JOIN US FOR QUASAR!
This November, it is our honor and privilege to extend the Nebula year with another weekend dedicated to professional development at SFWA. Join us at Quasar: SFWA’s Fall Online Nebula Event!
From November 15 to 16, Nebula attendees from June are already guaranteed access to a whole new host of panels, workshops, seminars, office hours, and special presentations. Include the promo code “2025Nebulas” when you register, and once we’ve cross-checked your name with our Nebula list, you’re in! Welcome back!
For newcomers, we are delighted to offer you access to Quasar, along with the whole 60th Nebula online catalog, plus writing dates at events.sfwa.org, for the rest of the Nebula year (until June 2, 2026) for only $75. And if only Quasar strikes your fancy? We’d be thrilled to have you along for the ride at $50 for this weekend in November.
What’s on the roster?
We have a terrific chat lined up between two of SFWA’s Grand Masters, Lois McMaster Bujold and Nicola Griffith, before a surprise Nebula announcement for next year’s events.
We’re also running the SFF spectrum in our presentations: from opening poets to closing booksellers; from indie creators across mediums to horror across the ages; from debunking scientific myths to hosting a session on Tarot need-to-knows for worldbuilding.
And speaking of worldbuilding: We have panels on community building, collaboration, and wellness to address the whole writer—because how we show up for ourselves and for each other matters deeply in this world.
Also, do you create SFF in audio form? Radio QUASAR is on the hunt for your audiobooks, audio dramas, podcast episodes, songs, and soundscapes! We can’t wait to put together a terrific playlist for the weekend from your phenomenal SFF work in the medium.
QUASAR WEEKEND PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Check back for more on Office Hours soon – along with some final additions in the coming days – but for now, please enjoy our preliminary weekend program! All times below are in Pacific Standard Time. Save the date, and make sure you’ve signed up before registration closes on November 8.
Saturday, November 15
1:00 PM – 1:30 PM – Opening Act: Poetry by Brandon O’Brien
Let’s celebrate the rich diversity of speculative forms with an opening poetic act brought to us by Brandon O’Brien.
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM – Welcome to Quasar! An Introduction from SFWA
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Panel 1.1 Shared Challenges for Multimedia Indie Creators
Independent authors exist across mediums, publishing books, analog games, video games, comics, and more. But for all the diversity in their final products, Indie creators face many similar struggles – with distribution platforms, payment models, and promotions strategies. If you’re an indie or hybrid SFF creator, don’t miss this pragmatic industry chat across the indie landscape. We’ll explore common pitfalls and survival tactics for SFF writers who are doing most of the work alone – but in a system where indie creators are always stronger together.
Alexis Westmore will moderate our dynamic chat between Joan Marie Verba, Jessica Maison, Karrie Shao, and Richard Ruane.
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM – Seminar 1.1 Contract Need-to-Knows for a Challenging Year in Industry
We’re honored to host a conversation moderated by Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware, with agents Alice Speilburg and Natascha Morris, who can speak to the challenges writers face when protecting their rights as creators. In a year that has brought us many major industry discussions around AI piracy, merch clauses, moral rights waivers, copyright, and rights reversion, it’s time for seasoned and early professionals alike to empower ourselves and one another. This seminar has a hands-on learning component.
3:00 PM – 3:30 PM – Outpost Station Yoga (Wellness Activity)
Join Jennifer Hudak for some healing techniques to improve our bodies right from our chairs. You do not need extra equipment for this series of yoga moves with SFF flair.
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM – Panel 1.2 Mutual Resilience: How SFF Writers Build Community On and Off the Page
Sometimes art emulates life, and sometimes life emulates art. For writers who also do the work of developing stronger community networks, worldbuilding strategies show up in far more than plans for the latest story draft. Building community builds resilience. What lessons for better resilience and community organizing can we take from SFF, and how does our work in community organizing improve the speculative tales we tell? This year at Quasar, four dynamic creators will invite you to think more ambitiously about how you dream up community – on the page, and in the world around you.
