Program Grid

Hours of Operations
Registration (Front Hallway)
Friday 2pm – 9pm
Saturday 9am – 7:30pm
Sunday 9am – 2pm
Dealer’s Room (Roosevelt/Madison)
Friday: 3pm – 6pm
Saturday: 10am – 6pm
Sunday: 10am – 2pm
Con Suite (Jackson)
Friday: 5pm – midnight
Saturday: 9:30am – midnight
Sunday: 9:30am – 2pm
Con Ops/Green Room (Jefferson)
Friday: 3pm – 11pm
Saturday: 9am – 11pm
Sunday: 9am – 3pm
Game Room (Adams)
Friday 3pm – midnight
Saturday 10am – midnight
Sunday 10am – 3pm
 

 

Preliminary Program Grid

This is the Preliminary program schedule with the program items we’re planning on having. New things may emerge, and any of these may disappear in puff of logic, all without warning. The program will be updated as information changes, but please check for official notifications during the convention.

Grid of Scheduled Events

(NOTE: All events are subject to change. Please check back often.)

2026-10-02 Friday
  Eisenhower Washington Theater Jackson Monroe Truman Adams Atrium Wilson Dealers’ Room Foyer Lincoln Upstairs Library
5:00 pm   Forbidden Books Friday Consuite Great Over-Expectations: Do authors assume too much of their readers? The Best 2026 SFF TV/Streaming Shows Game Demo/Learn-and-Play Acropolis   Author Reading — Alex Shvartsman Friday Dealers’ Foyer Autographing   Send Your Characters to Therapy! Character Arcs & Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
5:30 pm     Author Reading — Matthew Kressel Book Launch — Miguel O. Mitchell
6:00 pm             Author Reading — Rosemary Claire Smith  
6:30 pm What Happened to the Shared Universe? Do Vampires Suck?   Everything Murderbot        
7:00 pm       Author Reading – Paul Haggerty      
7:30 pm                    
8:00 pm What tangled webs we weave … Magic Rules Rulz   What’s New in Westeros? Survival of the Weirdest          
8:30 pm WSFA Meeting          
9:00 pm                    
9:30 pm   Speed Writing – the silly edition!                
10:00 pm                    
2026-10-03 Saturday
  Eisenhower Washington Theater Jackson Monroe Truman Adams Atrium Wilson Dealers’ Room Foyer Lincoln Upstairs Library
10:00 am Guest of Honor Interview — Rebecca Roanhorse Wanted: Schrodinger’s Cat, Dead and Alive Saturday Consuite Experimenting with New Forms of Writing Schools, Sorcery, and Science: Academia in Speculative Fiction     Author Reading — J.L. Gribble Saturday Dealers’ Foyer Autographing Book Launch — Sheree Renée Thomas Workshop – Brainstorming and Designing a Story
10:30 am     Author Reading — Brigitte Winter
11:00 am               Author Reading — Cerece Rennie Murphy  
11:30 am Guest of Honor Interview — Nino Cipri Build a World in Less Than Six Days   Star Trek Still Lives!: 60 years of Star Trek Are we truly facing “The End of Reading”     Author Reading — Nika Murphy    
12:00 pm       Author Reading — Charles Gannon      
12:30 pm               Author Reading — Brightflame      
1:00 pm Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Clarkesworld 50 Years of the Original Dune Trilogy   Beyond the European Castle – new locales/new cultures How Has Diversity Affected SF and Fantasy?     Author Reading — Sherri Cook Woosley   Book Launch – Sarah Avery/Melissa Scott Workshop – Basics of Publishing Contracts
1:30 pm       Author Reading — Lawrence M. Schoen  
2:00 pm               Author Reading — Karlo Yeager Rodriguez  
2:30 pm Cats, Dragons and Other Things Editors of Themed Anthologies Want Research Rabbit Holes   In Defense of the Stand Alone Novel Low Rung on the Ladder: When the main characters aren’t the big shots     Author Reading — Wendra Colleen   Book Launch – Dr. Lawrence Schoen and Adeena Mignogna
3:00 pm       Author Reading — James Morrow    
3:30 pm               Author Reading — Dominick Rabrun    
4:00 pm Writing for different venues The State of Short Fiction   Is the Earth Doomed? (Climate Version) Getting your writing critiqued Game Demo/Learn-and-Play Azul   Author Reading — Tom Doyle   Book Launch – TT Madden Workshop: Poetry in Space and Magic Realms
4:30 pm     Author Reading — Barbara Krasnoff  
5:00 pm             Author Reading — Charles Oberndorf  
5:30 pm   “Queer in Space!”   HAL’s Consequences: Current AI in Writing and Publishing Space Opera – Been there, done that? Or still a fun sandbox to play in?   Author Reading — David Mercurio Rivera    
6:00 pm         Author Reading — Drema Deòraich      
7:00 pm   WSFA Award Ceremony   SFF Trivia Contest              
7:30 pm                  
8:00 pm                    
8:30 pm Master Autograph Session – Saturday Night                  
9:00 pm                    
10:00 pm   The Eye of Argon                  
10:30 pm                    
2026-10-04 Sunday
  Eisenhower Washington Theater Jackson Monroe Truman Adams Atrium Wilson Dealers’ Room Foyer Lincoln Upstairs Library
10:00 am 50 Year Old Science Fiction You Should Really Hunt Down Food Glorious Food Sunday Consuite Morally gray characters – “The good, the bad, the ugly” Brainstorming for Anthologies     Author Reading — Alan Smale Sunday Dealers’ Foyer Autographing    
10:30 am     Author Reading — Melissa Scott    
11:00 am         Miniatures Painting Workshop   Author Reading — Bjorn Hasseler    
11:30 am Clothes Make the Man or Monster. Who Makes the Clothes? SF Essentials Stories that Aren’t or Are They? Holy Trilogy   Author Reading — Danielle Ackley-McPhail Book Launch – Carolyn Ives Gilman/Rosemary Claire Smith  
12:00 pm   Author Reading — Randee Dawn  
12:30 pm           Author Reading — Andrew Fox  
1:00 pm What’s it like to write in another’s sand box? Lunar Exploration Alternate Apollos: The Space Programs That Might Have Been I’ve Done My Research & I’ll Tell You All of It     Author Reading — Somto Ihezue Book Launch – Jennifer R. Povey  
1:30 pm     Author Reading — Scott Edelman  
2:00 pm               Author Reading — Hildy Silverman  
2:30 pm   Dodo Doings (Capclave Feedback)           Author Reading — Sheree Renée Thomas Book Launch – Andrew Fox  
3:00 pm             Author Reading — Danian Jerry    
3:30 pm                    

