A history of Japanese science fiction
Host: Roderick Leeuwenhart
発信! (hasshin = launch!) Sky-high monsters, Mobile Suits and nuclear destruction: Japanese science fiction has been largely fueled by the historic events and disasters that shaped the country in the 20th century. Its SF took the world by storm—at least, in the “Cool Japan” media of film, anime and manga. But where does literature fit into all of this? Are Japanese SF novels as singular and unique? Let author and Japan enthusiast Roderick Leeuwenhart launch you into the future with this lecture!
A life in comics
Host: Gary Erskine
Join artist and educator Gary Erskine talk about his career in comics for various publishers including MARVEL and DC Comics, his personal projects, storyboarding for games, and also how teaching has become an important part of his life now.
Creative insights in game development practice
Host: Lisa Karaseva
Creative insights in game development practice – in this talk, I highlight how the technical side of game development (programming, optimization, etc.) also requires creativity to get creativity to get results. I mention retro video games (like Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Street Fighter) and how limited hardware was a way to spark creativity. I also have examples of more modern games that reflect this idea (like Haunting Ground and God of War). This talk also includes the cloud gaming reflection and the unexpected influence on accessibility and why optimization questions played a major role in it.
Eurocon 2025: Archipelacon 2
Host: Karo Leikomaa
Archipelacon 2 will be Eurocon 2025, organised in Mariehamn, Finland June 26-27, 2025. Join us and find out what is going on with the convention, what the team is planning, and what to expect!
Fanfiction for the uninitiated
Host: Ilana
The what, how and when of fanfiction. What is fanfiction? Is it legal? When did it start? And what does all this have to do with the patriarchy? Or if you just want to know what to tell your friends about your loved-one’s fanfic obsession. Let’s dig in.
Geophysics for science fiction and fantasy writers
Host: Mara van Ness
Our Earth’s magnetic field is essential for the emergence and sustenance of life on Earth. Therefore, it is also a crucial requirement for exoplanets to be habitable. However, in books and films, phenomena such as pole reversals sometimes lead to the destruction of the Earth in highly unrealistic ways. Knowledge of our magnetic field and other geophysical topics is therefore very relevant for SF writers.
Mara van Ness will tell us, among other things, about the Earth’s magnetic field and astronomical (or orbital) climate forcing. The Earth’s orbit around the sun and the tilt of the Earth’s axis relative to the orbital plane change, is causing cyclical variations in the seasons. And with that, the climate! So, if you want to write about climate change, pay attention! The Earth’s magnetic field is also our shield against harmful radiation from space, especially from the sun. For example, in 2022, SpaceX lost forty of the forty-nine newly launched satellites due to a geomagnetic storm. In short, if you want serious science in your fiction, don’t miss this lecture!
Gods, strangers, and wizards: the theme of mysticism in SFF
Host: Joro Penchev
From Tom Bombadil to the Inverse Fire, Shai-Hulud to the Shrike, Sam Mahasamatman to the Dark One. Speculative fiction abounds in names that invoke the concept of the ineffable. We always seem to nurture unique fascination with the most mystical characters in SFF. Sometimes they are demystified. Sometimes they are deified. But they always speak to us and we don’t always understand. Is this just a convenient plot device for authors, a worn out cliche that allows for some shallow worldbuilding hooks? Or is there something more to this. In this talk we will come back to the basics of the mystical epxerience and try to discover whence does it come from as a trope in contemporary SFF and whether the needs that gave mysticism birth back in the day have been met, forgotten or deepened in the modern world.
Industrial magic and… science
Host: Valatin D. Ivanov
The works of fiction, books and movies alike, often portray the scientist like lonely geniuses. This was largely true in times past, when one mind could contain a large fraction of the human knowledge, but today the increasing complexity of the scientific endeavor requires teamwork and collaboration of specialist in many complementary fields, from “pure” scientists to engineers, software people, data scientists – you name a profile and it will probably be on the list. I will take you on a trip across the inner workings of modern astronomy on the example of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and all those astronomers that use the ESO telescopes in the Chilean Atacama desert.
Starship Troopers, 65 years on
Host: Arwen Grune
Great movie from a questionable book, right? Or a questionable movie from a great book? And an Anime? What? WHY?!