Seen various places: panels for Bittercon, the virtual con for those of us who'd like to be at any of the cons this weekend. I'm going to toss out several in a row, starting with:
The Napoleonic Wars in SF/F: What's the Appeal?
Space opera's been using the naval parts of the Napoleonic Wars as models for a while. Susanna Clarke and Naomi Novik have recently set fantasies in slightly alternate versions of the Napoleonic Wars. What's the appeal? Is this just the influence of Patrick O'Brian and Georgette Heyer showing through? Why are the tactics so fascinating to space opera writers? And what's so interesting about society of the time that both Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and the Temeraire series make an effort to fix it?
References: prior LJ post asking for suggestions to propose a Readercon panel that never went anywhere; Crooked Timber's seminar on JS&MN; my booklog posts on the Temeraire series (bonus: an old LJ post on platonic romance as the second book's structure).