By Jan S. Gephardt I am happy to report that I’m going to Archon 44 after all. Why? Because—and only because—Archon’s doing it right. The Email That Changed Everything You may recall that a few weeks ago, I very reluctantly decided to withdraw from this year’s FenCon, a Texas science fiction convention that my son and I have come to love. I had been watching the COVID-19 trends in the St. Louis area and growing more and more convinced I’d…
My son and I (with occasional help from my Beloved) have embarked upon a project we’ve long dreamed about. We call it the Library Liberation Project. When we moved into our current home (30 years ago come June 1), I declared that a back room addition the previous owners had used as a rec room was to be the Library. Some of the family couldn’t imagine what we’d do with a whole room just for books, but others laughed and said, “It’s perfect!” And for…
The Artdog Image(s) of Interest I displayed my artwork at FenCon XVI. You might remember I mentioned that in my mid-week post. I spent a large chunk of time Thursday on the FenCon XVI Art Show. That was “setup day,” when the tables and display panels went up, and then the first of the art (the mail-ins and the work of artists able to arrive today) did, too. As much as possible, all the rest of the art went up Friday, preferably before the Art Show opened to the…
Last week I talked about two of my favorite things to do a science fiction convention, the panels and author readings. But another inescapable aspect of any sf convention is visual. So please join me for one more look back–and around–at the visual essence of SpikeCon. Visuals abound at a science fiction convention. Not only in the art show–although the art show at SpikeCon was large and filled with some amazing art. But the visual essence of SpikeCon went beyond the art show. It also went beyond the ASFA (Association…
Regular readers of this blog (if you are one, THANK YOU!!) may recall that I’ve published at least one guest-post by my sister, Gigi Sherrell Norwood (Orchestra Dreams). What you may not know is that she is herself a talented writer, and she’s also the widow of science fiction writer Warren C. Norwood. Yes, we’re kind of a cottage industry all in the family (and that’s not even counting the emerging editorial expertise of my son and frequent sf convention companion Tyrell Gephardt). It was perhaps inevitable that we’d do the writing/publishing…
The Artdog Image of Interest Multiple levels of the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center, quiet for one sparkling morning. Westercon’s done. -Photo by Tyrell Gephardt. My son Tyrell Gephardt took this picture last Monday at the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center, before we left town after Westercon 71/MALCon 6. It was a “waiting” kind of quiet. Presumably some other event is coming soon. But we loved the play of light and shadow on multiple levels in this view of the atrium. IMAGE: Many thanks to Tyrell Gephardt for taking this photo and allowing…
I’m freshly back from SoonerCon 27, and what an excellent convention it was! They had some great guests, excellent programming and fun special events. One blog post (or even several) couldn’t do justice to it, but here’s a small taste of what I enjoyed most. SoonerCon 27’s lineup of featured guests included: L-R: Lloyd Lee Barnett, Glenn Garland, Jerry Bennett, Carrie Vaughn, John Picacio, Stan Love, Larry Nemecek, and Selina Rosen. Here they are at Opening Ceremonies on Friday, June 22, 2018. One last time at the Reed Center in Midwest City As ever,…
I had a good time at DemiCon 29 this year. It’s an intimate convention, about 500 or so attendees, and as with all science fiction convention experiences, each person’s reaction may differ. The things I look for in an sf con tend to be networking opportunities, a good Art Show, and interesting panels (to be on, and to attend). The Iowa Writers’ Panel featured readings by (L-R) Rachel Aukes, Lettie Prell, Adam Whitlatch, and Shannon Ryan. Networking Since it was a smaller convention, there weren’t as many attending writers…
Perhaps you’d like to see a presentation my son Tyrell Gephardt and I prepared, about our experiences at this year’s North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC), held anytime the Worldcon is not in North America (which it is not this year; it’s in Helsinki). We hope you enjoy(ed) it–we certainly enjoyed our time there. We’ve also shared this presentation with KACSFFS, our local Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society, both at the July meeting last Saturday and on the KaCSFFS Blog (scroll down). Ty and I also spent a…
I attended DemiCon 28 last weekend. It’s a science fiction convention in the DesMoines, IA area (technically, Urbandale), where they had an art show, masquerade, panel discussions, parties–the full gamut of things I have learned to anticipate at sf conventions in my decades-long career of attending them. And they had author readings. In my experience, author readings at large conventions by “big name” authors can be standing-room-only events. Author readings by mid-list or relatively unknown authors tend to be the…