SMOF News, volume 2, issue 5

COVID health measures are anything but uniform, and news in brief.

It’s a Mess Out There

“Here we go again,” says Your Local Epidemiologist, looking at the signs of a new COVID-19 wave forming in the northern hemisphere. This winter is likely to resemble the last one, with omicron subvariants surging everywhere.

There is a big difference from last winter on the convention front, though. Where most cons earlier this year required masks and vaccinations, now it is hard to find anything about a COVID policy on websites. When there is one, now it is as likely as not to be just a recommendation that masks might be useful.

What is behind this? Probably a mix of factors. In some parts of the world, vaccination rates are so high that events may truly feel confident that the risk to any individual attendee is low. In other places, vaccination rates are so low that there would be no point in trying to require it. In at least one part of the world, events are banned from enforcing COVID-related health measures. And everywhere, people are tired of all this, despite the often repeated warning that the virus is not tired of us yet.

On the travel front, regulations are chaotic. You may or may not need a test, or proof of vaccination, when crossing an international border, depending on your citizenship, where you’ve been travelling, and other factors. You may or may not need to get this information into a country-specific app. You may or may not need to wear a mask on your plane or train. And all these things may be entirely different for the trip back to your home country.

Local regulations will also vary on whether you need to wear a mask on public transit, what you’re required to do if you have a known exposure, and other details. The only thing that can be said for sure is to check the rules early, check them again just before your trip to make sure, and be prepared for sudden changes.

Also, don’t forget your flu vaccine. Flu season is already starting in the northern hemisphere too, and it looks like a nasty one.

In Brief

• The WSFA Small Press Award was presented at Capclave 2022 (Rockville, Maryland, USA, September 30-October 2) to “Eight Mile and the City” by Steven Harper.

• Norwescon 45 (SeaTac, Washington, USA, April 6-9) has added Eric Wilkerson as Artist Guest of Honor.

• The Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee has made a grant of $5000 to the Seattle in 2025 Worldcon bid to aid in its promotional activities.

Event Calendar

Weekend of October 7-9

• CONtraflow X, Kenner, Louisiana, USA

• Decongestant 5/Arcanacon (relaxacon/dark fantasy), Bloomington, Minnesota, USA

• Direbrook (dark fantasy), Portland, Oregon, USA

• The Global Fantastic (symposium), online

• WPAFW 2022 (anthropomorphic), Allison Park, Pennsylvania, USA

• Alamo City Furry Invasion: A Tell Tail Mystery, San Antonio, Texas, USA

• Save Against Fear (gaming), York, Pennsylvania, USA

• U-Con (gaming), Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA

• Con on the Cob Episode 2022: Cryptid Party (gaming), Richfield, Ohio, USA

• CinCityCon 2022 (gaming), Sharonville, Ohio, USA

• Spiel ‘22 (boardgames), Essen, Germany

• Furnace (RPGs), Sheffield, UK

• Lair Con (RPGs), Pensacola, Florida, USA

• Atlanta Game Fest 38, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA

• Nintendo Live 2022 (official Nintendo), Tokyo, Japan

• Tsubasacon (anime), Charleston, West Virginia, USA

• Anime Fiesta, McAllen, Texas, USA

• Animasia (anime), Bordeaux, France

• Ani-Medford (anime), Grants Pass, Oregon, USA

• Anime Senpai, Collinsville, Illinois, USA

• Overload (anime), Auckland, New Zealand

• Connichi (anime), Kassel, Germany

• Wauke-Con (comics), Waukegan, Illinois, USA

• Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (comics and animation), Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Toon-Con (comics and animation), Pasadena, California, USA

• Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, Sitges, Spain

• Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival, New York City, New York, USA

• 27th Annual H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Portland, Oregon, USA

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

• Level Up ICT Con (media), Wichita, Kansas, USA

• Comiccon de Québec, Montréal, Québec, Canada

• Comic Con Scotland, Edinburgh, UK

• MagicCon 5 (fantasy media), Bonn, Germany

• Monsterama Jr. (retro media), Peachtree Corners, Georgia, USA

• Ponies Exhibition: Back to the 80’s (My Little Pony), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• UK PonyCon 2022 (My Little Pony), Nottingham, UK

• VoltCon! 2022 (Voltron), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Midweek convention: Icon Festival, Tel Aviv, Israel

Weekend of October 14-16

• ICON 47: The Prime Universe, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA

• MultiverseCon IV, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• Octocon 2022 (Irish national sf convention), Dublin, Ireland

• VCon 2022, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

• Can*Con 2022 (Canadian sf), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

• Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, Sitges, Spain

• Viking-Con 41 (gaming), Kastrup, Denmark

• Festival Internacional de Juegos de Córdoba (gaming), Córdoba, Spain

• Effing-Con (gaming), Effingham, Illinois, USA

• G.A.M.E. Expo, Springfield, Missouri, USA

• Conecturday (video games), San José, Costa Rica

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo (retro video games), Portland, Oregon, USA