Items are sorted by Category, Date/Time, Room and Event Name

(NOTE: All items are subject to change. Please check back often.)

Panel

Friday 5:00 pm Washington Theater Forbidden Books (Ends at: 5:55 pm)
Participants: Nino Cipri, Elektra Hammond, TT Madden, Steven Harper Piziks, Jennifer R. Povey (M)
There is a growing effort, both grassroots and legislative (local, state and federal) to establish comprehensive bans on books in school and general libraries.  Why are so many people trying to ban books? Some claim these are not really bans since would-be readers can still special order the forbidden books, but then what do you call the removal of books from libraries? Should the books in libraries only reflect “community values” or should libraries stock books that challenge their readers?  Given the core of Sci Fi/Fantasy is to question; to ask “what if”, and how badly book bans have worked in the past, what should we be doing to fight against this new drive? What can writers and fans do to stop book bans? 
Jackson Friday Consuite (Ends at: 8:55 pm)
Participants:
Consuite Block
Monroe Great Over-Expectations: Do authors assume too much of their readers? (Ends at: 5:55 pm)
Participants: Jack Campbell, Drema Deòraich, Scott Edelman (M), Cerece Rennie Murphy, Melissa Scott
Genre fiction often assumes its readers have certain knowledge/experience with select tropes from its readers, but does this limit their audience?  Are writers missing an opportunity to attract more sporadic spec-fic readers by assuming everyone knows about FTL or what a faun looks like? How can writers include enough information for readers new to the genre without boring experienced readers? Or should there be starter lit for those new to the genre? 
Friday 6:30 pm Eisenhower What Happened to the Shared Universe? (Ends at: 7:25 pm)
Participants: Charles Gannon, Bjorn Hasseler, Sam Lubell (M), Joshua Palmatier, Edward Swing
Shared universes in written fiction were invented by Robert Asprin for his Thieves’ World anthologies, starting in 1978, though the comics had been doing this since the 1940s. Is a shared universe the same thing as when a writer opens up his/her world for other writers to play in (such as Larry Niven’s Man-Kzin Wars or Eric Flint’s 1632)? Besides George RR Martin’s Wild Cards, what other shared universes have kept going? What makes a particular shared universe last? Why do some persist while others fizzle out?  
Washington Theater Do Vampires Suck? (Ends at: 7:25 pm)
Participants: Andrew Fox, J.L. Gribble, Dominick Rabrun, Hildy Silverman (M)
Twenty years after Twilight, are vampires still popular, and if so why? Or do they now suck more than just blood? What is the appeal of these monsters and why are some more popular than others? Is there anything to say about vampires that has not already been done? Is it Dracula’s Eastern European accent? The clothes? Or is blood just sexy?
Friday 8:00 pm Eisenhower What tangled webs we weave … (Ends at: 8:55 pm)
Participants: Zack Be, Apurva Desai (M), Scott Edelman, Jennifer R. Povey, Wayland Smith
Love is never as simple as people like to think. Monogamy and other traditional relationship structures are coming increasingly under critical review today in the 21st century, and we are seeing a growing acceptance of non-traditional relationships and families.  With the rise in acceptance for polyamory and other forms of ethical non-monogamy, along with found families, how do you adapt traditional romantic arcs and tropes to reflect, and extrapolate these trends in SFF?  What works do it well and which don’t?
Washington Theater Magic Rules Rulz (Ends at: 8:55 pm)
Participants: BrightFlame, Jennifer Brinn, Andrew Fox, Miguel O. Mitchell, Joshua Palmatier (M), Edward Swing
What are the advantages of a structured system of magic versus a more free-form magic? Does having strict rules for magic limit the sense of wonder or does it challenge the writer to find more creative ways of using the magic? What are some tightly controlled systems of magic in works you have read, watched, or written and what makes them work?
Saturday 10:00 am Washington Theater Wanted: Schrodinger’s Cat, Dead and Alive (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: John Ashmead (M)
Quantum computing and quantum science is being worked on in quantum labs around the planet. Quantum holes and superpositions are now be big enough and long lived enough to be seen. But – being Schrodinger’s cats – even if they can be seen, they still cannot be observed. Or can they? We will look at the history, definition, practical uses (yes, they have practical uses!) and interpretations, (many many interpretations,) of Schrodinger’s cats. But, we will argue, the real problem is not the cat getting out of the box, but what happens when we finally realize we ourselves are in the box with the cat. There is no escape from the Quantum Tiger!
Jackson Saturday Consuite (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants:
Saturday Block
Monroe Experimenting with New Forms of Writing (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: Zack Be, Nino Cipri, Scott Edelman (M), Dominick Rabrun, Lawrence M. Schoen
There is more than one way to tell a story. Angel Down is considered a horror novel, it just won the Pulitzer Prize, and it’s all one ongoing sentence. What are some ways for writers to rethink story structure? How can writers experiment with different forms without it getting in the way of the story?  Are readers willing to read literary experiments? Are genre readers more or less willing to experiment than are readers of “literary” fiction? And how would publishers/agent market stories written in new formats?
Truman Schools, Sorcery, and Science: Academia in Speculative Fiction (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: Tom Doyle, Edward Swing, David Walton, A.C. Wise (M), Sherri Cook Woosley
Frequently writers use schools as the setting (and often an additional character!) for their story. Does it work better for Sci Fi or Fantasy?  Is it limited to stories set in a specific cultural or other milieu? Why has dark academia become so popular (as opposed to light or regular academia)? Or is all this just the influence of Harry Potter?
Lincoln Book Launch — Sheree Renée Thomas (Ends at: 11:25 am)
Participants: Sheree Renée Thomas (M)
Book Launch — Sheree Renée Thomas
Saturday 11:30 am Washington Theater Build a World in Less Than Six Days (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: Christina Crothers, Matthew Kressel, Sam Scheiner, Edward Swing, Karlo Yeager Rodriguez (M)
The Bible says God took six days to build our world, science says it took millions of years. We’ll discuss how to do it in one hour. Panelists will consider different ways to build a believable, internally consistent world/universe and demonstrate how they create a world by cooperating on the development of a fantasy/sf world including physical characteristics, society, aliens/fantastic creatures, and magic/technology.  Come and get a peek behind the curtain into the creative process!  Find out if it’s easier in science fiction or in fantasy settings? What are some sources of inspiration?  What makes some worlds work and some fail?
Monroe Star Trek Still Lives!: 60 years of Star Trek (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: Brick Barrientos, Randee Dawn, J.L. Gribble, Adeena Mignogna (M), Jo Miles
It’s been 60 years since Star Trek debuted on our televisions.  The original series has spawned movies, multiple television shows, both live action and animated, and a huge number of novels (not to mention all the fanfiction!).  Our panelists will discuss the highs and lows of Star Trek,  rank the shows and movies, and discuss their favorite Trek novels. What makes Trek so appealing after 60 years? Why has it continued to survive when so many other shows are forgotten? 
Truman Are we truly facing “The End of Reading” (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: Ken Altabef, Sam Lubell (M), Shahid Mahmud, Alan Smale, Sherri Cook Woosley
As asserted in the recent article in The Atlantic, are we actually in a “post literate” era? What does that mean? Already, fewer than half of Americans read any books and only about a fifth read 10 or more.  What does that predict for society in the future generally and SFF in particular? What will be the effect in just in terms of story ideas, and actual readership and sales? Will books become just the first draft of future films? How will declining readership affect written works as a medium? What can fans of the written word do to counter this trend?

