks of life, from Wall Street execs to gang members. And, he said, young people who are steeped in this narrative are eager for, even “starving for” this conversation. Speculative fiction is an excellent tool with which to conduct it.

Max made the point that speculative fiction’s real strength is in pulling into the limelight social constructs that we are normally unaware of, like masculinity, and through innovative use of genre tropes and great writing, we can explore them in ways less flexible genres cannot. Yet, there is also a desire on the part of the reader to be immersed in any story. Therefore the engine of good writing built from dialogue, descriptions, plotting, and conflict, can ultimately be an empty vehicle if the author is incapable of growing as a person along with his characters. The words a writer chooses are part of an ongoing conversation with the self. Which brings us to “The Dresden Files.”

The urban fantasy noir series is well written, complex, descriptive, and more self-aware than "Supernatural." But Dresden always wins (even when he dies), by having a greater capacity for violence.  Emotions beyond anger are as rare as minorities in his version of Chicago, and as Daniel pointed out, perpetuating the belief that happy endings always come after you’ve obliterated the "bad" people is dangerous.  Both "Supernatural" and "The Dresden Files" are mainstreamed speculative fiction and need to do a better job of breaking down the “mythologies of gender” we all live with.

So then which writers and narratives are taking on toxic masculinity? Max highly recommended “Neo Genesis Evangeline,” an anime that took the box of toxic masculinity, especially as defined for Japanese boys, and tore it apart. This brought up the really interesting topic of audience expectations. The audience came for the giant robot v.s. alien battle and rejected the series finale when they were offered something more complex. (Watch the video below to hear the author's graphic rebuttal to audience outrage at time stamp 23:50.)

Josh recommended Ken Liu’s “Grace of Kings.” It does a very good job of contrasting the lives of a hyper toxic masculine man character with one who saw vulnerability as a strength and feminine as integrated with masculine rather than opposed to it. Josh also recommended Daniel Abram’s stories including the “Dagger and Coin” series.

Erik recommended Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix, though more for the villain Kingpin, than the super hero. The show takes a more balanced approach: Daredevil is endowed with a super power that makes him more aware of others (so kind of cheating), yet hides his own true nature from those he loves. But then he wins because he’s simply more bad ass and more angry than Kingpin.  Kingpin's journey is much more clearly defined as he learned to draw strength from vulnerability, healed (relatively speaking) from early childhood trauma, and survived those who tried to hold him to his more toxic, stunted self. It's a very curious case of projection.

Finally, Daniel Jose Elder’s “Half-Resurrection Blues” urban fantasy noir, a kind of answer to the "Dresden Files," writes very convincingly about the consequences of power over rather than power with and introduces you to different flavors of masculinity that bare more resemblance to real world people.​

I asked the panel how quickly they thought you can turn this ship. Josh’s answer was that you have to lay it out there for the reader, where the characters have a chance at self-discovery: the idea of self you have been handed no longer works and maybe there are other ways to define yourself as a man.  

You still run the risk of audience backlash, like what happened with "Neo Genesis," but ultimately  I take a historical view on this. Many Victorian era fairy tales were written by women challenging the limitations put upon them. Samuel Delany’s generation in the twentieth century pushed the envelope of what was considered taboo sexuality. 21st century America is right now having a conversation about gender. Re-imagining masculinity is a task whose time has come. Pick up your pen.

-Rob Cameron

I write a lot of hard sci-fi, and I enjoy the complex puzzle of creating ecologies and biospheres and societies and philosophies that are “other” enough to be interesting. So at this year's Readercon, I made sure I attended two of the panel discussions on designing aliens: “Biology as Destiny” and “Not Just Pointy-Eared Humans.”

The biggest takeaway for me was recognizing that a certain amount of similarity between an alien character and the human reader is necessary for there to be insight into the human condition. An alien who is too different becomes more like scenery or environment. Among the aliens who straddle the line gracefully, the panelists frequently made mention of China Mieville’s Embassytown, in which the aliens think so differently from humans, the mere presence of human settlers on their planet creates problems with their language and therefore their thinking.

Another important point made by the panelists was how important it was to make the physiology, philosophy, politics, and behavior of your aliens matter to the plot. If some aspect of your aliens’ design doesn’t serve the plot, it is like an extraneous character.

For my own writing, I realized that as exhaustively as I tend to plot out my alien worlds, there is still a lot of stuff missing when you consider all the niches that, for example, life on Earth exploits. And in that process of filling out my world, I have to stop going for easy analogs like viruses, insects, squirrels, dogs, and, of course, humans.

by Mark Salzwedel

KaffeeKlatches. Coffee clutches. Gathering over coffee.

