ConQuesT 41, two years ago, was my first science fiction and fantasy convention and a great experience. Last year, I didn’t make it back to Kansas City for this, but since I live nearby now, the group sponsoring the Con is my home fan group, and they’ve been a great support for me. This year, I’ve been involved in promoting the Con but I’m also a panelist and moderator as well as having a table in the dealer room. I’m really looking forward to this. Some changes are still happening but this should be a fairly final look at my schedule. One of the most exciting parts is a live recording of Adventures In SF Publishing, in which Brent Bowen and I will talk “the state of small fiction” with Year’s Best/Locus reviewers Gardner Dozois and Rich Horton. We’ll be recording several AISFP interviews that weekend, including one with me about my new book, but the guys at AISFP asked me to join Brent to interview some of the other attendees. We don’t have the list all lined up, but we’ll announce it later. It should be a fun group. Those of note attending include: Glen Cook, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (Writer GOHs), Gardner (Editor GOH), Ursula Vernon (Artist GOH), Robin Wayne Bailey, Steven Gould, Shannon K. Butcher, Lee Killough, H.C. Stratmann, Bradley Denton, and Dayton Ward.

I hope some of you can make the Con. It’s usually well attended, 500-600 people, and it’s been around forty years. So here’s what I’ll be doing as far as panels. I may have a reading as well, but that time’s not announced yet. When I’m not here, I’ll be at my dealer table (when the room’s open) or the bar or recording interviews for Adventures In SF Publishing podcast with Brent Bowen as co-host.

Friday – May 25
Have I got a Book For You – 4-5pm Benton B
Have I got a book for you! If you loved Firefly, try reading this — A group discussion melee! Panelists bring up popular books of today and yesterday, and everyone can make recommendations that we might not have heard of yet!

James K. Burk, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Kat Donovan, Brent Bowen, Bradley Denton

Star Wars: The Saga Continues – 5-6pm Benton B
Star Wars: The Saga Continues: Movies, TV, Books, Games, oh my! The Star Wars universe continues to expand with new books, video games, and movie re-releases. Not to mention the Clone Wars cartoon and the in the works TV Series! Join us for a discussion of everything happening, “In a galaxy far, far away.”

Bryan Thomas Schmidt (Moderator), Nick “McKay” Seddon, David J. Pederson

Adventures In SF Publishing Podcast LIVE – 6-7 pm Ballroom
Adventures In SF Publishing Podcast LIVE:  Brent Bowen & Bryan Thomas Schmidt talk the state of short fiction with Year’s Best editors/Locus reviewers Gardner Dozois & Rich Horton including questions from the audience. See how a podcast is recorded & enjoy the conversation at the same time.

Brent Bowen (moderator), Bryan Thomas Schmidt (co-moderator), Gardner Dozois, Rich Horton

Opening Ceremonies – 7pm

Saturday – May 26
Game of Thrones (Moderator) – 12-1pm Fremont
Game of Thrones: Is High Fantasy Making a Comeback or Is It a Fluke? – Discuss the critical and ratings love of the HBO series, as well as the Bestseller status of this Fantasy series.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt (moderator), James K. Burk, Terry-Lynne DeFino, Margene Bahm

Book Launch: Robin Wayne Bailey – 2-3pm Benton

The Great Book Signing Event – 3-4pm Ballroom

Book Launch: Hadley Rille Books – 4-5pm Benton

Book Trailers (Moderator) – 4-5pm Fremont
Book trailers: Video Gold? – With the advent of YouTube, anyone can produce and promote products. In this panel, we discuss the finer points of creating a video trailer of your book in order to generate interest on the internet.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt (Moderator), Alex Boyd, Nick “McKay” Seddon, Sherry Foley

Sunday – May 27
PR Kicking Ass in High Heels – 3-4pm Benton B
(PR) Kicking ass in high heels: These days women can kick ass, save the world, and still have time to fall in love. But why are they still doing it in hot pants and high heels? Can heroines be a size 18 and still be beautiful? 

Deb Sturgess, Sharon Lee, Bev Hale, Karin Rita Gastreich, Nancy “Cleo” Hathaway, Bryan Thomas Schmidt

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Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novels The Worker Prince, a Barnes & Noble Book Clubs Year’s Best SF Releases of 2011 Honorable Mention, andThe Returning, the collection The North Star Serial, Part 1, and has several short stories featured  in anthologies and magazines.  He edited the new anthology Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 for Flying Pen Press, headlined by Mike Resnick. His children’s book 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Jokes For Kids from Delabarre Publishing. As  a freelance editor, he’s edited a novels and nonfiction.  He’s also the host of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat every Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. A frequent contributor to Adventures In SF Publishing, Grasping For The Wind and SFSignal, he can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Bryan is an affiliate member of the SFWA.