Category Archives: Conventions

2023 Sturgeon Symposium Call for Papers

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The J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction will hold the 2nd Annual Sturgeon Symposium from September 28-30, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Octavia Butler’s groundbreaking novel, The Parable of the Sower. As University of Kansas’s choice for the 2023 Common Book program, her novel provides a powerful inspiration for the Symposium’s theme, “Fantastic Worlds, Fraught Futures.”   

The Symposium will feature Noël Sturgeon’s presentation of the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best science fiction short story and a reading from this year’s winner. This year, the Symposium will include all-virtual sessions scheduled for Wednesday and in-person sessions on Thursday and Friday. The presentation of the Award and the reading by the winner will be a hybrid in-person/online event, available by broadcast for those who register and cannot be at the Symposium in person.

The CSSF celebrates the diverse community of students, scholars, creators, and fans who engage with speculative modes, challenging our conceptions of what is possible.  As Octavia Butler writes in Parable of the Sower, “All that you touch, / You Change. / All that you Change / Changes you.” Butler’s work reminds us of the transformative power of speculative fiction and its ability to inspire change and community in the face of the unknown. 

Individual papers, fully formed panels, and roundtables exploring “Fantastic Worlds, Fraught Futures” are welcome, particularly those prioritizing collaboration and dialogue across communities, and creative work from Indian Nations, such as the Kaw, Osage, and others whose homelands KU stands.

While they plan to make the Symposium available virtually, virtual presenters will be grouped together; unlike 2022, they will not be organizing panels that mix virtual and in-person presentations.   

Some possible topics for exploration include:   

  • SF pedagogy 
  • Climate fiction 
  • SF and revolution 
  • Maternity 
  • Artificial intelligence 
  • Machines in fiction 
  • Digital SF 
  • Virtual realities 
  • Music and SF
  • Weird fiction 
  • Post-human futures 
  • SF and narratives of escape/resistance  
  • Emerging technologies 
  • SF and war
  • Animals and SF

In addition to the award presentation and programming developed from submissions, the Symposium will include a roundtable discussion on the present and future of SF, a pedagogy panel on how SF is being taught, and a creative writing workshop.    

Email proposals to the Gunn Center, [email protected], by April 17, 2023. Notifications will be sent out in late May. 

For more detailed information about the symposium, including travel information and lodging options, please visit the CSSF website.

Fur the ‘More Bans Unnamed Individual

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The board of directors of the Mid-Atlantic Anthropomorphic Association, Inc. released a statement today about action taken to remove a member during Fur the ‘More, a furry-themed convention held March 10-13 in Arlington, VA.

The statement is a follow-up to yesterday’s tweet:

A Twitter thread of speculative discussion about why the unnamed subject was banned starts here.

2023 NASFiC Zoom Info Session on March 4

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Pemmi-Con chairs Linda Ross-Mansfield and Robbie Bourget will take questions about reasons for fans to attend the 2023 NASFiC from Fan Fund representatives Fran Skene (CUFF), Erin Underwood (DUFF), and Mike Lowrey.. (TAFF) in a free Zoom session on March 4.

Pemmi-Con, the 2023 NASFiC, will be held July 20-23 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

CUFF (Canadian Unity Fan Fund) is Canada’s fan fund. A fan delegate representing British/European fandom will be attending Pemmi-Con, courtesy of TAFF (Trans Atlantic Fan Fund). DUFF (Down Under Fan Fund) is the other ocean-crossing fan fund: DUFF brings a fan from Australia/ New Zealand to North America.

The Zoom session is free. Registration is required to avoid Zoom-bombing. Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkcu6urzsqHN2LEvAck2rv2BYNxZ3nj0Vy

Time permitting, audience members may ask questions. Zoom session begins 2:00 p.m. Central.

Thought for Ukraine at Boskone: Room 467

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By Borys Sydiuk: Fans have worked hard and are now positioned to host a Thought for Ukraine on Saturday at Boskone in room 467 from 1200 to 1400. 

We are grateful for fellow fans support giving their time to share a thought for us and think about Ukraine and hold us in their hearts.

Fans have struggled with war and it has been a hardship, we await the air raid sirens still in fear and I often think of my fan friends in peril and bravely fighting. 

Fans are welcome to enjoy a warming cup of tea and some biscuits and share a contemplative moment for fellow fans in Ukraine. Sara Felix has brilliantly prepared beautiful Tiara kit that celebrates the Ukraine colors that you can put together, and we welcome the national colors being worn and your warm thoughts. 

At the Boskone art show, data artist Phoenix is now selling prints of her Soviet Space Dogs data visualization art to raise funds for Shelter Friend, a Ukrainian non-profit organization and rehabilitation centre for the homeless animals in Dnipro city, who are dealing with an influx of abandoned dogs due to the current conflict. (https://www.phoenixdataart.com) 

 Your thoughts are important to us, and as we come close to the anniversary of the invasion, such an evil repugnant act. 

