SMOF News, volume 1, issue 1

Introduction, news in brief, and event listings.

Welcome! SMOF News aims to be a newsletter covering fan conventions and related topics of interest. Please send your press releases, your news tidbits, and your outraged letters to smofnews@gmx.com.

Each issue will have 4 parts:

1. Discussion of the big news of the week. If there is no big news, the space will be filled by editorializing, helpful tips for congoers, Q&As, or whatever else seems appropriate to the moment. Like this introduction, for instance.

2. News in brief from around the convention world.

3. Convention listings for the next five weekends.

4. One interesting link that may or may not have anything at all to do with geek fandoms.

Newsletters will be published every Wednesday evening, Pacific Time.

What’s “SMOF”?

“Secret Master/Mistress of Fandom”, an old tongue-in-cheek fannish term for people who run fan conventions. For more background, see Fancyclopedia 3.

In Brief

• Voting in Dragon Con’s Dragon Awards closes at 11:59 pm EDT (UTC-4) Saturday, September 4th. Voters do not need to be convention members. Request a ballot here; list of nominees here.

• Erle Korshak, one of the organizers of the second World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago in 1940, died August 25 aged 97. This leaves Bob Madle as the last surviving attendee of the very first Worldcon in 1939. Chicon 8, where he was to be a Guest of Honor next year, will still be honoring his life and contributions.
  Obituaries: File 770 • Locus

Event Calendar

Weekend of September 3-5

• Dragon Con, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• Marcon, Worthington, Ohio, USA

• CoKoCon 2021, virtual (usually Phoenix, AZ)

• Fantasticon 2021: The Weird, Copenhagen, Denmark

• FUTURE·CON (international literary sf), virtual

• Narrativity 2021: Take Two (storytelling in literary sf), Plymouth, Minnesota, USA

• San Japan 12.5 (anime), San Antonio, Texas, USA

• Connichi (anime), Kassel, Germany

• Nan Desu Kan (anime), Aurora, Colorado, USA

• Saboten Con 2021 (anime), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• Naka-Con 2021 (anime), Overland Park, Kansas, USA

• Mizucon 2021 (anime), Miami, Florida, USA

• PAX West 2021 (gaming), Seattle, Washington, USA

• Gateway 2021 (gaming), Los Angeles, California, USA

• Enfilade! 2021 (historical miniatures gaming), Olympia, Washington, USA

• Tails & Tornadoes (anthropomorphic), Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

• Mephit Fur Meet 2021 (anthropomorphic), Memphis, Tennessee, USA

• Oxonmoot 2021 (J. R. R. Tolkien), Oxford, UK

• Big River Steampunk Festival 2021, Hannibal, Missouri, USA

• Fan Expo Boston (media), Boston, Massachusetts, USA

• Hub City Comic Con, Lubbock, Texas, USA

• Austria Comic Con, Linz, Austria

Weekend of September 10-12

• Les Intergalactiques 2021, Lyon, France

• OutsideCon, Burns, Tennessee, USA

• Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, Lombard, Illinois, USA

• Keystone Gaming Expo, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, USA

• Dice Tower Retreat (gaming), Miami, Florida, USA

• Furry Migration (anthropomorphic), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Furvana 2021 (anthropomorphic), Ocean Shores, Washington, USA

• Power-Con 2021 (He-Man and She-Ra), Anaheim, California, USA

• 31st First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, virtual (usually Boston, Massachusetts, USA)

• ConnectiCon XVIII (media), Hartford, Connecticut, USA

• ICT Comic Con, Wichita, Kansas, USA

• German Comic Con, Dortmund, Germany

• Arkansas Comic Con, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

• El Paso Comic Con, El Paso, Texas, USA

• Rose City Comic Con, Portland, Oregon, USA

• Angers Geekfest (media), Angers, France

• Florida Supercon (media), Miami Beach, Florida, USA

• Fanboy Expo (media), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• Calgary Expo: Limited Edition (media), Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Weekend of September 17-19

