Преди време предложих на организаторите на следващия Уърлдкон следните теми за дискусии:


(1) Speculative mainstream: a genre-mainstream merger?

Some speculative ideas often appear in the mainstream, occasionally down to the fine detail level. An example is the invisible people, featured by H. D. Wells and Italo Calvino in very different manner or the recent International Booker winning novel Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov that describes an unprecedented large-scale social experiment, not unlike in many genre novels. These are just two of many examples. Are these similarities exceptions or an indication of an ongoing process of convergence between the speculative genre and the mainstream? Is this an old or a new tendency?

(2) New Speculative fiction from Eastern Europe

Sadly, Eastern Europe and especially the smaller countries there, like Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, etc. remain walled off by the insurmountable language barriers from the rest of the world.
A few writers like St. Lem and Strugatsky brothers have gained worldwide fame, but they are the exceptions, and there is a virtually unknown younger generation that has came in their stead
This panelists will present a few new books, published in the last few years, from Easter European countries, and attempt to place these books in the worldwide speculative map.

(3) Science fiction and ethics of science

The modern Science fiction (SF) has advanced hand in hand with science: SF provided inspiration and a safe sandbox for gedankenexperiments and discussions of the ethics of progress - particularly relevant today. The panel will concentrate on what influence the latest discoveries - particularly in astronomy - have on the SF and on how the changing societies and sensibilities that SF picked up early, like the preservation of the environment, influence scientists and the general population: a few example are the turn to renewable energy sources, the reduction of  science travel, etc.

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Вчера пък получих следното писмо (редактирано):


Hello from Seattle Worldcon!

We are delighted to invite you to be on panels at Seattle Worldcon, August 13-17, 2025, in Seattle, Washington, USA.  

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To be on panels at Worldcon this year, you must attend in person—there will not be remote panelists, or hybrid panels.  Panelists must have an attending membership for at least the day or days of their panels. Memberships are available on our website here: Seattle Worldcon 2025 Membership Portal. Day passes are not available yet, but should go on sale in June. Please purchase your membership, or let us know that you’re planning on attending with a day pass, no later than April 25, 2025.  

Once you have filled out your survey, you may be contacted by one or more of our track leads as they develop program content for their track.  Additionally, If you have panel ideas, it’s always good to send them to us via our panel form—that way, they don’t get lost in the shuffle: Panel Suggestion – Seattle Worldcon 2025  Panel selection will occur in April, so be on the lookout for an email about selecting your panels at that time.

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As always, if you have questions, please feel free to reach out to the program team at any time: ...

Looking forward to seeing you in August!


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А днес написах отговор:


Dear organizers,

Thank you very much for the invitation!

Unfortunately, I have to decline it, I will not be able to attend in person. My native country Bulgaria remains on the must-have-a-visa list, and obtaining US visas seems even harder these days.

If you change your plans and decide to hold virtual or hybrid panels, I will be very much interested, though.

Thank you,
...