Alma Raymer

Moderator

Alma (she/ella) is a voracious reader and bookworm who started talking about books on Twitter starting in 2020, reviewing on StoryGraph in 2021, and joined the BookTok crowd in 2023. Alma enjoys SFF both as an escape, and to reflect on the state of our world. She especially enjoys reading from BIPOC and LGBTQNIA2S+ authors, and loves it when folks ask her for SFF book recommendations - she keeps lists of different kinds of SFF recs based on what friends, acquaintances, and strangers on the interwebs enjoy. When she's not reading, Alma is engaged in social justice activism, nerding out on data analytics or ttRPGs, is teaching her dog a new trick, spending time under the surface of the ocean for fun and as a citizen scientist, or researching the best location for her newest native pollinator plant acquisition. Alma lives as a transplant in Austin, TX with her dog Mabel alongside lots of vinyls, books, and plants.

2:00PM - 3:00PM EDT

Saturday July 11th

Women in Horror

For decades, we've heard that horror is a male-dominated field. However, since the inception of horror, women have been writing it. In this presentation, author Brenda LaTorre will reflect on female specific fears, female writers, and the history of women in horror, from the gothic tradition of Castle of Otranto, to the non-gothic Latin American tradition of magical realist horror. She'll also touch upon intersectional feminism and why reading diverse women is important, from trans women authors like Alison Rumfitt to African American authors like Helen Oyeyemi, we all have something different to tell. (Moderator: Alma Raymer)

12:00PM - 1:00PM EDT

Sunday July 12th

Writing Hopeful Futures

As more grim and dystopian stories hit the shelves, it is important to also offer hopeful narratives in these times. In this workshop, BrightFlame will discuss reasons for writing hope, methods for doing so, and offer a solarpunk how-to with story and resource examples. (Moderator: Alma Raymer)