• FenCon XVII, Irving, Texas, USA

• Albacon 2021, virtual (usually Albany, New York, USA)

• FIYAHCON 2021 (BIPOC in literary sf), virtual

• SIBCON XXV (gaming), Butler, Pennsylvania, USA

• Gen Con 2021 (gaming), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• Escape Winter Con (gaming), Orlando, Florida, USA

• CT Gamer Con, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA

• Cardiff Anime & Gaming Con, Cardiff, UK

• SWFL SteamCon (steampunk), Ft. Meyers, Florida, USA

• Furry Takeover 2021 (anthropomorphic), Fontana Dam, North Carolina, USA

• Avalon Expo 7 (media), St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

• Colossalcon East 2021 (media), Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania, USA

• AncientCityCon (media), St. Augustine, Florida, USA

• Incredible Con (media), North Charleston, South Carolina, USA

• Heroes Assemble (media), Richmond, Virginia, USA

• GraniteCon 2021 (media), Manchester, New Hampshire, USA

• FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Weekend of September 24-26

• RustyCon 2021, Bellevue, Washington, USA

• Copernicon, virtual (usually Toruń, Poland)

• Necronomicon 2021, Tampa, Florida, USA

• FallCon 34 (gaming), virtual (usually Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

• Nuke-Con (gaming), Omaha, Nebraska, USA

• Hurricon 2021: The Seven Seas (historical miniatures gaming), Kissimmee, Florida, USA

• Good Game Fest (video games), Westminster, Maryland, USA

• Ramencon 2021 (anime), South Bend, Indiana, USA

• Bradford Anime & Gaming Con, Bradford, UK

• ExpOtaku Vitoria-Gasteiz (anime), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

• WhimsyCon (steampunk), Northglenn, Colorado, USA

• FurEver West (anthropomorphic), Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA

• Big Apple Comic Con, New York City, New York, USA

• NORCON (media), Norfolk, UK

• Geek Days Rennes (media), Rennes, France

• Westcoast Comic Con, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

• Power Comicon, Florence, South Carolina, USA

• Suncoast Fan Fest (media), Palmetto, Florida, USA

• Spa-Con (media), Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA

• Northern FanCon (media), Prince George, British Columbia, USA

• Retro Con (classic media), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA

Weekend of October 1-3

• Octocon 2021 (Irish national science fiction convention), virtual

• MileHiCon 53, Denver, Colorado, USA

• Archon 44, Collinsville, Illinois, USA

• Fiasco iN3D, Romulus, Michigan, USA

• Capclave 2021/1632 Minicon (books/1632 series), Rockville, Maryland, USA

• Origins Game Fair 2021, Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Tennessee Game Days Fall 2021, Franklin, Tennessee, USA

• TringCon (gaming), Marsworth, UK

• 2021 Gaming Hoopla, Mundelein, Illinois, USA

• AppleCon 2 (tabletop games), Standish, Maine, USA

• Pittsburgh Gaming Expo (video games), Monroeville, Pennsylvania, USA

• FilkCONtinental (music), Wernigerode, Germany

• Trans/Inter/Cross: A Symposium on the Fantastic Between Genres, Media, and Cultures, Orlando, Florida, USA

• Gaslight Steampunk Expo, San Diego, California, USA

• Anime Oklahoma, Midwest City, Oklahoma, USA

• Birmingham Anime & Gaming Convention, Birmingham, UK

• 26th Annual H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Portland, Oregon, USA

• New Orleans Comic Con, Kenner, Louisiana, USA

• Upper Valley Comic Expo, West Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA

• Unicon (media), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

• Edmonton Expo (media), Edmonton, Alberta, USA

• Cape Comic Con (media), Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA

• Twin Cities Con (media), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Coda

Comic store vs. hotel, with graphic novel: See Part V, “Origin Story”. (Hat tip: Gray Anderson)