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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 10/12/90 -- Vol. 9, No. 15
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
10/24 LZ: THE WORM OUROBOROS by E. R. Eddison (Classic Horror)
11/07 MT: WANDERING STARS ed. by Jack Dann (Jewish Science Fiction)
11/14 LZ: WAR WITH THE NEWTS by Karel Capek (Foreign SF)
12/05 LZ: EQUAL RITES or THE LIGHT FANTASTIC by Terry Pratchett (Humorous SF)
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
10/13 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
10/20 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3E-301 949-4488 hotld!tps
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 mtunq!lfl
MT Librarian: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. I was talking last issue about the back-to-basics-and-all-
silliness-aside ad campaigns for a brand of bourbon. As if you
could do that in the bourbon industry, an American industry
apparently named after a long-dead French royal family. Actually,
they like to name this hooch after some of the oddest things.
Would you like some Wild Turkey? The only wild turkeys I've ever
seen are on our roads after the bars close. Hey, how'd you like to
get a mouthful of Old Granddad? The thought just gives me the
willies.
I do have to confess to that alcoholic beverages are one subject I
cannot claim to be an expert on. I really _a_m a back to the basics
sort of drinker. For me it's water, soda, and the occasional
THE MT VOID Page 2
chocolate milk. My idea of a strong drink is ginger beer. Evelyn,
on the other hand, is something of a drinker, and not a "basics"
sort of drinker either. She likes this stuff that looks like
Windex and she says tastes like pancake syrup. The woman who makes
fun of my putting peanut butter in oatmeal drinks Windex-colored
pancake syrup. And you should see the bottle it comes in. You
know how cheese spread and jelly used to come in reusable juice
glasses? This stuff comes in a nice reusable glass orb. You know,
like the Czars of Russia used to have in jewel-encrusted gold.
Well, this comes in one of those, only glass. It's the silliest
bottle of anything you ever saw, just what you need if you want to
play Czar or something.
Actually, whiskey does get sold in some pretty weird bottles, too.
I once saw a bottle of whiskey shaped like a duelling pistol. You
poured it out of the barrel. Or, I guess you couldjust put the
barrel in your mouth--taking aim at the brain cells you are about
to kill--and fire away. Amazingly farsighted on the part of the
distillers.
2. The duelling pistol bottle gives new meaning to "a shot of
whiskey," doesn't it? And Chambord is not Windex-colored! [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
Man is a creature who cannot get outside of himself, and who
knows others only in himself, and when he says the contrary he lies.
-- Marcel Proust
ConFiction 1990
Con report by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Evelyn C. Leeper
(Part 3)
Panel: AAAAlllltttteeeerrrrnnnnaaaattttiiiivvvveeee HHHHiiiissssttttoooorrrryyyy
Sunday, 2:30 PM
Robert Silverberg (mod) (USA), Evelyn Leeper (USA),
Stanley Schmidt (USA), Thijs van Ebbenhorst Tengbergen (The Netherlands)
Silverberg began by introducing everyone, including Tengbergen,
whose full name he managed to pronounce. Tengbergen was on the panel
because he had written an alternate history in which the Spanish
conquistadores bring back a much more virulent strain of syphilis than
they actually did and southern Europe is decimated. The Aztecs end up
in India (he couldn't remember whether they sailed around Africa or
across the Pacific to get there) and the Netherlands has a much more
important place in the world. Other changes include much more advanced
biological sciences, though technology in general lags behind our own
world.
Since I was on the panel, and a bit awed to be on the same panel
with Silverberg, my notes are spotty. One question we discussed was
whether alternate histories really take _a_l_l the consequences of a change
into effect. The classic example given of this is Ray Bradbury's "The
Sound of Thunder" in which the killing of a butterfly in the Jurassic
changes our world, but only to the extent of a different candidate
winning an election and a different spelling for a few words. We agreed
it was far more likely that any change the killing caused either would
be so minor as to have disappeared by the present, or would have caused
far more major changes. This problem I listed as one of my pet peeves
about alternate histories. The example I gave was a story in which
World War II never happens, but John Kennedy is elected President in
1960 anyway. Why John and not his older brother who had been killed in
the war is one problem; another is recognizing that Kennedy's war record
was a large part of what got him elected.
One problem with working out the effect of a change back in
prehistoric times is that things rapidly become unrecognizable.