 
Saturday 1:00 pm Washington Theater 50 Years of the Original Dune Trilogy (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: D.H. Aire (M), Brick Barrientos, Drema Deòraich, Darrell Schweitzer
Frank Herbert published Children of Dune in four issues of Analog in 1976, completing the original Dune trilogy.  Starting in 1984, up to the release of Dune Pt 2 in 2024, we’ve seen numerous interpretations of the first books in the series.

How does the third novel stand up to the preceding two? How does the original Dune trilogy compare to the second Dune trilogy? How well did the movies capture and transmit the message of the original trilogy? What makes Dune so special? Why does it persist in our collective zeitgeist? 
Monroe Beyond the European Castle – new locales/new cultures (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: Tom Doyle, Morgan Hazelwood, Rebecca Roanhorse, Jean Marie Ward (M)
Once, most fantasy took place in a quasi-medieval setting, just with magic and, frequently, greater female equality. Now, fantasy explores a multitude of worlds of different settings and cultures, many written by people from these cultures. How has this changed fantasy? How have readers reacted to these different views of what fantasy can be? What are some of the best non-Western fantasies?
Truman How Has Diversity Affected SF and Fantasy? (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: TT Madden, Cerece Rennie Murphy, Steven Harper Piziks (M), Sheree Renée Thomas
Science fiction was once so white and male that publishers encouraged those with female or ethnic-sounding names to adopt pseudonyms. Now diversity often is a badge of honor. We are seeing the rise of Afrofuturism, whole universes based on other cultures and national identities, translations from other languages, and even more diversity among writers. Why is this happening? What are the effects of this? Why does it matter if an author is a person of color or of another nontraditional background? What are the advantages and disadvantages of greater diversity? 
Saturday 2:30 pm Eisenhower Cats, Dragons and Other Things Editors of Themed Anthologies Want (Ends at: 3:25 pm)
Participants: Neil Clarke, Randee Dawn (M), Joshua Palmatier, Alex Shvartsman, Sheree Renée Thomas
Themed anthologies are popular, but sometimes it is hard to figure out what their editors want. As an editor what do you look for in a story that fits your anthology? What makes the cut? If you are an author who has appeared in anthologies, how do you pitch your idea to fit? 
Washington Theater Research Rabbit Holes (Ends at: 3:25 pm)
Participants: Sarah Avery, Nino Cipri, Christina Crothers, Mike McPhail, Alan Smale (M)
Alice fell down a major rabbit hole. What are some of the crazy side paths you’ve taken in your research for a story idea?  What’s the zaniest search you’ve done?  Do you wind up using this research or do you need to pull back when you wander too far afield? Do you find yourself putting things into your fiction just so you have an excuse to research them, such as food as the basis for world building in your story? 

