Some years the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) is held outside of North America. In those cases, because like it or not, the majority of fans who attend Worldcons come from the US and Canada, there’s a second convention, the North American Science Fiction Convention, or NASFiC, somewhere in North America. For example, this year the Worldcon is in China, so the NASFiC was in Winnipeg. Both Worldcon and NASFiC are run by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). NASFiCs tend to be smaller in terms of attendance than Worldcons and they don’t give out Hugo Awards or other awards – they’re Worldcons’ baby sibling for those who can’t afford the time and/or the money to travel overseas.
In 2005 the Worldcon was in Glasgow (where it’s going to be again in 2024, we really hope to be there this time) and the NASFiC was in Seattle. We took a family trip to Seattle in August, but NASFiC was in July, so we missed it.
In 2006 the Worldcon was in Los Angeles (easy! right?) and I was there for about a half hour, literally. The family attended, but I was in the middle of my MBA at Pepperdine University and couldn’t afford the time even if it was just down the freeway. I’m told that I was also suffering from a severe case of shingles, but I have absolutely no memory of it. Which means it must have been really bad, so thank goodness my brain short circuited and didn’t retain those memories!
In 2007 the Worldcon was in Japan, so we were back off to NASFiC. It was held in Colinsville, IL, a small suburb of St. Louis. Normally we might have skipped it, but our son was stationed at Scott Air Force Base just a few miles away, so we got to kill several birds with one stone by attending.
I don’t remember the convention as being anything spectacular, but some of the sightseeing was. I remember fondly my visits to Hannibal, MO as a kid and I’ve always been a huge fan of Mark Twain and his works. It was great to take the family there.
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 