Author Topic: Conventions (Read 15758 times)

wakela · **on:** January 30, 2007, 11:42:50 PM

Does anyone out there go to SF/F cons? I thought it would be nice to have a place for us to announce them, review them, and let each other know which ones we are going to. Maybe some of us could even meet up somewhere.

SFEley · **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2007, 03:13:27 AM

Quote from: wakela on January 30, 2007, 11:42:50 PM

Does anyone out there go to SF/F cons? I thought it would be nice to have a place for us to announce them, review them, and let each other know which ones we are going to. Maybe some of us could even meet up somewhere.

Cool idea. If you want, any that people bring up, we can put on the calendar. And anyone who wants to help us out at those cons, I'll be happy to send you a big pile of EP and Pseudopod bookmarks to put on the tables. >8->

Unfortunately, this year it seems likely that I'll only be going to Worldcon in Japan. (And maybe World Fantasy Con if I still have any money in November.) Most years I hit at least a few more, but the Japan thing is overwhelming the personal travel budget.

wakela · **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2007, 03:38:23 AM

Well, then we can get right to business.
I too will be at Worldcon in Japan. In fact, I live in Japan now, and am on the planning committee. Are you going to be doing a podcasting panel? Do you know what other podcasters will come?

scottjanssens · **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2007, 03:49:26 AM

I'll be at Worldcon (It'll be the tail end of my honeymoon). I'll also be at Wiscon which I think is in May.

J.R. Blackwell · **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2007, 08:22:43 PM

I'll be going to Farpoint in February, Balticon in May and DragonCon in August/September. If anyone will be having an Escape Pod meetup at any of these conventions, I'd love to go.

I wish I was going to WorldCon in Japan, I bet that would be a blast.

oddpod · **Reply #5 on:** February 03, 2007, 07:48:33 AM

are thare any cons in the uk?

Brian Reilly · **Reply #6 on:** February 08, 2007, 05:34:31 PM

The main UK con is Eastercon.

There is also Novacon, which is always in Birmingham. It has a more serious atmosphere than Eastercon, which seems to take pride in its deliberate lack of organisation. However, there is a quirkiness about Eastercon that sometimes makes for a truly special event- Eastercon is either fantastic or tragically bad.

if you love pulp SF, why not go to Confounding Tales, which aims to celebrate the joys of Criminal Thrills, Cosmic Tyrants and Creeping Terror. This is run by a group called Convivial, who run annual cons with a theme.

[oh, I forgot the scottish one!]

JaredAxelrod · **Reply #7 on:** February 09, 2007, 02:27:27 AM

I'm looking at attending Farpoint, Balticon, Wizard World Philly, Dragon*Con and finishing out the year with Philcon.

It may not look it, but I'm totally cutting back on conventioning this year.

Talia · **Reply #8 on:** February 21, 2007, 07:53:43 PM

I cant believe I-Con hasn't gotten any love yet.

AFAIK one of the biggest cons in the Northeast.
Great list of guests this year. Check it out: Iconsf.org

I never miss it.

Mfitz · **Reply #9 on:** February 21, 2007, 09:47:20 PM

I'm planing on Millennicon in March, maybe the Con in Indy, who's name is escaping me just now, in July, and Context in the fall. Usually I only get to do Millennicon but I'm splurging this year.

Talia · **Reply #10 on:** March 23, 2007, 12:19:46 PM

Just a reminder for any forum dwellers who may be anywhere near the northeast, I-Con is this weekend at SUNY Stony Brook in Long Island. Huzzah.

The only author who's going to be there who i'm much familiar with is Jim Butcher (last year we had Spider Robinson. Now that was cool. He comes off as a ridiculously nice fellow).

Tory Belicci and Kari Byron (Mythbusters), Jamie Barber (Battlestar Galactica) and Denise Crosby are among this year's media guests. (Cool, but not as cool as last year's George Takei and Ron Glass).

So consider dropping in Saturday when the majority of the programming's going on. There are plenty of science and technology panels too for those with such inclinations, generally including at least a couple on podcasting.

I'm headed there right after work. Can't wait.

Jim · **Reply #11 on:** March 23, 2007, 12:43:42 PM

I'm going to Gen Con, does that count?