Where, at Readercon, you get to have about an hour–long chat with a writer, along with about fourteen other people. Sit on a high chair at a square table on the 8th floor of the Burlington Marriott. Get some coffee from coffee boxes (abomination!). Ask questions. Listen to stories. Discuss life and writing.

Sometimes the writer asks your name,  sometimes a bit about you. If you’re a fan, it is more than cool. It is the opportunity of a lifetime to gaze with awe, love, and admiration. Maybe they’ll remember you. If an editor, maybe they’ll publish you.

I KaKl’ed with Daniel José  Older, Sheila Williams, and Samuel Delaney .

Daniel José  Older

Daniel writes urban fantasy mysteries and has just reached a tipping point, getting fabulous reviews in the NY Times Book Review for Shadowshaper. His work is set in Brooklyn where I live. Where he lives. With Latino and Latina characters, with language that reflects the New York Hispanic culture. He paints a rich, cultural landscape where bizarre things happen and even more bizarre people live. He deserves all the success in the world.

Daniel is a Santeria priest. He told us! This lends him, for us Anglos in the room, a flavor of exoticism, as well as a sense of danger, ignorant as we are for the most part, about the religion. He admits to sacrificing chickens, though I’m not sure he is not goofing on us. I’m not a fan of sacrificing animals for religious purposes, and personally I believe amazing things can be done without animal murder. I get the blood thing. But still.

But aside from the sensational, Daniel is a warm, outgoing guy who is totally dedicated to his writing (after also working as an EMT in the Bronx.). He is also dedicated to bringing Latino/a characters into speculative fiction and supports many causes and people on this account (apparently he has a hugely popular Twitter account). i.e. Get rid of Lovecraft as the image for the statue for the World Fantasy Awards. The guy, according to Daniel, and to me, was a total racist, anti-semitic, misogynistic loonie tune, who wrote brilliantly creepy stuff. But come on, folks, Get over him.

Daniel also has no tolerance (yay!!) for writing that includes stereotypes of brown people from wherever, and cited the much-maligned (deservedly, I think) work of JimButcher. A minor tiff ensued with someone who supported and admired Butcher, citing his improved political stances (less homophobic, racist, by book 4), but Daniel had no tolerance for that.

Apparently he is willing to throw a book across the room if it makes him angry. Yay again.

A moving moment during this particular KaKl was when a young woman mentioned that she, being Hispanic, felt finally she could read stories about characters like her (maybe she doesn’t get to read the many many Latino/a writers out there). But it is true, that in the mostly white world of spec fiction, non-white writers and characters are rare. We see that  changing (cf. DJO, Butler, Shawl, Liu, Chiang, Hopkinson, etc.), and we can reference the folks in BSFW.

Daniel is a very likable, personable, friendly, funny, and smart guy. The hour flew by.

Samuel Delaney

What can I say? What a character! What a nice man! What a brilliant man! What an unabashedly sexual man!

I don’t remember all of the questions, but I remember that each question prompted a long involved story about theory, practice, working, writing, sexuality, publishing, and academia. It seems Mr. Delaney, (I couldn’t bring myself to call him Samuel) has mostly been writing critique and theory articles about speculative fiction, writing, and issues of gender and identity. 

I read Dhalgren in college (so long ago) and remember being very unsettled by the book for numerous reasons: an unpleasant post-apocalyptic world, sexual behavior that this then-naïve gal had never heard of, and a strong sense of alienation on the part of the protagonist. Yes, it was a time for this sort of investigation, but no one, with perhaps the exception of Ellison, Russ, and a few others were interested in unsettling the speculative fiction reader. Escape, we could not.

Seems like Mr. Delaney hasn’t mellowed at all in this respect, which is such a wonderful inspiration for writers: follow your heart, your mission, and your personal truth. Think about what society is, gives, and takes away.

Societal analysis should not be a stranger to speculative fiction, but an integral part, no matter how “out there” it may seem to be. 

Delaney is an original: he wrote about sex, people of color, screwed-up society, alienation, and a whole host of other themes that are now almost standard. 

And he still shows up at a Readercon and talks with everybody and anybody, telling stories, answering questions, and always asking questions. 

So, should you sign up for these kaffeeklatches?

