The fun part of programming is throwing panel ideas at the wall. The hard part is finding people who want to speak … in public. 

What follows is a list of panels we’d like to run. This is where you come in – if you’re interested, please let us know using this Google form, and then the real fun (scheduling) can start!

Newly added panels have asterisks.

ACAB Includes Sam Vimes (Just Ask Him)

Police and policing in science fiction and fantasy. 

Alas, Poor Hellsite

Farewell, Twitter. Hello, … X The future of social media – and of fandom on social media. Do we go to Tumblr? Substack? Are we all going to go back to blogging? Is it time to get a Neocities account? 

An AppleTV+ Series A Day

How is it that some of the best speculative fiction on TV is coming from Apple? And … has anyone told them that they’re spending a lot of money on anti-corporate pro-right-to-repair works? This panel covers For All Mankind, Severance, Foundation, Silo and more.

***And the Hugo/Ditmar/Aurealis/Oscar/Archie goes to…

What Is the best way to decide on the best? Popular vote? Or “expert” judging? Which reveals the best? Which is more open to corruption? How can we be sure the popular vote is not stacked? Can judges truly be objective? Should there be $$ attached to the award? Where would it come from? Or are they all about the prestige? Should judges be paid? What are awards for anyway? Marketing? Publishers love them but do they result in sales? Are they for the work or the creator/writer/artist? Are they a token pat on the head or a real recognition of excellence?

***The Art and Science of the Speculative Short Story

Speculative fiction is one of the last fields where the short story is still thriving. Is there a secret to crafting the perfect short fiction? What are editors seeking in 2024? 

A Beginning Is A Very Delicate Time: Dune

Do you have strong feelings about Dune? Do you want justice for the 1984 David Lynch adaptation? Do you think the early 2000s SyFy version is underrated? Are you ride [a sandworm] or die for the Villeneuve take? Do you … like the books? Let’s talk cocaine planets, prophecies, matriarchal eugenics cults, memes, colonialism and Zendaya. 

Beyond Starfleet: Science Fiction, Fandom and the Military-Industrial Complex

Many of the foundational SF writers of the mid-20th century had military backgrounds – they were, after all, young men in WW2. And we know there were a lot of SF mag subscriptions being sent to Los Alamos. How does this affect the genre and fandom today? 

***Blended plot structures

Fantasy + romance, science fiction + whodunnit — what are the hallmarks of a successful blend, and what can they let a writer get away with, at their best?

***Building Bodies

Worldbuilding can include things like science, disease and healthcare. What are different ways characters and societies can approach physical and mental illness? What can we learn from history, and how can real science impact fantastical magic or futuristic technology?

***Building Magic

How do you create a magic system? Are you into rules or vibes? What tips and tricks can you share with colleagues? 

***Building Worlds

This is a more general worldbuilding panel – how much detail should an author go into? Do fantasy maps have to be geologically plausible? How does an author know when to stop (over)thinking and start writing? 

***Cyberpunk in the age of social media and AI

With bots, trolls, and disinformation pollting the infosphere at unprecedented scale what does that tell us about the future, and how might we see it reflected in cyberpunk fiction, with its perennial themes about the virtualization of memory and self?

***Dark Academia

Horror meets fantasy in an academic setting. From The Picture of Dorian Gray to Donna Tartt’s A Secret History, Jay Kristoff Nevernight and Empire of the Vampire series to Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson and the Wednesday TV series.

***Dark Fairy Tales

The true Grim in Grimm Fairy tales — tropes, feminist coding, sexual coding  and the darkness of fairy tales.

DIY Audio Work

Do you have a podcast yet? Are you interested in recording audiobooks or podfic? Are audio dramas calling your name? Okay, that’s the audience – the panelists we want are people with experience in recording quality audio at home, who can talk about where to start, the best places to learn, and how to deal with the noise if you have parrots nesting right outside your home office.

***The Editing Mines

You’ve completed your first draft, treated yourself to a massage and a glass of champagne to celebrate … and now the hard part begins. This is a panel for writers to talk about their editing and revision process – whether they work alone or with the help of a professional. 

Fate/Stay WHAT?

The Type Moon Fate/Stay Night franchise is one of the most sprawling anime franchises out there. If you’ve been wondering whether to start, or where, come along to find out. 

