This Monday, June 1st 2015, I’ll be leaving on a jet plane* for Denver Colorado and then leaving on an SUV for Laramie, Wyoming, to begin my attendance at the Launchpad Astronomy Workshop, an annual astronomy and science program created for writers, editors and anyone else in the field who wants to be able to help get the science right.
Mike Brotherton, astronomer and science fiction author (Spider Star, Star Dragon) heads and hosts the program which is sponsored by SFWA, the Renovation Worldcon, Uwingu and individuals (who’ve previously attended) including –
Vonda N. McIntryre, David Brin, Ellen Datlow, Jody Lynn Nye, Richard Ramsey, Ali Ries, Deborah J. Ross, Lori Ann White and a host of others (who can be found here).
It’s quite impressive to be sponsored by these people and entities – quite the honor. (Thank you all!)
But it is entirely humbling to discover that you will soon be a member of a group of alumni that includes such names as –
Doug Farren, Jamie Todd Rubin, Farah Mendelsohn, Linda Nagata, John Joseph Adams, Cecilia Tan, Rachel Swirsky, Ian Randall Strock, Bud Sparhawk, Pat Cadigan, N.K. Jemisin, Robert Sawyer, Ed Lerner, K. Tempest Bradford, Jay Lake, Mary Robinette Kowal, Alma Alexander and a host of others who have, in large ways and small, helped shape our science fiction community.
This year I’ll be attending with:
Lou Berger, Michael Swanwick, Doug Farren, Alan Gratz, Kameron Hurley, Edward Masessa, C.C. “Charlie” Finlay, Jason Hough, Christian Ready, Erin Cashier, Rahul Kanakia, Matt Forbeck, Rajan Khanna, Adrienne Celt, Rosemary “Rosie” Smith and John Gilbey.
Classes are taught and administrated by Mike Brotherton, Doug Farren, Christian Ready, Andria Schwortz, Jimmie Dwayne Verley, Nicole Wade, Chip & Tyler.
Boy do I hope I don’t embarrass myself; bad enough to do it in general, but in front of these people? Shudder.
I’m looking forward to clear Wyoming night skies, looking through telescopes, learning more about astronomy and hanging out in the presence of many people I have admired for quite some time.
I’m also hoping to report back, maybe interview some of the other attendees, and bringing my new found knowledge back to everyone here at Amazing Stories!
*I’ll still be working on the site throughout, so don’t worry, you won’t miss anything. (I wonder how many people these days realize that the song lyric refers to a “jet” plane, rather than just a plane, because it was still necessary to distinguish the kind of plane you’d be traveling in…)