Thank you for thinking of us. 

2023 NASFiC Hotel Booking Opens

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Pemmi-con, the 15th North American Science Fiction Convention, today announced hotel rates and the opening of room booking.

The event takes place July 20-23 at the Delta Hotels Winnipeg and the RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg. The Delta Hotels Winnipeg is offering these guest room types and rates to Pemmi-Con members:

  • Guest room (1 King bed): CA$144/night
  • Guest room (2 Queen beds): CA$164/night

Rates are in Canadian dollars and do not include local/provincial/federal taxes, which currently total 17.25%. The room block date range is July 17-25, 2023.

Parking is available at an additional charge.

The Delta Hotels Winnipeg is across the street from the RBC Convention Centre. Both venues were home to ConAdian, the 1994 Worldcon.

For more information and to book a room at the Pemmi-Con rate go to the convention website.

A Thought For Ukraine At Boskone

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By Borys Sydiuk: We are grateful for fellow fans support at this time, as we approach a year since the abhorrent invasion of our beautiful country. Fans have struggled with war and it has been a hardship, we await the air raid sirens still in fear and I often think of my fan friends in peril and bravely fighting. 

At Boskone 60 in USA this year on Saturday the 18th of February at 1200, fans will gather on the 4th floor to have a thoughtful moment for Ukraine. 

Room to be confirmed.  

Fans are welcome to enjoy a warming cup of tea and some biscuits and share a contemplative moment for fellow fans in Ukraine. Sara Felix has brilliantly prepared a beautiful Tiara kit that celebrates the Ukraine colors that you can put together, and we welcome the national colors being worn and your warm thoughts. 

Tiara by Sara Felix

At the Boskone art show, data artist Phoenix will be selling prints of her Soviet Space Dogs: Data Visualization Art to raise funds for Shelter Friend, a Ukrainian non-profit organization and rehabilitation centre for the homeless animals in Dnipro city, who are dealing with an influx of abandoned dogs due to the current conflict. (https://www.phoenixdataart.com) 

Soviet Space Dogs: Data Visualization Art by Phoenix

Your thoughts are important to us, and as we come close to the anniversary of the invasion, such an evil repugnant act, I would like to mention those I am often thinking of, old fan friends who are fighting now. 

Kindrat, a fan since the Soviet time, a member of one of the clubs I organized (Pereval, 1988). He moved from Kyiv to Lviv, and after the war started he joined territorial defense, and now he is actually at the front line. Danila is another fan who I have known since the Eighties, he was a publisher and book seller and joined the army in the first days of the war. Olexander Surkov was a career officer with the Ukrainian Army, but is a Fan, writer, blogger, he rejoined twice, in 2014 and then rejoined in 2022 with this invasion. I think of them often, and welcome you all to think of Ukraine. 

Fans engage and work hard here to support the effort,  like Olena Glushchenko, fan and Lit-Teracon convention organizer who organized a whole project Varta to support the Ukrainian army, and one project is “One book for a soldier” to collect books and send them to the front line for Ukrainian soldiers for the times in between fighting. 

The war is a theme of Art and Creativity, as well as Comics, and Art, Murals and support, we have seen a series of incredible art on our stamps, 

Boris Groh (https://www.facebook.com/grohboris), author of the famous “Russian ship, go f…” continues to create art. 

Igor Baranko’s comic (https://www.instagram.com/igorbaranko/) was the ESFS Best Artist 2021 winner and he continues to support us as he lives now in Thailand. 

Myroslav Latyk’s film “Maksym Osa” a Ukranian Fantasy is available on Netflix. Witches, a mystical Dog Head, and stolen Royal Gold all feature in this work filmed by a Ukrainian film company. 

When the war is over, we look forward to organizing more conventions. 

We will welcome you all back here, to enjoy good company, and make many crafts in our colors. 

Maybe even another Eurocon. 

Just to mention, in 1990 our then very young fandom thought to get Worldcon, and we supported the Zagreb Worldcon bid for 1992.

Please wear the yellow or blue Ukraine colours! 

We will have supporters distributing ribbons and remind ourselves that elsewhere fans fight against invaders.

Thank you for your support and thinking of us, it is very important. 

Borys. 

(Notes: Thanks to Sara Felix, Phoenix Data Art and James Bacon for their continued hard work and support. First names only or pseudonyms used to identify frontline fighters) 

2023 Jack Williamson Lectureship

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The 46th Annual Jack Williamson Lectureship, hosted by Eastern New Mexico University, will be held April 13-15 in Portales, NM with guest of honor Arkady Martine and emcee Connie Willis.

Williamson Lectureship Chair David Sweeten hits the high points in the schedule:

For Thursday April 13th, we are having opening comments on the Lectureship, and we will have a screening of student short sci-fi films alongside a display of student sci-fi art. On Friday April 14th, we’ll have our Guest of Honor reading, a lunchtime event with sci-fi trivia, comments from Connie, and a Keynote from Arkady Martine; panels (including a panel on scholars studying sci-fi and fantasy); and a gaming event. On Saturday morning April 15th, we’re planning on having Connie’s Creative Writing Workshop, accompanied by however many baked goods I can get through my oven in time.

