Category Archives: Fandom

August 6, 2025 · 23:10

Fannish Things We Gave Up In Exchange

Those of you associated with science fiction & fantasy fandom know what “fannish things” are. For those who don’t know, SF fandom is a bit of FIAWOL (Fandom Is A Way Of Life), a bit of FIJAGH (Fandom Is Just A Goddamn Hobby), and a bit of FIJAGWOL (the math is left as an exercise to the student). We had plans to attend Worldcon (the annual World Science Fiction Convention) in Seattle in two weeks, but those plans (sensibly, which is not always a given) were abandoned when we opened escrow at the beginning of July. Probably more short of time and strength than cash, but it’s all a factor.

So, house or Worldcon? Well, we last went to Worldcon in Chicago three years ago, skipped China and Scotland, and were really hoping to get to Seattle (we LIKE Seattle!) but were starting to have a few second thoughts to begin with due to some “issues” with the Worldcon committee, the volunteer group who are running the con. I’m hesitant to get too critical since back in the day I was on a half-dozen-plus con committees and was the con chair for three of them. It’s a tough, thankless gig. But still… Let’s just say that when the house became available, it didn’t take much to be a tipping point and have us cancel our hotel reservations.

The other aspect of the Forever Home adventure vs. Worldcon was time. Worldcon is where the Hugo Awards are presented, and since we have memberships in the Seattle Worldcon we’re entitled to vote for the Hugos. I always try to do that and do it from an informed position, which means reading all of the five or six or seven nominated novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories, as well as at least peruse the artwork, fanzines, and other nominated works. That takes time, which is generally time well spent since I’m reading what are among the best works of the year. Often I’ve already read a couple, just because I read a lot in the field to begin with.

But this year, I didn’t even get to make a decent effort. Every single brain cycle for the past six weeks has been focused on getting the house and getting into the house and getting out of the old house. Oh, and also keeping my job and putting in my hours there.

Reading recreationally for the Hugos? That might have gone so far onto a back burner that you need the Hubble Space Telescope to see it.

In two weeks I’ll watch to see who won. I’ll look for pictures from friends who are at the con.

And I’ll make plans for next year. Los Angeles.

That should be do-able, even from The High Desert.

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September 4, 2024 · 23:47

Think Cool Thoughts

As with much of the country (and the world these days), it’s been HOT this summer. Here in LA it’s getting up above 100°F for the next couple of days, and I was thinking that it would help to “think cool thoughts.”

That got me to thinking, “When did I last see snow?”

I’m not talking about seeing it on the mountains off in the distance – that happens a couple of times every winter here, even in SoCal. (Mountains going up well over 10,000 feet will help that process. That’s why there are ski resorts within an hour’s drive of downtown LA.) I’m talking about seeing it right there, where I can make a snowball.

The first thing that came to mind was April 2018, when we went to Toronto for the FilkOntario convention and I got inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame.

And then it occured to me that we had actually seen snow falling at a slightly more recent date, even if it hadn’t been enough to stick.

A couple days after Christmas 2018 we were in Kansas City for the Chiefs game (after having been in Seattle for the game there on Christmas Eve) and we saw some flurries. The rest of the weekend was clear(-ish) and just COLD.

So think cool thoughts, know that the snows and fall and flannel will return, and know that 2018 had a LOT of great adventures!

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August 9, 2024 · 23:43

Not In Glasgow

Worldcon has started in Glasgow – we really wanted to be there, but we’re not, in large part because we need to buy that Forever Home Real Soon Now.

Next year in Seattle, we can hope. That will be a little bit more fiscally possible.

With today’s communications technologies and social media, it’s easy to follow along as friends have migrated their way to Glasgow. I’m not sure if that helps or hurts. It’s not the same as being there, but it does allow us to watch the Hugo Awards ceremonies and some of the other major events.

The good news is that some of the final pieces are finally falling into place on the preparation for pulling the trigger on purchasing and moving to that Forever Home. It’s simultaneously incredibly exciting and incredibly terrifying. But if everything works out, we could be in our new place by the holidays.

It’s going to be “exciting.” With that happening on a personal level and *waves hands at the world* everything going on with the elections and life in general in the US, there’s gonna be some significant stress on multiple levels.

It is equally true that A) I’m too old and tired for this shit and B) the only way out is through.

Fun times!