[This suggestion came to us through our Google Form, but due to a bug, we don’t know who proposed it or if they want to be involved. If that’s you, please let us know.]

*** The Horror! The Horror! 

Published horror fiction – how do books and written stories create horror without scary music or gross prosthetics? How is horror different from science fiction or fantasy? Is it all blood and guts or something other than yucky body parts? What makes a good horror story? Are zombie stories just suited to visual media? Are there so many zombie stories that they’re just not frightening anymore? What really scares us? Is it about the “monsters” or is it about how people behave towards the monsters and each other? Are horror stories contextual for stories about relationships?

*** Horror Comedy or Comedy Horror? Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together!

The use of humour in horror, as well as horror comedies: how do you define horror comedy, when does horror comedy succeed or fail, and why do the two genres complement one another so well, etc?

***International Fandom

How to be a part of international fandom, from conventions to fannish travel. The world shut down with COVID. Fandom makes it possible to explore and to find friends with similar interests. This panel will explain how to be a part of virtual and hybrid conventions, talk about this year’s Worldcon (which is hybrid) and introduce the fanfunds and how they open Europe and North America to winning fans.

Lockdown Media

Hey, um, remember 2020? And 2021? This is a chance for everyone – panelists and audience members – to talk about the media that got them through lockdown, and to share recommendations with friends.

*** Moving Towards a Modern Gothic 

Gothic tropes old and new, from haunted houses to gothic in space, with classics like Sabella by Tanith Lee,  The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and newer works like the Locked Tomb books by Tamsyn Muir and The Twisted Ones and A House with Good Bones by T Kingfisher. 

*** OK Boomer

Aging fans of long-lived franchises (Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, etc). How do we deal with change? Old vs New? Where do we want to see these franchises go? And when does age become an excuse for gatekeeping? 

Our Flag Means Con

Cancellation doesn’t mean this ship stops sailing! If you have strong feelings about the queer pirates formerly of HBO Max, this is your opportunity to talk about it. 

She’s A Speculative Film, He’s Just Ken

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a reverse portal fantasy: discuss. Your Barbies are also welcome to join us. 

***Streaming Horror

Streaming media has given us a whole new era of horror on TV – from Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story anthologies to Mike Flanagan’s literary adaptations. So … who wants to talk about that? 

Tasmania Is A Real Place, Probably

Deadloch may not be fantasy … but maybe it is? A bit? Discussing the hit lesbian small-town crime drama parody. Watch out for seals. 

Truck-Kun And You: Portal Fantasy from Isekai and Transmigration to Magic Wardrobea and LitRPG

What is isekai? How is it different from western portal fantasy? And is it the same as transmigration? This panel explores all manner of ways in which protagonists fall into new worlds, from The Chronicles of Narnia to Sword Art Online and everything in between.

Ugh, Emotions: The Murderbot Panel

“I hate caring about stuff. But apparently once you start, you can’t just stop.” We could talk about the Murderbot books, the characters, the worldbuilding, the upcoming adaptation starring Alexander Skarsgard as a racially ambiguous agender SecUnit. Or we can sit in silence and rewatch The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. You decide. 

The Whole WorldCon … Thing

Is WorldCon drama a fandom? And if not, can we make it one? This is for everyone who loves Hugo stats, shortlists, preferential voting and, um, political dossiers on award nominees. 

Other potential panels we’d love to run if people want to talk about them

  • The Anne Rice Cinematic Universe
  • The current trend of contemporary romance novels which blatantly started life as fan fiction
  • BookTok
  • TikTok and fandom in general – we particularly want to hear from people who use TikTok and create material for it
  • The various Star Wars TV series which have appeared since the last Continuum. Can you believe we’ve never run an event in the age of Baby Yoda? 
  • Panels about comics
  • Panels about video games, whether as a whole or focusing on individual games or series – from AAA games to indies
  • Transformative works fandom
  • Modern Star Trek
  • “AI” – ChatGPT, Midjourney and so forth
  • The enshittification of everything
  • The Michelle Yeoh Renaissance
  • Continuum After Dark: an adults-only stream running after 9pm, covering smut, gore, cannibalism, monsterfucking and anything else that comes with a strong content warning.

And if this list has inspired you to come up with ideas of your own, please, let us know! Either email us at programming@continuum.org.au or fill out the Google Form at https://forms.gle/GJf9ARvLoyVqeXtEA.