What I'm Doing at OzCon Next Week

I know that many people who go to cons post their schedules online, so that people who want to see them know where to find them, and everyone else will know where to stay away from. So, since I now have my schedule for next week's OzCon International in San Diego, I may as well share it here:

• Friday, July 31 at 1:00 p.m., I will be part of a group looking at Unexplored Territories of Oz: New Areas for Research and Interpretation. This is about what kinds of Oz research there are to fill future issues of The Baum Bugle, mostly. I have a few ideas, but I'm also stymied as to what I can really add to this.
• Friday night at 9:00, I'm hosting the It's The Baum game show, where teams try to guess Ozzy names behind them based on clues given by teammates. Think Celebrity Name Game or some games on Hollywood Game Night and you get the idea. It's silly fun, and at only half an hour long it probably won't wear out its welcome.
• Saturday, August 1 at 10:00, I'm conducting this year's Oz quizzes. By a quirk of fate, even though I'm only obligated to write the masters' quiz (by winning it last year), I'm also writing the other two. So come take one of my quizzes, if only to validate all my hard work!
• Saturday at 1:15 is a panel I thought up that should be particularly appropriate this year, The Novelizations of Oz. This year is the centennial of The Scarecrow of Oz, which is often cited as one of the earliest ever novelizations of a movie, as much of it is based on the 1914 movie His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz. I thought an overview of Oz movie tie-in books would be good this year. I'm especially excited by this panel as my co-presenter will be Joan D. Vinge, the author of the novelization of Returt to Oz, which is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year. This should be fun.
• That afternoon at 4:15, I will be hosting the costume contest. So no, I won't be wearing one this year.
• And finally, at 2:00 Sunday, August 2, I will be part of the final wrap-up panel with my co-chair, Karyl Carlson, as we find out what went right, what can be improved, and how we can incorporate them into our own convention as we talk up next year's convention, July 15-17 in Portland. Yes, I will be very busy with that for the next year, and you may get tired of me blathering on about it (I think my wife already is).

So if you want to meet me in person in about a week and a half, make plans now!