Flights of Foundry 2026 Recap!
This year at Flights of Foundry, I took part in several panels, gave a reading, and attended some other panels and a reading. Because I had a conflict on Sunday, I limited my participation to just two days, which meant I missed some really cool stuff, but I also got to do a bunch of things I enjoyed!
Friday
Mixed Media, Found Fiction, and Experimental Formats (with moderator Merc Fenn Wolfmoor and Kai Delmas, GT Korbin, and Catherine Tavares)
This was a great panel with authors talking about the various ways you can experiment with fiction and unusual formats. They talked about subverting format expectations and the challenges that come in this format. I asked a question about non-horror in these formats, and they pointed out epistolary stories, historical accounts, and even things with unreliable narrators. This also generated my favorite quote from this panel, which was: “History books as the original found footage.” – Kai Delmas
The End (with moderator Adria Bailton and Jennifer Hudak, A. Z. Louise/Alby C. Williams, and Nghi Vo)
This was another fabulous panel, this one talking about endings for fiction. The panelists talked about good endings, endings they didn’t recommend using, and how to fix an ending that isn’t working, among other things. The quote I wrote down from this panel was Jennifer Hudak saying that endings should be “surprising, but inevitable,” in that while the ending might not be what the reader expects when they reach it, it should be something that made sense if you reconsider the arc of the story. I love that summary, though, and will probably add it as another handmade advice sticker on my laptop!
Food and Science Fiction (moderated, with Priya Chand, Jo Miles, and D. A. Xiaolin Spires)
I moderated a panel on food and science fiction with three wonderful panelists. We had some technical difficulties as I was learning my way around the new platform. But we got to discuss food production, food consumption, sci-fi tropes, and the ways food can be used for community, culture, and more in stories.
Organize Your Creative Life (with moderator Joyce Reynolds-Ward and Celia Lake, Marguerite Kenner, Alli Martin, and Nicole Evans)
This panel was a super useful one with a ton of great suggestions from the panelists about what they use for their own organization strategies. They also pointed out that what works for one person won’t work for everyone and that it’s a good idea to reevaluate your organization strategies now and then to make sure that they’re still working for you.
Indie TTRPGs (moderated, with V.M. Ayala, Brandon O’Brien, Sarah Pauling, and Gregory A. Wilson)
The other panel I moderated on Friday was one on indie TTRPGs, and my panelists had a bunch of really smart things to say about indie game mechanics, plus a BOATLOAD of recommendations for games to check out. I scribbled a ton of notes on ones I wanted to check out, but there were so many that I don’t think I could have written them all down even as an attendee!
Reading (me!)
I also had a reading on Friday evening. I decided to use a line from my bio to decide what I was going to read: “Her specialties include young protagonists, siblings who bicker but love each other in the end, and things in the water that want you dead.” So I read “Easy as a Bag of Cookies,” “Gosutouotchi,” and “Follow My Lead,” which covered each one individually, and then closed out with a story that includes all three: “Things My Mothers Taught Me.” I also chatted with the attendees a bit after I finished reading, talking about a couple of things I’ve written with older protagonists and what I’m working on recently, which is mostly game writing.
Saturday
Community Building for Introverts (moderator, with Christiane Knight, Mona West, and P.S.C. Willis)
The final panel I moderated was on Saturday, about community building for introverts. The panelists talked about things they look for in creative communities, how they go about running communities, and much more. The takeaway quote from this panel was: “The strategy is cake.” – P.S.C. Willis
Down the Rabbit Hole: Research for Historical Fiction (panelist, with Ash Huang, L. S. Johnson, Richard H. Moon, and Marie Brennan moderating)
Saturday was when I finally spoke on a couple of panels. The first one was about research for historical fiction, and we had a mix of historians and non-historians, all of whom have written historical fiction. We talked about all of the ways and places you can find sources for your research and how to at least get to a point where you can start writing something, rather than being trapped in the research rabbit hole forever.
Allison Mulder’s reading
I managed to make it to one reading during the convention, which was given by Allison Mulder. I met Allison at a previous Flights of Foundry, and we’ve become online friends, so I wanted to support her reading! I was super excited that one of the stories she read (“One Safe Route Through the Psych-Belt Ghost Houses“) was one I had read and loved, and it was just beautiful to hear her read it aloud. It’s a post-apocalyptic story with a lot of unspoken backstory and a lot of devastating and achingly gorgeous bits.
You do what? Second Person and Why It’s Great Actually (panelist, with A. Humphrey Lanham, Chelsea Sutton, and Stephen Granade moderating)
My final panel was on second person, which was a great discussion with my fellow panelists and our moderator. A. Humphrey Lanham started working on a taxonomy of second person stories as we spoke, and it was interesting to see where my own stories fit into that taxonomy. It also gave me ideas of new things to try!
I’m planning to swing back through the panel recordings, which are available for 30 days after the end of the convention for people who are registered (and you can register after the fact, if you see something here or elsewhere that looks amazing!).
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