Where I’ll Be at World Fantasy Con

Thursday, November 1
9:00 p.m. OUR MONSTERS, OUR SELVES

The   best   monsters—ghosts,   vampires,   werewolves,   zombies—all   begin  as  human  beings,  as  US.  All  have  their  roots  in  the  ideas  of  lost/ strayed/stolen  humanity.  Freud  alludes  to  the  factor  of  semblance  in   The Uncanny,  and  that  idea,  with  the  tensions  inherent  in  duality/ dichotomy—an   otherness   both   projected,   and   found   within—is   crucial.  Think  of  works  such  as  Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde,  and   Dracula  like  a  hall  of  mirrors,  begetting  their  own  reflections.  Is  our   continued  fascination  with  these  monsters  our  way  of  grappling  with   our  own  demons?  And  which  fantasy  characters  are  most  persuasive   in   convincing   us   that   they   are   not   really   monsters;;   that   they   are,   in   reality,  a  reflection/distortion/creation  of  us?

Ellen Datlow (M), Lena Coakley, James Alan Gardner, Christopher Golden, Richard A. Kirk, Holly Phillips.