On the Road
"WORLDCON 2004"
NoreasCon 4: The 62nd World Science Fiction Convention
A Review of the WorldCon 2004 in Boston
Copyright © 2004, Rick Silva
Background
One of the great traditions in the science fiction community is the World Science Fiction Convention. Established in 1939, there has been a WorldCon every year with the exception of the World War II years of 1942-1945. WorldCon does not have a fixed site. A bidding process allows fan groups from around the world the chance to host WorldCon, with the attendees voting on the site of the convention to be held two years ahead. I'd been anticipating the 2004 WorldCon ever since I heard the news that Boston's bid had been selected for 2004. The 2004 WorldCon was also known as NoreasCon 4, the fourth Boston WorldCon. Each WorldCon is known by a name chosen by the local fan group running the event.
WorldCon is not an easy event to attend. It is more expensive than most cons. Some events that are quite a bit larger will take a much smaller bite out of your wallet. Fortunately I had the advantage of my Mom's guestroom in Dedham MA, just south of Boston, so I didn't need to pay for a hotel room. Recent WorldCons have averaged a little over 5000 attendees. WorldCon, as I discovered, is also a bit older crowd than some of the conventions I have been to. Many fans make a point of attending each WorldCon, even if they don't do other conventions during the year. For many fans, and many authors and artists as well, WorldCon is THE event of the year. I was hoping that my first WorldCon would live up to my high expectations.
Getting There
I left Wednesday night, Loading up the car with promotional materials for Dandelion Studios and stuff to get autographed (Trading cards for Michael Whelan, Margaret Organ-Kean, Donato Giancola, Janny Wurtz, and Don Maitz; comics by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran; books by George R.R. Martin and Neil Gaiman; I still needed to pick up something by Terry Pratchett).
I had smooth sailing all the way to Boston.
Absurdity of the trip: In Hartford, there was a huge warehouse with a big neon sign by the highway. One letter wasn't working on the sign. The result (I kid you not):
HARTFORD ELF STORAGE
I took it as a good omen.
Day 1
I spent thursday morining hunting down a couple more books that I wanted to get autographed: A couple of Terry Pratchett novels (one for me and one for a friend) at Barnes & Noble, and two copies of Neil Gaiman's The Wolves in the Walls that I got cheap at Building 19 (a local bragain store). I parked my car in Quincy and took the subway into the city.
Registration went very smoothly, and I got my badge and located the "freebies" area to put out the promotional materials I'd brought. WorldCon had a HUGE section of freebies. I grabbed bunches of stuff (best item: free packets of Sailor Moon stickers!), and then made my way into the con's main concourse. I located the Fanzine lounge and presented the coordinator with a couple of issues of Caravan to add to their library. The concourse contained the information desk, as well as museum exhibits on rocketry and fandom history, the WorldCon merchandise store, and a fully-stocked pub called the Mended Drum.
Next hall over was the dealer's room. I ran into some old friends: the folks from Blood & Cardstock, and Kate from Kadon Enterprises. Had a nice conversation with Colleen Doran and got her to autograph a couple of comics. She even did a little sketch for me when she signed my Sandman trade paperback. Bought a small-press young-adult novel, The Adventures of Kyria: The Child of Prophecy by Clifford B. Bowyer, and got it signed. The vast majority of the dealers were booksellers, some with older stuff, some with newly-published books.
After leaving the dealer's room I ran into Judy Y., and we hung out and chatted for a while. She was planning to meet her boyfriend to catch a movie in the evening, so when she took off, I got something to eat, and then headed back to the con.
I walked through the art show, which was just plain huge. No con I've been to comes close to the size of this show. You could spend hours there. There was even a large "Retro" section, displaying original art and prints from classic SF novels, magazines, and pulps as far back as the 1930s.
