NorEasCon4 - Boston, MA - 1-7 Sept 2004

To: <jl@simegen.com>, <jean@simegen.com>
From: Kaires Tevesu <historian@simegen.com>
Subject: Another Worldcon report -- way too long!
Cc: <KMacLEOD323@aol.com>

I wanted to add a few of my own comments and observations to the other WorldCon reports.

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The Sime~Gen party did go well, I do believe.

As JL said, posting the party signs was...er...a challenge. Besides the logistical problems mentioned earlier, I also had to add information about the auction--which wasn't even proposed until after the party signs had already been printed and copied--before the signs could be posted.)

We finally pulled all the elements together Friday afternoon, and I ran around attaching the augmented signs to all the freestanding signboards in the conference center--13 of the darn' things, some quite well hidden--and on all floors of the hotel that had bulletin boards up. 'Course, it was listed on the party board (next to the Voodoo Board...don't ask), on Filthy Pierre's party list (you probably don't want to know about this either), and in Friday's convention newsletter. If people couldn't find the party, well, it wasn't our fault!

Karen donated $30 to defray expenses for the party, which I really hated to accept, knowing that she can ill-afford it. (It was sent via PayPal; recipients used to be able to ignore a payment and it would go away, but that doesn't work any more. Fui!) Seanara brought two kinds of homemade low-carb cookies (which another friend baked), and also donated some Atkins-friendly chips. My friend Gahan brought chips and candy, and paid for an elegant fruit tray...which was appreciated (and demolished). I brought paper and plastic stuff from home, most of which was left over from previous parties (even though I was once teased about that by a certain Canadian friend who shall remain nameless). I can't remember who else contributed to the party...I hope anyone else who did will pipe up and get the much-deserved credit.

The other reports have more to say about the party. It seems that a good time was had by all...and the party room was crowded most of the time.

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I wasn't there for most of it, though: I was mostly in the second room of the suite, hawking our auction items.

The auction was rather a last-minute idea, proposed by a rabid "Man from U.N.C.L.E" fan (honest!) in the Los Angeles area, one Joel Davis. I'm not sure how I got talked into organizing and running it. I guess I'm just a soft touch. The stated purpose was to raise funds to 'Send a worthy fan to WorldCon'. What was not supposed to be said until afterwards--and most especially not to Karen--was: 'worthy fan' = Karen, and 'WorldCon' = Glasgow.

Many wonderful items were sent for the auction, many of them unique. The ones I can remember, with my feeble brain:

- Joel donated some "Man from U.N.C.L.E" memorabilia: two scripts, a document called "Solo" (the original proposal for the series), and a tape of "The Project Strigas" affair (the episode with Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, and several other well-known actors)
- he also sent an autographed copy of his book: "With Alex by my Side" (about his darling, little dog--I met Alex. He's sweet!--who gives warning when Joel is in danger of a seizure)
- and D.C. Fontana, who is a close friend of Joel's, gave him autographed copies of two of her Star Trek scripts: "Journey to Babel" (my ultimate favorite classic Trek episode) and "This Side of Paradise" (the one that featured Spock, hanging like a sloth from a treelimb, with a big grin on his face!)

- a box of books and zines arrived, courtesy of 'Sime~Gen, Inc.'. Some were for door prizes, some for the 'zine reading room', and some for the auction. This latter set included a matched set of the three 'Dushau' books...quite rare, especially the third book.
- I added my hardcopy first edition of "House of Zeor" to this pile

- Lois Wickstrom sent two magnificent 'magic mirrors' (they are mirrors that will project an image of Buddha on the wall when placed in sunlight). I had a picture displayed on my computer, showing how they worked. But we couldn't actually demonstrate them in the dim lights in the room, so no one would bid on them...Their loss!

- many fascinating items came from the Karen-Seanara conglomerate, and I'm not really sure who donated what. This set included: three Hallmark Keepsake ornaments (Dr. McCoy, Data, and The Defiant), a set of three tiny Trek starship models.
- Seanara brought a hot-pink feather boa, that may possibly have generated more bidding action than any other item. It was great!
- Seanara also donated a canvas bag bearing the Starred-Cross logo (the one designed by our Patric Michael, which is available at Cafe Press), and two "Lord of the Rings" DVDs (one of them the National Geographic behind-the-scenes special)
- and the highlight of the show (garnering twice the $$$ of any other item) was a crew jacket from ST-TNG, donated by Karen. For most of the evening, no one even seriously looked at it. Then this lady came in and instantly fell in love with it. She tried to resist. But when we talked her into trying it on...and it fit perfectly...she was lost. That was so fun!

