Worldcon wants me!
Hooray!
I was worried that I’d waited too long sending in my request to be a program participant — but nope, I just got confirmation that they want me. So happy! It’s been a few years since I’ve been on the program at a Worldcon.
Do you not know what Worldcon is? I know that my longtime readers do know, but I think I acquired a slew of new readers in the last year — at least, that’s what my sales figures suggest. (Unless some of you are buying multiple copies of the books, which would be nice, but odd…)
It’s the World Science Fiction Convention, science fiction and fantasy’s annual meet & schmooze & learn-new-stuff-about-SF&F & party & shop & greet event. It’s a blast. It’s also the event at which the Hugo Awards are given out, always exciting. Well, to me.  Some people skip the awards ceremony and just party instead.
This year it’s being held in Kansas City, Missouri, a place I have never been.  An awful lot of my travels have been centered around Worldcon.  I’ve been to Boston, Chicago, San Antonio.  Toronto, Winnipeg!  Atlanta, San Jose, Orlando, Philadelphia, Denver. And Glasgow! I missed London, alas, couldn’t be helped. Last year in Spokane, I didn’t get on the program, so I was there purely as an attendee (which did serve to remind me that it’s especially enjoyable to be at Worldcon when you have no responsibilities).
If you’ve never been, you should really try it.  And if you’re local to Kansas City, Missouri, you can pop in for a day (easier on the budget).  At least once in your lifetime, go to a Worldcon. And if it turns out that you like it — there’s one every year.
Also, people who have signed up as members get to vote on the Hugo Awards.  The finalists have been selected, and the voting starts May 15th.
You can check out the list of finalists at the Worldcon website here.
(Last year there was a certain amount of — how shall I put it — fuss and bother about the Hugo voting.  And some of that has spilled over into this year.  But the simple thing to do is read the nominated works and vote for the ones you think actually deserve an award. )
In other news: This weekend there’s a reunion of my former writer’s group, The Fabulous Genrettes.  Can’t wait!
May 5th, 2016 at 7:21 am
How exciting! Congrats! I’ve never managed to make it to WorldCon; it’s always been just a little too far. I am going to ConCarolinas in June, with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro co-GOH, and Nana Visitor as Media GOH. It’s in Charlotte NC and I hope it’s going to be fun. Hope you and the Genrettes have a great time, and that you kill at WorldCon.
May 5th, 2016 at 8:35 pm
How exciting! But on a far less exciting note, in the grand scheme of things, MobileRead would like you too. Check your gmail shown above for details. 🙂
And I keep promising I’ll get to WorldCon one of these years, with Spokane being the closest in forever, but it just wasn’t possible. Sigh. Maybe sometime.
May 6th, 2016 at 7:22 pm
Ooh! Kansas City has excellent jazz clubs all over the city. And the Kansas side of the city has really been built up quite a bit too now. I lived in Wichita for a few years and would go to KC regularly. If you have time, take a very short hop over to Lawrence Kansas – which a lovely quirky liberal college town. Now that I know you’re going, my husband and I are trying to figure out if we can fly out! 🙂
May 7th, 2016 at 10:24 pm
If you have never been to Kansas City, allow me to very strongly recommend that you visit the Steamship Arabia museum (http://1856.com/). The Arabia went down in a storm in 1856 carrying 200 tons of goods for people upriver. In the end, it became an unequaled time capsule when it was excavated from its resting place beneath a field — the river had moved away.
And, of course, you will also wish to experience Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue. Insiders go for the “burnt ends”.