Consider William Tenn's "The Brooklyn Project" in which human scientists
working on time travel send back a capsule to the primordial soup. It
kills a few incipient life forms, changes a few others, and bounces back
to the present, where the scientists declare that no change has
happened. After doing this a few times (with subtle changes each time),
they are purple tentacled monsters in tanks, still adamantly declaring
that "Nothing has changed!"
Good alternate histories, on the other hand, work out the
ramifications, and also probably don't try to project more than a few
hundred years beyond the split point. Examples I gave are John Ford's _A
ConFiction September 9, 1990 Page 2
_D_r_a_g_o_n _W_a_i_t_i_n_g and Robert Sobel's _F_o_r _W_a_n_t _o_f _a _N_a_i_l. I also mentioned
to Silverberg afterward that I found his alternate histories which
looked at the effect that changing religion has on the world to be among
the most interesting ones written these days and said I hoped he'd write
more.
After this panel, a Yugoslavian fan approached Silverberg to talk
to him about the fact that publishers in Yugoslavia were publishing
Silverberg's works without getting his permission or paying him
royalties. Silverberg knew about this already and obviously was not
happy about this, but the fan seems to want Silverberg to do something
about it. What, was not clear, and Silverberg countered by saying that
fans in Yugoslavia should write their government to say that the lack of
Yugoslavian agreement to international copyright laws made Yugoslavia
look bad in the eyes of other people. Somehow I doubt a quick
resolution to this problem.
Panel: TTTTVVVV SSSSeeeerrrriiiieeeessss
Sunday, 5:30 PM
Katharina Loock (mod) (West Germany), David Lally (Great Britain),
Mark Leeper (USA), Melinda Snodgrass (USA),
Having Melinda Snodgrass on a panel on television science fiction
is a mixed blessing: she's very interesting to listen to and
knowledgeable, but her presence means that 90% of the questions will be
about _S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k: _T_h_e _N_e_x_t _G_e_n_e_r_a_t_i_o_n (of which she is the story editor).
The panel began by talking about some of the basics of television
science fiction. Series in the United States must be unordered--
showable in any order--since a large part of the revenue is from
syndication, when they can't worry about what order the shows are
running in. (_H_i_l_l _S_t_r_e_e_t _B_l_u_e_s was an exception in this regard, but it
also isn't syndicated much.) The result of this is that American series
rarely have a closing episode (though there are exceptions), they just
end. In case you're wondering, the two-parter in _S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k: _T_h_e _N_e_x_t
_G_e_n_e_r_a_t_i_o_n was, as everyone suspected, because some of the actors were
making contract negotiations difficult, and Paramount wanted to have the
option to write them out if necessary.
Anthology series are not very popular; _T_w_i_l_i_g_h_t _Z_o_n_e, the most
successful, was simplistic and audiences were willing to accept that in
the 1950s and 1960s, but they want more now. Mark said he would be
happy if the level of writing in television matched the level of writing
in the stories of the 1950s and 1960s.
Hollywood is not big on adapting novels or stories--Hollywood
writers are young and don't read, according to Snodgrass, and besides,
if they adapted a story, they'd have to pay the author. (With tar Trek
episodes now costing $1.4 million--of which the screenwriter gets
$20,000--this is considered important.) And if the writers don't read,
ConFiction September 9, 1990 Page 3
the studio heads are even worse: "Studio heads are as dumb as a box of
roaches," according to Snodgrass. And of course they have to steer
clear of anything controversial: sex, religion, drugs--in fact, much of
the sort of inquiry that makes science fiction interesting. Their idea
of a topical show is _T_h_e _G_r_e_e_n _M_a_c_h_i_n_e (now called _E_a_r_t_h_w_a_t_c_h, I
believe) starring Gil Gerard as the leader of a team of gung-ho
environmentalists (described by Snodgrass as "the A-Team meets
Greenpeace"). Given all this, Snodgrass is "stunned that [_S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k] is
doing as well as it is," and she describes it as feeble writing under
great special effects.
Unfortunately, says Snodgrass, in Hollywood television shows are
considered the filler between toilet paper commercials. Or, as Rod
Serling once said, "The mass media is supported and sustained by
commercial entities. And corn flakes and Shakespeare are simply not
kissing cousins. Leonard Bernstein and living bras are incompatible.
And you cannot sustain adult, probing, meaningful drama when the
proceedings are interrupted every twelve minutes by a dozen dancing
rabbits with toilet paper."
