9/16 Dance on Saturday Book Launch

Elwin sez,

It’s short notice, but y’all know I wasn’t going to release a book without having a launch. September 16, join me for a reading from my new book Dance on Saturday, 7:00 pm PST. I’ll be reading from the final story in the book, “The Piper’s Christmas Gift,” with a Q&A in the middle.

Please RSVP if you’d like to come because Zoom can be a little tricky. Zoombombers, Nazis, and assorted pieces of trash can go elsewhere.

https://zoom.us/j/94880077073?pwd=VXE5dlNRN0pmNzh4UmlNSFRKQXQzZz09

Zoom passcode: 283060

About Elwin Cotman: Elwin is a native of Pittsburgh, PA. He is the author of Dance on Saturday and two previous collections of short stories, The Jack Daniels Sessions EP and Hard Times Blues. In 2011 he was nominated for a Carl Brandon Society Award. He has toured extensively across North America and Europe. He was at work on his first novel. He finished it.

Dance on Saturday: In the title novella, Cotman imagines a group of near-immortals living in Pittsburgh in an uneasy truce with Lord Decay. Their truce is threatened when one of them takes pity on a young woman who knows their secret. In “Among the Zoologists,” a game writer on their way to a convention falls in with a group of rogue Darwinists whose baggage contains a great mystery. A volleyball tournament devolves into nightmare and chaos in “Mine.” In Cotman’s hands, the conventions of genres from fairytales to Victorian literature to epic fantasy and horror give shape to marvelously new stories. Dance on Saturday has received praise from (deep breath) The New York Times Book Review, Locus, Wired, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Book Riot, and Buzzfeed.

3/6-8 Elwin Cotman @ FOGcon

Hitting up FOGcon 10 MARCH 6-8 at the Walnut Creek Marriott? So is Elwin Cotman, who will have copies of The Jack Daniels Sessions EP (& possibly Hard Times Blues if they get there in time) you can buy off him.

He’s also doing these panels & reading (probably from the new one, Dance on Saturday, which comes out in June from Small Beer Press):

Portal Moments

Type Program Description A “portal moment” is when a character realizes the world is not what they grew up expecting. They step through a wardrobe, find out that their aunt is a witch, are attacked by tentacled creatures, watch an alien spaceship landing… How does a character respond to this revelation? How do we know if authors’ depictions of such moments are realistic when, almost by definition, they have no equivalents in real life? Or do they? Are portal moments solely the domain of speculative fiction? Which authors depict it in the most convincing way? Location Salon F Schedule Fri, 4:30–5:45 pm Panelists M: Debbie Notkin. Elwin Cotman, Bonnie J Erwin, Alex Gurevich, Dominica Phetteplace

History Is Not White — and Neither Is Alternate History

Type Program Description Many of the common tropes/subjects of alternate history are based on European histories — and thus don’t take much of the rest of the world, and non-white people, into account. There are notable exceptions — Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Years of Rice and Salt,” or our Honored Guest Nisi Shawl’s “Everfair” — but what are some other examples? What are the benefits (and the dangers) of tackling this approach? What are some of the (currently) missed golden opportunities for alternate histories involving POC? Location Salon F Schedule Sat, 4:30–5:45 pm Panelists M: Endria Richardson. Keyan Bowes, Elwin Cotman, Jewelle Gomez, Terry Weyna

The Value of Hopepunk

Type Program Description According to a 2019 article by Vox.com, “hopepunk” says that genuinely, sincerely caring about something requires bravery and strength. In a repressive regime, realistic optimism can be a radical act. How do hopepunk and solarpunk offer tools to counter corruption, social inequity, and repression? How does the subgenre help us defeat cynicism and defeatism, or does it? Location Salon A/B Schedule Sun, 10:30–11:45 am Panelists M: Alyc Helms. Keyan Bowes, Jon Chaisson, Elwin Cotman, Ian K. Hagemann

Reading #10
Type Reading Description Location Santa Rosa Schedule Sun, 1:30–2:45 pm Panelists Elwin Cotman, Rebecca Gomez Farrell, Andrea Stewart