The big event for opening night was a "First Night" celebration, modeled after Boston's New Year's eve festivities (a big part of which occupy this same convention facility every year). The result was a sort of indoor street carnival with juggling, face painting, balloons, belly dancing, drumming, games, and food. It was very enthusiastically attended, and seemed to be a big hit with the convention crowd.
I walked around for a bit and got a feel for "First Night", but eventually made my way to one of the film rooms where artist Bob Eggleton was hosting a screening of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla. Wow. Four words: Best. Godzilla. Movie. Ever.
It helped that Eggleton had worked on the set of the film and gave some really great commentary. He even pointed out places where he appeared on screen among the panicked masses fleeing in terror. The movie really was a lot of fun, and not just for the obvious reasons (large scale collateral damage to the Tokyo metro area). It actually had some really cool characters. Who were not giant monsters. Really. I was also highly amused to see that the film featured a cameo by current Yankees Outfielder Hidekei Matsui (particularly ironic since he got nicknamed "Godzilla" when he signed with the Yankees; I wonder if the sportscasters know he was actually in a Godzilla movie). Oh, and if you do see this movie, be aware that there's a bit of an "epilogue" after the closing credits.
I headed back to my Mom's place after the movie with plans to get an early start the next morning.
Day 2
Friday morning I walked to the train station near my Mom's house and took the commuter rail into the city. I got to the con around 10:30, but stopped off in the mall to pick up a couple of Magic booster packs and grab a bite to eat.
Then it was off autograph hunting! I attended two art panels. The first was a slideshow of Martina Pilcerova's work. She's from Slovakia, and she's very talented (and cute too). She did many of the basic lands for Magic's Mirrodin expansion. She signed a couple of my cards and we talked a little bit about the upcoming release of Champions of Kamigawa (which she will have a dozen or so cards in). She was also part of a panel that immediately followed, on the topic of emergency fixes for artists' mistakes when under deadline pressure. Interesting discussion, very entertaining especially when the conversation turned to cat-related mishaps (remarkably common in the fantasy art community for some reason). I managed to snag a couple more autographed cards at the end of the show (this time from Margaret Organ-Kean).
From there I spent a little more time in the dealer's room and the freebies table, and then attended two more panels. The first was on fanzines, past and present, and I made some good contacts there. The second was on the use of rhyme and meter in fiction. One of the panelists there was Lee Martindale, who wrote a couple of pieces for Kinships (the magazine I used to edit) back in the day. I also have a story by her in one of the Sword & Sorceress anthologies. I had a nice chat with Lee after the panel, and traded business cards with her.
Heading back toward the dealer's room, I ran into Judy, and we walked around for a bit. I managed to catch Michael Whelan right at the end of his autograph session, and got him to sign my Nalathni Dragon Magic card.
Then it was off to the big game in the autograph hunt. I ended up standing in line for almost an hour to meet Neil Gaiman. He was quite friendly and did a little sketch in the copy of The Wolves in the Walls that I'll be giving my nephew for Christmas. I also got an autograph from Janny Wurts.
Judy and I met up with Judy's boyfriend, Josh, that evening and we walked to a nearby Indian restaurant, where the waitress proceeded to pour a pitcher of water directly into my lap. Oh well, the food was good, at least. I had vindaloo fish, but declined to top level of spiciness. It was still plenty hot. Excellent naan too
At this point it was around 8:00, and I was thinking of heading home. I had just missed a train, though, so I did some more wandering in the con (briefly checked out some of the parties and the con suite), and eventually found myself in a "Filk Rendezvous" event. This was a jam session of five filkers, although the music leaned more toward old country and blues. Great version of "Please MR. Custer". I also got to experience "Ode to Joy"... On acoustic guitar and harmonica! That's not something you hear every day!
Day 3
I was later arriving at the con than on Friday, but still managed to do quite a bit. Wandered the dealer's room some more. Bought a Heather Alexander CD. She's a renaissance music performer. Really great music, including a the King Henry ballad from Book of Ballads & Sagas, and bodhran version of "The Devil & the Farmer's Wife".