 
Monroe In Defense of the Stand Alone Novel (Ends at: 3:25 pm)
Participants: Andrew Fox, Carolyn Ives Gilman , Nicole Glover, Cathy Green (M)
The trend for at least the last decade has been a preference for trilogies or series. But sometimes a story just takes a single volume. Panelists will talk about the merits of a single volume story versus a trilogy versus an open ended series. How do writers know if the idea is enough for a trilogy or would work better as a stand alone? Do writers plan to have a second or third volume when they write the first? What are some of the most notable stand alone novels and why didn’t they get sequels? 
Truman Low Rung on the Ladder: When the main characters aren’t the big shots (Ends at: 3:25 pm)
Participants: Raven Jakubowski, Danian Jerry, Nika Murphy (M), Wayland Smith, Karlo Yeager Rodriguez
In most stories the main character is someone who’s a “big shot” – they’re the Prince/Princess or King/Queen; the Admiral onboard a ship of the line; or the Archmage.  But what about when the main character isn’t any of that? Instead they are just an average person thrown in an unusual situation?  Someone who is part of the working class and just trying to do their job? Think the janitors on Babylon 5? Or an accountant who gets unexpectedly turned into a supernatural creature and now has to play the hero?  

What changes in the story? What doesn’t?  What makes such characters and stories that focus on working class and labor interesting and worth reading and writing?
Saturday 4:00 pm Eisenhower Writing for different venues (Ends at: 4:55 pm)
Participants: Wendra Colleen , Rebecca Roanhorse, Alex Shvartsman, Rosemary Claire Smith, Brigitte Winter (M)
Many writers today do not just write stories and novels but also create content for films, tv, comics, and games. How do your work methods/approaches/craft change when writing a novel vs. short stories vs. comics vs. games vs. screenwriting for TV? How easy is it to “change gears”?  Writers who have written for more than one media tell us their stories and experiences.
Monroe Is the Earth Doomed? (Climate Version) (Ends at: 4:55 pm)
Participants: John Ashmead, Michael Capobianco (M), James Morrow, Phillip Pournelle, Sam Scheiner
Let’s talk about the end of the world. Is the Earth doomed to climate disaster? Has climate change gone too far to be stopped? We are already seeing unprecedented heat waves and drought. Can we counter this? What can humanity do? Why aren’t we doing it? What SF has the best prophesies of climate doom? 
Truman Getting your writing critiqued (Ends at: 4:55 pm)
Participants: Ken Altabef, Christina Crothers, Carolyn Ives Gilman , David Mercurio Rivera, Nibedita Sen, Hildy Silverman (M)
We all know that honest reviews and opinions of our drafts help us make the finished product better.  But how do we do it? How do you best offer critiques of draft works when asked?  How do you brace your self to receive them? Do the best critiques come from a writer’s circle? Friends and family? Online? How do writers decide what criticism is valid? 
Saturday 5:30 pm Washington Theater “Queer in Space!” (Ends at: 6:25 pm)
Participants: TT Madden, Steven Harper Piziks, Jennifer R. Povey, Brigitte Winter (M)
Roughly ten percent of humanity identifies as queer and queer characters and themes regularly appear in sci-fi and fantasy.  How do these stories reflect/tell the actual lived experiences of queer and other marginalized folk?  How do queer and marginalized authors navigate the publishing world (especially in today’s highly charged political environment)? What does the future hold in the next 3 to 5 years?  How can we use fiction and the genre to react to (and influence) the world around us?
Monroe HAL’s Consequences: Current AI in Writing and Publishing (Ends at: 6:25 pm)
Participants: Jennifer Brinn (M), Doc Coleman, Shahid Mahmud, Phillip Pournelle, Edward Swing
For better or worse, the AI cat is “out of the bag.”  How do we manage it?  Can we manage it?  Not just in using AI for the actual writing, but in the publication side of the process? Can it be used to review the slush pile?  Is AI good for any aspect of the creative or publication process? If the work is good, does it matter if AI was used to create it? Or should publishers prevent any AI work from entering the bookstore/magazines?  And if we do allow AI into either the creative or publishing processes, are there any legal implications? 
Truman Space Opera – Been there, done that? Or still a fun sandbox to play in? (Ends at: 6:25 pm)
Participants: Jack Campbell, Elektra Hammond (M), Matthew Kressel, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Alex Shvartsman
Space Opera – some of the earliest stories and novels in SF were characterized as space opera. E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman and Skylark series are probably best known today as prime examples of space opera, if not the pioneers of the genre.  

Do we still have space (no pun intended!) for space operas today?  If so, what’s the attraction?  What makes a novel or series a “space opera”? Does the term have any negative connotations?  Are universes like Star Wars or the MCU modern reinterpretations of the concept? 
Saturday 8:30 pm Eisenhower Master Autograph Session – Saturday Night (Ends at: 9:25 pm)
Participants: Danielle Ackley-McPhail, D.H. Aire, Ken Altabef, Michael Capobianco, Nino Cipri, Doc Coleman, Wendra Colleen , Apurva Desai (M), Tom Doyle, Andrew Fox, Charles Gannon, J.L. Gribble, Elektra Hammond, Bjorn Hasseler, Matthew Kressel, Mike McPhail, Bernie Mojzes, Charles Oberndorf, Joshua Palmatier, Rebecca Roanhorse, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Lawrence M. Schoen, Melissa Scott, Alan Smale, Rosemary Claire Smith, Ian Randal Strock, Jean Marie Ward
The collective, main group autographing session Saturday night.