- I'm sure I forgot some...someone jog my memory.

Unfortunately, no one pays decent prices for things at an auction like this. I couldn't generate any interest at all in several of the items, and just couldn't bear to sell some of the others for the piddly little prices offered. So there were a bunch of items left, and the 'take' was a trifle underwhelming: $166.

It was exhilarating to perpetrate, even so, and people who did buy things seemed to be excited about their acquisitions. It was very much worth the effort.

Noises were made about trying again--both the party and the auction--at LosCon. Maybe Darkover, too? We'll see.

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I got to meet one of my SimeCenter authors: Cory Doctorow. He is an instructor at the "Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop," our current SimeCenter recipient, and he donated a story ("Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers." posted in May). I met him after his reading, on Monday. He also had a kaffeeklatch and a bunch of panels, and seems to be really popular, followed by fans wherever he goes.

Another SimeCenter contributor, who is also a "Clarion" teacher, is James Patrick Kelly. (His SimeCenter story was "Unique Visitors," posted in June. And another of his stories--"Bernardo's House"--was nominated for a Hugo in this year's contest.) He also had panels, a kaffeeklatch, and a reading...but I didn't manage to meet him.

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I was kind of wiped out the first three days, for reasons that didn't have a whole lot to do with the Con. When I went to Joel's apartment to get the auction stuff, he gave me a copy of "Dreamspy" (which I hadn't read). I made the mistake of starting to read it on the plane, on the way to Boston. I got dragged through airports, into cabs, etc., by my partners in crime with my nose in the book, and stayed up until 0230 three nights in a row to finish it. (The only reason I quit at 0230 was because I fell asleep.) I bawled JL out for writing such an addictive book, but I don't think she took my wrath entirely seriously.

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This was one of the best WorldCons I've attended (i.e., all but two of them since 1983). The program had many fascinating panels, and there were relatively few add/change/delete operations to fuzz-up the schedule. Plenty of maps and directional signs helped people locate happenings around the hotel and Convention Center. Function spaces were well-appointed and comfortable, the sound systems worked...A million little details had been thought of and accounted for, more than anyone can realize who merely attended the Con.

The Con Suite was superb! The venue was a huge ballroom, it was open long hours, with plenty of nosh-food--both healthy and 'un'--decorating the tables and sideboards. A wide variety of canned and bottled drinks was always available. The volunteers running the place were friendly and helpful. (One even loaned me a knife so I could break into a well-fortified package of headache medicine...because the scissors I usually used had vanished out of my checked suitcase on the way to the Con.) Games, puzzles, several shelves of books, etc., sat on shelves along the periphery, in case folk wanted to hang out but didn't happen to have someone to talk to at the moment

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Most of the zines were not used for the auction or doorprizes, so they went to the 'fanzine reading room' in the ConCourse. (I wanted to put a copy of our lovely new flyer with each zine, but that didn't happen, alas.) Anyway, the zines all vanished, so I'm hoping we acquired some new fans by that method.

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BroadUniverse (an organization that promotes female writers of fantasy, science fiction and horror) had a table in the Dealers Room. I didn't have a chance to interact with many of the BU members there, but the EMails that went around before and after the Con led indirectly to my getting four stories for SimeCenter, and offers for two more!

In a series of messages after the Con, several BU correspondents admitted being more than usually wiped out by this particular Con. Some attributed that effect to the plethora of fascinating panels (those they attended as well as those they perpetrated). One person opined that an introvert masquerading as an extrovert for six whole days is always exhausting. Yep, I can relate to that. But I wouldn't trade it for anything! (Well, maybe a trip to Mars...but I digress.)

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So much for 'a few of my own comments'. This has burgeoned into a blasted thesis! Oh, well. I'll submit it anyway. Maybe it will inspire others to add their own reports.