I was away all last weekend and, for various reasons, I don’t have a brand-new column this week, but since I was at Spocon 2022 in Spokane WA, I figure it’s a good excuse.
At the “tag end” of this column, I’ll speak a little bit about Spocon 2022. Otherwise, you’ll be treated (?) to a repetition of a column from my first year with Amazing Stories® Online. Somewhat updated, of course
As I mentioned in a previous column (only 8 years ago!), nametags are a wonderful way to remember conventions years after they’ve passed. The first Worldcon I attended, as you can see from Figure 1, was MidAmeriCon in 1976 in Kansas City, Missouri. The writer Guest of Honor was Robert A. Heinlein, and the artist GOH was George Barr, who did the program book dustjacket and the logo which was used on the nametag shown here. (The reason there’s a bull wearing a space helmet is, if you didn’t know, that Kansas City is famous for its steak; since cowboy days it’s been a nexus for cattle and cattlemen. There are two Kansas Cities—again, in case you didn’t know: one’s in Missouri, and one’s right across the river in Kansas, so the locals, as far as I know, say “KCMO” to make it clear which KC they’re talking about. I had a Kansas City steak with a party of con-goers, and I can tell you the Kansas City strip is better in KCMO than any I’ve had anywhere else!)
Anyway, the con was wonderful; I went with my late friend Jon Gustafson, who was Art Editor on our fanzine, New Venture, and we had a terrific time hobnobbing with the great, near-great and not-so-great. The Art GOH, George Barr, was a friend, so we got invited to the private GOH party he threw; we reconnected with old friend Kelly Freas, who was there at the behest of Roger Elwood’s Laser Books—Kelly did all the covers for Laser. I also met lots of people I hadn’t met before, like Glenn Lord, the executor of Robert E. Howard’s literary estate (I’m a big REH fan, and have the original Gnome Press hardcovers—ex-library, unfortunately, but what can you do?—in my collection) as well as Donald Grant, who was publishing a lot of REH in marvelous limited-edition illustrated hardcovers.
I also met Leigh Brackett, whose Eric John Stark books set in a Mars that never was are some of the greatest old SF ever written—and she was also a screenwriter, who wrote the screenplays to The Big Sleep (Humphrey Bogart et al.) and The Empire Strikes Back, among others. (At this point, Lucas was four years in her future!) She was married to another great “Golden Age” science fiction writer, Edmond Hamilton. I touched base with Frank and Bev Herbert and Bev’s cousin, Martha, whose last name escapes me, and took pictures of them with Heinlein’s old friend, Sally Rand, who was famous for her (nude) fan dancing in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Sally was about four and a half feet tall, so unfortunately, my old Argus camera, which had an optical viewfinder, took some terrific pictures of the top of her wig. I made the mistake of asking Sally if she was an “ecdysiast”—she drew herself up to her full height (as said, about four and a half feet) and said, stiffly, “Young man, Gypsy Rose Lee was an ecdysiast. I am a dancer!” I apologized at once and the awkward moment passed. She signed my program book “Your Fan, Sally Rand”! That was also where I first met Marvel comic people Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman, who also signed my book with a cartoon. It was everything a first Worldcon should be!
My second Worldcon was in Denver, in 1981—that was Denvention II, as Denver had hosted the third Worldcon back in 1941, so this was the fortieth anniversary. I came to this one with my then-wife, Mary, who had sat at home while I gallivanted around the country with Jon Gustafson; this time, she was going to go do interesting stuff while I attended the convention. (Mary was not a fan, and had no interest in genre fiction or, for the most part, genre people, although she had met some great people through MosCon and others. She is or was a librarian—and was a bit “strait-laced” compared to most fans, although many who knew her were completely surprised during Rain Fore in Vancouver to see her leading Peter Terry down Davie Street… Pete in dog collar and chain! But I digress.) Denvention II was also a fun convention; Jon and I (yes, he came to the con, but not with me!) spent much of our con time with a few new friends—Ron Salomon of the New York area and his mom, Doris; and Anders Bellis and another Swedish fan named Per… uh, I’ve forgotten Per’s last name, darn it! (Bellis and Ron are still good friends; I’ve recently reconnected with them on Facebook. I love the interwebz!)
I also got to “do” the convention as a Press Person—here’s my press pass, which got me into several “closed” events, like the Hugo Awards; even though they were “standing room only,” I got in as a Press representative, as I was writing my fan column for the print version of Amazing at that time (Figure 4). Speaking of the Hugos, Jon and I got to sit in the “nominees” section at the Hugos in Kansas City, as Richard E. Geis, who published Science Fiction Review, had been nominated both for SFR, and as Best Fan Writer, and had asked Jon to pick up his Hugo should he win. Geis lost the Best Fanzine award to LOCUS (then published by Charles and Dena Brown), but won Best Fan Writer Hugo, and Jon got to go on stage—at his very first WorldCon!—and accept for Geis, who never left Portland if he could help it. (His health was not very good, as I recall.)