What about made-for-television movies and mini-series? Snodgrass
says made-for-television movies are dying off, and ever since _W_a_r _a_n_d
_R_e_m_e_m_b_r_a_n_c_e mini-series are in even worse shape. Still, some of the
best television science fiction are the British "limited series": _A_N
_E_n_g_l_i_s_h_m_a_n'_s _C_a_s_t_l_e, _T_h_e _D_a_y _o_f _t_h_e _T_r_i_f_f_i_d_s (not to be confused with
the Howard Keel movie). (I found myself wondering what German fans
think of alternate histories in which Germany won World War II, but
couldn't think of a good way to ask.)
Television series from other countries mentioned or discussed
included _S_t_a_r _C_o_p_s (Great Britain) and _J_u_p_i_t_e_r _M_o_o_n (a sort of soap
opera in space from West Germany, I think). There was also a seven-part
series from West Germany called _O_r_i_o_n which Loock says was run in the
United States, a black-and-white series which was made before _S_t_a_r: _T_r_e_k
(the original series). It spawned many books and there is a film based
on it in pre-production. But most of the discussion seemed to go back
to the United States, and seemed perhaps more on the state of United
States television series than on science fiction series internationally.
There was one fan who wanted to get the name of an old Norwegian
television series from a plot description; he was unsuccessful. Someone
else mentioned a Czechoslovakian series with time travel. And there was
also mention of the series _T_i_m_e_l_i_n_e co-produced by four different
countries (Great Britain, Spain, Turkey, and somewhere else) which runs
about four times a year on PBS and consists of telling about historical
events using modern television reporting techniques, but as if it were
when the events were happening ("So tell me, Mr. Khan, when did you
decide to invade Europe?"), and including commercials for new inventions
of the time.
The questions about _S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k brought forth the information that
_S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k: _T_h_e _N_e_x_t _G_e_n_e_r_a_t_i_o_n will be available only on video in Europe
ConFiction September 9, 1990 Page 4
for three years before it is released to European television.
The new "Sci-Fi Channel" on cable in the United States was
discussed. However, lack of audience and general problems in the cable
industry may kill it off. Other cable networks occasionally make forays
into science fiction. Arts & Entertainment showed _T_h_e _D_a_y _o_f _t_h_e
_T_r_i_f_f_i_d_s. USA Network does an occasional movie. The Fox Network shows
_A_l_i_e_n _N_a_t_i_o_n and _W_e_r_e_w_o_l_f.
The absence of any Japanese panel members seemed incomprehensible.
Masquerade
Sunday, 8 PM
The only word for this is "pathetic." (Well, in a pinch "pitiful"
will do.) They had only thirty entries, of which twenty were cobbled
together since 9 AM (when they discovered they had only eleven _r_e_a_l
entries). There were no Masters Class entires, and only one or two
Journeyman Class. And the Novice Class really were.
How bad was it? Well, no one clapped for most of the costumes,
which is extremely unusual. It was also true that the less costume, the
more clapping, but this is normal. (There was also a belly dancer. I
thought these went out in the early 1980s.) There was a heavy use of
classical music. Many of the "costumes" were skits more than costumes,
and overly long. (One, based on Moorcock, seemed to go on forever, but
was probably only(!) ten minutes.) Mark, in his cynicism, described
this heavy use of skits, dialogue, narration, and music as "costuming
for the visually impaired." One hopes future Worldcons will return to
the concept of a time limit.
There was also a heavy reliance on dry ice for special effects.
There were a couple of reasonable entries: The Headless Mage, The
Queen of Air and Darkness, and Fire & Water.
The "half-time" entertainment while the judges voted was pretty
lame also, consisting of people in clear plastic suits with lots of
tubing doing modern dance and posing. This was promoted as being very
racy and exciting, with warnings to those with pacemakers--clearly a
case of false advertising. (At the Gripe Session someone asked what the
cost of this show was; it was 2500 Dfl., or about $1500--not as
outrageous as many people feared.) When this was done, the judges still
hadn't decided (given the dearth of candidates even worthy of
consideration, they should have been done much faster), so we left for
the parties.
The parties started late and were over-heated. However, we saw
someone at one of them wearing a T-shirt of a woman in high heels
spanking another woman in high heels which we all agreed was far more
ConFiction September 9, 1990 Page 5
interesting than anything in the masquerade or the half-time show.