Join us for a co-facilitated conversation between BrightFlame, Curtis Chen, and James Stegall.
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Office Hours -A- (By appointment.)
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Panel 1.3 Centering Wellness as Creators
One of the most important lessons writers learn over their careers is adaptation. There is no “one size fits all” for creative success, especially when each of us has a different relationship to disability, illness, and neuro-variation. What happens when that relationship is further changed mid-stream? When something that worked for you for years is now affected by new challenges? For Quasar, SFF creators share their experiences with adjusted workflows, and offer insight into centering wellness all along.
We’re delighted to be in conversation with Eugen Bacon, Scott Edelman, Vanessa Ricci-Thode, and Catherine Tavares.
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM – Workshop 1.2 Creating Real-World Hope through Speculative YA
The power of YA lies in its attention to the needs, fears, dreams, and struggles of young people in a world they did not create. How do we write stories that speak to and through their perspectives? In this workshop, we will use interviews with real high school students to craft speculative worlds that meet them where they are and makes room for futures they want to live in. Together, we will develop your YA voice.
This 90-minute workshop will be led by teacher and author Cameron Roberson (writing as Rob Cameron). Are you a YA writer with a work-in-progress? Let us know in advance, and we’ll craft time to talk about your character challenges, too.
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM – Panel 1.4 SFF Collaboration Done Right
Collaboration is an essential part of many SFF projects, but it’s not always easy. Whether working in video games and shared narrative worlds, or with editors and sensitivity readers, there will be challenges as well as rewards. How much expectation-setting is necessary? What can we do to keep our professional partnerships healthy and mutually rewarding? What do we do when they aren’t working out? Join our panel in talking from experience about how best to work collaboratively in the genre.
We’re collaborating with Anthony Eichenlaub, Sydnee Thompson, Darusha Wehm, and Rosemary Jones on this event!
7:30 PM – 12:00 AM – Virtual Bar with Evergreen Lee
Socialize with your fellow quasars in the after-hours party suite, with rooms available for both smaller, personal chats and larger group chats. Display of pets and/or crafting projects strongly encouraged.
Sunday, November 16
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM – Panel 2.1 Science Fact in Science Fiction: Getting It Right in SFF
We’ve come a long way since early commercial science fiction, which boasted scientific components that were often wedged in as heavy-handed asides to the plot. Now, we still have SFF writers who can rock a good scientific tangent, and others who have subtler strategies for depicting scientific concepts well in their speculative prose. In this opening panel for Quasar: Day 2, we’re thrilled to talk with accomplished SFF writers who have differently blended fact in fiction. Join us to figure out which approach is right for you!
Join moderator Kemi Ashing-Gawa, in conversation with Julie Nováková, Steven D. Brewer, Gabrielle K. Byrne, and Bert-Oliver Boehmer.
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM – Workshop 2.1 The Business of Writing: Publishing Short Story Anthologies
Working with so many different voices is no easy feat! How do we curate short story collections with care? What makes for a strong theme, and how do we strengthen our own editorial voice as we go forward? At Quasar, we’re sitting with Sheree Renée Thomas and Nick Wells to learn what it takes, and how to prepare ourselves for the slings and arrows of advancing good work in anthology form.
10:00 AM – 10:30 AM – Office Hours -B- (By appointment.)
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM – Panel 2.2 Science Fiction in Science Fact: Myth-Busting with the National Association of Science Writers
Nonfiction science writers love a good tall tale as much as anyone – but that doesn’t mean they don’t wince when a beloved subfield is poorly represented in SFF! So here’s a terrific opportunity, brought to us by the brilliant minds at the National Association of Science Writers, for speculative writers to sharpen their game. Join moderator Takara Small, in conversation with Corey Powell, Jane C. Hu, and Tara C. Smith to shake off misconceptions about a number of key scientific concepts for our most far-ranging and “out there” prose.
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM – Seminar 2.2 Tarot Need-to-Knows for Writers (with Bonus Breakout-Room Chats and Readings!)