Arkady Martine
Connie Willis
  • Arkady Martine is a speculative fiction writer and, as Dr. AnnaLinden Weller, a historian of the Byzantine Empire and a city planner. Under both names she writes about border politics, narrative and rhetoric, risk communication, and the edges of the world. She is currently a policy advisor for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, where she works on climate change mitigation, energy grid modernization, and resiliency planning. Her debut novel, A Memory Called Empire, won the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and its sequel, A Desolation Called Peace, won the 2022 Hugo Award in the same category. Arkady grew up in New York City, and after some time in Turkey, Canada, Sweden, and Baltimore, lives in New Mexico with her wife, the author Vivian Shaw. Find Arkady online at www.arkadymartine.net or on Twitter as @ArkadyMartine. 
  • Connie Willis has been publishing science fiction and fantasy works for more than 50 years.  After her first novel was published in 1982, she was able to quit her teaching job and become a full-time writer.  She’s won multiple Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, been inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and named a Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master.  Themes in her works include time travel, romantic comedy, history, and Christmas – to name a few.  Her 2016 novel Crosstalk was named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR. Her most recent novel was Take a Look at the Five and Ten from Subterranean Press in 2020; The Road to Roswell will be coming out in July 2023 from Del Rey.

The annual Jack Williamson Lectureship includes a luncheon with presentations by the guest of honor and toastmaster, readings by guest authors, time for book sales and signing, and panel discussions on a variety of science fiction and fantasy topics.

The lectureship, named for the prolific sff author and academic, was established by the university when Dr. Jack Williamson retired from his position as professor of English at Eastern New Mexico University in 1977. Ever since then writers, editors, artists and other speakers have gathered at ENMU every spring to share ideas, insights and their work with students, readers, viewers, creators, collectors and fans.

All events are open to the public and the luncheon is the only event that requires advance reservations and a fee. See the full agenda here.

2023 Vintage Paperback Collectors Show Autograph Schedule

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Many authors will be signing at the 2023 Vintage Paperback Collectors Show. Peter S. Beagle will be one of them. The event takes place Sunday, March 19 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium (1401 Verdugo Rd.) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10. Mark your calendar!

There will be over 80 dealer tables. Dealers at the show have been spending the year looking in other places for inventory and are bringing their finds to this show to offer them to you.

The poster shows who’s expected, below is the tentative schedule.

Registration Opens for 2023 SFWA Nebula Conference

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The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has opened registration for the 2023 Nebula Conference, which will be taking place both online and in-person at the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort, in Anaheim, CA from May 12-14, 2023.

Registrations may be purchased at this link. Registration for the online portion of the conference is $150.00 and includes access to broadcasts of many of the weekend’s panels and the subsequent archive, mentorship opportunities, the Nebula Awards ceremony, a conference Discord, and entry to SFWA’s ongoing Nebula Conference events beginning May 1, 2023.

In-person conference registration begins at $349.00, which includes access to the online conference. Due to limited space and seating, they anticipate the conference and banquet to sell out, so are encouraging people to buy their tickets early. Participants may attend panels and the awards ceremony in-person, take part in mentorships and receptions, and visit the SFWA hospitality suite.

For Anaheim attendees, banquet tickets for the Nebula Awards banquet can be purchased for an additional $125.00. This three-course celebration dinner held before the Nebula Awards ceremony on Saturday, May 13, 2023 is a fantastic opportunity to mingle with old friends and meet new peers. Conference attendees who wish to attend the ceremony without purchasing a ticket to the banquet may do so on a space-available basis. The ceremony will also stream live online for the public.

The Nebula Conference is the premier professional development conference for aspiring and established members of the science fiction and fantasy industries. It includes content geared toward creators working in games, comics, prose, poetry, and other mediums of storytelling, which reflects the diversifying and expanding membership in the organization.  

Purchase conference registrations at this link. Hotel reservations must be made separately, and information on how to reserve a room at conference rates is available at that webpage, along with SFWA policies for harassment, COVID-19, and code of conduct. For questions, please contact [email protected]

[Based on a press release.]

2023 Vintage Paperback Collectors Show & Sale on 3/19

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Peter S. Beagle will be among the many authors signing at the 2023 Vintage Paperback Collectors Show. The event takes place Sunday, March 19 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium (1401 Verdugo Rd.) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10. Mark your calendar!

Dozens of authors and artists will be there — see the poster below to find out who.

There will be over 80 dealer tables. Dealers at the show have been spending the year looking in other places for inventory and are bringing their finds to this show to offer them to you.

Each year there are great finds reported by folks who attend the show.  This year, you could be the person telling the story.

The poster shows who’s expected, and the bookmark below has the tentative schedule.