SMOF News, volume 2, issue 48

SAG-AFTRA restrictions in detail, a new fictional con review, and news in brief.

Dragon Con Explains SAG-AFTRA Limitations

With Comic-Con International having done just fine despite much of Hollywood being on strike, attention has now turned to the next high-profile convention that has actor guests, Dragon Con (Atlanta, August 31-September 4). Dragon Con has laid out the details of what the SAG-AFTRA strike means for it on page 4 of its latest progress report (PDF with custom reader):

You can still meet your favorite actors at Dragon Con, but things will be a little different.

The first you will notice is here in the Progress Report and on our website. You will see that guests are identified with names only. Think of this as a little homework for you and a chance to learn more about the guests; get creative and build your own bios if you will.

Guests who are members of SAG-AFTRA — which is almost all of the actors who come to Dragon Con — can participate in panels and you can ask them almost anything. … The thing they can’t talk about, however, are the shows or movies they have worked on and you will notice changes to our programming that are in support of this limitation.

… Guests who are members of SAG-AFTRA can only provide generic headshots at their autograph table and nothing that shows them as the characters they play in shows or in movies. If you bring a favorite photo, either brought from home or purchased onsite from vendors outside of the guests themselves, or [an] item from a struck property … SAG-AFTRA has no objections but ultimately, it’s up to the guest to decide if they will sign it.

As for photo-ops, nothing changes.

Fictional Con Review: Vista Al Mar Con (Con & On issue #1)

The year is 1992, and two eager young comics fans have arrived at the biggest comics convention in the US, Vista Al Mar or VAM Con. Around them is a teeming crowd of creators, actors, and fans of all ages. Will they find the connections they desperately hope for, or will their dreams be crushed?

VAM Con is a fictionalized Comic-Con International, in the middle of a phase of explosive growth as its ties to Hollywood were firming up and it was on the verge of entering mainstream consciousness. Attendees are shown as largely young, white, and able-bodied, which is a reasonable approximation to actual Comic-Con at the time. The central storyline leans into this, depicting Black people struggling to be taken seriously.

Outside of that storyline, though, VAM Con is presented so as to flatter the Comic-Con attendees it is aimed at. Minor foibles are gently poked at, but the intended reader is assured in the end that all things which are good in fandom flow through their favorite con.

It is in this effort that Con & On commits an unfortunate act of erasure. In the midst of an extended swipe at the World Science Fiction Convention, a nameless grump implies that there is a direct line from “those Trekkie girls” to Comic-Con. In fact, in 1992, Star Trek fandom had its own thriving set of conventions. Comic-Con began from an exclusively male core group, and would remain so separate from Trekkie-initiated fandom that when the Twilight movies were being promoted there at the end of the ‘00s, many longtime Comic-Con attendees would confidently declare that women had finally discovered media fandom.

Con & On is published by Ahoy Comics, and will run for 5 issues. We’ll come back for a review of the whole series once the last is out.

In Brief

• Amazing Stories and RavenCon are planning a joint event in April 2026 titled “SF100 - Science Fiction's Centennial Celebration”. Plans are to hold a main event in Richmond, Virginia, with simultaneous local get-togethers around the world. For more information, contact SF100@amazingstories.com or SF100@Ravencon.com.

• After a positive response to its initial survey, Contabile 34: Triple Time! will now be officially held in Buxton, UK, on February 2-4. Guests of Honor are Robert Beckwith (UK), Lauren Oxford (international), and Mike Whitaker (emeritus).

• The Labyrinth Experience & Masked Ball (High Wycombe, UK, September 9-10) has added Karen Falk and Dave Barclay as guests.

• Octocon 2023 (Dublin, Ireland, October 7-8) has added Sin Blaché and Helen Macdonald as online guests.

• Orycon 43 (Portland, Oregon, November 10-12) has added The Faithful Sidekicks as music guests.

• Norwescon 46 (SeaTac, Washington, March 28-31), has announced that Clarkesworld Magazine will be Publisher Guest of Honor, represented at the con by Neil Clarke.

• Baycon (next event in Santa Clara, July 4-7) has a new nonprofit owner, The Society for the Promotion of Speculative Fiction, replacing its previous owner, Artistic Solutions LLC. A limited run of “charter memberships” are available that will grant voting privileges to select its board.