If you would like to participate, please mark it from your participant account!
Saturday 10:00 pm Washington Theater The Eye of Argon (Ends at: 10:55 pm)
Participants: Doc Coleman, Morgan Hazelwood, Ian Randal Strock (M), David Walton, Jean Marie Ward
It is again that most dreadful of times!  The greatest challenge for the denizens of fandom (if you have the mettle for it by Crom!) awaits!  Do you have the strength, the fortitude, the courage, to read The Eye of Argon aloud, straight-faced, without choking, doubling up with laughter and falling over?  

Come join our panelists and fellow con attendees for this late night rite of passage as we again attempt this most earth shattering of tasks!
Sunday 10:00 am Eisenhower 50 Year Old Science Fiction You Should Really Hunt Down (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: Jack Campbell, Charles Oberndorf (M), Mark Roth-Whitworth, Darrell Schweitzer
As the joke goes, if you remember reading in the 60s and 70s, you weren’t really there. But the freewheeling, freaky-deaky era in Science Fiction publishing (in the 1960s and 70s) was a unique time that produced some fascinating fiction. Let’s set the Wayback Machine to those bell bottoms days and discuss  – what was good, what was bad, and what was JUST WEIRD! Can SF/Fantasy of today capture some of that adventuresome spirit (and should it)? 
Washington Theater Food Glorious Food (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: Elektra Hammond, Jo Miles, Miguel O. Mitchell, Lawrence M. Schoen, Nibedita Sen, A.C. Wise (M)
Writers try to engage all the reader’s senses, including that of taste, SFWA has a cookbook! Some books revel in the use of food while others even include recipes. Diane Duane has even created a whole website devoted to the recipes of the Middle Kingdoms!  How does writing about food enhance the storytelling? What meals have you read about and wished you could partake? And why does nearly every fantasy novel seem to be sponsored by the stew industry? Panelists will talk about how they incorporate food into their stories, some foods they wish they could eat and why food is so important in some stories, while in others it’s non-existent.
Jackson Sunday Consuite (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants:
Sunday Block
Monroe Morally gray characters – “The good, the bad, the ugly” (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: Wendra Colleen , Tom Doyle, James Morrow, Dominick Rabrun (M), Rebecca Roanhorse
What’s the attraction in writing morally gray characters?  What can you do with a grey character that you could not with a traditional white hat? Are morally gray characters better suited to a specific genre or setting?  What genre or setting makes it the most fun to write such characters?  What does it say about modern day society that we are so attracted to such characters?
Truman Brainstorming for Anthologies (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Neil Clarke, TT Madden, Joshua Palmatier, Hildy Silverman, Sherri Cook Woosley (M)
Are themed anthologies more popular than general anthologies that let the authors pick their own topics? What goes into the planning for these anthologies?  What is the spark of inspiration that results in a collection of stories that get published?  What topics have been done to death and what themes are driving anthologies in 2026 or coming in 2027? 
Sunday 11:30 am Eisenhower Clothes Make the Man or Monster. Who Makes the Clothes? (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: Doc Coleman, Raven Jakubowski, Melissa Scott, Edward Swing, Jean Marie Ward (M)
Discuss the historical clothing assumptions in your fantasy setting from a world-building context (and compare to real historical Europe/Asia/Africa/the Americas clothing both pre & post conquest). When designing what your characters are wearing, where do the clothes come from in your world’s civilization? How is this affected by political and religious structures? What fantasies dig deeply enough into their world-building to consider this?
Washington Theater SF Essentials (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: D.H. Aire, Drema Deòraich, Bjorn Hasseler, Sam Lubell (M), Charles Oberndorf
Once there was broad agreement on the essential books that all SF/Fantasy readers should have read. Once everyone could name the Big Three authors. Is there such an agreement today? What books do you see as the core of our genre? Or is it held together by tv/movies? What concepts can writers safely assume readers know from other works? Do we need a list of essential works? Does it matter that people approach SF/fantasy from a diversity of reading backgrounds?
Monroe Stories that Aren’t or Are They? (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: Scott H. Andrews (M), Nino Cipri, Scott Edelman, Matthew Kressel, Joshua Palmatier
Must a story have a plot? Is it critical to have some form of conflict that’s resolved by the end of the story in order for it actually be a story? Some published stories are just lists of various things with description. Must a story have characters? What about action? What makes something a story instead of just a collection of words and how far can writers push those boundaries? Why are these “maybe” stories becoming mainstream?  What makes them attractive to readers and get them nominated for awards? 
Truman Holy Trilogy (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: Ken Altabef, Sarah Avery (M), Elektra Hammond, Alan Smale
Why have trilogies dominated SF and Fantasy? What is the significance of three for authors? Is there something writers can do with three books that they could not with four or five? What are examples of works that are successfully spread out over three books and ones that really needed more (or fewer) volumes?  
Sunday 1:00 pm Eisenhower What’s it like to write in another’s sand box? (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: Charles Gannon, J.L. Gribble, Bjorn Hasseler (M), TT Madden, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nibedita Sen
Get some perspectives on being a writer when writing for existing intellectual property (Star Wars, Marvel, shared universes such as Thieves’ World). Why write in someone else’s sandbox insted of inventing your own? What’s good about it?  What’s bad? How does the canon you’re writing in make the job easier or harder? How much advance guidance do you get from the IP owner? What restrictions did they place on you? If you could do it again, what would you have done differently?
Monroe Alternate Apollos: The Space Programs That Might Have Been (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: Tom Doyle (M), Nicole Glover, Alan Smale, Rosemary Claire Smith, David Walton
Alternate Apollos: The Fictional Space Race Goes On. What if the space race kept going strong after humanity reached the moon? Maybe the Soviets get to the moon first, as in the show For All Mankind. Maybe the race starts a decade early out of planet-wide desperation, as in Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series. Our panelists will discuss these alternate Apollos, including the latest season of For All Mankind and its spinoff, Star City. And they’ll ponder what we gain from imagining that the giant leaps continued. What do these alternatives tell us about the real world decisions that stalled our voyages to space?
Truman I’ve Done My Research & I’ll Tell You All of It (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: Wendra Colleen , Elektra Hammond (M), Bernie Mojzes, James Morrow, Edward Swing
Writers will often do extensive (and possibly even excessive) background research in the service of worldbuilding, character development and setting description. Alternate History frequently has to explain points of divergence. Invented fantasy and SF settings often need to detail the (often complex) world-building and societies. 

