SMOF News, volume 2, issue 52

Stolen merchandise recovered, housekeeping for the end of volume 2, and news in brief.

Stolen Magic Cards Recovered

Having last week located the suspects in the theft of a pallet of Magic: the Gathering cards from Gen Con, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has now announced that the stolen cards have been recovered in New York City. It also reminds everyone:

The suspects should be considered innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Dicebreaker reports that this last point is lost on the users of BoardGameGeek, where the inevitable review-bombing of the suspects’ tabletop game is in progress.

The cards will be impounded as evidence for the time being. Charges have still yet to be filed.

Concluding Volume 2

Another year of SMOF News is ending. I thought this one might be less exciting than the last, with COVID-19 slipping out of the headlines, but looking over the crime, scandal, and strike news of just the last month, I may have been wrong about that.

A few tweaks are being introduced this week:

• An index to volumes 1 and 2 will follow shortly after this issue. Indexes will be provided at the end of all future volumes.

• Listings which appear for the first time after the weekend on which they are happening has already been included once will be highlighted. An example can be found under September 8-10 in this issue.

• With so few conventions staying hybrid, the ones which are will now be explicitly noted. The new listing under September 8-10 is also an example of this.

Thank you to every person who is still reading.

In Brief

• The Ohio Valley Filk Fest has posted the final ballot for the fan-voted Pegasus Awards. Winners will be announced at OVFF 39 (Worthington, Ohio, October 27-29).

• The H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival (Portland, Oregon, October 6-8) has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund this year’s festival. It has already slightly exceeded the goal of $35,000.

• The Labyrinth Experience & Masked Ball (Wycombe, UK, September 9-10) has added Sue Dacre and Robert Tygner as guests.

• FanX Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, September 21-23) has added Howie Dorough as a guests.

• Cincinnati Comic Expo (Cincinnati, Ohio, September 22-24) has added Michael Cho, Khoi Pham, Kim Simmons, J Hammond, Jeffery Shultz and Seth Damoose as guests.

• Trek Long Island (Hauppage, New York, May 31-June 2) has added Ursaline Bryant and Tara Rosling as guests.

Event Calendar

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

• Connichi (anime), Wiesbaden, Germany

• 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

Weekend of September 8-10

• OutsideCon, Burns, Tennessee, USA

• Just added: Albacon 2023, Clifton Park, New York, USA and online

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

• Furry Migration 2023: Disco Fantasy (anthropomorphic), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Platypus-Con (gaming), Juneau, Alaska, USA

• Planszówki w Spodku (gaming), Katowice, Poland

• PPG Con (gaming), Manitou Springs, Colorado, USA

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

• Senshi Con (anime), Anchorage, Alaska, USA

• Tracon (anime), Tampere, Finland

• Animate!, Des Moines, Iowa, USA

• Anime Fiesta, McAllen, Texas, USA

• Anime Oklahoma, Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA

• Anime Town Greenville 2023, Greenville, South Carolina, USA

• Arkansas Comic Con, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

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

• Popcorn! (media), Sheffield, UK

• Ottawa Comiccon, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

• Comic Con Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

• Afro Future Con 2023: Extending Reality (media), San Diego, California, USA

• ThunderCon (media), Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

• Baltimore Comic-Con, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• Silver Scream Con 2023 (horror media), Danvers, Massachusetts, USA

• Retro Con 2023 (‘80s media), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA

• The Labyrinth Experience & Masked Ball, High Wycombe, UK

• PhileFest (X-Files), Bloomington, Minnesota, USA

Weekend of September 15-17

• Copernicon, Toruń, Poland

• P-Con, Irving, Texas, USA

• Albacon 2023, Clifton Park, New York, USA

• Fantasycon, Birmingham, UK

• 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, online

• SWFL SteamCon (steampunk), Cape Coral, Florida, USA

• Megaplex: Be Anything, Do Anything! (anthropomorphic), Orlando, Florida, USA

• West Aussie Fur Frenzy: Under the Big Top (anthropomorphic), Freemantle, Australia

• Furever West (anthropomorphic), Laramie, Wyoming, USA

• FursonaCon 2023: Dino Safari (anthropomorphic), Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

• ShireCon 5 (gaming), Canaan, Connecticut, USA

• Strong Tower Gaming Convention, Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA

• Tabletop Central (gaming), Savoy, Illinois, USA

• B-Con 2023 (gaming), Northglenn, Colorado, USA

• ReUnity Games 2023, Nashua, New Hampshire, USA

• Tennessee Game Days Fall 2023, Franklin, Tennessee, USA

• Hold the Line (miniatures gaming), Port Clinton, Ohio, USA

• Southern Front 2023 (miniatures gaming), Morrisville, North Carolina, USA

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

• J-Con (anime), Derby, UK

• Anime Fargo 2023: Enter the Ninja, Fargo, North Dakota, USA

• Chizu Con 2023 (anime), Madison, Wisconsin, USA

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

• Granite State Comicon (media), Manchester, New Hampshire, USA

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

• Fandom Kissimmee (media), Kissimmee, Florida, USA

• Extremicon (media), St. Robert, Missouri, USA

• CaperCon (media), Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

• Power Comicon, Florence, South Carolina, USA

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

• Cartoon-A-Paloozah, Temecula, California, USA

• Comic Con Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

• London Comic Con, London, UK

• Midgard 2023 (media), Reykjavik, Iceland

• Alpha Omega Con (Christian-themed sf media), Whittier, California, USA

• The Uncanny Experience (X-Men), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Weekend of September 22-24

• Necronomicon 42: Life, the Convention, and Everything, Tampa, Florida, USA

• 2nd Annual Sturgeon Symposium, Lawrence, Kansas, USA

• Dum-Dum 2023 (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Rhinelander, Wisconsin, USA

• Furnavia (anthropomorphic), Kristiansand, Norway

• PhilliFur 2023: Tails and Fables (anthropomorphic), Quezon City, Philippines

• 9th Annual Steampunk Fair, Kennebunk, Maine, USA

• Anno 1900 (steampunk), Lasauvage, Luxembourg

• Council Ganing Con 42, Schenectady, New York, USA

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

• Nuke-Con (gaming), Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

• Game On Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

• Big Geek Con (gaming), Saginaw, Michigan, USA

• MegaMooseCon (gaming), Richburg, South Carolina, USA

• CuseCon 2023 (gaming), Syracuse, New York, USA

• Barrage 2023 (miniatures gaming), Havre de Grace, Maryland, USA

• Hurricon 2023: Lost Causes (miniatures gaming), Kissimmee, Florida, USA

• Recruits (wargaming), Lee’s Summit, Missouri, USA

• CEOtaku (anime fighting games), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Rappig Crossing (Tales video games), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• Made in Asia (anime), Brussels, Belgium

• Anime USA, Arlington, Virginia, USA

• MidessAnime, Odessa, Texas, USA

• Anime Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

• Microcon II (comics), St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

• Thessaloniki Comic Convention vol. 8, Thessaloniki, Greece

• NORCON (media), Norfolk, UK

• Lagos Comic Convention, Lagos, Nigeria

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

• Comic Con Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

• Fountain City Fandemonium (media), Bryan, Ohio, USA

• Cincinnati Comic Expo, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

• Rose City Comic Con, Portland, Oregon, USA

• Alabama Comic Con, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

• Superstar Comic Con, Savannah, Georgia, USA

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

• Mobicon 2023 (media), Mobile, Alabama, USA

Weekend of September 29-October 1

• Archon 46, Collinsville, Illinois, USA

• Conflux 17: Passages and Portals, Canberra, Australia

• Capclave 2023 (books), Rockville, Maryland, USA

• Intermezzo (music), Wernigerode, Germany

• Furdance Budapest (anthropomorphic), Budapest, Hungary

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

• OctoGônes 13 (gaming), Villeurbanne, France

• Adirondacon 6 (gaming), Glens Falls, New York, USA

• GooseCon (gaming), Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

• Shake, Battle & Roll (gaming), Southampton, UK

• Spellenfestival Genk (gaming), Genk, Belgium

• QuestCon Orlando / Crucible (gaming), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Big Bad Con 2023 (gaming), Burlingame, California, USA

• Game Devs of Color Expo, online

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

• SkålCon 2022 (Pathfinder& Starfinder RPGs), Plymouth, Minnesota, USA

• Terra MystiCon (Terra Mystica boardgame), Montréal, Québec, Canada

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

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

• Miryokucon (anime), Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• Anime St. Pete, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

• Shocker Con (anime), Wichita, Kansas, USA

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

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

• La Mole (media), Mexico City, Mexico

• Zurich Pop Con, Zurich, Switzerland

• Kadabra Con (media), Portland, Texas, USA

• Beer City Comic Con, Asheville, North Carolina, USA

• Creation Washington D.C. (media), Arlington, Virginia, USA

• Z-Con (media), Weymouth, Massachusetts, USA

• SiouxperCon 2023: To Sioux Falls and Beyond! (media), Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA

• King-Con 2023 (media), Kingman, Arizona, USA

• Giganticon 2023 (media), Killeen, Texas, USA

• MagicCon 6 (fantasy media), Bonn, Germany

• Giganticon (superhero media), Killeen, Texas, USA

• UK PonyCon 2023 (My Little Pony), Nottingham, UK

Coda

• Guess the fantasy book from its 1-star reviews (Bookriot, hat tip: File 770)

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