2/15-17 Elwin Cotman @ Boskone 56, Westin Boston Waterfront

Hitting up this scifi & fantasy convention in Boston? So is Elwin Cotman, author of The Jack Daniels Sessions EP & Hard Times Blues. Here’s what this year’s guest of honor Elizabeth Hand had to say about the latter.

With its intoxicating blend of rock and roll and the supernatural, crazed religion and visionary prose, Hard Times Blues is a wild ride down the same shadowy American sideroads traveled by the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Greil Marcus and Samuel R. Delany. A marvelous collection by a strikingly original new voice in contemporary fiction.

Here’s the full schedule & where & when you can find Elwin:

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15

3:00 PM (free to public)
The Other Others in Urban Fantasy
Elwin Cotman, Nicholas Kaufmann, Clea Simon, Leigh Perry (M), John Langan
Harbor II · 50 min · Panel
Urban fantasy sections in bookstores are filled with zombies, werewolves, and especially vampires (sparkly and otherwise) almost to the exclusion of other entities. Indeed, too many times those creatures define urban fantasy. But there are a plethora of other fantastical beings from the myths and legends of Europe — and every other continent. Authors like Seanan McGuire and Laura Anne Gilman revel in the variety, using it to populate the back streets of their chosen cities. Let’s join them (and our panelists) to explore the road less traveled.

8:00 PM
Speculative Films for the Ages
Bob Devney (M), Gillian Daniels, Garen Daly, Elwin Cotman, Daniel M. Kimmel
Marina 4 · 50 min · Panel
Star Wars and 2001 are perennial front-runners in the list of greatest SF/F/H films of all time. Would you include The Beast from 20, 000 Fathoms, since it inspired Godzilla? The Matrix? Blade Runner? And how about non-Western films? Come ready with your roster — and your reasons — to challenge the choices of our film-buff panelists.

9:00 PM
Where Do Elves Come From?
Sarah Smith, Melanie Meadors (M), Elwin Cotman, John Clute, Greer Gilman
Marina 3 · 50 min · Panel
Elves have their roots deep in northern European folklore, and their branchings support much of modern fantasy literature. Why? What makes elves so interesting? Are there different kinds of elves? Are Tolkien’s elves — beings who are almost preternatural humans — different in kind from cute Victorian elves, or from the grimmer elven folk of Poul Anderson’s The Broken Sword? And what about the modern elves that appear in the night in many urban fantasies — why are they there? What’s the significance of a separate magical or supernatural race of human-like beings?

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16

11:00 AM
Autographing: Shannon Chakraborty, Elwin Cotman, Christopher Golden, Fonda Lee
Christopher Golden, Elwin Cotman, Shannon Chakraborty, Fonda Lee
Galleria – Autographing · 50 min · Autographing

2:00 PM
The History of Black Horror
Tonia Thompson (M), Elwin Cotman, Kenesha Williams, Errick Nunnally, Grady Hendrix
Harbor II · 50 min · Panel
Black horror didn’t start with Get Out (2017), and this horror film didn’t put black horror on the map — but it was a wake-up call to Hollywood and book publishers that there are financial rewards for working with black creators and their horror projects. From Linda Addison to Jordan Peele or newer novelists such as Justina Ireland or Victor LaValle, black horror is a rich source of fiction and film entertainment, but it wasn’t always that way. The history of black horror ranges from blaxploitation films to secondary characters who rarely make it into the second chapter. Let’s chat about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going in the realm of black horror.

6:30 PM
Boskone Book Party
Brenda W. Clough, Erin Underwood (M), Cerece Rennie Murphy, Isadora Deese, Christopher Paniccia, Steve Davidson, Suzanne Palmer, S.L. Huang, Clea Simon, Jane Yolen, Adam Stemple, Julie C. Day, Karen Heuler, Jeff Hecht, KJ Kabza, Grady Hendrix, Kenneth Rogers Jr., Clarence Young, Elwin Cotman
Galleria – Stage · 50 min · Event
Come join the fun at Boskone 56’s Book Party — and meet the presses and authors who have new books coming out at the con! This is your chance to see what’s new from writers you already love, as well as those you have yet to discover.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17

11:00 AM
Reading by Elwin Cotman
Elwin Cotman
Independence · 25 min · Reading