Got autographs from Don Maitz, George R.R. Martin, and Terry Pratchett (stood in an extremely long line for that last one).
I also attended a panel on rivalries in fandom, and another on genre poetry.
Of course, the big event was the presentation of the Hugo Awards. Very nice ceremony. Neil Gaiman did an excellent job as MC.
Best quotes from the Hugo ceremony (as best I can remember them):
"If we're all the Westminster Dog Show, then editors are the herding group." - Ginjer Buchanan presenting Best Professional Editor
"And I'd like to thank God... Zilla. Fifty years! Way to go, big guy!" - Bob Eggleton accepting Best Professional Artist
"He designed prosthetics for all three Lord of the Rings movies. Yes, this is the man who designed ALL the elf ears. And I figure THAT should get him laid!" - Neil Gaiman introducing presenter James Bacon
Oh, and in case you were wondering...
Other awards presented:
Day 4
I spent the morning visiting my Grandfather, and then drove into Boston to attend my final day of WorldCon. The convention was actually scheduled to go well into Monday (Labor Day) afternoon, but I had to drive back to New Jersey on Monday.
My first panel was a total disaster. It was on the "Risks of Recruitment", basically covering issues of the pros and cons of actively recruiting new blood into fandom. Two of the people on the panel got into a major clash of egos right from the start, over what was apparently an argument has been ongoing pretty much forever, and the whole thing nearly degenerated into an ugly mess. Eventually, peace was established somewhat grudgingly, and the panel proceeded, but several of the folks running it remained in a rather bad mood. The most insightful comments ended up coming from a 16-year-old kid, whose positive outlook put the "experienced fans" to shame.
Next up, I attended a bodhran workshop. This proved to be excellent, even though it was really just a demonstration and discussion. I learned quite a bit about what would be involved in playing the bodhran, which I think is the instrument I'd like to play if I ever got my act together to learn one.
I then attended a panel on book reviews, which was well-run, and fairly interesting. My final panel of the con was on alternative publishing. There was one person running the event, and I was the only one who showed up. The woman was very pleasant and we had a nice conversation about a bunch of different aspects of self-publishing. Interestingly, she seemed to think that self-publishing was a much more viable option for both comics and poetry, than for novels or anthologies.
I picked up more freebies, and decided that an upcoming issue of Caravan is going to include a free bookmark with each copy (while supplies last). I have THAT many bookmarks.
The big news of the morning at WorldCon had been the announcement of the 2007 site selection. The 2007 WorldCon will be the first Asian WorldCon as Yokohama beat out Columbus OH in the voting.
Following an afternoon of panels, I met Judy and Josh for quick munchies at the food court, then met up with her new friend Mike and proceeded to the Masquerade. This was a huge event, with presentations of almost 50 costumes. Among the highlights was a time travel skit with Samuel Clemens, H.G. Wells, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Shelley, and Annie Oakley. There was a very interesting "Beaker the Vampire Slayer" Buffy/Muppets parody, a little kid in a perfect Thunderbirds uniform (doing a bit about being freed from his puppet strings called "Wireless"), and a bunch of Discworld-based costumes (much to the amusement of judge Terry Pratchett).
The costume presentations were amusing, but ran very long, and the MC was big into in-jokes. It was after 11:00 when the judges finally left to deliberate. Since I was more interested in seeing the costumes, than in finding out who won, I didn't stick around for the announcement of the winners. But I did stay and watch the "halftime entertainment", which was Charles Ross's absolutely amazing "One-Man Star Wars" in which he performs the entire original Star Wars trilogy as a one-man show. It was incredible, particularly his extra-whiny rendition of Luke Skywalker, and his wonderful performance as an Imperial AT-AT. Great stuff. Apparently he also does a "One-Man Lord of the Rings".