Tarot has a potent history, including in SFF. It inspires and helps us connect with Mystery, the Unknown, and with Allies in all the realms. It helps us look within and bring forth intuition and creativity. The cards themselves evoke beauty and story. The ritual of Tarot, its deep history, and its intuitive form can provide the most wonderful foundation for our tales and help us navigate story creation.
Will you join us this Sunday to discuss the power and promise of Tarot for SFF writers? BrightFlame and Lane Smith will discuss the potential of this form, and then we will offer breakout room activities working with the cards.
Space is limited!
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM – Office Hours -C- (By appointment.)
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Panel 2.3 Poetry, Flash, & the Power of Hybrid Storytelling
Where does “the poetic” begin and end? What differentiates a prose poem from flash fiction? And why are we so hung up on dividing lines in genre in the first place – and not on the power of hybrid storytelling? In this panel, members of SFWA’s Poetry Committee are in conversation with a dynamic creator of flash and other experimental SFF forms, to explore the liminal in speculative writing – and to encourage fellow writers to make full use of whatever medium best reflects the idea they wish to convey.
Join Wendy Van Camp, as she moderates a chat between Mary Soon Lee, Brian U. Garrison, Gwynne Garfinkle, and Jennifer Hudak.
1:00 PM – 1:30 PM – Keynote: Grand Masters Nicola Griffith and Lois McMaster Bujold, with SFWA President Kate Ristau
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM – SECRET NEBULA ANNOUNCEMENT
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Panel 2.4 How to Give Good Panel
Ever moderated a panel where some of your panelists were seasoned pros and others were just getting started? What should panelists do to optimize their time on a bigger platform? Is there a difference in presentation style for peer-based and reader-facing industry events? And how can moderators and panelists support each other better, to provide a thrilling and memorable experience wherever they may roam in the genre? Join Day Al-Mohamed, Joyce Reynolds Ward, and Fran Wilde for a rich conversation with seasoned presenters from a range of promotions contexts, and take your panel game to the next level!
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM – Meditation Station (Wellness Activity)
Join Jennifer Hudak for an “out of this world” experience – or, at least, a much needed meditative pause, with SFF flair.
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM – Office Hours -D- (By appointment.)
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM – Seminar 2.2 The Business of Writing: Working with Bookstores and Libraries
Libraries and bookstores are an integral part of the reading community, and they’re a great way to reach people who might otherwise never find your books. Librarians and booksellers are your friends, and like you, they love engaging with delighted and excited readers. That said, they are also bombarded with sales pitches and author requests. They want to support your book. You just have to make it easy and give them a reason why it belongs on their shelves. Misha Stone (Reader Services Librarian, Seattle Public Library), Paula J. Gallagher (Adult and Community Engagement Specialist, Baltimore County Public Library), and Jennifer Marchisotto (Mysterious Galaxy) will help participants develop tools to successfully partner with libraries and bookstores. At the end of the session, participants will understand how to successfully pitch collaborations with bookstores and librarians. In break out sessions, participants will get feedback on outreach emails to bookstores and libraries.
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM – Panel 2.5 It’s a Scream: Writing Horror Across the Ages
Horror and dark fantasy are having a real time to shine in middle grade and young adult fiction—but we all know the love of scary transcends age. Check out this discussion of how to make the story scary. What tricks and tips do authors use? How do they know it’s scary enough—or when it might be too scary? Whether an author is amplifying suspense, giving gothic flair, or just plain spilling blood across the floor, attendees are sure to shiver hearing these authors share their experience of writing scary.
With the support of SFWA’s MG/YA Committee, we are proud to host a conversation between Tracey Baptiste, Rob Costello, Maxwell Gold, and Scott Edelman, moderated by Michael Solis.
Don’t miss out on some terrific community-building conversations – across genres, across mediums, across ages – at this year’s Quasar. Register today, and let other professional and professionalizing writers in your world know to sign up before November 8, too!