The 2017 Worldcon will be in Helsinki, Finland. According to Kevin Standlee, who participated in the ballot count as a member of the Montreal bid, the unofficial tally went as follows:
Helsinki 1,363
DC 828
Montreal 228
Nippon 120
The total number of votes was 2,624 (which includes write-ins and no preference). The number of ballots expressing a preference was 2,605. Therefore 1,303 votes were needed to attain a first-round majority, which Helsinki achieved.
The Fan Fund Auction is proceeding in Sasquan’s Cabaret at Guinan’s adjacent to the Fanzine Lounge. Andrew Hooper and Jerry Kaufman have been doing a magnificent job keeping the bidding lively. I met TAFF delegate Nina Horvath while she was walking around an item on bid.
Curt Phillips’ donation, a .58 caliber bullet recovered from the Cedar Ceek Civil War battlefield, went for $40. That may seem like tame ammunition by John Ringo standards but it got a lot of action here.
As we await the start of the business meeting, John Pomeranz is handing out WSFS Businss Meeting Bingo cards. Kevin Standlee is the free space. Players are instructed to fill in the rest of the blanks of frequent participants and when they have bingo, get recognized and include the word Bingo in their statement.
American dancer and actress: died 17 August, aged 78. Best known for playing Batgirl in the final season of Batman (1967-8) and an Orion mental patient in the original Star Trek (‘Whom Gods Would Destroy’, 1969). Other genre appearances included Mars Needs Women (1966), plus roles in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Land of the Giants and The Six Million Dollar Man.
Thanks to Greg Machlin for organizing tonight’s File 770 meetup at the Saranac, two blocks from the convention center.
I took a cab over — yes, it was unnecessary — driven by a cabbie who’d been on the job for only two weeks, drove a total of about five miles around the downtown network of one-way streets trying to find the place. She made up for it by insisting on confusing me with George R.R. Martin, whose photo she’d just seen in the weekly pop culture paper (because of our white beards), and asking me questions about my writing.
When I arrived at the Saranac there were about 25 fans already contentedly drinking beer and talking up a storm. I remember a lot of the names of those I talked to, but because lots of you post under a handle I probably shouldn’t blab all those names. I’ll just say I enjoyed meeting you very much. Special thanks to Daniel Dern for my yellow button that reads: “File 770, That Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy.” (The food and beer at the Saranac is good, too!)
There were a couple other unexpected highlights.
At one point I looked through a window and saw David Hartwell, in full plaid regalia, taking a table with a couple other folks.
Then, on my way out, I passed Lou Antonelli and quickly introduced myself. Talk about a small world!
We’re having “meet and greets” at Sasquan, not parties. Keith Kato explains:
Those of us who requested party rooms at the designated party hotel for Sasquan were sent the following memo, which speaks for itself — the term “party” is banished. As I heard it, the party addendum to the hotel contract with the Davenport was not signed until very late July, and by these instructions it seems to me the hotel is still touchy about it. I don’t know what is going to happen when the activities begin, since it is usual for the hotel security to patrol the halls as a matter of course, right? Of course at the 2009 Montreal Worldcon, the party hotel management melted down and shut down all parties, including the SFWA suite, until the phrase “breach of contract lawsuit” was used.
Here’s relevant excerpts from the e-mailed memo:
Subject: Important party reminders for Sasquan
Bringing party supplies in through the hotel lobby — please remember to be discreet with your supplies, have everything boxed or covered/concealed so that the hotel is not alerted and therefore concerned about PARTIES.
These party events are being called “Meet & Greets” so when interfacing with any hotel personnel regarding any questions, or dealing with bellmen, that is the term to use! Not “party”. 😉 ….
If your event is PUBLIC, please bring us 6 copies of your party flyer and we will be happy to post it on all the Party Boards (erm, “Meet & Greet” Boards) located in each of the main hotel lobbies and the convention center.
Personally, I’m fine with whatever stance they need to take to keep their hotels happy, although I understand experienced fans who become impatient about having to adopt a fiction in order to have their annual, erm, meet and greets.
I certainly haven’t heard of any problems so far.
On a different topic — somebody working with the con suite did express roundabout gratitude to the Sad Puppies, saying their department is one place the extra funds from supporting memberships are being plowed back into the convention.
If I have to post all my comments pushing one key at a time on the Kindle I will but I won’t tackle that til later. The hotel business center computer has unusually limited capabilities (think — no right-click mouse commands). Perhaps an alternative will arise at the meetup.
Want to compliment Sasquan on the very lovely souvenir canvas bag the reg packet material came in. Green bag with a big black pocket which has the con’s bird logo in white.
