Kickstarter is the new hotness in self-publishing, but there are pros and cons to crowd-sourcing. What are some other options for creating and publishing your own board games, video games, and role-playing games? Our panelists will discuss kickstarter as well as other methods of self-publishing your own game.

Julie Haehn (M), Chris Pramas, David Fooden, Jeremy Holcomb, John Harper

Have you ever wanted to write a fanfic, but just never were able to before? Fret not! In this panel, a team of fanfic writers will help you work past your fears and jump feet first into writing! A number of different ideas will be presented as inspirational starting points and then after the hour is up, attendees share their works and get constructive pointers on what worked, what didn’t and how they can improve their stories.

Micole Rose (M), Keerawa, Erik Scott de Bie

The earth is a water world, why don’t we see more SF and fantasy set in the ocean? We know more about the surface of the moon than we do the bottom of the ocean. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was over 140 years ago, so why aren’t more stories set under water?

Steve Gillett (M), Beth Wade, Mike Brennan

Which Technology Will SAVE THE WORLD?
(Saturday, 8pm, Cascade 3&4)

Obviously technology will SAVE THE WORLD, but which one will be the most important? Come help our panelists determine what technology will be Mankind’s Last Best Hope. Then see them defend it in “No, You Fools! Your Technology Will DESTROY THE WORLD!”

Kurt Cagle (M), Alan Boyle, Arthur Bozlee, David Nasset, Sr.

No, You Fools! Your Technology Will DESTROY THE WORLD!

The world is doomed, and trying to stop it with Technology will only make it worse. Come see the choice of “Which Technology WILL SAVE THE WORLD?” be refuted with sound logic, tight reasoning, and, if needed, mobs armed with torches and pitchforks. All torches and pitchforks must be peace-bonded, and meet the appropriate Convention guidelines.

Kurt Cagle (M), Alan Boyle, Darryl Aoki, David Shoemaker, Matthew ‘Fish’ Dockrey

Join Norwescon 36 Grand Master Terry Brooks and award-winning artist Todd Lockwood for visuals and discussion of their joint venture, The Dark Legacy of Shannara. See how they bring the Four Lands to life so vividly in Wards of Faerie, and preview what visions will come to life in the next novel, Bloodfire.

Terry Brooks, Todd Lockwood

For example, we have the overnight play opportunities known as Open Filk, starting each night at 11pm. Those can go on for hours and hours and hours, particularly if they’re going well. If late nights aren’t your thing, we have the daytime instructional circle at 1pm on Friday, for two hours.

We have the 2pm Saturday hands-on “Find Your Instrument” workshop – where you actually get shown instruments and a shot at playing with them, courtesy our musical pros. We have Cascadia’s Got Talent!, our terrible talent show, where you get up and strut your stuff in front of our panel of celebrity judges, some of whom may be sober! (You just never know!)

We have KidsFilk on Friday afternoon, at 5:30, for all the kids out there who want a shot at sing-along. And last year’s experimental workshop, Introduction to the Irish Session, returns on Sunday for extra time to round off the set. You can find a PDF of some popular Irish tunes – for advance practice, if you can read music – downloadable here (1.3MB .pdf).

Plus, we have panels! What the Frak is Filk? introduces you to the oldest extant form of geekmusic. Constrained Writing: Writing in Hard Mode is about creativity and simulating it through restriction. Making Art with Someone Else’s Art speaks to collaboration and derivative works of all kinds. And we have not one, but two panels on recording at home – and on a fannish budget: Home Recording I (Saturday) and II (Sunday).

Really, that only scratches the surface. To dig deeper, check out the official programming site, right here!

Ever wanted a fannish wedding? In honor of marriage equality, now’s your chance! Participants of all genders celebrated, spectators of all ages welcome (with Norwescon badges), commitment ceremonies and vow renewals will be equally honored, but a valid Washington State license is required for legal weddings. No officiant fees, donations to Northwest Harvest welcomed, RSVPs recommended to wedding@norwescon.org.

Find more information and all the fine print and details right here!

Nerdcore comes out of gamer and internet culture. It was ushered in by acts like MC Hawking and MC Frontalot, who gave it its name. This is hiphop, but hiphop about hobbits, about robots taking over the world, about videogames – basically, about geek life. It’s the kind of musical poetry we all would write, if we weren’t too introverted to speak in front of a crowd.

And that’s not to forget the rest of our concert series this year, which we think is exceptional.

Thursday has Rai Kamishiro doing her J-pop stylings, Jonny Nero Action Hero’s first appearance at Norwescon with his chiptunes rock, and nwcMUSIC regular Electric Children’s high-energy chiptunes dance music. Friday evening: Hello, the Future! sings about the intersections of fandom and reality, Leannan Sidhe have their long-awaited CD release show, and Starlight returns with a new lineup to bring their filk-rock to the foreground again.

And Saturday – oh man, Saturday is kicked off by Filk Hall of Famer Steve Savitzky, followed by the one-and-only HeyLasFas! and his pony progrock. Then Cascadian favourite Alexander James Adams gives one of his very limited number of concerts this year, and we finish off with ukelele-playing geekmusic favourite Molly Lewis, backed by special guests Vixy & Tony, at 10pm.

Our performers have samples you can play of their music, all collected on the Norwescon website! Check those out right here!

And see you at the shows!

Our Guests of Honor are available to sign autographs during this hour. PLEASE NOTE: So that as many fans as possible can participate, we will be enforcing a three-items-at-a-time (or single-sketch) autograph limit.

Autumn Grieve (M), Catherine Asaro, Terry Brooks, Tony Daniel, Gardner Dozois, Lee Moyer, Edward Tenner

Guests in this pilot episode: Nicole Dieker of HELLO, THE FUTURE!, Nerdcore Monstarrs Death*Star and Klopfenpop, J-pop performer Rai Kamishiro, and filker Stephanie Weippert of Starlight. Find the pilot episode here!

If there’s interest, they’ll make more. They already have enough material for episode two, so drop by and listen in!