I hope as many of you as can are coming to our birthday party tonight. You don't need to be an SFContario attendee to come to the party and admission is free/PWYC.

If you are going to be attending SFContario however, then there are ways to fit even more AE into your weekend. All three editors (Helen Michaud, Paul Jarvey and myself) will be in attendance, and we'll be manning a table in the fan section, so come on by and say hi. I will also be sitting on a few panels over the course of the weekend (including one with John Scalzi and Matt Moore!). The details are below. For a complete program, look here.

And if you run into Matt Moore, don't forget to wish him luck in his Aurora bid.

Criticism and Critique: Critics in the 21st Century. - Sat 11AM Gardenview

Developments in social media and web 2.0 technology continue to blur
the line between amateur and professional critics.  As North American
colleges and universities produce record numbers of graduates, the
media consuming public is transforming itself into something that
feels it ought to be included in larger critical conversations.  Our
panelists explore how professionals and amateurs work together to
evaluate genre media (D.F. McCourt, James Nicoll(M), John Scalzi, Matt
Moore, Elizabeth Hirst)

First Contact Without a Universal Translator  - Sat. 1 PM Solarium

How do we establish a common conceptual base to communicate with
another species? Sure, we have numbers and the hydrogen atom in
common, but how far would that get us with a world of beings who share
none of our sensory apparatus? (Eric Choi, Lorne Kates(M), D.F.
McCourt, Tony Pi, Lawrence Schoen)

If you liked X you’ll love Y - Sat. 7 PM Parkview

The panel makes recommendations of novels
and series  you may not have tried that will appeal to readers of
other novels. Come and bring requests and recommendations of your own.
(John Mansfield, D.F.McCourt, Shirley Meier, James Nicoll, Adam
Shaftoe(M))