It's a gaming con, but there's pretty heavy SF going on there.

And for some reason, I can't say "I'm going to Gen Con" without humming it to myself as if it were alternate lyrics to 'Graceland' by Paul Simon.

DKT · **Reply #12 on:** March 23, 2007, 09:51:49 PM

I'll be at ComicCon in San Diego in July. There's a lot of sci-fi and movie geek stuff going on there. And it's the first con I'm taking my daughter to. Can't wait

Rachel Swirsky · **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2007, 11:18:12 PM

Last year, I did Potlatch and Wiscon, but I ended up skipping Potlatch this year. Getting to NYC more often so I can go to KGB readings is a goal of mine, too.

Steve writes:

Quote

And maybe World Fantasy Con if I still have any money in November

I'm definitely going to this year's WFC. Yay upstate NY. If you make it, I'll buy you a drink.

SFEley · **Reply #14 on:** March 23, 2007, 11:32:05 PM

Quote from: palimpsest on March 23, 2007, 11:18:12 PM

Quote
And maybe World Fantasy Con if I still have any money in November

I'm definitely going to this year's WFC. Yay upstate NY. If you make it, I'll buy you a drink.

(Scales begin slowly to tip...) >8->

By the way, an update: I'm not doing Worldcon this year after all, alas. It's the money thing, and still needing to find contract work.

On the upside, I'm definitely doing Dragon*Con and Balticon. And sure, WFC is a pretty good possibility.

wakela · **Reply #15 on:** March 24, 2007, 12:24:17 AM

Quote

And for some reason, I can't say "I'm going to Gen Con" without humming it to myself as if it were alternate lyrics to 'Graceland' by Paul Simon.

Thanks, Jim. Now I can't either.

Quote

By the way, an update: I'm not doing Worldcon this year after all, alas. It's the money thing, and still needing to find contract work.

:'(
Is anyone going to World Con? C'mon! It's in JAPAN! Freakin' samurais and ninjas and stuff! With lasers!

Talia · **Reply #16 on:** March 26, 2007, 11:44:23 PM

Heh, I just had to share this moment from I-Con, because I think you all can appreciate the sublime geekyness of it all:

Saturday night they had a cabaret performance and the opening act was Claudia Christian (b5) playing Kathryn Janeway to Denise Crosby parodying herself as Tasha Yar and Dean Haglund (Langely, the blonde Lone Gunman from X-Files) playing Q, in a series of improvisational skits.

Truth be told it was hit and miss overall in humor, but it had its moments, and Claudia does a surprisingly good Janeway.

Rachel Swirsky · **Reply #17 on:** March 27, 2007, 01:17:33 PM

Those of you who do go to Worldcon, have fun with the Hugos! Report back what happens.

With all this SFWA discussion of the nebulas, my head is all like: "How are the genre awards working? What's going on?"

Does anyone have any opinions on how the location may affect the award results?

SFEley · **Reply #18 on:** March 27, 2007, 04:35:06 PM

Quote from: palimpsest on March 27, 2007, 01:17:33 PM

With all this SFWA discussion of the nebulas, my head is all like: "How are the genre awards working? What's going on?"

What's up with the Nebulas? I'm out of the rumor mill, hadn't heard anything; are they proposing changes or something?

Jim · **Reply #19 on:** March 27, 2007, 04:41:30 PM

Quote from: wakela on March 24, 2007, 12:24:17 AM

Quote
And for some reason, I can't say "I'm going to Gen Con" without humming it to myself as if it were alternate lyrics to 'Graceland' by Paul Simon.
Thanks, Jim. Now I can't either.

In that case, it's time to write the rest of the alternate lyrics.

Mfitz · **Reply #20 on:** March 27, 2007, 05:09:23 PM

Quote from: SFEley on March 27, 2007, 04:35:06 PM

[What's up with the Nebulas? I'm out of the rumor mill, hadn't heard anything; are they proposing changes or something?

Check out John Scalzi's blog

http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/2007_03.html

I think he has a change in the Nebulas as part of his platform in his write in bid to become God-Emperor of SFWA

Rachel Swirsky · **Reply #21 on:** March 27, 2007, 05:31:55 PM

Quote

What's up with the Nebulas? I'm out of the rumor mill, hadn't heard anything; are they proposing changes or something?

