By Daniel Dern: Until Arisia 2025 this January (which, per my File 770 report, I went to), I hadn’t been to a Con since Boskone 57 back in 2020, from a mix of COVID caution and pandemic anxiety (and for some of those years, many Cons not being IRL anyway). Halfway through this year’s Arisia, I decided that I wanted to also resume going to Boskone. (I’m a Boston-area local living near public-transit, so easy-enough decisions in terms of planning/convenience.) As this Scroll shows, I did, indeed go to Boskone 62…and had a good time.

Boskone 62 was held Friday, February 14 through Sunday, February 16, 2025 at the Westin Boston Seaport District hotel in Boston, with the semi-predicted snow holding off until late Saturday afternoon.

Boskone 62’s Featured Guests were:

• Guest of Honor: Jasper Fforde
• Official Artist: Theresa Mather
• Special Guest: Kelley Armstrong
• Musical Guest Madison Metricula Roberts
• Hal Clement Science Speaker: Heather Preston

And overall, there were 150+ Program participants (listed – at least half a dozen didn’t make it to the Con).

[The rest of Dern’s report and 40+ photos of the convention follows the jump.]

In terms of headcount, according to a Boskone committee member, “As of 5:50PM on Saturday, Boskone 62 has delivered 909 badges to attendees.” Particularly given that this doesn’t reflect any Sunday-only’s, that’s reasonably close to Boskone 61’s 972 (per Boskone History ).  (Note: These numbers are “warm body counts” — total numbers can include other categories — for example, Boskone 61’s Size numbers were 972/1,338. For details about this, see Boskone History footnotes including #s 2, 50, 51, 52, 53, and 54.)

Like Arisia and ReaderCon (and, I’m sure, many other cons), Boskone offered free access for part of its first day (here, up through 6:30PM) with its “Free Friday,” including a session with Cory Doctorow reading from Picks and Shovels, “a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, [Doctorow’s] my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant,” along with a lecture and Q&A.

Boskone, A Brief History.

Boskone is the longest-running science fiction convention in New England… [It] is an event sponsored by the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA). The first Boskone was in 1965. (There were, according to NESFA’s History of Boskone, smaller, home-based “Conferences” by this name from 1941-1945.)

1969’s Boskone VI was, I believe, the first Con I went to. (Although it’s possible, I’ve recently thinking, my first Con was a Lunacon several years prior, thanks to fen I’d met in summer camp.)

At the time, I was a senior in high school in New Jersey. (among other things) go to the 1969 Boskone (at the Statler-Hilton. NESFA’s Boskone History tells me that Jack Gaughan was that year’s GoH… and a Full con membership was $2 Pre-Reg and $3 at-the-door. I’m pretty sure I remember hearing Anne McCaffrey singing (the photo spread shows her and Isaac Asimov “engage in competitive Gilbert & Sullivan” although that’s not the singing I (vaguely) recall.

I met Daniel Hatch at this Boskone, and bought a modest piece of art from him, which I still have (somewhere)… and half a century-and-change later, we’re still friends, doing our best to dinner together at Boskone when possible (including this year). (I also met Morris Keesan there…and see that this was also Mark Leeper’s first Con, perhaps I also met him there.)  

And while I GAFIATEd for a decade or so (including, foolishly, not going to the 1971 Noreascon I in Boston even though I was living smack-dab in Cambridge at the time! (Another item on my Tardis checklist.)

Some Brief Public Transit and Masking Notes

Masking: Where Arisia 2025  required masks (with some specific exception, Boskone 62 (2025)’s Respiratory Diseases (incl COVID) Policy was: “Boskone 62 recommends, but does not require, that in-person members wear masks in convention spaces. We also recommend, but do not require, that in-person attendees be up to date on their seasonal vaccines (COVID-19, Influenza, etc).”

It feels like Boskone was about one-quarter masked, but I could be way off either way (and that’s, of course, only for where and when I was). I toggled between masked and un-masked, probably about half-and-half; a week or so later, I seem free of Con Crud or worse.