Panel: WWWWiiiillllllll TTTThhhheeeerrrreeee EEEEvvvveeeerrrr BBBBeeee AAAAnnnnooootttthhhheeeerrrr GGGGoooollllddddeeeennnn AAAAggggeeee????
Monday, 10 AM
Charles N. Brown (mod) (USA), Kathryn Cramer (USA), ? Donovan (Great Britain),
Malcolm Edwards (Great Britain), David Hartwell (USA)
This panel was scheduled to be in the large auditorium , but was
moved. When we finally found the room, Brown and Donovan had already
established that "the Golden Age is 12" and proceeded to more serious
questions. For one thing, there is no longer a sense of continuity.
Even fans starting in the 1960s had to read the good stuff from the
1940s and 1950s to be able to talk about science fiction to other fans;
now that link is lost, with teenagers now reading schlock fantasy
instead of Heinlein or Clarke. (Interestingly, Brown made use of the
phrase "Fans are slans" at one point, and the audience understood,
indicating that there remains _s_o_m_e continuity, although the audience was
by no means representative of the latest generation of science fiction
and fantasy readers.) Brown and Donovan see the current upswing in
comics ("graphic novels") as a temporary phenomenon.
As was pointed out from the audience (me?), there was plenty of
schlock in the "Golden Age," but it gets forgotten and the good stuff
elevated in people's memories.
What is a "Golden Age"? Brown described it as a large group with
shared viewpoints, and gives the classic example of 1939 through 1945.
He also claims that today publishers get 24% of their income from
science fiction--you'd think they would have a "shared viewpoint" and I
suppose they do, but it tends to be "Let's make money!"
Just as Brown and Donovan had decided that there would not be
another Golden Age, Cramer, Edwards, and Hartwell arrived, with another
large audience segment. They had arrived late, gone to the auditorium,
acquired another late arrivals, and started the panel there. When
someone finally told them where the official room was, they all moved.
But their panel had decided that every decade is a Golden Age!
How to resolve these two very disparate views? Well, one clue was
that Edwards would periodically chime in with, "Yes, but what about the
rest of the world?" (Interesting that in the Netherlands, the phrase
"the rest of the world" was still meaning "everything but the United
States and maybe Canada.") Looking at the rest of the world, the
panelists concluded that while the 1940s and early 1950s was the United
States's "Golden Age," the "New Wave" period in Great Britain was its
Golden Age. The 1950s and the early 1960s was the French Golden Age
("Epoque d'Or"?). The 1960s and early 1970s (with the Strugatskys et
al) were the Soviet Golden Age. And there was the prediction that the
1990s would be the Eastern European Golden Age. How can English-
speaking fans find out about these "Golden Ages"? Well, maybe some
publisher could come out with a magazine of translations of science
ConFiction September 9, 1990 Page 6
fiction from the rest of the world. Surely there is enough interest to
support a small press publication.
Brown claimed what made a Golden Age was ideas that excite the
reader, not great writing, which puts him a bit at odds with the
selection of the "New Wave" era in Great Britain as the Golden Age
there. Hartwell, on the other hand, wants good writing, but finds the
average science fiction novel is better than the average mainstream
novel in any case. He does, however, want more science fiction and less
fantasy.
Given that most other countries have no science fiction magazines
to "practice in," the panelists (at least the United States panelists)
felt that the United States had an edge in this regard, and observed
that Golden Ages are often defined by the magazines as much as by the
books. Gardner Dozois (from the audience) offered the thought that
"magazines are the place to be bad--or at least half-baked." Even in
the United States, though, horror is found only in small press magazines
(with an occasional entry in _T_h_e _M_a_g_a_z_i_n_e _o_f _F_a_n_t_a_s_y & _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n,
I should note).
Echoing the earlier sentiments regarding young fans, Hartwell
claimed this was the Golden Age of gaming.
