Hello everyone,

We've got a new date and new hotel for Context 22.  The convention will be held
August 28-30, 2009 at the Doubletree Hotel near the intersection of North High
and 270.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/9aa2nq

We've set the convention a bit earlier this year to try to avoid ongoing
conflicts
with other events in Columbus, namely OSU football games.  Also, our past two
conventions have taken place during the first few weeks of the autumn quarter
at OSU, which has made last-minute work difficult if not impossible for our
several staff members who work at the university.

We don't have our main GoHs set yet; once those details are worked out, we'll
reopen registration on our website.

If you are a professional writer/editor and you would like to lead a workshop,
please send a proposal or a short list potential workshop topics along with
your teaching credits to contextsf@...

Best wishes,
Context 22

Hello everyone,

We've had some queries from people who thought that the 2009
writing workshops have already sold out.

This is not the case. In fact, they are as far from sold out
as one can get, since we have not finished scheduling them yet!

Once the workshops have been arranged, we will re-open online
registration and let you all know; all of you should have
plenty of time to register for the workshops of your choice.


Best wishes,
Context 22

Hello everyone,

Online registration for Context 22 (August 28-30, 2009 in Columbus,
Ohio) is now open!

http://www.contextsf.org

Guest of Honor: James P. Hogan
Editor Guest of Honor: Jason Sizemore
Horror Guest of Honor: Christoper Golden
Music Guest of Honor: Michael "Moonwulf" Longcor
Music Guest: Tom Smith
Special Guest of Dishonor: Samuel T. Clemmons
Reader Guest of Honor: Bob Hillis

Authors and editors who've signed on so far include: Gary A.
Braunbeck, Lawrence C. Connolly, Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury, Timons
Esaias, Ellen Klages, Lucy A. Snyder, S. Andrew Swann, Diane Turnshek,
and Tim Waggoner.


We're in a different, much nicer hotel this year (the Doubletree in
Worthington) and as a new feature this year, we're raffling off a
suite in the hotel!  For more information, please visit:

http://www.contextsf.org/hotel.htm



We're also offering over a dozen writing workshops:

Characterization and Dialogue
Warfare For Writers
Maintaining Narrative Tension
Point of View
Improv for Writers
Emotional Realism in Fiction
How to Research
Getting the Science Right
Writing YA
Conflict and Plot
Writing Historical Fiction
How to Teach Genre Writing
Lucky 13

For more information on the workshops, please visit:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm

Please reload your browser if the workshops don't show up when you
visit the page.

We may be offering still more workshops, so stay tuned!


Context 22

Hello everyone,

We have a special arrangement with the organizers of MatsuriCon, a fun anime
convention that's happening the same weekend as Context at the Holiday Inn,
Worthington ... just a mile from our convention hotel!

http://www.matsuricon.org/

You can attend MatsuriCon for $10 if you take your full-weekend Context badge to
their registration table. More exciting news about the opportunities for
attending both Context and Matsuricon will be announced in coming months.

We've also added several new writing workshops:

Diana Botsford - 16 Steps to Better Description
(Saturday, August 29th, 10am-1pm)

Diana Botsford - Rewrites: Recipes for Dicing & Slicing Your Manuscript
(Sunday, August 30th, 10am-1pm)

Michael Knost - Short Story Critiques
(Friday, Saturday, Sunday TBA)


For more information, please visit our workshops page:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm



See you in August,
Context 22
http://www.contextsf.org/

Hello everyone,

The full-weekend registration rate will be increasing to $45 on June 1st, so you
can save $10 by registering by May 31st.

http://www.contextsf.org/


Context 22

Hello everyone,


Paula Guran, last year's Editor GoH, will be returning to Context this year and
is offering novel package critiques.  She is the editor-in-chief of Juno Books,
which is an imprint of Pocket Books (a division of Simon & Schuster).

For more information about her critique sessions:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm#var


Full-weekend registration rates will increase to $45 tomorrow.


Context 22

http://www.contextsf.org/

Hello everyone,

Our hotel block at the Doubletree expires on 7/10/09, which is just a week from
now ... please make your reservation before then if you have not done so to
ensure that you receive the discounted room rate.

http://www.contextsf.org/hotel.htm


Also, there is just one seat left in Ellen Klages' "Writing YA" workshop on
writing for young adult markets.  And there are just 5 of Paula Guran's Novel
Package Critiques left and 6 of Jackie Gamber's ... if you wish to sign up for a
critique, the deadline to do so is July 15th.