Location: The Boston Westin Seaport Hotel is adjacent to the moderately-humongous Boston Convention & Expo Center (BCEC), a third-of-a-mile walk from the T Silver Line’s “World Trade Center” stop, which in turn is two Silver-Line stops from Boston South Station, which serves/connects Amtrak, intra-city busses, and the MBTA’s Red Line (part of the subway system), commuter rail, and local busses. As a Boston-area local (and able to walk, and, as a day-tripper, not carrying too much stuff), I opted (for various reasons) to take public transit to and from, for me, typically an hour and a quarter to and-a-half door-to-door, depending on schedules, timing, and my pace). Not quite as convenient (for me) as the Boston Sheraton (and in general, certainly far fewer nearby fooderies), but convenient enough, and, at a buck in each direction (senior citizen card rate), can’t beat the price.

Dern@Boskone 62/2025: Who/What Was There, What I Did

Every con that I’ve been to has had lots to do – often with many things of interest at the same time. No plan or pocket schedule survives past getting that first cup of coffee, of course – and each person of course has their own interests, energy levels, and who-they-know path (guided also by general and specific con-attending experience).

I have no doubt that many Filers reading this have been to many conventions (as I know from get-togethers at some WorldCons, if nothing else) (what are some of the high conventions-attended numbers here? Any four-digiters?). For those who haven’t (yet), I’m including some details to help you think about whether, and what, Con(s) you might want or go to (for fun and/or business/professionally).

Here’s my What-I-Did short answer, which partially answers the more general Who/What question: saw/schmoozed-with friends (which, for many, is much of why we go to Cons), had a few arguably professional/business micro-schmoozes, bought a few books, grabbed a few of the freebie books’n’mags, went to a few sessions, strolled the Art Show, chatted with the Convention tables, did my DragonsLair Magic Show, stayed late enough Friday for Trivial For Chocolates, schmoozed with more friends… and headed back home Saturday after an early dinner just as the snow began. Enough fun, or, as Nero Wolfe would say (although not in this context), “Satisfactory.”

And here, via the Boskone 62 Program Guide (this is the “static” version with participants/panelists and session descriptions, I don’t know whether/when the interactive version will get a Boskone 62-specific URL), are representative lists (from the ~235 full list) of What There Was To See And Do At Boskone 62, followed by some deets’n’pix:

Panels & Sessions included:

• A Horror Writer, a Fantasy Writer, and a Comedian Walk into a Bar
• Curse Your Inevitable Romantic Subplot!
• True Crime in a Speculative World
• The Year in Physics and Astronomy
• Publishing Short Fiction in the Digital Age
• Building Worlds Within LitRPG and Games
• The 5 Books That Made Me a Fan
• Working Stiffs in Space
• How We Plot in Hollywood
• Before There Were Light Sabers: The Early History of Space Opera, 1898-1940
• Business Side of Art
• Where Does Magical Realism Stop and Fantasy Begin?
• Representation in Speculative Fiction Matters
• The Books Kids Actually Read
• Writing and Structuring a Long Series
• Starting up a Podcast (Audio & Video)
• Badass Female Characters and Keeping them Off the Mary Sue Scale
• The Most Important [seminal books in SF/F/H] Books I Never Read
• Boskone Short Story Contest Winners
• Roger Zelazny: His Distinctive Voice and Legacy.

And other types of events included:

• Interview with GoH Jasper Fforde
• Kaffeeklatches with Jasper Fforde, Heather Preston, Kelley Armstrong, Theresa Mather, Neil Clarke, Ellen Datlow and others (General Pro Tip: Suss out when (and where!) the sign-up sheets for each day become available, since the limited – usually 10 – seats/slots fill up fast!)
• Con and related tables: SFWA, Capclave, Montreal for WorldCon 2027 bid, Readercon and others
• Concerts by Hilo, Amy Kucharik, Naomi Hinchen, Gary McGath, Heather Preston, Cecilia Eng, Peggi Warner-Lalonde, Michael McAfee, and this year’s Musical Guest Madison Metricula Roberts, C. S. E. Cooney (AKA the singer-songwriter “Brimstone Rhine”)…plus Open Filking 
• Readings by Auston Habershaw, Elizabeth Bear, Matthew Kressel, the Broad Universe Group, and others
• Autographing
• Special events, e.g., a live audio adaptation of Alice In Wonderland by the Post Meridian Radio Players (a Boston-based radio drama group) (Here’s a performance (Act One And Act Two) from 2015, and here’s their 2017 CD on Spotify and on Apple Music.)
• Gaming, including a session for newcomers, a Boardgame Blitz Tournament
• Video programming (Anime, anime music videos, kung fu comedy, and more)
• Workshops like Juggling Basics, Creating “Al Jaffee-Style” Fold-ins, Improv Essentials,
• Space Disco Dance Party.