This was the perfect ending for my first WorldCon. I probably won't make it to another one until at least 2008, but it has certainly been a pretty awesome experience. I got a gigantic stack of freebies and promotional stuff, and I've still not gone through all of them, but I've included some of the more interesting links below. I've also got information on the upcoming WorldCons and WorldCon bids for those interesting in attending a future WorldCon. If you're a fan of fantasy/SF it's definitely something you should experience at least once in your lifetime.
WorldCon Links
These are just a few of the many organizations , companies, and individuals that had some kind of presence at WorldCon:
NESFA - The New England Science Fiction Association were the main promoters of the 2004 WorldCon.
BSFA - British Science Fiction Association.
Burroughs Bibliophiles - Edgar Rice Burroughs fan organization.
Emerald City - Online magazine devoted to SF/fantasy. Over 500 book reviews available on their site.
LASFS - Los Angeles Science Fiction Society.
Leah Cutter Fantasy novelist. Author of Paper Mage and others.
Terry Pratchett's Official Site - Terry was one of the Guests of Honor at WorldCon.
Prydonians of Prynceton - Fan-run SF media club based in central NJ.
Silver Leaf Books - Publishers of fantasy, SF, and horror novels. I met author Clifford B. Bowyer at WorldCon and picked up his young adult fantasy novel The Adventures of Kyria: The Child of Prophecy.
United Fan Con - Massachusetts based promoters of media-oriented SF conventions. Upcoming events are November 5-7, 2004 in Springfield MA, and May 6-8, 2005 in Quincy MA.
Watson Guptill Publications - Art book publisher.
ASFA - The Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists.
Heinlein Society - Dedicated to preserving the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein and his works.
Locus - The magazine of the SF/fantasy field. Website contains excellent SF/fantasy reference resources. Locus won the 2004 Hugo for best semi-pro zine.
MASS FILC - Massachusetts-based filk organization.
Bad Day Studio - SF resources including the Gravity Lens blog.
Somewhere in Time - Official fan website for the film. Somewhere in Time.
Threads of Time - Makers of historically influenced clothing.
DAW Books - SF/fantasy publishers.
Tad Williams - Fantasy author.
Broad Universe - An international organization with the primary goal of promoting science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by women.
The Ursa Major Awards - Presented annually for excellence in the furry arts.
Wordfire - Official site of authors Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta.
Pandemonium Books & Games - Boston's science fiction specialty store.
International Federation of Trekkers - Star Trek fandom organization.
Winning Move Games - Makers of original boardgames as well as reprints of boardgame classics.
Tachyon Publications - San Francisco based small press specializing in SF/fantasy.
EPIC - Organization of electronic publishers and authors.
Dargon Zine - Fantasy e-zine.
Epic Adventures - MA/NH based fantasy LARP.
NERO Massachusetts - MA chapter of the NERO fantasy LARP.
Strange Horizons - Weekly online magazine of speculative fiction.
Anime Hasshin - Independent anime/manga fan club.
Dreams and Nightmares - Magazine of fantasy/SF poetry.
Links to Upcoming WorldCons and WorldCon Bids
The World Science Fiction Society - Presides over the selection of WorldCon Sites and the awarding of the Hugo Awards. Their site has links to upcoming WorldCons.
Interaction 2005 - The 2005 World Science Fiction Convention will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
LA Con IV- The 2006 WorldCon will be in Los Angeles CA.
Nippon 2007 - The site selection for the 2007 WorldCon took place in Boston at the 2004 WorldCon. The winning bid was Yokohama, Japan, which will now host the 2007 WorldCon.
Chicago WorldCon 2008 - A bid for the 2008 WorldCon in Chicago IL.
There is also a bid in progress for Denver CO in 2008.
MidAmeriCon - A bid to hold the 2009 WorldCon in Kansas City MO.
There is also a bid for Montreal, Canada for 2009.
Australia in 2010 - A bid for the 2010 WorldCon in Australia.
Finally, there is a bid in place for Washington DC in 2011.