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September 3, 2023 · 23:32

Past Labor Day Travels – September 03rd

As mentioned over the last few days, we went to Worldcon or NASFiC eight of ten years in ten years between 2000 and 2009. I had gone to Worldcon or NASFiC (and in 1979 I went to both, one of only two people to do so that I know of, the other being my college roommate who introduced me to fandom and conventions in 1978) twelve times in the twenty-two years between 1978 and 1999. But in the 2010’s? Nada.

By 2020 of course we were dealing with COVID and lockdowns and travel restrictions. The 2020 Worldcon in New Zealand was cancelled in the real world, but held virtually. We had serious plans to get to the 2021 Worldcon in Washington, D.C., but COVID was still an issue, they had some serious problems with their hotel shutting down, the convention got moved to December, and we ended up not going.

By 2022 most of the travel and other COVID restrictions were gone (we can debate elsewhere whether that was wise) but it was time for us to get back on the Worldcon trail.

2023’s Worldcon is in China and they’re having some issues that have caused them to move it to October. There are also many folks in fandom, including a number of prominent authors, who will be skipping the Chengdu Worldcon due to various human rights policies and violations by the Chinese government. But, with Worldcon out of North America, there was a NASFiC, which brought us to Winnipeg six weeks ago.

Next year Worldcon is in Glasgow, Scotland, with a NASFiC in Buffalo, NY. We would like to get to Glasgow having never been to Scotland, and a trip to Buffalo might also be nice. We’ll see.

2025’s Worldcon location will be determined by Worldcon members voting at Chengdu. So far only Seattle has a bid to host the convention. We like Seattle.

As I learned at my first Worldcon in 1978:

FIAWOL = Fandom Is A Way Of Life = can be true

FIJAGDH = Fandom Is Just A God Damned Hobby = should probably be true, but too often isn’t

FIJAGDWOL = you do the math, but it’s the greatest truth of the three

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September 2, 2023 · 23:19

Past Labor Day Travels – September 02nd

The 2009 Worldcon was in Montreal. Despite the “less than optimal” experience visiting the city in 2004, we went back for Worldcon. And had a really nice time.

The convention was fine with the convention center directly across the street from our hotel, so there weren’t any long walks to get anywhere. I have some nice memories of that con.

We did touristy things, saw the city, ate a lot (didn’t have poutine – still haven’t, which is sad), and sat and watched fireworks every night as there was some sort of huge international competition a mile or so away from the hotel and the view was great from the rooftop lounge area on the convention center.

Thus began, for reasons that weren’t entirely clear at any point, the interregnum, a period of twelve years where we didn’t go to Worldcon or NASFiC. We had gone as a family eight of the previous ten years and we went to other science fiction conventions, but the 2010’s had other plans for us. We traveled, some years a LOT, but it was more for family events, weddings, NASA Socials for me, a wonderful international trip (search this site for “Shanghai,” “Seoul,” or “Kyoto”), an eclipse, and some football games. But no Worldcons.

C’est la vie!

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August 31, 2023 · 22:53

Past Labor Day Travels – August 31st

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.

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August 29, 2023 · 23:42

Past Labor Day Travels – August 29th

The family trip to the 2004 Worldcon was memorable for some good reasons but also for a handful of lousy ones.

Worldcon was in Boston, a city I dearly love visiting, having spent a lot of time there when I was in high school in Vermont. Prior to going to Worldcon we stopped in Vermont and saw family, which was great.

In between there was a trip to Montreal, which was fine right up until the moment when we came back to our rental car, found the windows smashed out and my briefcase and our luggage gone, and had to deal with the French-Canadian authorities and rental car folks to get a replacement car. Not the greatest first impression with the family for Montreal. (For what it’s worth, Worldcon was in Montreal five years later, in 2009, and we were back and had a great time.)

This bridge, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, familiar to anyone who’s driven through Boston, is infamous in our family. We’ve driven across it over, and over, and over, and over, back and forth, trying to get from downtown to Logan International Airport. “But Paul, I’m very familiar with Boston and you don’t go over that bridge when going from downtown to Logan,” you’re saying.

I know!

Thus, the problem.

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August 28, 2023 · 22:33

Past Labor Day Travels – August 28th

Favorite author John Scalzi had a nice post on his website today about his first science fiction convention, twenty years ago today.

As I was recollecting yesterday, Labor Day weekend has quite often been our family vacation weekend at Worldcon, and it turns out we were at that convention in Toronto as well.

In addition to just traveling for the convention, we also go for ballgames, amusement parks, and other touristy activities. If you go to Toronto and get down by the ballpark, look up!