On Saturday, in a well-lit corner of the Dealers/Art Show/Tables/general main area, artist Bob Eggleton, (multiple Hugos, Rondo Award, Chesley Award), well known for his 40+ years painting science fiction, fantasy and horror, and has recently, he reports (by private email), “gone into land and sea scapes with great success,” did a one-hour Painting Demo, creating,  according to Irene, “a painting of a stormy ocean right in front of a group of 20 (or so) fans inside his one hour panel time.“

Up in the Con Suite, I had a delightful chat with Brother Guy J. Consolmagno – I hadn’t realized how closely our time and place as MIT undergrads overlapped (including same dorm, Bexley Hall, physically demolished over a decade ago now). He’s got a new book out: A Jesuit’s Guide To The Stars: Exploring Wonder, Beauty, and Science.

Over in the Dealers Room, I had a nice chat with Ian Randal Strock at his Fantastic Books table. An “eclectic small press based in Brooklyn” (per the site), “…we started out  as a reprint house — bringing back into print authors’ out-of-print back-lists — we now focus more on original titles. We publish in both print and digital formats, and expect to soon add audio books to our mix.”

Fantastic’s author roster includes Dan Kimmel, Fred Lerner, Shariann Lewitt, Uncle River, Michael Burstein, Allen Steele, Bud Starhawk, Tom Purdom, Scott Edelman, Walter H. Hunt… plus a growing number of original anthologies – and Strock’s own first fiction collection. Wandering Through Time. (I’ll be queuing up some purchase requests to my public library within the next week.) 

Strock won the NESFA’s 2025 Skylark award). According to NESFA, “The Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction (the Skylark) is presented annually by NESFA® to some person, who, in the opinion of the membership, has contributed significantly to science fiction, both through work in the field and by exemplifying the personal qualities which made the late “Doc” Smith well-loved by those who knew him.”

(Presumably, Ian is already well aware of Jane Yolen’s Skylark cautionary story.)

Trivia For Chocolate: One of my favorite items at Boskones is the Trivia For Chocolate game show (per my Boskone 57/2020 and Boskone 57/2019 File770 reports) historically run at Boskone by Mark and Priscilla Olson, and Jim Mann. (Sadly, Priscilla is no longer with us, she passed in June 2024.) Joining Mark and Jim at the judging table this year was Steven H. Silver.

As more-or-less-implicit in the name of the game, points – usually thin rectangular green-wrapped chocolate Thin Mints (and only uneaten ones are count for your final tally) – are awarded for first (so, like with Scroll comments, speed matters) correct – or sufficiently snarky – answers (and occasionally taken back for proactively wise-ass answers, ask me how I know this). Questions range from sf and fandom’s deepest pre-history through current trends; this year’s had hefty blocks of Terry Pratchett/DiskWorld, Dr. Who and Harry Potter challenges (three of my weakest areas).

Mark Olson estimates that about 200 questions were asked this year (from their multi-thousand-question database); first place went to Rich Horton, with 50 points; second place to Chris Edwards (19); third, Lisa Evans (18), with yours truly and Stephen Wolf listed at 4^th and 5^th places with 17 – although I’m pretty sure I heard at least three other players reporting “17” meaning that perhaps half a dozen of us shared places 4 and 5. (This isn’t Rich Horton’s first win; for example, he similarly ate all our lunches (or desserts) at Boskone 56.)

Daniel Hatch, who, as I said above, I first met at Boskone VI in 1969, was carrying a few copies of Den of Thieves – Book 1 of hisThe Slow Space series (we lightened his load by buying one)… and Book 2, The Long Game, is scheduled to be released mid-March 2025 – order ‘em here.

One of the things I alas didn’t get to: Montreal 2027’s Smoked Meat Party – a Worldcon Bid party on Saturday night that I’m sad to have missed…but we booted out early to get ahead of the snow.

Looking ahead: Boskone 63 is currently set to be held February 13-15, 2026 at the Westin Boston Seaport District hotel in Boston, MA; announced so far: Guest of Honor: Greg Cox and Special Guest: audiobook narrator, director and producer Stefan Rudnicki.

And for BOSKONE 62/2025 posts, comments, and pictures (lots of great stuff, from other attendees!) see:

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/boskone       
• https://boskone.org/about/photo-gallery
• https://boskone.org/about/blog
• Helmuth (daily newsletter) 1, 2, and 3.