Next, the topic of The Art of Meeting Up With Friends.

As I am sure is true of every occasional gathering of those interested in the same thing (stamp shows , antique faires, comic book conventions, Scottish Games), there are people who you consider real friends but that you only see at conventions. We have our favorite con-friends, who we mainly see at Boston Conventions: Robert Devney, Michael Devney, Darcy Campion Devney and her husband Bob Kuhn. Also included in that group is movie critic and film maven Dan Kimmel. The Devney/Kuhn clan did not attend WorldCon, but Dan did and we had a few pleasant meetups and a meal together.

MaryAnn and Dan Kimmel and then there's Me with Dan Kimmel

In the First Report, I mentioned author John Scalzi who, unbeknownst to us, was standing in front of us at the hotel check-in line. He and MaryAnn have been on panels together at other conventions and have a mutual admiration society. His books, Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades, were terrific and his new one, The Android's Dream is one I intend to pick up at PhilCon, where John will also be a guest. John won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer, which is sort of misleading, since he’s been writing for years. He and MaryAnn spent most of the convention just missing each other until the last day, when we ran into him wearing his Campbell Tiara:

John and MaryAnn.

Of course there are plenty of people you know by sight, or speak to in passing and it's part of the pleasant experience of conventions.

On to: The Art of Keeping Fans Busy

Keeping fans busy and interested is no small task, but all it takes is a bit of creativity, a dash of irony and a smattering of something new. Most fans are pretty damned smart and conventions are the place to explore new interests or add multiple facets to old interests. So we have items like:

Have your picture taken with the crew of the Enterprise:

The original crew, of course.

Then there was the Wall of WorldCon History (or something like that) with panels for each year a WorldCon was held beginning with the first one in 1939:

Each panel had a program cover from that year's WorldCon, photos of highlights of the convention and headlines from major world events of that year. Convention attendees were encouraged to sign the board at the year when they first "joined fandom" (interpreted at will) and to add any comments or events considered relevant. Many of the boards had news items like "Civil Right Amendment Passed" followed by the clarification: World Does Not End, as well as the usual "Jimmy Hoffa Still Missing" notations. It was very interesting to see who signed what year and what made them fans. I won't say what year I put down, or exactly what made me a Fan, but I signed with my usual flair -- unashamed of my geekhood.

There was the Chaos Machine:

And its spiritual opposite, the Zen Garden:

For the Readers (and we're all Readers) there is the raffle for piles of books. The drawing benefits Reading Is Fundamental:

If all else fails, there is The Dealers Area (otherwise known as The Huckster Room):

where even the vendors are Readers and are never bored.

And good for a half hour each day at least is the multitude of items on the giveaway tables. Flyers, postcards, things meant to catch your eye and encourage you to buy that book, or check out that website. These are not only an art in themselves, but many of them are Art:

Beautiful Art book covers:

Beautifully humorous:

Beautifully intriguing:

Beautifully tentacled:

Just walking throug h the parking lot at the hotel can be an experience in fan interests. For instance:

A DreamTime car:

And then, there's always people watching:

Of course, all this activity requires much sustenance:

MaryAnn, caffeine junkie, at the hotel Starbucks, which paid a small tribute to their major clientele for the weekend:

So that's what I've got for now. If the opportunity arises in the future, I'll expand and expound on some other topics, especially as I have a lot to say about Robots. (Yes, I said "Robots." You'll be impressed, I guarantee).

Right now, it is Thursday evening, and after a dreadful drive through rain of epic proportions, we've arrived at PhilCon. I've already consumed too much wine with John Scalzi, Charles Stross and MaryAnn, so further reports will have to wait for the future.




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