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm


Best wishes,
Context 22

Hello everyone,

The deadline for buying tickets for the Suite Raffle is 7/31. Also, we've talked
to the hotel will honor our discount on hotel rooms until August 10th.

For more information on both, visit:

http://www.contextsf.org/hotel.htm

In other news, the con committee has just confirmed that  Nebula Award-winning
science fiction author Catherine Asaro and jazz pianist Donald Wolcott will be
guests at the convention.  Asaro and Wolcott perform together as the Diamond
Star Project.

http://www.catherineasaro.net/

And finally, there are just a few novel package critique sessions left with
Paula Guran (editor-in-chief of Juno Books, which is an imprint of Pocket
Books); for more information, visit:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm


See you in August!

Context 22

Hello everyone,

We've sold out of dealer's tables; if you are an attending author, please know
that Context will be happy to sell your books on your behalf at our convention
table; just bring your copies (up to 10 or so to start) with you to the dealer's
room the first day of the convention along with an invoice so we can keep track
of how much of your stock has sold. Please send an email to
dealers@... if you have a question.

http://www.contextsf.org/dealer.htm

Also, the story and novel critique workshops are now closed; however, if you
seek critique of your work, you can sign up for the "Lucky 13 workshop" which
will provide participants with group/instructor critique of the first 13 lines
of their story or novel.

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm


Context 22

Hello everyone,

If you have used Expedia or Hotwire or a similar agency to book a room at the
Doubletree, please email us at hotel@... and let us know so we can add
you to our room block information to show the hotel that we've been bringing
them customers.

http://www.contextsf.org/hotel.htm

This information will help ensure that we're able to negotiate a good deal with
the hotel in the future.

Thanks very much,
Context 22

Hello everyone,

Many people have asked when the mass author signing will be; it is currently
scheduled for noon-2pm at the convention.  All attending authors are welcome to
participate, and you need not stay for the entire two hours if you have other
events scheduled.

Diana Botsford will be unable to attend Context; author Tim Waggoner will be
taking over her two writing workshops, "Writing Better Description" and
"Rewrites: Recipes for Dicing & Slicing Your Manuscript".  There are still seats
available in these and other workshops:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm

Our staff performed the hotel room drawing on July 31st; the winner has been
notified.

Our hotel room block has officially expired, but the hotel has agreed to honor
our discounted room price as long as rooms are still available.  Call Daniel
Nelson at the hotel directly to make your reservation, and tell him that you are
with Context 22. His phone number is: (614) 431-4443.

Registration will increase to $50 after August 20th, so you can save $5 by
registering in the next week.  Online registration will close shortly
thereafter.


See you all at the convention August 28th!


Context 22

All,

The mass signing will be held noon-2pm Saturday of the convention.


Context 22

All,

It's just 8 days until Context 22 begins!  Full-weekend registration will
increase to $50 tonight at midnight; furthermore, online registration will close
after this weekend.

If you must send your registration by snail-mail, the $45 registration will be
honored if it's postmarked today.  Please mail any other registrations no later
than tomorrow, because if they're sent any later we might not receive them by
convention time.  We cannot honor registrations we have not received.

To register, please visit:

http://www.contextsf.org/registration.htm



See you all next week!

Context 22

Hello everyone,

Context 22 starts this evening!  Registration will open at 4pm, and general
programming will begin at 7pm.

We have lots of events this year; we've got our Pocket Program posted here:

http://www.contextsf.org/2009/C22PProg.pdf


Publishers will be sponsoring parties tonight and Saturday night, and we'll have
movies all weekend and gaming Saturday afternoon and evening and Sunday
afternoon.  The mass autograph session will be from noon-2pm Saturday; all
attending authors can participate.

There are also still seats in many writing workshops available; the registration
volunteers will be keeping lists of what's open for signups.  Current
availability can be seen here:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm


We hope to see you this weekend!

Context 22

Hello everyone,

We're still in the early stages of putting together the programming for Context
23, but here are the basic details:

When: August 27-29 in Columbus, Ohio

Where: the Doubletree Hotel (the same venue as last fall)

Guest of Honor: Tobias Buckell
Horror Guest of Honor: Elizabeth Massie
Special Art Guest: Cortney Skinner
Publisher Guest of Honor: Tim Deal
Music Guest of Honor: Bill Roper
Reader Guest of Honor: Cathy Callaghan
Participating Authors, Artists and Editors:
Gary A. Braunbeck, Lucy A. Snyder, S. Andrew Swann, and more to come.

