I must apologize for the quality of the photos; I decided not to take my DSLR but instead depend on my ZTE phone. Said phone is not user-friendly; it decides what and when it will do something like take a photo. And these photos aren’t necessarily in any particular order. So. I first attended an SF convention in 1975; it was Westercon 28 in Oakland, California. I drove down from Pullman, WA with my best friend and two fellows from the fan group I’d started in Moscow, ID. My first Worldcon was Kansas City in 1976; the GOHs were R.A. Heinlein and C.L. Moore. I never got to meet the GOHs, though I’d spent time with both Heinleins in Seattle previously, I think. I went—at that time, we did everything fannish together—with the late Jon Gustafson, my Art Editor at my fanzine called New Venture. The Fan GOH was George Barr, and he invited us up to his suite for a private party. I met lots of people; old friends and new. It was for me a great con.
My second Worldcon was in Denver in 1981, but this time I went with my then-wife, and we had a good time. I went as the “press” representative for Amazing Stories, for which I was the fan columnist at the time. And so on; in between Worldcons I attended, either as Fan GOH, writer, panelist, art auctioneer, masquerade emcee, Con Chair or whatever—lots of Northwest-area (Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Alberta, British Columbia) conventions; also the Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada) Worldcon as fan. I also emceed a Westercon in Vancouver before I moved to Canada. So this year is my 50th year as a convention fan.
My wife, the Lovely and Talented Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk, artist and “Bot Lady,” booked our hotel, the Hyatt Regency. We found out too late it wasn’t a con hotel, like the Sheraton. But Lynne was exhibiting her bots (Figure 3) at this Worldcon for the first time, plus she had been asked to design and make a bot as the first Lodestar Award for best YA novel, which was to be awarded alongside the Hugos. I was excited on her behalf, and looked forward to meeting old friends and maybe some new ones, at the convention bar or con suite or whatever. Over the years, as I wrote less fiction, panels (and ceremonies) became less exciting to me, though I figured to catch a few. I think I’d been paneled out, so to speak.
For this con, the pocket program was about the size and thickness of a paperback book, though it was spiral-bound and dense with panel descriptions. I haven’t read it yet. The daily sheet of panels was tabloid-sized and printed in 4-point type at the largest, I think—they advised you use a phone and enlarge it so you could read it. That kind of cemented my “oh, well” attitude about panels for this con. But the second floor of the convention centre, which contained the Fanzine Lounge, the Dealers’ Room, and the Art Show—as well as a pinballl/video game corner, a Hugo Award display, a coffee bar and a place to buy snacks and drinks, plus various other stuff—was humongous. I think maybe the Denvention (1981) Dealers’ Room was a bit bigger, but this was big enough.
Panels, Registration and (I think) the Hugo Ceremonies (I didn’t go or see it) were all held on different floors.Lynne’s bots were on a table to your left as you entered the art show, just in front of the Art GOH’s own display. Lynne had come down Tuesday to set up her bots, although she and I didn’t come to the con (which began on Wednesday) until Thursday, if that makes sense. We were late because of a combination of time/timing and not wanting to spend another large sum on a room for the night (I think it was about $300 US/day including various taxes and addons.) Since we’re both retired, it was for us a huge chunk o’ cash.
Anyway, Lynne had entered six bots which were for sale and one NFS piece called Jetpack Jerry, which had been promised to a guy in the Vancouver area (see Figure x). By the time we got there on Thursday, every bot (except Jerry) had at least one bid on it; a first for Lynne. Lynne had a hard time getting away from the table, as many people, seeing the bots for the first time, wanted to talk to her about what they were, how they were made, etc. We finally stole time away to see the rest of the art show—over 90 artsts displaying!—and the Dealers’ Room as well, where we were able to meet old friends and dealers David Gerrold, Frank Casey, Chris and Jackie Nilsson, Phil Foglio, Rob Carlos and many others.
I had forgotten my little bag for carrying my pocket program, my phone, my tablet and my Kindle, so I had to buy a bag with a Foglio drawing on it—so I asked Phil to sign it as well. Because there were so many book dealers—as opposed to authors selling their own books—there were many traditionally published books there. But there were at a guess two dozen indie-published authors with booths selling their own works. Very impressive.
For many years I’ve been going to cons and meeting people in the con bar or restaurant and having great conversations with old friends and new—but to my surprise, neither one was really available here. And there wasn’t a con suite, another usual place to hang out. There weren’t large restaurants within walking distance that we could find; even our hotel, which was less than a block from the convention, had no decent food. But somehow I managed to see a lot of friends (even Andrew Porter in the pinball corner) by staying close to the dealer room and art show.
And Lynne won three ribbons (two blues for People’s Choice: Best Humor and Best Convention Theme; and a red: Art Show Judges’ Choice Second Place for Convention Theme) for her bots (Figures 7 and 9). I was, and am, so proud of her! I figure I’m entitled to brag about her.
o that’s how you attend a Worldcon and never see any programming at all. Seeing my friends—I won’t attempt to enumerate them all—was well worth the trip and, in spite of all, I enjoyed myself. Next time we go I might try to see a panel or two.
I’d like to hear what you think about this column. I’m on Facebook, or you could email me (stevefah at hotmail dot com). If you liked it, let me know—if you hated it, let me know so I can do better! 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!
Steve has been an active fan since the 1970s, when he founded the Palouse Empire Science Fiction Association and the more-or-less late MosCon in Pullman, WA and Moscow, ID, though he started reading SF/F in the early-to-mid 1950s, when he was just a sprat. He moved to Canada in 1985 and quickly became involved with Canadian cons, including ConText (’89 and ’81) and VCON. He’s published a couple of books and a number of short stories, and has collaborated with his two-time Aurora-winning wife Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk on a number of art projects. As of this writing he’s the proofreader for R. Graeme Cameron’s Polar Borealis and Polar Starlight publications. He’s been writing for Amazing Stories off and on since the early 1980s. His column can be found on Amazing Stories most Fridays.
