About Us
Thrilling Wonder Tales: an event report
SLF's second fund-raising event in San Francisco took place in the more staid but rather more spacious location of the Valencia Street Books store. Space was good, because the event attracted around 80 people in all. As far as I could make out, most of these people were not associated with genre literature in any way. They were mainstream book readers who were prepared to read works that stretched the boundaries of reality in various ways. In terms of outreach, that made the event a great success. The evening also raised $450 for SLF, money that will go towards funding The Fountain Award.
The headline attraction was Pulitzer Prize winning author, Michael Chabon. The number of attendees bearing copies of Kavalier and Clay that they wanted signed was witness to his pulling power. However, the event was also graced by three other fine writers, Claire Light, Terry Bisson and Carter Scholz. All four readings were very well received, and our thanks are due to our guests all of whom, as usual, gave their time for free.
The readings were followed by a discussion panel, the theme of which was taken from Chabon's introduction to his recent anthology, McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales. Chabon said that he had always wanted to write stories with a science-fictional content, but was strongly dissuaded from doing so by his teachers while learning his craft. Having now made it big, he wants to return to the sort of writing he loves, and perhaps help others do so as well without attracting the stigma of genre. That is certainly a message that the Speculative Literature Foundation can endorse.
As usual the staffing of the event was entirely provided by volunteers. The evening was hosted by SLF members, Charlie Anders (other magazine), who had the audience in fits of laughter with her MCing, and Jeremy Smith (Independent Press Development Fund) who moderated the discussion panel. Huge thanks are due to the staff of Valencia Street Books and Borderlands Books for their help with the organization. Thanks also to Danielle Jatlow (Watchword Press) for supplying and serving the wine, to Kaolin Fire (NFG Magazine) for help with the set-up, and to Kevin Standlee (Emerald City) for staffing the SLF sales table.
Sponsorship for the event was provided by the following publications and organizations: Zoetrope: All-Story, Borderlands Books, other magazine, Emerald City, NFG Magazine, Watchword Press, and Kitchen Sink Magazine.
