Space Cadet #19

R. Graeme Cameron’s Space Cadet #19 [PDF file] has many things to recommend it, and I will mention two of them.

There is Andrew Hooper’s meticulously considered and finely-styled article “Attack Ships on Fire: Memories of Bladerunner,” written in commemoration of the movie’s 30th anniversary. His work is always a pleasure to read.

And there is a bit of news I’ve seen nowhere else – Cameron says Montreal’s annual  Con*Cept is dead:

This is the traditional general-interest SF con put on every year by MonSFFA, the Montreal SF club. Cathy Palmer-Lister stepped down as Chair and there was no one to replace her. Never mind trying to get enough volunteer gophers, they couldn’t fill the roster of the ConCom committee.

The con’s Facebook page confirms this development, although the Con*Cept website still gives the impression things are proceeding as planned for an October event. I also scoured the MonSFFA website for hints of trouble without finding any. However, the report appears credible.

7 thoughts on “Space Cadet #19

  1. Con*Cept is indeed dead. Most of Montreal fandom is in Quebec City this weekend for Boreal and so not online right now.

    However, the good news is that Rene Walling is planning to launch a new October Montreal convention to start in 2013, which will be called Perception. I’m going to help out with program and restaurant guide. I’m sure there’ll be an actual announcement and a web page and stuff RSN.

  2. Well “I” am not planning a convention, a group of people of which I am part are planning a convention ;).

    I’ve been quietly talking with people at Boréal and the idea of starting something with a clean slate is appealing to many. We’ll keep everyone up to date once we’ve actually have more concrete info than just a name and an idea 🙂

  3. Well, this is the first I hear of the new con. No one said anything to me about it at Boreal. I guess that’s the end of Con*Cept for sure. We had already decided not to have a media guest since there is now a comicon in Montreal , and if there is another lit con in October, OCTOBER!!!! Talk about kicking us when we’re down…

  4. Just to clarify, Con*Cept, while founded by MonSFFA in 1989, is no longer run by MonSFFA, and has not been for some years. The club organized the convention from 1989-1992, after which Con*Cept became wholly an independent operation. (MonSFFA as a club continued to support the con and many of our members worked on it, but as individuals.)

    After the con was cancelled in 2000 for much the same reasons as this year’s cancellation, MonSFFA was persuaded to revive the event, and again took the wheel from 2001-2003. But thereafter, Con*Cept was again master of it own destiny and did quite well for a few years until it began to slowly bleed concom members, resulting in but a handful running the thing in these most recent years.

    I dropped Graeme a line to correct the error published in Space Cadet, which will, presumably, run in the next issue.

    Keith Braithwaite,
    VP, MonSFFA; Member, Founding Con*Cept Concom

  5. I have nothing to do with the proposed new con but I DID declare Con*Cept dead in Space Cadet #19, which Mike Glyer read and used as a source for his posting to File 770.

    For this I apologise.

    I should have said “dead for this year but there remains hope for a revival in 2013.”

    In my reading of Cathy’s post of April 27 I misinterpreted the tone as more dire than it actually was. Cathy quoted Howard as saying “We’re hoping to find new people to come back in 2013, but it’s a longshot at this point”, and herself stated “I agree with Howard, Con*Cept may well be dead due to lack of folks willing to take on positions of responsibility.”

    Unfortunately my ‘take’ on the post put the emphasis on “..longshot at this point” and “..may well be dead..” I guess I was in a negative frame of mind, what with Cathy also saying “MonSFFA itself is dealing with similar issues” and the fact that several key positions in the VCON 37 concom remain unfilled as yet. To me Con*Cept appeared to be a victim of a fandom-wide trend eating away at the very survival of fandom itself.

    I have been accused of being ludicrously (not to mention ‘annoyingly’) optimistic and niave in my fanac promoting fandom, but here I erred in the opposite direction. I leaped to a conclusion not warrented by the facts presented.

    All I can say is that I am very sorry, I regret morphing into a fugghead when fandom deserves more accurate reportage, and I hope that in some small way my mistake attracts more attention to the issue of dwindling participation and inspires at least a few fans to get off their butts and help revitalize Con*Cept.

    I genuinely hope Con*Cept can be revived for 2013!

    Cheers! R. Graeme Cameron

  6. You weren’t the only source. It was also stated on their Facebook page. If circumstances change, delightful, but the news report was validated at the time.

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