The candidates (http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=blogview&group=sff.sfwa.electionblog&from=3) are discussing whether the Nebulas do more good or ill for the organization. Neither Scalzi nor Capobianco seems to like them much.

Discussion... fascinating... can't keep eyes... off trainwreck...

SFEley · **Reply #22 on:** March 27, 2007, 06:53:03 PM

Quote from: palimpsest on March 27, 2007, 05:31:55 PM

The candidates (http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=blogview&group=sff.sfwa.electionblog&from=3) are discussing whether the Nebulas do more good or ill for the organization. Neither Scalzi nor Capobianco seems to like them much.

Discussion... fascinating... can't keep eyes... off trainwreck...

Heh. Agreed, and thanks for pointing that out to me. (I gave up my SFF.Net membership a couple years ago, just because I didn't have time to keep my newsgroup active and it wasn't doing much for me besides that. It was fun for several years, though.)

I only read the first ten pages or so. It confirms my belief that John Scalzi is one of the smartest people in the industry right now. But as I'm one of those people who probably could get SFWA membership from my short fiction credentials, but haven't bothered, I don't really have a stake in this. If some change comes about because of all this, maybe I'll rethink that.

As for the awards... Escape Pod will once again be making offers on the Hugo candidates this year. I believe this does some good for science fiction, to put these stories in front of people and to help bring awareness to Worldcon and the World Science Fiction Society.

Running the Nebula candidates would do less good for science fiction, because both the voting population and the organization behind it are smaller and of less direct relevance to science fiction fans, most of whom aren't writers. I'm not suggesting that the Nebula isn't an achievement, I think it is, but promoting it just isn't as useful.

Mfitz · **Reply #23 on:** March 27, 2007, 08:14:23 PM

I think that is part of why Scalzi wants to change the way the awards are given out. They would still be voted on by SFWA members but the awards would be given out at some sort of public event or con not at a SFWA members only dinner.

Rachel Swirsky · **Reply #24 on:** March 27, 2007, 08:17:34 PM

I certainly agree about Scalzi.

I had always planned to join SFWA when I qualified, but I didn't think I had any qualifying sales. But because of shifts that have come about as a direct result of Scalzi's candidacy, it turns out I have two qualifying sales - enough to join as an associate, though not an active. Consequently, I feel like I have a lot invested in the discussion. I'm also new enough to the writing community not to have heard it hashed out before.

I have to say, as far as awards go, the juried system seems a lot more... likely to yield relevant results.

wakela · **Reply #25 on:** August 05, 2007, 11:20:22 PM

With WorldCon coming up I wanted to give this topic a bump.

Is anyone going to WorldCon?

Planish · **Reply #26 on:** August 18, 2007, 05:40:50 PM

In my Alternate Universe, all the conventions come to me. Much cheaper and more convenient.

Quote from: Talia on March 26, 2007, 11:44:23 PM

Truth be told it was hit and miss overall in humor, but it had its moments, and Claudia does a surprisingly good Janeway.

Impersonating Janeway is easy. Just do Katherine Hepburn a few semitones lower in pitch.
Heh. Actually, I would like to have seen Kate Mulgrew do her one-woman show "Tea at Five", playing Hepburn. See http://www.chloeveltman.com/reviews/tea_at_five.html

lowky · **Reply #27 on:** August 20, 2007, 12:29:56 AM

Not going to WorldCon but I just got back from GenCon where I took part in Hickman's Killer Breakfast with special guest Gary Gygax

*geekgasm*. For those that don't know Tracy Hickman every year does "Hickman's Killer Breakfast" where you play a bunch of level one characters in some d&D scenario and he basically kills you off quickly if you can't keep him amused. Was a blast and one of the highlights of the con for me.

Steven Saus · **Reply #28 on:** September 02, 2007, 09:10:55 AM

Quote from: lowky on August 20, 2007, 12:29:56 AM

Not going to WorldCon but I just got back from GenCon where I took part in Hickman's Killer Breakfast with special guest Gary Gygax

I spent approximately half of GenCon in workshops, seminars, or chatting with writers in one form or another. Totally a blast.