An Actual ‘Faith and Fantasy Con’
From Marcher Lord Press’s Facebook page:
Realm Makers: 2013
Creative in His Image
Date: August 2-3, 2013Keynote Speaker: Jeff Gerke
Location: JC Penney Conference Center at the University of Missouri St Louis campus 1 University Blvd St Louis, MO 63121Times:
Friday: 8am to 10 pm
8:00 am-9:15 registration, 9:15am-6:00pm sessions/panels, 7:30 pm -10 pm Breakout/fun stuff/networking
Saturday: 9 am to 10 pm
9am-6pm: Sessions/panels, 7:00pm-10:00pm costume dinner/awardsHousing will be available on the UMSL campus for $25 per night, and there will be a la carte meal options available to include in your registration when the time comes (hopefully May).
For more information, visit http://faithandfantasyalliance.wordpress.com/
For years Christian fantasy-and-sci-fi-and-whatever-else fans have talked of such an event. Evidently someone actually planned one.
My thought: Based on that link, is this an almost entirely writing-and-publishing-oriented event? That seems a needless niche-ifying limitation. At Speculative Faith we remain confident the best way to promote this genre is to focus first on readers.1
- Related reading: Content to be a Niche(?) by Rebecca LuElla Miller. ↩
For this first year, in order not to overwhelm ourselves, we are starting with writers as the main focus for the event, because that’s where we have established connections. The vision for future events, however, goes more like this:
As we make more inroads into multiple areas of the speculative arena, we would love to bring together writers, illustrators, filmmakers, and the fans of what these folks make in more of a convention setting than a conference. To do that, we will need an army of planners and participants, which I sincerely pray we will build in the future.
So while the event (officially named Realm Makers: 2013) will be fiction-focused this year, look for growth into fandom in the future. Because you’re absolutely right: connection with the audience is paramount. Thanks for posting this and bringing it to folks’ attention!