How much of this research should the writer put  in the final story? How do you avoid pulling the readers down the rabbit hole of unneeded detail? What can you do to make the results of your research intriguing and entertaining, rather than boring?

Panelists will share how they have answered the following questions –

How do you provide the cultural/societal/environmental context without resorting to lectures or “As You Know Bob” speeches? How do you show the research rather than tell the research? What works best? 
Sunday 2:30 pm Washington Theater Dodo Doings (Capclave Feedback) (Ends at: 3:25 pm)
Participants: Apurva Desai (M)
How’d we do? Come tell us what you liked about Capclave and what you think we could have improved on. Are we Dodo Dofuses or Dodo DoRights?

Workshop

Friday 5:00 pm Upstairs Library Send Your Characters to Therapy! Character Arcs & Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Ends at: 6:55 pm)
Participants: Zack Be (M)
 

Description: In this special presentation, licensed psychotherapist and award-winning SFF author Zack Be will take you through his method of deepening character arcs in fiction by applying tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy! Part science, part art, you will leave this workshop with tools that can help guide you toward writing amazing characters in your science fiction. 
Saturday 10:00 am Upstairs Library Workshop – Brainstorming and Designing a Story (Ends at: 11:55 am)
Participants: Charles Oberndorf (M)
Before there’s even a clear story with a through-line, there’s a dynamic between ideas involving story, character, and the fantastical world at the heart of every sf and fantasy story. We will use a series of prompts and guidelines to make intentional those things writers by developed instinct. We will look at the interaction between character, plot, and worldbuilding and how they are influenced by both the type of story you’ve chose to tell and the sub-genre you are working in. We will look at where to begin and end a story and how to maintain focus. Charlie Oberndorf will share Word documents, so bring either a laptop, a tablet, or a notebook so you can sketch out some thoughts on your own projects.
Saturday 1:00 pm Upstairs Library Workshop – Basics of Publishing Contracts (Ends at: 2:55 pm)
Participants: Michael Capobianco (M), Rosemary Claire Smith
This workshop will review the basics of publishing contracts for both novels and short fiction with a special emphasis on small press contracts. We’ll discuss best practices and common problems found in grant of rights, AI clauses, copyright registration, payment (advance if any, royalties), delivery and acceptance, options, warranties and indemnities, subsidiary rights, and termination. Although contracts can be daunting, it’s very important for an author to understand what they’re signing and we’ll briefly cover how to negotiate if a publisher unacceptable elements in their contract. There will be a Q&A session if there’s time. Attendees are encouraged to bring in questions about the contracts that they have signed or are thinking of signing.
Saturday 4:00 pm Upstairs Library Workshop: Poetry in Space and Magic Realms (Ends at: 5:55 pm)
Participants: Miguel O. Mitchell (M)
Poetry workshop – come try your hand creating poetry across all types of writing genres! Learn how to add poetry or lyrics to SFF prose.
Sunday 11:00 am Adams Miniatures Painting Workshop (Ends at: 12:55 pm)
Participants: Zenlizard (M)
This is a hands-on workshop: bring yourself, and a desire to learn painting techniques for  fantasy or military miniatures. You need bring only yourself: there is no materials fee, and at the end, you will take home the mini you’ve painted. Zenlizard will go over the steps towards painting your miniature, from primer to finish.

Note: This workshop will be in the gaming room.

Lecture

Saturday 4:00 pm Washington Theater The State of Short Fiction (Ends at: 4:55 pm)
Participants: Neil Clarke (M)
Join Clarkesworld and Best Science Fiction of the Year anthology editor, Neil Clarke, as he reviews the state of the short fiction market through the lens of news and data he has collected about the trends, variety, challenges, and business health of the field’s magazines and anthologies. Golden age, apocalypse, or something in-between? You’ll have to attend to find out.
Sunday 1:00 pm Washington Theater Lunar Exploration (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: Adeena Mignogna (M)
Presentation on Lunar exploration by Adeena Mignogna

Interview

Saturday 10:00 am Eisenhower Guest of Honor Interview — Rebecca Roanhorse (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: Elektra Hammond (M), Rebecca Roanhorse
CapClave 2026 Guest of Honor Rebecca Roanhorse is interviewed by TBD.
Saturday 11:30 am Eisenhower Guest of Honor Interview — Nino Cipri (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: Nino Cipri, Jean Marie Ward (M)
CapClave 2026 Guest of Honor Nino Cipri is interviewed by TBD
Saturday 1:00 pm Eisenhower Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Clarkesworld (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: Scott H. Andrews (M), Neil Clarke
Come join editor Neil Clarke as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Clarkesworld Magazine this month. Through it’s long history, it has published several Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy, and many other award winning stories, won the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine three times (before becoming professional many years ago), and received two Locus Awards for Best Magazine. For his work on Clarkesworld, Neil has won the Hugo Award for Best Editor five times. Part history lesson, part travel journey, and part audience leading the conversation, this is the place to bring your questions about the magazine. Let’s have some fun with it!