• Banzaicon 10 (anime), Larvik, Norway

• WasabiCon (anime), Jacksonville, Florida, USA

• AmeChibi (anime), Northampton, UK

• Anime USA, Arlington, Virginia, USA

• Anime Banzai, Davis, Utah, USA

• Another Anime Convention, Westford, Massachusetts, USA

• The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Kendal, UK

• Geek Days Caen (media), Caen, France

• Motor City Comic Con, Novi, Michigan, USA

• LeakyCon Denver (Harry Potter), Denver, Colorado, USA

Weekend of October 21-23

• DeepSouthCon 60, Huntsville, Alabama, USA

• MileHiCon 54, Denver, Colorado, USA

• BuchmesseCon, Dreieich, Germany

• Sirens (gender and fantasy), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Corflu 39 Pangloss (fanzines), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

• Bantucky Con (steampunk), Bandera, Texas, USA

• The Surrey Steampunk Convivial, Epsom, UK

• Confuror 2022: Día de Muertos (anthropomorphic), Guadalajara, Mexico

• Bewhiskered 2022: A Furry Murder Mystery, Durham, North Carolina, USA

• TsunamiCon (gaming), Wichita, Kansas, USA

• Wellycon (gaming), Wellington, New Zealand

• Congress of Gamers Fall Session, Rockville, Maryland, USA

• AVL Scarefest 6 (RPGs), Montreat, North Carolina, USA

• Retro Palooza (retro video games), Arlington, Texas, USA

• MEX (anime), Berlin, Germany

• Anime Fusion Remastered, Plymouth, Minnesota, USA

• Iberanime, Matosinhos, Portugal

• Anime Nebraskon 2022: Year of Magical Transformation, Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

• NW Idolfest (anime idols), Seattle, Washington, USA

• FACTS (media), Flanders, Belgium

• Grit City Comic Show, Tacoma, Washington, USA

• TFcon Chicago (Transformers), Chicago, Illinois, USA

Weekend of October 28-30

• Les Utopiales, Nantes, France

• SpoCon: Revamped, Spokane, Washington, USA

• BristolCon, Bristol, UK

• Hallowcon 2022 (fantasy/horror), Dalton, Georgia, USA

• Cabbagecon 6 (Discworld), De Rijp, Netherlands

• MorgulCón 2022 (J. R. R. Tolkien), Salamanca, Spain

• Ohio Valley Filk Festival 38: Year of the Cat (music), Worthington, Ohio, USA

• Golden Leaves Con 12: Cead Mile Faílte (anthropomorphic), Hasliberg, Switzerland

• Furry Blacklight 10: Steam Ages, Tremblay-en-France, France

• Furpocalypse 2022: Horror in Paradise (anthropomorphic), Stamford, Connecticut, USA

• GaelCon (gaming), Dublin, Ireland

• Big Bad Con 2022 (gaming), Burlingame, California, USA

• LAN All Night VI: BatLAN (video games), Grapevine, Texas, USA

• Anime Weekend Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• UwUCon (anime), Mesa, Arizona, USA

• Anime Halloween, Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Anime Texas, The Woodlands, Texas, USA

• YumeCon USA (anime), Palo Alto, California, USA

• DerpyCon 2022 (anime), New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

• Yunicon 2022 (anime), Schwechat, Austria

• 31st Festival of Fantastic Films, Manchester, UK

• Lucca Comics & Games, Lucca, Italy

• Music City Multi Con (media/video games), Lebanon, Tennessee, USA

• Hal-Con (media), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

• Baltimore Comic-Con, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• Winnipeg Comiccon, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

• 15th Starbase 24 Starfleet/Klingon Banquet (Star Trek) Peterborough, UK

Weekend of November 4-6

• Astronomicon 13, Rochester, New York, USA

• Or-E-Con 2, virtual

• GeekGirlCon, Seattle, Washington, USA

• ArmadaCon 2022, Plymouth, UK

• World Fantasy Convention 2022, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

• ZodiaCon 2022 (anthropomorphic), Horní Bradlo, Czechia

• PAWCon 2022: Visit Pawston Paradise (anthropomorphic), San Jose, California, USA

• Carnage XXV: Silver Anniversary (gaming), Dover, Vermont, USA

• Spellen Spektakel (gaming), Utrecht, Netherlands

• Rock-Con (gaming), Rockford, Illinois, USA

• AcadeCon (gaming), Dayton, Ohio, USA

• BottosCon 2022 (gaming), New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

• Phantasm 32nd (RPGs), Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

• AmberCon NW (diceless RPGs), Troutdale, Oregon, USA

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

• Warfaire Weekend (wargaming), St. Louis, Missouri, USA

• Fall In! (miniatures gaming), King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA

• NekoCon 24 (anime), Hampton, Virginia, USA

• Destination Tokyo (anime), Monthey, Switzerland

• HotaruCon (anime), Milton Keynes, UK

• Nishi Fest (anime), Arlington, Texas, USA

• Youmacon 2022 (anime), Detroit, Michigan, USA

• Tiger Con 2022 (anime), Valdosta, Georgia, USA

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

• Coosacon! (media), Rome, Georgia, USA

• Comic Con Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

• Akron Comiccon, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA

• CONjuration (Harry Potter), Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• Pony Friends Forever (My Little Pony), San Antonio, Texas, USA

Coda

• The oldest living webcam (SFGATE)

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