SMOF News, volume 3, issue 41

Foolscap ends its conventions but not its community, and news in brief.

Foolscap Folds, But Lives On

Foolscap, a long-running small science fiction convention in the Seattle, Washington area, has announced that it will be going “into hibernation”. But the Foolscap community will live on.

The post “On Foolscap and the Future” explains:

We've had a pandemic. We're still having it. The nexus of fandom conversation on Twitter imploded. The entire literature and media landscape has changed, for both creators and their audiences. There are new and worrying wars out there in the world. It's exhausting.

I'd like to say that in times like these, Foolscap is needed more than ever. But I don't think that's quite right.

Community is needed more than ever. But a weekend gathering? We're all very tired, and planning an Event is a lot of work. More than that, it seems like it may not be the right work anymore, or that we no longer have access to the right kind of people for it.

Foolscap will instead move toward being a social club, retaining its Discord server, and holding weekly events. Its parent organization will remain.

Science fiction clubs originally gave birth to science fiction conventions. In the first couple decades of the 2000s, many of those clubs withered away as fans found they can connect to worldwide groups online, but the COVID-19 pandemic has become the start of a move back toward local clubs. Gaslight Steampunk Expo changed its focus back to smaller local events last year, and FOGcon, another small science fiction convention, switched to doing virtual monthly panels after going on hiatus during the pandemic.

In Brief

• Pat Sims, co-chair of a FanHistoriCon and several years of the fanzine convention Ditto, died June 9 of pneumonia.
  Biography at Fancyclopedia 3

• After its fundraiser last week, Worldcon Heritage Foundation was able to submit the winning bid for the first Hugo ever awarded. The sale price was $9,500, or $12,065 after fees. WHO received donations and pledges totalling $12,350.

• Spooky Empire (Charleston, South Carolina, August 23-25) has added Heather Langenkamp, Doug Bradley, Dee Wallace, and Malcolm McDowell as guests.

• Tampa Bay Comic Convention (Tampa, Florida, August 23-25) has added Kellen Goff, Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Priscilla Presley, Billy West, Billy Dee Williams, and Robert Patrick as guests.

• FanX Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, Utah, September 26-28) has added Dorian Kingi, Jennifer English, Aliona Baranova, Erika Henningsen, Joel Perez, Blake Roman, Amir Talai, Krystina Albado, and Stephanie Young as guests.

• Cincinnati Comic Expo (Cincinnati, Ohio, October 18-20) has added Chris Potter and Lenore Zann as guests.

Event Calendar

Weekend of June 14-16

• YetiCon, The Blue Mountains, Ontario, Canada

• Pyrkon, Poznań, Poland

• 4th Street Fantasy, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Cosplay World, Richmond, Virginia, USA

• CastleCon 13 (anthropomorphic), Horb, Germany

• Arcon 40 (gaming), Oslo, Norway

• Game Con Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

• Spielfest Wien (gaming), Vienna, Austria

• Board Game Fest, Chavdar, Bulgaria

• NordCon (gaming), Hamburg, Germany

• Q-Con 2024 (gaming), Belfast, UK

• Gameloops 2024 (boardgames), Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada

• Medway Gaming Festival (video games), Chatham, UK

• Card Party 2 (Pokémon CCG), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Wie.MAI.KAI (anime), Flörsheim am Main, Germany

• Anime Marathon, Königslutter am Elm, Germany

• AnimeCon UK, Birmingham, UK

• Finn-Con@MDC (anime), Miami, Florida, USA

• Indonesia Anime Con, BSD City, Indonesia

• Desucon 2024 (anime), Lahti, Finland

• OMG!con 2024 (anime), Owensboro, Kentucky, USA

• Heroes Convention (comics), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

• Space Coast Comic Con, Cocoa, Florida, USA

• Forest City Comicon, London, Ontario, Canada

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

Weekend of June 21-23

• LibertyCon 36, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

• Soonercon, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

• Narrativity 2024: Romancing the Muse (storytelling in literary sf), Plymouth, Minnesota, USA

• Cosplay America, Cary, North Carolina, USA

• Origins Game Fair 2024, Columbus, Ohio, USA

• MoonCityCon 2024 (gaming), Springfield, Missouri, USA

• SunnyCon Anime Expo, St. James Park, UK

• Black Hills Con (anime), Rapid City, South Dakota, USA

• Anime Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

• Hazard Con (anime), Erie, Pennsylvania, USA

• JAFAX (anime), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

• Bold Matsuri (anime), Jacksonville, Florida, USA

• Anime El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA

• SugoiPopCon 2024 (anime), Fishkill, New York, USA

• AnimeSHOW 2024, Bratislava, Slovakia

• ExpOtaku Zaragoza 2024 (anime), Zaragoza, Spain

• Mississippi Comic Convention, Jackson, Mississippi, USA

• Greater Austin Comic Convention, Cedar Park, Texas, USA

• Rail City Fan Fest (media), Saint Albans, Vermont, USA

• Just added: Kelowna ComiCon, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Weekend of June 28-30