In spite of all this, the panelists listed some works that they
thought would be remembered from this age:
- Baxter, ?--_T_h_e _R_a_f_t
- Bear, Greg--"Heads"
- Bear, Greg--_B_l_o_o_d _M_u_s_i_c
- Bear, Greg--_Q_u_e_e_n _o_f _A_n_g_e_l_s
- Bisson, Terry-_V_o_y_a_g_e _t_o _t_h_e _R_e_d _P_l_a_n_e_t
- Brin, David--_E_a_r_t_h
- Haldeman, Joe--_B_u_y_i_n_g _T_i_m_e (Brown)
- Simmons, Dan--_H_y_p_e_r_i_o_n (Donovan)
- Sladek, John--"Stop Evolution in Its Tracks" (Cramer)
- Sterling, Bruce--_S_c_h_i_s_m_a_t_r_i_x (Hartwell)
- Tepper, Sheri S.--_R_a_i_s_i_n_g _t_h_e _S_t_o_n_e_s (Edwards)
- Womack, Jack--_T_e_r_r_a_p_l_a_n_e (Hartwell)
ConFiction September 9, 1990 Page 7
Panel: TTTThhhhiiiissss BBBBooooooookkkk SSSShhhhoooouuuulllldddd HHHHaaaavvvveeee BBBBeeeeeeeennnn NNNNoooommmmiiiinnnnaaaatttteeeedddd
Monday, 11:30 AM
Charles N. Brown (mod) (USA), Evelyn Leeper (USA), Pascal Thomas (France)
Brown started out by saying that he was recently asked to list the
"Ten Most Influential Novels of the Past Fifty Years" and three science
fiction books that he included were George Orwell's _1_9_8_4, Olaf
Stapledon's _S_t_a_r _M_a_k_e_r, and Joe Haldeman's _B_u_y_i_n_g _T_i_m_e, the last
published in 1989 and completely overlooked for the Hugos.
The usual problems of distribution and publicity were discussed.
This is especially a problem in the shorter fiction categories. For
example, Thom Nichols's novella "Walking Water" was published with
another novella in a single volume by a small press, and was not at all
publicized in the general science fiction community. New programs to
publish novellas as books may help, though the primary reason for these
programs is the ever-increasing cost of books. As people balk at paying
$25 for the latest novel by author X, they may be willing to pay $10 (or
am I being optimistic in this pricing?) for a novella, especially if the
book _l_o_o_k_s as thick as a novel.
As far as the Hugo nominees goes, one problem is that even after
they're nominated people can't find them. Some enterprising book dealer
ought to take an ad in the Progress Report which includes the Hugo
ballot offering the novels, collections, anthologies, and even magazines
that contain the nominees via mail-order. This would be especially
useful for overseas fans.
Generally from these panels, however, what develops is a list, so
here it is (including who recommended it, if I remembered):
- Benford, Gregory--_T_i_d_e_s _o_f _L_i_g_h_t (Brown)
- Bova, Ben--_C_y_b_e_r_b_o_o_k_s
- Butler, Octavia E.--_I_m_a_g_o (Brown)
- Brussard, Jacques--_L_e_s _E_a_u_x _d_e _F_e_u
- Cherryh, C. J.--_R_i_m_r_u_n_n_e_r_s (Brown)
- Clarke, Arthur C. and Lee, Gentry--_R_a_m_a _I_I (Brown)
- Goldstein, Lisa--_T_o_u_r_i_s_t_s (Thomas)
- Haldeman, Joe--_B_u_y_i_n_g _T_i_m_e (Brown)
- Kandel, Michael--_S_t_r_a_n_g_e _I_n_v_a_s_i_o_n (Leeper)
- Murphy, Pat--_T_h_e _C_i_t_y, _N_o_t _L_o_n_g _A_f_t_e_r (Leeper)
ConFiction September 9, 1990 Page 8
- Nichols, Thom--"Walking Water" (Leeper)
- Powers, Tim--_T_h_e _S_t_r_e_s_s _o_f _H_e_r _R_e_g_a_r_d (Thomas)
- Simmons, Dan--_C_a_r_r_i_o_n _C_o_m_f_o_r_t
- Simmons, Dan--_P_h_a_s_e_s _o_f _G_r_a_v_i_t_y (Leeper)
- Williams, Walter Jon--_A_n_g_e_l _S_t_a_t_i_o_n
- Wilson, Robert Charles--_G_y_p_s_i_e_s (Leeper)
In the area of Dramatic Presentation, the following were mentioned:
- _B_i_l_l _a_n_d _T_e_d'_s _E_x_c_e_l_l_e_n_t _A_d_v_e_n_t_u_r_e
- "The Measure of a Man"
- _M_i_r_a_c_l_e _M_i_l_e
Gripe Session
Monday, 12:30 PM
Some of the gripes brought up have been mentioned already. Other
complaints included the lack of a restaurant map, no vegetarian food
available in the Congress Centre, not enough signs (or signs that
weren't visible enough) directing people to hard-to-find rooms, poor
ventilation, and too much cigarette smoke (smoking by panelists is a
problem that is especially difficult to control).