Signing

Friday 5:00 pm Dealers’ Room Foyer Friday Dealers’ Foyer Autographing (Ends at: 5:55 pm)
Participants:
Friday open autograph table outside Dealer’s Room (5-6pm)
Saturday 10:00 am Dealers’ Room Foyer Saturday Dealers’ Foyer Autographing (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants:
Saturday open autograph table outside Dealer’s Room (10am-5:30pm)
Sunday 10:00 am Dealers’ Room Foyer Sunday Dealers’ Foyer Autographing (Ends at: 2:55 pm)
Participants:
Sunday Dealers’ Foyer Open Autographing (10am-3pm)

Reading

Friday 5:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Alex Shvartsman (Ends at: 5:25 pm)
Participants: Alex Shvartsman (M)
Author Alex Shvartsman reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Friday 5:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — Matthew Kressel (Ends at: 5:55 pm)
Participants: Matthew Kressel (M)
Author Matthew Kressel reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Friday 6:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Rosemary Claire Smith (Ends at: 6:25 pm)
Participants: Rosemary Claire Smith (M)
Author Rosemary Claire Smith reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Friday 7:00 pm Wilson Author Reading – Paul Haggerty (Ends at: 7:25 pm)
Participants: Paul Haggerty (M)
Author Paul Haggerty reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 10:00 am Wilson Author Reading — J.L. Gribble (Ends at: 10:25 am)
Participants: J.L. Gribble (M)
Author J.L. Gribble reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 10:30 am Wilson Author Reading — Brigitte Winter (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: Brigitte Winter (M)
Author Brigitte Winter reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 11:00 am Wilson Author Reading — Cerece Rennie Murphy (Ends at: 11:25 am)
Participants: Cerece Rennie Murphy (M)
Author Cerece Rennie Murphy reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 11:30 am Wilson Author Reading — Nika Murphy (Ends at: 11:55 am)
Participants: Nika Murphy (M)
Author Nika Murphy reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 12:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Charles Gannon (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: Charles Gannon (M)
Author Charles Gannon reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 12:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — Brightflame (Ends at: 12:55 pm)
Participants: BrightFlame (M)
Author Brightflame reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 1:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Sherri Cook Woosley (Ends at: 1:25 pm)
Participants: Sherri Cook Woosley (M)
Author Sherri Cook Woosley reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 1:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — Lawrence M. Schoen (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: Lawrence M. Schoen (M)
Author Lawrence M. Schoen reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 2:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Karlo Yeager Rodriguez (Ends at: 2:25 pm)
Participants: Karlo Yeager Rodriguez (M)
Author Karlo Yeager Rodriguez reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 2:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — Wendra Colleen (Ends at: 2:55 pm)
Participants: Wendra Colleen (M)
Author Wendra Colleen reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 3:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — James Morrow (Ends at: 3:25 pm)
Participants: James Morrow (M)
Author James Morrow reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 3:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — Dominick Rabrun (Ends at: 3:55 pm)
Participants: Dominick Rabrun (M)
Author Dominick Rabrun reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 4:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Tom Doyle (Ends at: 4:25 pm)
Participants: Tom Doyle (M)
Author Tom Doyle reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 4:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — Barbara Krasnoff (Ends at: 4:55 pm)
Participants:
Author Barbara Krasnoff reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 5:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Charles Oberndorf (Ends at: 5:25 pm)
Participants: Charles Oberndorf (M)
Author Charles Oberndorf reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 5:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — David Mercurio Rivera (Ends at: 5:55 pm)
Participants: David Mercurio Rivera (M)
Author David Mercurio Rivera reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Saturday 6:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Drema Deòraich (Ends at: 6:25 pm)
Participants: Drema Deòraich (M)
Author Drema Deòraich reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 10:00 am Wilson Author Reading — Alan Smale (Ends at: 10:25 am)
Participants: Alan Smale (M)
Author Alan Smale reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 10:30 am Wilson Author Reading — Melissa Scott (Ends at: 10:55 am)
Participants: Melissa Scott (M)
Author Melissa Scott reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 11:00 am Wilson Author Reading — Bjorn Hasseler (Ends at: 11:25 am)
Participants: Bjorn Hasseler (M)
Author Bjorn Hasseler reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 11:30 am Wilson Author Reading — Danielle Ackley-McPhail (Ends at: 11:55 am)
Participants: Danielle Ackley-McPhail (M)
Author Danielle Ackley-McPhail reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 12:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Randee Dawn (Ends at: 12:25 pm)
Participants: Randee Dawn (M)
Author Randee Dawn reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 12:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — Andrew Fox (Ends at: 12:55 pm)
Participants: Andrew Fox (M)
Author Andrew Fox reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 1:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Somto Ihezue (Ends at: 1:25 pm)
Participants: Somto Ihezue (M)
Author Somto Ihezue reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 1:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — Scott Edelman (Ends at: 1:55 pm)
Participants: Scott Edelman (M)
Author Scott Edelman reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 2:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Hildy Silverman (Ends at: 2:25 pm)
Participants: Hildy Silverman (M)
Author Hildy Silverman reads from their recent and upcoming work.
Sunday 2:30 pm Wilson Author Reading — Sheree Renée Thomas (Ends at: 2:55 pm)
Participants: Danian Jerry, Sheree Renée Thomas (M)
Author Reading — Sheree Renée Thomas
Sunday 3:00 pm Wilson Author Reading — Danian Jerry (Ends at: 3:25 pm)
Participants: Danian Jerry (M)
Author Reading — Danian Jerry

Scheduled Game

Friday 5:00 pm Adams Game Demo/Learn-and-Play Acropolis (Ends at: 5:55 pm)
Participants:
Build a city from tiles by arranging various city region types that each score according to a specific rule.