Event Calendar

Weekend of August 4-6

• Sci-con2023 (60th Japanese national sf convention), Urawa, Japan

• AMA-CON, Amarillo, Texas, USA

• ArmadilloCon 2023, Austin, Texas, USA

• PulpFest 2023, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• LeakyCon (Harry Potter), Chicago, Illinois, USA

• Cosplay World, Richmond, Virginia, USA

• Surrey Steampunk Convivial, Epsom, UK

• Reffurence (anthropomorphic), Antwerp, Belgium

• Furry Siesta 2023 (anthropomorphic), Dallas, Texas, USA

• CanFURence 2023 (anthropomorphic), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

• Gen Con 2023 (gaming), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• StarCon 2023 (gaming), Star Island, New Hampshire, USA

• Pixel Expo: Level 2 (video games), Perth, Australia

• Fragapalooza 2023 (LAN gaming), Leduc, Alberta

• Advík (anime), Prague, Czechia

• AnimagiC (anime), Mannheim, Germany

• Kentokyocon (anime), Lexington, Kentucky, USA

• JoMoCon (anime), Joplin, Missouri, USA

• KO+Con 2023 Isekai (anime), Grand Prairie, Texas, USA

• Mid City Micro-Con (comics), Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

• Really Cool Comic Con, Flint, Michigan, USA

• Bell County Comic Con, Belton, Texas, USA

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

• Comic Con Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

• MonkeyCon (media), Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA

• Enid Comic Con, Enid, Oklahoma, USA

• Monster-Mania 55 (horror media), Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA

• STLV: 57-Year Mission (Star Trek), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Weekend of August 11-13

• Geek Out at Staten Island, Staten Island, New York, USA

• Wild Prairie Fur Con: Adventures in Furry Land (anthropomorphic), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

• Key City Steampunk Convention, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA

• Wild Game Roundup, Austin, Texas, USA

• Game On Expo, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• GameX 5.0 (video games), Mississauga, Ontario, USA

• Long Island Retro Gaming Expo (video games), Garden City, New York, USA

• Grand Tribunal (Ars Magica RPG), Cheltenham, UK

• AniNite 23 (anime), Vienna, Austria

• Otakukon (anime), Harare, Zimbabwe

• Otakuthon (anime), Montréal, Québec

• AniBash (anime), Rochester, New York, USA

• Abunai!: Summer Magic Academia (anime), Veldhoven, Netherlands

• Tokonatsu (anime), Henlow, UK

• RakuCon Manchester (anime), Manchester, UK

• Queen City Anime Convention, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

• Anime-zing!, Davenport, Iowa, USA

• MatsuriCon 2023 (anime), Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Fan Expo Chicago (media), Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Dublin Comic Con, Dublin, Ireland

• Station Unity 2023 (media), National Harbor, Maryland, USA

• Flame Con (LGBT+ media), New York City, New York, USA

• Starfleet International Conference 2023 (Star Trek), online

• TFNation (Transformers), Birmingham, UK

• Everfree NW (My Little Pony), Bellevue, Washington, USA

Mid-week event: SFRA 2023: Disruptive Imaginations (symposium), Dresden, Germany

Weekend of August 18-20

• Epic Nerd Camp, Darlington, Maryland, USA

• DenFur (anthropomorphic), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Dragonflight Gamecon 43, Bellevue, Washington, USA

• Game & Party Con, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

• Coulee Con 2023 (gaming), La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA

• Lone Star Game Expo, Grapevine, Texas, USA

• Field of Games, Silverstone, UK

• Draconicon (gaming), Tel Aviv, Israel

• HistoriKC Fest (miniatures gaming), Overland Park, Kansas, USA

• Nashcon 2023 (miniatures gaming), Nashville, Tennessee, USA

• SDHist Con East (historical games), Newport, Rhode Island, USA

• Superstar Anime, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

• Conjutsu (anime), Fairfax, Virginia, USA

• Anime Revolution, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

• Colossalcon Texas (anime), Round Rock, Texas, USA

• Shikkaricon (anime), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• Anime Town Louisiana 2023, Gonzales, Louisiana, USA