At Denvention I connected with other friends, like Steve Schlich and the late Jim Young of Minneapolis, and again had a wonderful time! I also met Forry (4SJ) Ackerman (not for the first time; I had been to his house in LA when I was in the Navy) and a few Big Name Fans I knew only by reputation, like Walt Liebscher, Margie Ellers, and others. And this time I was not a WorldCon neo, and knew how to find the best parties and make new friends. Incidentally—if you go to a convention and don’t know anyone, it’s a very good idea to just go up and meet people. I’ve met some of the nicest people—many of whom are still very good friends—at conventions just by introducing myself! Very few of them carry Tasers or pepper spray, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve been assaulted just for trying to meet someone! (That’s a joke, by the way. Introducing yourself to someone you don’t know at a convention is a terrific way to meet new people!) The little cloth tag with the koala is in support of the Australian Worldcon bid. As you attend more cons, you find you get more and more stuff stuck to your nametags!
As you become known in fandom, you will often be given the chance to attend a convention as a guest—usually as a fan GOH; one of the places I’ve been invited to, which is, I think relevant because they won the WorldCon in 2015, is Spokane (Figure 5), in eastern Washington. (The 2015 WorldCon was called Sasquan).
Spokane’s mostly notable for having a World’s Fair there in 1974; it was the first “environmentally-themed” world’s fair. (One of the things I remember about Expo ’74 was, in the Canadian Pavilion, while nobody else was around, sneaking behind the plexiglas® shield and rubbing the actual Albertosaurus skull they had there! It was my first, and so far only, chance to touch an actual dinosaur.) Other than that, many people haven’t really heard of the city, though it’s a pretty nice place. Anyway, I was Fan GOH in 1984, and David Eddings, author of The Belgariad Cycle, was pro GOH. The convention was held in the Hotel Davenport, which is a beautiful old hotel that had been completely refurbished. Once, when Jon Gustafson and I had lunch with Frank Herbert at the Old Mill (the restaurant’s name was “Clinkerdagger, Bickerstaff, and Petts”), Frank told us that the Expo people had paid a very large sum to a famous American poet to write a poem for Expo ’74. They had gotten a poem they couldn’t use—the poet had rhymed every verse with “Spo-kayne’” and the actual city name is pronounced “Spo-can’”!)
The Spokon nametag (Figure 5) was done by local artist Randy Mohr, who has since moved to Bellingham. (I think he’s moved again, but can’t swear to it.) The con committee also gave us nifty metal nametags—you can see mine here (Figure 6). Frankly, I remember nothing about the convention except that the con committee worked very hard to make it a wonderful convention, and I enjoyed the heck out of myself. Which is what a con’s for, right? Unfortunately, at that time I was going through marital problems, and I think my mind has blanked that part of my past completely, or nearly so. The next year I moved to Canada and got married again! And I’ve been here in Canada for 37 years now.
Fast-forward (anyone still got a VCR? Do PVRs work the same way? Don’t have one, so don’t know) to 2022 and Spocon 2022 (Figure 7). Yes, the current convention committee (the concom people I met are Edgar Lincoln and the chair, I think, was Lauretta Heaney) has been working with a different spelling. Again, it was held in the Davenport, which has been fully restored to its former glory, even though for some it reminds them of the Overlook (not me, LOL). See my Facebook page for some spiffy pics of the hotel and people I saw at the con. It was a good convention with a good art show and auction, and I had a lot of fun. Other people I saw at the con were GOHs Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Dragon Dronet, plus old friends like Jane Fancher and C.J. Cherryh, as well as Liz Wilmerding and Mark Rounds (all of the preceding being authors as you probably know). Other friends were there, like Pullman’s Bea Taylor and Donna Bailley; and Moscow’s Mike Finkbiner and Madeline Perry. If I missed mentioning someone, I apologize. This time I wasn’t driving from Pullman (about 70-75 miles away) so it took longer to get there and tired me out more (I’m 30+ years older than the last Spoc*kon). But I’m all recovered and ready for our next con, which should be the NASFIC (Pemmi-Con) in Winnipeg, MB. (Canada, don’tcha know!)
If you want to say anything about this column, you can comment here, or on Facebook, or even by email (stevefah at hotmail dot com). All comments are welcome! (Just be polite, please.) My opinion is, as always, my own, and doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of Amazing Stories or its owner, editor, publisher or other columnists. See you next time!