You never can tell who might be heckling you.

While Mr. Scalzi was reminscing on twenty years, I started thinking about my first convention. It was fifteen years earlier than… No, wait, it was twenty-five years earlier?

That can’t be right! I’m not THAT freakin’ old! That would be forty-five years ago. 2023 minus 1978 is … forty-five years.

Shazzbott!

At least three years later I had a better camera.

 

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July 19, 2022 · 23:23

Chicago, Here We Come (I HOPE!)

Chicon 8, the 80th World Science Fiction Convention, will be held in Chicago on September 1-5, 2022.

For the first time in a bunch of years, it looks like we’ll be there, barring some kind of (waves hands and does hopeless Kermit flail indicating everything) catastrophe.

My first science fiction convention was Iguanacon II in Phoenix in 1978. My first trip out of North America was Seacon ’79 in Brighton, England. My honeymoon with Janet (my first wife) was a cross-country road trip to Noreascon Two in Boston in 1980.

We went to Denvention Two in Denver in 1981, Chicon IV in Chicago in 1982, and ConStellation in Baltimore in 1983.

In 1984 we were touch and go at LA Con II here in Los Angeles. I was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Fanzine but Janet was about 8 1/2 months pregnant, so we could have been forced to bail at a moment’s notice. I did not win the Hugo and our son arrived two weeks after the convention.

After attending seven years in a row things got spottier. We didn’t get to Australia in 1985, Brighton in 1987, or The Hague in 1990.

Even for the domestic conventions, we only got to about a third of them. But we were also taking all of the kids – they got brought up in fannish culture. Noreascon 3 in Boston. ConFrancisco in San Francisco. LACon III in Los Angeles. Chicon 2000. ConJose in San Jose. Torcon 3 in Toronto. LACon IV. Denvention 3. Anticipation in Montreal.

Over the past dozen or so years it seems that a lot of Worldcons have been overseas, and with my career and CAF time commitments causing quite the pinch to my available time, we didn’t get to Australia, Helsinki, London, Dublin, or Wellington. Of course, we didn’t get to Chicago, Kansas City, San Antonio, Reno, or Spokane either. Hell, we didn’t even get to San Jose.

Recently, of course, there’s been COVID. So while we really, REALLY had plans to get to Washington, DC last year, that ultimately didn’t happen.

I had forgotten that the last one we actually got to was in 2009, Anticipation in Montreal. It’s been thirteen years. Time flies when you’re… Never mind.

Next year Worldcon is in Chengdu, China. As much as I enjoyed my one trip to China, I don’t realistically see us getting to Chengdu Worldcon 81st. For the 2024 Worldcon there’s only one bid, Glasgow, Scotland, so I’m guessing they’ll win the vote. We might actually give that a shot, it sounds like a great trip. 2025’s only bid so far is Seattle, where 2026 has bids from Los Angeles and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In summary, while the future looks good for at least a couple of domestic bids coming up and at least one realistic overseast trip, this year’s Worldcon in Chicago is where we’re focused. I think we’re going.

We have memberships, hotel reservations, and now plane reservations. Everything’s refundable if the world collapses (again) but we’re hopeful. Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Baycon up in San Mateo and it, while much smaller in size that in previous years (“Thanks, COVID!” ) was still enjoyable. I have no idea how big Chicon 8 will be compared to what I’m used to as a Worldcon, but I’m hoping for a fun convention and also some good sightseeing around Chicago. Maybe a Cubs game at Wrigley.

It’s about time to catch a break and get a little bit back to normal, if we can.

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July 5, 2022 · 22:30

I Got Home!

To find that after almost five weeks of watering the lawn at about 25% rations (twice a week instead of four times a week, for 8 minutes instead of 15), the lawn is turning brittle and brown quite nicely.

Good thing that it’s been in the 90’s and low 100’s and dry as a bone, too!

If it were my house I might be making changes in the landscaping, but it’s not. I’m sure the owner isn’t particularly happy, but thems are the rules and they seem to be enforcing it. I’m not planning on getting fined.

Now we just need to wait a couple of days and see if our somewhat obsessive wearing of masks and keeping as distant as possible from others at Baycon was effective. There are already reports of four COVID cases, but not necessarily in areas or panels we attended.

We’ll see. Whether or not we come out of his clean will have a lot to do in the final decision of whether or not to go to Chicago in September for Worldcon.

Fingers crossed…

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