And David Doering told me the shuttles intended to help moby riders have been suffering from freeloaders. So the drivers have been told to seek out those with mobys as a priority. As a result, the shuttles are now nicknamed Ahab…
The coffee and baked goods setup adds a highly civilized touch to meeting room 300 CC and there’s plenty for those here since the SRO audience Kevin Standlee worried about has not materialized. At least not today. More later, with actual news content…
There’s a strong forest fire ash scent in the air — when we flew in last night and encountered that suspicious burning paper smell passengers started looking around to see if something had gone wrong aboard the plane.
This morning I emerged from the elevator and there was Dennis Miller with his bicycle, setting a good example for the rest of us. I also met Amy Thomson who filled me in about the Ranquet location.
Dennis and I headed for registration. En route we got to say hi to Larry Niven, and Michelle Pincus gave us some gag ribbons for our badges. Mine says “48% Sith, so don’t push it.” I’ll let you know when somebody gives me the ribbon that answers what the other 52% is….
Although the reg line was advancing at a shuffling pace, which is good for the first morning of a Worldcon,I decided that would be too long standing on a hard surface. So wandered back til I found a spot to crash on a bench, which happened to be next to Colin Harris, a past Worldcon chair and Journey Planet coeditor.
While working on this post I’ve said hello to Jo Walton, Dave McCarty, Morris keesan and James Bacon.
And somebody just walked by wearing an “Occupy Mars” t-shirt, which kind of symbolizes why I come to these things.
I have to pack and get to their airport, so I will scroll and skate.
(1) Vox posted a story that celebrates the Chronicles of Prydain as “the best fantasy series ever.” (The site Vox, not the person Vox.)
Let me tell you about the best fantasy/adventure series ever written for young people.
Nope, it’s not about Harry Potter. Don’t get me wrong, I like Harry Potter just fine. I read all seven of those books aloud to my kids, which, believe me, takes some dedication. And I’ve read and loved dozens and dozens of other sci-fi and fantasy books for youngsters over the years, including the ones with the Hobbits and the ones with the dragons (no, the other one with the dragons).
But one fantasy series will always come first in my heart: The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander. Published in the late ’60s, it was one of the first true high fantasy series written by an American, and the first to rival the British greats like Tolkien.
Loosely based on Welsh myths, the books tell a fairly conventional story: A young boy bored with his ordinary life sets off on a series of adventures, learns some lessons, confronts a great evil, becomes a man, and assumes a place of leadership. It’s all squarely in Joseph Campbell territory.
(2) John C. Wright contests statements about Puppy leaders in Yes! Magazine. (An article linked by Pixel Scroll the other day: here).
As for the sentence quoted in the hit piece, let me say a word or three:
I have no views on People of Color and have never written a single word on the topic. Baptism is not a racial characteristic but a spiritual one. Sainthood is not an inherited characteristic.
My views on woman are those of a dyed-in-the-wool romantic of the chivalrous Christian school, who adores both Saint Mary and Saint Mary Magdalen as saints. I also have a healthy fascination with the character of Nausicaa from Miyazaki’s VALLEY OF THE WIND (see below) and an unhealthy fascination for the character of the Catwoman. And this is being condemned, why, again exactly? Because I respect both saints and sinners of the fair sex, both princesses and cat-burglars? Why is having contempt for woman a sign of Political Correctness, again, exactly, please?
My views, to the best of my knowledge, and have no point of overlap with the dour cynicism of my publisher and friend Theodore Beale, so the sentence as it stands is meaningless. It is like saying, “The views of the Easter Bunny and Count Dracula on avoiding the drinking human blood during Lent go beyond the pale.” But there is no view the Bunny and the Count share on this point.
My views on homosexuals are the views of the Roman Catholic Church, which is to say, the views of Western Civilization since the time of Constantine onward. Those views are ones of love and respect, more respect indeed by far than felt by those who would encourage the sexual desecration of the human person. Why is pitiless contempt for those suffering sexual aberration a sign of Political Correctness, again, exactly, please?
(3) Who do the lurkers really support? “Almost No One Sided with #GamerGate: A Research Paper on the Internet’s Reaction to Last Year’s Mob”.
Lately I’ve been troubled by the fact that GamerGate’s supporters and I seem to have completely opposite perceptions about what most people think of their movement. I’ve had GamerGaters tell me that most people don’t equate GamerGate with online harassment and that most people (or at least, most gamers) are actually on GamerGate’s side. How is it that our perceptions of “what most people think” are so different? Could it be that we all live inside some social-media echo chamber that makes us oblivious to other points of view?
[Thanks to Rob for one of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Will R.]