Always ready to help, never a better friend, opinionated, long on experience and wise about fannish weaknesses (even his own), a fascinating storyteller, organizer and party host, Art Widner passed away April 17 at the age of 97. Widner wrote … Continue reading
By Martin Morse Wooster: Operacon (Hilton Center City Milwaukee, March 12-15, 2015) I’ve loved classical music for as long as I have loved science fiction. So when I saw a flyer for Operacon at Capclave, I knew I had to … Continue reading
Noreascon Three marked the 50th Anniversary of the first World SF Convention, held in New York in 1939, by hosting a Sunday brunch that featured testimonials from every fannish generation, including from several people who had been to the original … Continue reading
The British Fantasy Awards became mired in controversy when Stephen Jones charged a conflict of interest between the administrator and several winners. That prompted a few fans to suggest fixing the BFA by borrowing rules from the Hugo Awards. The … Continue reading
One of the most popular and hardworking active members of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Bob Null, passed away June 23 after a long fight against cancer. He was 72. Bob first walked into the club in 1979 and … Continue reading
Takumi Shibano died January 16 at 8:06 p.m. (JST). The reported cause of death was pneumonia. His life spanned the founding of Japanese fandom to the announcement of the Nippon 2017 bid. He was a guest of honor at two Worldcons, … Continue reading
Every newly married couple has to reconcile the holiday traditions they grew up with. Probably the most difficult conflicts to negotiate are the mutually exclusive choices. For example: To top the Christmas tree with an ornament or not? Diana and I took years to find … Continue reading
Ralph Bakshi will not be Artist Guest of Honor at Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon in Montreal, according to the committee’s announcement dated March 2. Due to health reasons, Ralph Bakshi will not be able to take part in Anticipation this … Continue reading
Craig Miller perceptively noticed that I posted the wrong stat for defeated LA Worldcon bids in my article about Reno and Seattle in 2011. Somehow I had LA hosting a measly two Worldcons instead of a robust four during the … Continue reading
The script of Andy Hooper’s faanish play “Fanotchka,” first performed at L.A.con III in 1996, has been formatted and posted on eFanzines by Lenny Bailes. Hooper’s pastiche of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1939 film Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, now receives its online … Continue reading