Ridiculous question, of course you should. Meet these folks. Ask a question. Have your face in the room and listen. Take notes. Get books signed. They are there because they want to meet you, too. Otherwise, why bother?

They are a nice change from the huge panels in the huge freezing rooms, or odd questions from the audience (though this was rarer this year than my first Readercon two years ago). 

Would love to hear from those who went to other KaKl’s. 

Marcy Arlin

One of the many magical things that happened at Readercon this year, and which subsequently popped my poor brain like an overripe grape, resulted from being exposed to a new type of “punk”… solarpunk!

For those of you who don’t know, all the sub-genres bearing the -punk suffix share a set of characteristics. Steampunk, cyberpunk, afropunk, clockpunk, atompunk…you get the idea. They all harken to a certain maker mentality, an edgier vibe of ingenuity and do-it-yourself-ness. 

Here’s what Wikipedia says:

Also referred to as eco-futurism, solarpunk is a literary and visual movement that addresses the problems I frequently face when attempting to write science fiction. It’s hard to project our current course as a species forward without arriving inevitably in a world of scarcity and decay. In otherwords, dystopian. Yawn. 

Not to say that compelling dystopian stories can’t be told. I’ve read The Hunger Games. I’m not so much bored with the premise as I am worn out by it. I read for enjoyment, to escape into a fantastical world, not a dark, depressing place where I can’t get enough to eat. 

It’s why I can only tolerate so much horror, and why I avoid grimdark like the plague. A number of sub-genres have sprung up to embrace entropy and the worst aspects of our baser natures. Or is that the best of the worst in us? Either way, not for me.

I see, or at least I want to see, a more positive future. Just as I turned to science fiction in my teens for its sense of adventure and discovery, I’m unwilling to turn to it now when that spirit is absent. Solarpunk subverts the cyberpunk future of technology that overwhelms our humanity, and puts human beings back into the equation, as makers of a brighter world.

Not a perfect world, mind you. Solarpunk has the potential to nestle within dystopian settings as well as supplant them. The stories solarpunk tells will still be human stories, perhaps all the more human for the acknowledgement of how connected to the environment we are, how dependent on it for our survival. 

Consider this example of solar punk micro fiction from Romie Stott, who led the solarpunk discussion at Readercon:

“California’s property-tax-funded electrical collectives worked like fire departments, ready to rush batteries and generators onto the grid when weather events took buildings’ self-powering systems offline. It was a skittery, nerve-wracking job, and Elena loved the adrenaline.”

From her blog, Postorbital: very short science fiction by Romie Stott (and worth a visit! Very inspiring).

I intend to give this a try. I have a deep fondness for all the “punk” subgenres, and this one hacks more than just the sun. It hacks hope. It hacks optimism. It hacks a brighter tomorrow. 

Won’t you join me?

Get inspired with these articles:

Solarpunk: a new movement sees the future in a positive light

Solarpunk, the LGBT Community, and the Importance of Imagining Positive Futures

The Solarpunks Tumblr Blog

Interview with Adam Flynn on Solarpunk


Innovation Starvation by Neal Stephenson 

A Solarpunk Reading List on Goodreads

Solarpunk: Notes toward a manifesto


Renewable energy from living plants!

by Bradly Robert Parks
You can find more of his writing here.
And in case you missed the panel on Solar Punk, here it is.

It was a pretty eventful Readercon for BSFW.  We went down there with our largest posse yet, twelve writers strong. Three members, Mark Salzwedel, Marcy Arlin, and Bradley Robert Parks read their stories and poetry at the convention, and I was invited to speak on a panel. The next five posts on the blog were written by some of the writers who went to Readercon 2015. 


Bradley Robert Parks will introduce you to "Solar Punk," a brand new sub-genre that is both an extension of the steam-punk brand as well as an answer to the glut of post apocalyptic stories that currently take center stage.  

Christophe Maso will discuss his experience as a virgin Readerconner and his take away from the "If Magic Were Real," panel.  Marcy Arlin, a Readercon veteran will take you inside the more intimate and interactive world of the kaffeeklatches and the leading writers and editors you'd find there.  

Mark Salzwedel will examine the key elements of making your aliens not only plausibly, but also how to avoid the pitfalls that so many writers fall into when experimenting with creating sufficiently original, alien perspectives. Finally, I'll discuss lessons learned from my favorite panel of the convention, "Toxic Masculinity," including what exactly that means, social ramifications,  and how to avoid it in your writing. Check it out, we'll be posting links to videos, books, authors, and resources along the way.

-Cameron Roberson