• Soda City Comic Con, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

• Kelowna ComiCon, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

• Hub City Comic Con, Lubbock, Texas, USA

• Creation Charlotte (media), Concord, North Carolina, USA

• Stars of Time (media), Weston-super-Mare, UK

Weekend of August 25-27

• Bubonicon 54: Across the Multiverse, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

• Dni Fantastyki, Wrocław, Poland

• Camp Feral!: Business Casual (anthropomorphic), Algonquin Park, Ontario

• Furrydelphia (anthropomorphic), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• IndyFurCon 2023: Mission: Impawssible (anthropomorphic), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• Weekend at the Asylum (steampunk), Lincoln, UK

• Northeast Ohio Steampunk Festival, Burton, Ohio, USA

• FallCon 36: Dice, People & Meeples (gaming), Calgary, Alberta, Canada

• LincCon the 13th (gaming), Merrill, Wisconsin, USA

• MaricopaCon X (gaming), Tempe, Arizona, USA

• Tacticon (gaming), Aurora, Colorado, USA

• Tabletop Scotland (gaming), Perth, UK

• Brussels Games Festival, Brussels, Belgium

• Norwich Games Con, Norwich, UK

• Retro World Expo (gaming), Hartford, Connecticut, USA

• Great Escape on the Lake (gaming), Bradford, New York, USA

• 2D Con 2023: Another World (video games), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Windblume (Genshin Impact), Frisco, Texas, USA

• TennoCon (Warframe), London, Ontario, Canada

• Kokorokon (anime), Collinsville, Illinois, USA

• Hikari (anime), Poznań, Poland

• Kin-Yoobi Con (anime), Union City, California, USA

• PopCult Anime Con, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

• My Hero Convention: Florida (anime), Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA

• Ganbatte 2023 (anime), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

• Fan Expo Canada (media), Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Fandom Fest 2023 (media), Schenectady, New York, USA

• Fairfax Comic Con, Chantilly, Virginia, USA

• My-Con (media), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Fandom Fest 2023 (media), Schenectady, New York, USA

• Jemcon 2023: Rockin’ Romance in Rhode Island (Jem and the Holograms), Warwick, Rhode Island, USA

Weekend of September 1-3

• Kapitularz (Polish national sf convention), Łódź, Poland

• Dragon Con, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• CoKoCon 2023, Tempe, Arizona, USA

• Bouchercon 2023: Murder at the Marina (World Mystery Convention), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Oxonmoot 2023 (Tolkien), Oxford, UK

• Big River Steampunk Festival 2023, Hannibal, Missouri, USA

• Eurofurence 27: Black Magic (anthropomorphic), Hamburg, Germany

• Tails & Tornadoes Fur Con: Wild Wild West (anthropomorphic), Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

• Mephit Fur Meet: Tropical Paradise (anthropomorphic), Memphis, Tennessee, USA

• Pacificon Game Expo 44, Santa Clara, California, USA

• TCEP 28 Parties Later (gaming), Sterling, Virginia, USA

• SaltCON End of Summer (gaming), Layton, Utah, USA

• Gamesfest, Pasco, Washington, USA

• WGGCon (gaming), Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA

• PAX West 2023 (gaming), Seattle, Washington, USA

• Gateway 2023 (gaming), Los Angeles, California, USA

• GrandCon 2023 (gaming), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

• ConsimWorld Expo 2023 (gaming), Tempe, Arizona, USA

• NOVA Open (wargaming), Washington, DC, USA

• ReaperCon 2023 (miniatures gaming), Denton, Texas, USA

• SCG Con (collectible card games), Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Nan Desu Kan 26 (anime), Aurora, Colorado, USA

• San Japan 14 (anime), San Antonio, Texas, USA

• Expo Anime: Natsumatsuri, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA

• Saboten Con 2023 (anime), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• Fanboy Expo Orlando (media), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Tucson Comic Con (media), Tucson, Arizona, USA

• Long Beach Comic Con, Long Beach, California, USA

• Robcon (media), Abingdon, Virginia, USA

• Meta Con Minneapolis (media), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• No Brand Con (media), Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA

• East European Comic Con, Bucharest, Romania

• GalaxyCon Austin (media), Austin, Texas, USA

• Whooverville 14 (Doctor Who), Derby, UK

Coda

• Voyager 2 not lost, just temporarily mislaid (The Register)

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