• Festival Fantazie, Chotěboř, Czech Republic

• PortConMaine 2024: Let's Eat!, Portland, Maine, USA

• The Town That Never Was (steampunk), Telford, UK

• Paris est Ludique! (gaming), Paris, France

• DexLite 2024 (gaming), Morristown, New Jersey, USA

• RAGECON 2024 (gaming), Sparks, Nevada, USA

• Too Many Games (video gaming), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA

• AkaiCon 10th Track (anime), Lebanon, Tennessee, USA

• DoKomi (anime), Düsseldorf , Germany

• Anime Festival Orlando 2024, Orlando, Florida, USA

• OCon (media), Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

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

• Hershey Comic Con, Grantville, Pennsylvania, USA

• Comic Con Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

• TrekFest 39 (Star Trek), Riverside, Iowa, USA

• Rebel Scum Con (Star Wars), Allen, Texas, USA

• X-Files Fan Fest 2024, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

Weekend of July 5-7

• Yanecon R (61st Japanese national sf convention), Chino, Japan

• Finncon 2024 (Finnish national sf convention), Jyväskylä, Finland

• Westercon 76, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

• InConJunction 43: Metal and Bolts and Gears, Oh My!, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• XXXVII Semana Negra, Gijón, Spain

• Festival Fantazie, Chotěboř, Czech Republic

• Play On Con, Columbiana, Alabama, USA

• CONvergence 2024: Everyone's Invited, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• BayCon 2024: Pure Imagination, Santa Clara, California, USA

• Little Island FurCon: Bloom & Gloom (anthropomorphic), Singapore

• Anthrocon 2024 (anthropomorphic), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• KantCon (gaming), Overland Park, Kansas, USA

• EBBG Con (gaming), Oakland, California, USA

• Dice Tower East (gaming), Orlando, Florida, USA

• ShepparCon ‘24: It Will Be Rad! (gaming), Shepperton, UK

• BA-CON Year 3 (anime), Houston, Texas, USA

• Anime Midwest, Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Anime Expo LA, Los Angeles, California, USA

• TomoFair Utrecht (anime), Utrecht, Netherlands

• Anime ID, Boise, Idaho, USA

• Kogan Con 2024 (anime), Grand Haven, Michigan, USA

• Metrocon (media), Tampa, Florida, USA

• Comiccon de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada

• LeakyCon (media), Portland, Oregon, USA

• London Film & Comic Con, London, UK

• Fan Expo Denver (media), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Avalon Expo 12/Summer (media), St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

Weekend of July 12-14

• XXXVII Semana Negra, Gijón, Spain

• ConGregate 10, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

• Blerdcon Summer Madness (Black geekdom), Arlington, Virginia, USA

• Readercon 33 (books only), Quincy, MA

• Nullas Anxietas 9 (Discworld), Adelaide, Australia

• Anthro Weekend Utah: YAPerture Science, Layton, Utah, USA

• LevelUp Retreat (gaming), Stamford, Connecticut, USA

• Festival Ludique International de Parthenay (gaming), Parthenay, France

• Game on the Table Con, San Jose, California, USA

• Con of the Lakes (gaming), Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, USA

• Play Con (gaming), Hurstville, Australiay, France

• Veterans Game Fest 2024, Clovis, California, USA

• CharCon 2024 (gaming), Charleston, West Virginia, USA

• Twisted Lords Con 2024 (gaming), Midwest City, Oklahoma, USA

• MGSCon 2: Cons of Liberty (Metal Gear video games), Long Beach, California, USA

• Tokyo, OK (anime), Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

• MondoCon (anime), Budapest, Hungary

• Japan Expo (anime), Villepinte, France

• Delta H Con (anime), Houston, Texas, USA

• Ai-Kon 2024 (anime), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

• New World Comic Con 9, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

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

• Fanboy Expo Knoxville (media), Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

• Saggeek (media), Saguenay, Québec, Canada

• GrandeCon (media), Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada

• FurMIT (anthropomorphic films), Luodong, Taiwan

• TrotCon 2024 (My Little Pony), Dayton, Ohio, USA

• TFcon Toronto (Transformers), Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Coda

• Recurring nova expected to recur soon (Astronomy)

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