Muse Wanted

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Chicon 7 has me on two programs and your advice is solicited.

The first is a Worldcon history panel —

Best of Bidding
Discussion of the best (and worst?) Worldcon bid groups, and the factors that helped determine whether they won or lost.

What notorious bid campaigns do you think should be mentioned?

The second panel honors the memory of people in our community who have passed away since last year.

Science Fiction In Memoriam
A remembrance of authors, fans, artists, and actors who the science fiction community has lost since we last convened at Renovation.

What five people most deserve to be at the top of our agenda? (Search File 770’s “In Passing” category for ideas.)

Discover more from File 770

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10 thoughts on “Muse Wanted”

  1. I recall the New Orleans ’79 advertisement in the Suncon souvenir book. It was a poorly drawn multi-panel comic with fans of assorted type (fanzines, comics, media, etc) joining together to beat the “bloody British” with fannish lyrics to “Battle of New Orleans”. Well, that’s how I recall it – it’s been ages since I’ve seen the book.

    Best? The London 2014 bid video: http://youtu.be/tlTaXjDt6_E

  2. Narrowing it down to 5 is very tough. My list, in alphabetical order, would be

    Leo Dillon
    Harry Harrison
    Rusty Hevelin
    Jay Kay Klein
    Anne McCaffrey

    If not limited to 5, I would add
    Gene DeWeese
    Dick Spelman
    Jim Young

    I’ve omitted Bradbury because I expect that everyone else will list him, and personally I never liked his writing much.

  3. I remember the New Orleans bid ad to which Michael Walsh refers. There was a line to the effect that a vote for them was “voting to re-unite fandom,” which implied to me that they were trying to unite a bunch of media sub-fandoms with mainstream sf fandom (their Tarzan fandom had nothing to do with ERB fandom which did the Dum-Dums).

    In the fannish politics of the time there was concern about the worldcon being taken over by media fans; that was also the period where Perry Rhodan fans were being urged to buy supporting memberships so that they could boxstuff votes to nominate and win Perry Rhodan a Hugo, and the next year brought the Doug Wright/Every-Other-Convention-in-Los-Angeles feud, so the pot was boiling.

    The ad was as poorly drawn as Michael says.

  4. An interesting contrast to New Orleans’ later successful campaign, which was Michael Sinclair telling everyone “Here, have a Hurricane” and pressing a red drink into their hands.

  5. Ah, Perry Rhodan … RhoCon: January 2-4, 1976, Sheraton Park, Washington, DC.

    David – thanks for the memory jog about “voting to re-unite fandom”.

  7. I am not sure if it qualifies as either a best or a worst, but there is the Nashville in ’94 bid that had to become the Louisville in ’94 bid when the Opryland hotel booked another group for the same weekend. And, or course, you will want to mention the Boat.

  8. One of the better hoax bids as reported by Rich Lynch:
    “All the worldcon bidders for the foreseeable future were well represented at ConAdian, but it was a party for a hoax convention that got the most renown. The “Antarctica in `99″ party was a ‘white’ theme party, with marshmallows, popcorn and other things white for snacks; all the while, a television set in the corner of the room that was set on an empty channel showed con’s entire facilities as well as the expected weather — snow!”
    http://www.jophan.org/mimosa/m16/opening.htm

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