I finally attended Toronto Fan Expo, the third-largest nerd-con in North America. I was a panelist, though the literary panels fall very much in the shadow of the celebrity guests, gaming, and cosplayers.
The cosplayers also dominate my video. Enjoy!
After two years online, Penguicon returned to the real world.
Gen Con Indy, delayed slightly this year, will run beginning the evening of Thursday, September 16 both online and in Indianapolis. Check out their website for further details.
My schedule may be found here. Although many events have been sold out, most of these will be streamed on Twitch, and you will be able to watch, if not participate.
The pandemic cancelled one Free Comic Book Day and pushed back another, but here’s what it looked like near me:
The annual When Worlds Collide (Calgary) convention brings together various genres, and will mainly be online again this year.
I will be participating in a multi-author event at noon, eastern time. Provided the tech holds, you will be able to see it broadcast here. WWC’s full schedule may be found here.
But that’s not all this weekend holds…
Winnipeg, Manitoba hosts the virtual edition of Keycon, and registration is free. The schedule features a number of events, from crafting to SF novels to Trek to Randy Rainbow parodies. I’m involved with one reading and two panels– one event each day.
If you’re looking for a virtual taste of a smaller SF/Fantasy Con, check it out.
Missing SF conventions? Michigan’s Penguicon, a meeting of SF/Fantasy Fandom, Techies, Open Source Coders, Hackers, and general nerds-at-large goes online this year, with a cost of only $10:00. It actually opened yesterday, but it really doesn’t take off until tonight, and there’s still a lot of virtual space available.
The 79th World Science Fiction Convention has been delayed until December 15-19, 2021, when it is hoped more real-world event can take place. DisCon III will be held in Washington, DC, and the Hugo nominees for this year include:
Best Novel
Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery / Saga Press)
The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Birds of Prey, written by Christina Hodson, directed by Cathy Yan (Warner Bros.)
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, written by Will Ferrell, Andrew Steele, directed by David Dobkin (European Broadcasting Union/Netflix)
The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Netflix / Skydance Media)
Palm Springs, written by Andy Siara, directed by Max Barbakow (Limelight / Sun Entertainment Culture / The Lonely Island / Culmination Productions / Neon / Hulu / Amazon Prime)
Soul, screenplay by Pete Docter, Mike Jones and Kemp Powers, directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers, produced by Dana Murray (Pixar Animation Studios/ Walt Disney Pictures)
Tenet, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros./Syncopy)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Doctor Who: “Fugitive of the Judoon”, written by Vinay Patel and Chris Chibnall, directed by Nida Manzoor (BBC)
The Expanse: “Gaugamela”, written by Dan Nowak, directed by Nick Gomez (Alcon Entertainment / Alcon Television Group / Amazon Studios / Hivemind / Just So)
The Good Place: “Whenever You’re Ready”, written and directed by Michael Schur (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group)
The Mandalorian: “Chapter 13: The Jedi,” written and directed by Dave Filoni (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
The Mandalorian: “Chapter 16: The Rescue”, written by Jon Favreau, directed by Peyton Reed (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: “Heart (parts 1 and 2)”, written by Josie Campbell and Noelle Stevenson, directed by Jen Bennett and Kiki Manrique (DreamWorks Animation Television / Netflix)
How often does the Bureau get a shout-out in the acknowledgements of a novel?
The Con was released t Friday, November 13, 2020. The e-launch party will be streamed on Twitch-TV at 6:00 pm EST on November 14. Anyone can watch by clicking the link. If you create/have an account and log-in, you can participate. Has your favorite fan convention been canned due to COVID? Consider The Con: SF Fans meet the Jane Austen Society at a hotel that may also be hosting an actual alien presence. High tea, a robot battle, nerds gone wild, religious LARPERS, the Augur of Quaoar, and the quest to answer one of history’s great questions: does anything we do matter– or is it all just a con?
Even in the era of the World Wide Web, traditional fanzines still exist. Of course, they’ve gone online.
Fandom, too, survives, even if the pandemic keeps people apart. An SF Club geographically local to me released their latest issue (#62) of their fanzine, SideTrekked, which…