Full-weekend registration is $35 until $35 until May 31; it will be $45 June 1
to August 15, and $50 at the door. Single-day registrations are available: $20
for Friday, $30 for Saturday, $10 for Sunday.

Writing workshops and other programming have not been posted; they will be
posted by the end of April. You can register for the convention now and sign up
for the workshops later.

http://www.contextsf.org/registration.htm


--Context 23

Hello everyone,

The Context 23 writing workshops have been posted; topics include:

Advanced Short Story Writing
Craft the Compelling Plot
Level One Writers Workshop
Warfare For Writers
Rewrites: Recipes for Dicing & Slicing Your Manuscript
Writing For Teens
Point of View
Writing Great Dialogue
Writing Urban Fantasy
Worldbuilding
Screenplay Critiques


You get more details about the workshops and their instructors at:
http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm


You can register for the workshops and the convention at:
http://www.contextsf.org/registration2.htm

If you have already registered for the convention and wish to sign up for
workshops, just check the sessions of your choice and then select the Prepaid
option in the pull-down menu beside the registration option.

Full-weekend convention registration will increase to $45 on June 1st.


We hope to see you in August!

Context 23

Hi everyone,

Just a quick reminder that the full-weekend registration rate for Context
increases from $35 to $45 tomorrow.

You can register at the Context site:

http://www.contextsf.org/

Also, we'd very much appreciate it if you took the time today or later this week
to blog or tweet about attending Context.


See you in August!


Context 23

Hello everyone,

We've posted a list of proposed panels and a Panelist Registration Form on our
website:

http://www.contextsf.org/program.htm

If you want to be involved in programming, please fill out the form and submit
it to Nick Winks at contextreader@... ... any questions/suggestions
related to programming should also go to Nick.

Apex Book Company editor Jason Sizemore will be giving two seminars Saturday of
the convention. At 6pm, he will offer "Contract Basics for New Writers" and at
7pm he will offer "Ask the Editor (Dumb Questions and All)". These seminars
require no additional registrations or fees, although you must be registered for
Context the day of the seminars to attend.

For more information about our other writing workshops, visit:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm

On a final note, if you plan to stay at the convention hotel, you should reserve
your room sooner rather than later:

http://www.contextsf.org/hotel.htm


See you in August!
Context 23

Hi everyone,

Context is in just a couple of weeks! If you wish to register online, please do
so in the next 24 hours, because the form will be shut down tomorrow evening:

http://www.contextsf.org/registration.htm

Registration will be available at the door for $50; registration will also be
available for any open workshops up until an hour before the workshop starting
time.

For those traveling, registration will be open by 5pm on Friday and programming
starts at 7pm.

The programming schedule is being finalized and will be posted soon.

Courtesy of our Special Art Guest Cortney Skinner, we will be showing the
hilarious movie "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" followed by the Ohio premiere of
"The Lost Skeleton Returns Again":

http://lostskeletonreturnsagain.com/

Cortney worked as a visual effects artist on both films.

Hi everybody,

The Dealer's Room -- which will be in the Alder Room this year -- will be open
for setup at 3pm on Friday. It will be open for sales by 7pm and stay open until
9pm. If all the dealers are ready and willing to open earlier than 7, Context
staff will open it early.

Registration will also open at 3pm on Friday, barring unforeseen complications.

We will be posting the programming schedule very soon.


See you all soon!

Context 23
http://www.contextsf.org/

Hello everyone,


Context 24 will be taking place in Columbus, Ohio at the Doubletree Hotel (the
same venue as last year) the weekend of August 26-28, 2011.

Guests who've signed on include L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Mira Grant (aka Seanan
McGuire), David Hartwell, Erica Neely, Tom Smith, Mike Resnick, Nigel Sade, and
Susan Fisher.

