Two Antipodean NatCons Pick Seanan McGuire as GoH in 2017

Seanan McGuire, urban fantasy and horror author, filk composer, and cartoonist, has been confirmed as the Guest of Honour at LexiCon 2017, the 38th New Zealand National SF and Fantasy Convention.

She has also been named International Guest of Honour by Continuum 13 in Melbourne, the 2017 Australian National Science Fiction Convention.

Seanan McGuire is the author of the October Daye and InCryptid urban fantasies and the Newsflesh novels (under the pseudonym Mira Grant). She also records CDs of her original filk music and is the creator of the autobiographical web comic “With Friends Like These…”

Winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.

LexiCon co-chair Cassie Hart said, “There are a lot of fans in our membership who are very much looking forward to hearing her speak, and sing,” says Cassie. “Plus, we’ve just finished finalising our Fan Guest of Honour as well, so you can expect another announcement very soon!”

LexiCon is being held at the Suncourt Hotel in Taupö, New Zealand from June 2-4, 2017 (Queen’s Birthday Weekend).

[Thanks to Errol Cavit for the story.]

11 thoughts on “Two Antipodean NatCons Pick Seanan McGuire as GoH in 2017

  1. LexiCon is being held at the Suncourt Hotel in Taup?, New Zealand from June 2-4, 2017 (Queen’s Birthday Weekend).

    Taupo I think. Nice place. Lots of vulcanism and strange smells for those that like such things.

  2. Yes, Taupo, the press release has a macron over the o, a representation that I haven’t seen often for placenames. I note that it is included in the name of the parliamentary electorate.
    While I’m sure you can find strange smells of a volcanic nature in the area, Rotorua is more well known for them.

  3. Strange smells. Ugh. When I first visited Yellowstone, the Mud Volcano made me retch. I apparently am sensitive to such things. Geysers were fine, but breathing in the gases too much was upsetting.

  4. Rotorua

    D’Oh. Been a number of years since I was there and I’m conflating the two. Plonker.
    Taupo is I think in a huge caldera, but I think it’s comparitively inactive.

  5. Rotorua is also part of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, which is currently most active to the south (Mt Ruapehu) and NE (White Island) of Taupo. The big lake that Taupo is on is the result of a BIG eruption (~30 cubic miles ejected) around the late 2nd Century AD, that specific part is classed as dormant. In the wider Volcanic Zone, It’s been two decades since air traffic in NZ has been disrupted by a local volcano, with occasional lahars more recently, a little eruption-ette in 2013, nothing much really, 🙂
    The mountainous Tongariro National Park to the south of the lake was the location of much Lord of the Rings filming.

  6. Silly question: Are the Australian and New Zealand cons close enough in time that this could be done as a single trip on Seanan’s part (which sounds like fun) or does it involve two round trips across the Pacific (which doesn’t)

  7. LexiCon is the first weekend in June, and the Australian NatCon the weekend after.

  8. Taupo is a lovely little town. Throw a stone in the lake and it’ll float: it’s one of the largest pumice deposits around.

  9. “New Zealand is a 3.5 hour flight from Eastern Australia”, Google says, so basically she’d have the one long flight to get to NZ and then the equivalent of a longish US domestic flight to get to AU the week after. Still sounds pretty unfun to me, but I really…. dislike…. traveling.

  10. When I first visited Yellowstone, the Mud Volcano made me retch. I apparently am sensitive to such things. Geysers were fine, but breathing in the gases too much was upsetting.

    Just don’t go for a dip in the boiling acid.

  11. I assume that Seanan has been given the option of landing in Auckland, traveling to Taupo via a collection of strange animals (or alternatively, Hobbiton), then continuing to Wellington (for Weta and stuff) and direct to Melbourne.
    Trans-Tasman flights generally (unless you choose not-that-much-cheaper-options) have good seat-back entertainment, but no wi-fi (lousy satellite coverage).
    For the several flights I’ve done in the last year, I haven’t been in a security line for more than 10 minutes. It can take a bit longer to get checked for nasty bugs and foodstuffs, Seanan might get the ‘special treatment’ 😉

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