Category Archives: science fiction

fandom, science fiction

The Scottish Trip

Heading off to the Worldcon in Glasgow in a few months. I am flying direct from Denver to Glasgow (OK, with a change of planes in Chicago) and, from there, go to St. Andrews for a week. (I’m bringing my golf clubs with me:-)

After St. Andrews, I had planned to go to Precursor, a small fannish convention that would allow us foreigners to meet some Brit fans who wouldn’t be able to make it to Glasgow. And after Precursor, a short trip to London to visit friends before heading back to Glasgow and the actual convention. (I plan on leaving my clubs in left luggage somewhere and pick them on the way back.) After the Worldcon, I will be visiting the Edinburgh Folk Festival for a few days before heading back.

But now I find out that Precursor has been cancelled, throwing my plans into disarray. Precursor was going to be held in Walsall, which I think is an industrial suburb of Manchester. I thought of visiting an interesting area in England that I haven’t been to before, but can’t think of any place like that at the moment. Maybe I should try Carnoustie?

Since I am moving around by train while in-country and I wasn’t planning on renting a car, getting around for two or three extra days could be difficult. I suppose I could stay in St. Andrews for the weekend.

fandom, General, Reviews, science fiction

COSine Was a Success

This past weekend we had our second annual SF convention in Colorado Springs, COSine 2005. We had Joe Haldeman as GOH (Guest of Honor) and it was a very good weekend.

Our attendance ran slightly above our anticipated 100 fans . The Consuite was well attended and much discussion ensued. The panels were well attended and the panelists interacted well together. I had a chance to interview Joe for the GOH Interview and it went off very well. We had favorable coverage from the local newspaper and a couple of the local TV stations. (Made the 5:30 News Saturday night.) The Art Show went well and there were a reasonable number of artists on display for the size of the convention. I think they did well in the silent auction, also.

If there were any negatives, one was that the dealers didn’t do as well as they hoped. I don’t know what can be done there. We had 5 dealers selling a variety of books, jewelry, and costumes. The fans didn’t seem to be buying this time around. The other negative was the weather. It was sunny and in the 70’s. Why would anyone want to stay in on a day like that.?

fandom, science fiction

Torcon 3

Toronto has faded into the mist. Actually it was a pretty clear day as we departed Toronto. We could see the Tower from the Airport, which we didn’t on arrival, on account of darkness. Elaine and I spent the morning packing up and visiting the Royal Ontario Museum. It’s a lot bigger on the inside that the outside. Fortunately, or un, the ROM didn’t open until 10 AM, giving us plenty of time to pack and organize our return. The unfortunate part is the we only had 2.5 hours at the ROM before returning for our bus. The ROM was under renovation and several exhibit areas were closed. We did get to see the South Asian, Indian and Chinese Art exhibits as well as a ‘history of decorative drawing rooms from the 1500’s to present’ exhibit. What we totally avoided was the Natural history on second floor. Just ran out of time.
Continue reading Torcon 3 →

science fiction

Worldcon

Toronto is a very nice city for a Worldcon. The Parties have been going to 2 or 3 in the morning. Last night I heard a young woman say that going against the flow of the crowd was like a trout swimming upstream.

science fiction

no maps for these territories

William Gibson is one of my favorite science fiction authors.I invited him to be the Guest of Honor at the Disclave I chaired in 1986, and he accepted. I think this was the first SF con at which he was GOH. He had just won the Hugo for Neuromancer at the previous Worldcon and it was a genre shaking book.

I just got a DVD from Netflix that is a “documentary” of Gibson. “No Maps For These Territories” is an interview he gives from the back seat of a car. the director, Mark Neale, gets to very in-depth discussions of his literature and his influences. Of course, there is much discussion of the impact of technology on the human psyche and Gibson’s perspective on it. I find it very interesting. And the director has lots of fun with the backgrounds seen through the car windows. I highly recommend it for fans of Gibson, or authors in general.