We still have dealers' tables!:

http://www.contextsf.org/dealer.htm

We have posted a proposed list of panel topics and a panelist registration form
on the front page of our site; the deadline for panelist signup is July 15th:

http://www.contextsf.org/

And finally, we've posted ten writing workshops; a few more are likely to be
posted in coming months:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm


Topics include:

Building Narrative Tension
How To Polish Your Novel Manuscript
Characterization and Dialog
Release Your Inner Teen: Writing Fiction for the Young Adult Market
Level One Writers Workshop
Pitches and Blurbs and Tag Lines, Oh My!
The Devil is in the Details
Engaging the Wary: Winning and Keeping the Impatient Reader
The Art, Craft and Business of Writing Genre Fiction
Character Torture 101
Pissing Off Editors, or How Not to Get Published

Hi everyone,

Full weekend registration will increase to $45 on June 1st. If you want to take
advantage of the current lower registration rate, please sign up by tomorrow at
midnight PST:

http://www.contextsf.org/registration.htm

If you're considering writing workshops but aren't sure, you can register now
and sign up for workshops later (provided there's still room).

Also, if you're interested in being a panelist or presenter, please fill out the
form linked on the front page of our site:

http://www.contextsf.org/


And if you're on Facebook, please feel free to join our event page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=208540882519001


See you in August!

Hello everyone,

We've got a new writing workshop for Context 24. Bram Stoker Award-winning and
World Fantasy Award-nominated author/editor Gary A. Braunbeck will be offering
individual critiques of complete stories and novel excerpts of up to 6,000
words.

For more info:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm


See you in August!
Context 24

The Context 24 room block is still open.

The convention will be held August 26-28, 2011 at:
The Doubletree Hotel
175 Hutchinson
Columbus, OH, 43235

Reservations Phone: 614-885-3334 or 1-800-222-8733
Standard rooms (2 double beds or one king bed) are $84.00
Suites are $135.00

To get the discounted convention rate on your room, you can either register
online or call the hotel at 614-885-3334. Be sure to mention Context 24 when you
call. The Group Code is CXT.


http://www.contextsf.org/hotel.htm

Hi everyone,

To ensure that you get your room at the convention hotel at the special
convention rate, please book your room by August 1st.

The convention will be held August 26-28, 2011 at:
The Doubletree Hotel
175 Hutchinson
Columbus, OH, 43235
Reservations Phone: 614-885-3334 or 1-800-222-8733

Standard rooms (2 double beds or one king bed) are $84.00
Suites are $135.00

To get the discounted convention rate on your room, you can either register
online or call the hotel at 614-885-3334. Be sure to mention Context 24 when you
call. The Group Code is CXT.

Our hotel liaison is Abby Janota, who can be contacted at hotel@....


If you would like to purchase an ad in the program book, you also need to
purchase it (via our online registration form) by August 1st:

http://www.contextsf.org/registration2.htm

And finally, if you have been confirmed as a panelist or other program
participant and would like your short (50 words or less) bio to be included in
the program book, please send it to Dick Embs by August 1st ... he can be
contacted at rjembs@...



See you in a month!
Context 24

Hello everyone,

We've just posted downloadable .XLS and PDF versions of our programming schedule
and panelist information on the front page of our site:

http://www.contextsf.org/


See you in two weeks!
Context 24

Hi everyone,

The deadline for registering online has been extended slightly; it is now August
20th at 7pm EST; after that, the online form will be disabled and you will need
to register at the door.

http://www.contextsf.org/registration.htm

We also have seats available in most writing workshops:

http://www.contextsf.org/workshop.htm


If you are thinking of sending your registration by surface mail, we recommend
that at this point you wait and pay at the door.

Context 24

Hello everyone,

We are sad to report that Guest of Honor LE Modesitt's wife became seriously ill
at Worldcon and she has to go in for surgery in Reno tomorrow. As a result, he
will be unable to attend Context this weekend.

Please join us in sending the Modesitts your prayers/good thoughts that she
recovers fully and quickly.


-Context 24
www.contextsf.org

Hello everyone,

Vendors will be able to enter the Dealer's Room at 1:30 pm on Friday, August 26
to set up their tables. We will plan to open the room for sales on Friday night
from  5:00 pm - 9:00 pm.
Hours on Saturday will be 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. Hours on Sunday will be 10:00 am -
2:00 pm.


See you in two days!
Context 24
www.contextsf.org

Hello everyone,

John Scalzi will be a Special Guest at Context on Saturday!

Scalzi has won the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards and his novels The Last
Colony and Fuzzy Nation both spent time on the New York Times bestseller lists. 
He has worked as Creative Consultant for the television show Stargate: Universe,
and Paramount Pictures is set to film his novel Old Man's War.


Context 24
www.contextsf.org