The badges generated lots of complaints. Some people wanted the
city as well as the country listed. Others complained that some of the
Dutch badges said "Holland" and some said "The Netherlands." One woman
complained because her legal last name was on the badge and she didn't
want to reveal it (for professional reasons). The latter seems somewhat
trivial--just stick something over the last name. Boskone and other
conventions, in fact, insist on members' real names appearing on the
badges because they found that many people took advantage of the
anonymity of fannish names to act obnoxiously (not to say that was what
this woman wanted to do, certainly). One fan from Northern Ireland
complained that her badge said "United Kingdom" but the United Kingdom
didn't include Northern Ireland. Another fan who was listed as
"Ireland" said she lived in Ireland but was a United States citizen and
the badges should reflect citizenship, not place of residence. (This,
in my opinion, is getting into the truly picky, and people who are
overly concerned about this sort of thing should be willing to stick a
label over the offending part of the badge or ask if they can have a new
badge prepared--which they could have done.)
Compliments went to the Committee for having a multilingual
Operations staff and making an effort to ensure that there was always
ConFiction September 9, 1990 Page 9
someone who spoke each of the major languages on duty at any time.
Regarding the language issue, Bill Ritch said that he heard more English
spoken at this convention than in his home town of Miami. (On the minus
side, several fans complained that the name "Gripe Session" was an
Americanism and should have been described better in the schedule. Of
course, these people were here, so they must have figured it out
somehow!) People also liked the staggered schedule (though I found it
annoying, trying to decide whether to catch only half of an interesting
panel or not).
I notice they had this in a fairly large hall!
Closing Ceremonies
Monday, 2 PM
The Closing Ceremonies were the usual sort of thing, with the
Chicon V committee putting on a little skit to represent their taking
over the Worldcon baton. Everything really did shut down at 3 PM as
announced, leaving us with lots of time to go back to the boardwalk in
Scheveningen, after a last quick rush through the "Fan Market" to pick
up some badges from Eastern European conventions that fans from that
area were selling to raise money to attend this convention, and to give
an extra copy of _L_o_c_u_s that I had somehow acquired to a Soviet fan who
probably has less chance to get one. We also got some Hungarian science
fiction that was being given out by a Hungarian fan, and I got the
editor of the Roumanian science fiction anthology I had bought to
autograph it. There may have been "Dead Dog" parties, but not as many
as would have been as a North American Worldcon. Then again, the whole
party situation was different, with the hotel and Congress Centre lock
on corkage limiting the parties to well-to-do groups.
Miscellaneous
The elevators were not a major issue, as the convention was limited
to three floors of the Congress Centre. However, right before the
convention, one elevator was taken out of service, rendering an entire
set of rooms inaccessible to people in wheelchairs. Luckily, only one
panel had been scheduled for these rooms; unluckily, that was the panel
on handicapped access at conventions!
As usual, I'll list the Worldcons I've attended and rank them, best
to worst (the middle cluster are pretty close together):
Noreascon II
Noreascon III
Noreascon I (my first Worldcon)
Midamericon (on the basis of the film program, perhaps)
LACon (I don't fault them just because they avoided bankruptcy!)
Discon II
Seacon
Confederation
ConFiction September 9, 1990 Page 10
Chicon IV
ConFiction (though it's getting hard to rank them all)
Conspiracy (mostly due to hotel problems)
Iguanacon (partially done in, in my opinion, by politics)
Suncon (the location change from Orlando to Miami didn't help)
Nolacon II (extremely disorganized)
Constellation (they over-extended themselves)
As I said before, San Francisco won the bid for 1993. Larry Niven
and Alicia Austin are the Pro Guests of Honor, Tom Digby and Wombat (jan
howard finder) are the Fan Guests of Honor, and Guy Gavriel Kay is the
Toastmaster. Mark Twain is the Dead Guest of Honor. I note that
Progress Report 0 lists the dates as Friday, September 3, 1993 through
Monday, September 6, 1993; if this is true, it will be the shortest
Worldcon in recent history--most start on Thursday. Next year's contest
is a two-way race for 1993: Winnipeg and Louisville (originally
Nashville).
Next year in Chicago!