Presenter: Steve Brinich
Friday 8:00 pm Adams Survival of the Weirdest (Ends at: 8:55 pm)
Participants: Zenlizard (M)
Game Demo/Learn-and-Play

A card-based game of matching, lobbying and judging. Propose scenarios, compare an animal trait to the scenario, explain your (lack of reasoning), and be prepared to be judged harshly. And learn some weird animal facts along the way. The first player to collect three scenario cards wins!

 
Saturday 4:00 pm Adams Game Demo/Learn-and-Play Azul (Ends at: 5:55 pm)
Participants:
Players take turns drafting groups of colored tiles and then score points based on how they’ve placed their tiles. Extra points are scored for specific patterns and completing sets; tiles drafted but  not placed harm the player’s score

Presenter: Steve Brinich

 

Participatory Event

Friday 5:30 pm Lincoln Book Launch — Miguel O. Mitchell (Ends at: 6:55 pm)
Participants: Miguel O. Mitchell (M)
Book Launch — Miguel O. Mitchell
Friday 8:30 pm Monroe WSFA Meeting (Ends at: 9:55 pm)
Participants: Courtni Burleson, Sam Lubell (M), Sam Scheiner
1st Friday at CapClave 2026
Friday 9:30 pm Washington Theater Speed Writing – the silly edition! (Ends at: 10:25 pm)
Participants: Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Wendra Colleen , Randee Dawn, Morgan Hazelwood (M), Bernie Mojzes, Jennifer R. Povey, Hildy Silverman, Ian Randal Strock, Jean Marie Ward
Speed Writing is the panel where teams of authors collaborate to write stories on the fly, based on suggestions from the audience. Come in and join the fun as we bring “Whose Line is it Anyway” to CapClave!  How silly a story can our authors come up with that still bears a passing resemblance to SFF?  Participants will be given a writing prompt (the silliest ones the moderator and audience could come up with!) to based their story or scene.  The results are unpredictable and usually hilarious!
Saturday 1:00 pm Lincoln Book Launch – Sarah Avery/Melissa Scott (Ends at: 2:25 pm)
Participants: Sarah Avery, Melissa Scott (M)
Book Launch – Sarah Avery
Saturday 2:30 pm Lincoln Book Launch – Dr. Lawrence Schoen and Adeena Mignogna (Ends at: 3:55 pm)
Participants: Adeena Mignogna, Lawrence M. Schoen (M)
Book Launch for new works by Lawrence Schoen and Adeena Mignogna
Saturday 4:00 pm Lincoln Book Launch – TT Madden (Ends at: 5:25 pm)
Participants: TT Madden (M)
Book Launch — TT Madden
Saturday 7:00 pm Washington Theater WSFA Award Ceremony (Ends at: 7:55 pm)
Participants: Rodger Burns (M), Nino Cipri, Rebecca Roanhorse
WSFA Award Ceremony
Monroe SFF Trivia Contest (Ends at: 8:55 pm)
Participants: Brick Barrientos (M)
Brick Barrientos hosts an annual CapClave tradition. Play as an individual against other players using an electronic buzzer system. Play one match, play all three matches or just watch. Ribbons for the winners, participants, and even spectators. We’ll ask about written and media SFF as well as other geeky interests.
Sunday 11:30 am Lincoln Book Launch – Carolyn Ives Gilman/Rosemary Claire Smith (Ends at: 12:55 pm)
Participants: Carolyn Ives Gilman (M), Rosemary Claire Smith
Book Launch – Carolyn Ives Gilman/Rosemary Claire Smith
Sunday 1:00 pm Lincoln Book Launch – Jennifer R. Povey (Ends at: 2:25 pm)
Participants: Jennifer R. Povey (M)
Book Launch – Jennifer R. Povey
Sunday 2:30 pm Lincoln Book Launch – Andrew Fox (Ends at: 3:55 pm)
Participants: Andrew Fox (M)
Book Launch — Andrew Fox

Discussion Group

Friday 5:00 pm Truman The Best 2026 SFF TV/Streaming Shows (Ends at: 5:55 pm)
Participants: D.H. Aire, Wendra Colleen , J.L. Gribble, Somto Ihezue, Perrianne Lurie (M)
House of the Dragon, Dr. Who, Murderbot, and more. What’s the best so far in 2026 for TV and streaming? What TV channels and streaming services are best for watching SF and Fantasy? What are you looking forward to watching in 2027?
Friday 6:30 pm Truman Everything Murderbot (Ends at: 7:25 pm)
Participants: Sarah Avery (M), Jennifer Brinn, Drema Deòraich
There’s a new Murderbot novel out and several episodes of the Apple TV series were Hugo finalists this year. We’ll discuss the Murderbot universe and our favorite bits. How does the TV show compare to the book? Sec Units welcome.
Friday 8:00 pm Truman What’s New in Westeros? (Ends at: 8:55 pm)
Participants: D.H. Aire, Somto Ihezue, Perrianne Lurie (M)
Both A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms and House Of The Dragon had episodes in 2026. We’ll discuss them both and compare them to the source material. Spoilers aplenty!
Page Update: October 5, 2026