Chengdu Worldcon News Roundup
The World Science Fiction Convention was held in Chengdu, China October 18-22.
GoH MIA
One of the scheduled guests of honor was Russian author Sergey Lukianenko, who has become notorious in science fiction fandom for his vigorous support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Polish fans have been lobbying strongly for Lukianenko to be dropped, bringing a motion denouncing him at last year’s Worldcon, and posting an open letter at Avaaz.
Lukianenko was left unmentioned in Chengdu Worldcon’s publicity leading up to the convention, and did not attend. This led to speculation that the committee had chosen to quietly disinvite him. However a member of the committee said in a Facebook comment that Lukianenko told them he couldn’t make it.
Seattle seated as 2025 Worldcon
Seattle’s unopposed bid was confirmed as the 2025 World Science Fiction Convention. The official name of the convention will be Seattle Worldcon 2025, and it will run August 13-17. The theme is “Building Yesterday’s Future For Everyone”.
Initial guests of honor are Martha Wells, Donato Giancola, Bridget Landry, and Alexander James Adams, with hosts K. Tempest Bradford and Nisi Shawl.
Progress Report 0 (PDF) gives initial membership rates and a fuller explanation of the theme.
Hugo Awards awarded
The official Hugo Awards site has a full list of the winners, but not the usual voting statistics yet. It also has a photo of this year’s trophy here.
ASFiC proposal passes; NASFiC measured for coffin
The proposal for an Asian Science Fiction Convention (ASFiC), to be run by the World Science Fiction Society in a similar manner to the North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC), passed at this year’s WSFS Business Meeting and now goes to next year’s Worldcon in Glasgow for ratification.
The proposal was first referred to a committee, which came up with an alternate proposal defining a full system of regional conventions, but ultimately the original wording was accepted.
This has reawakened efforts to remove NASFiC from WSFS, effectively killing it unless a new group forms to take it over. Tammy Coxen, chair of the 2014 NASFiC, has formed a Google group for discussion of forming such an organization, or creating a national convention for the United States.
Other Business Meeting news
Donald Eastlake, chair of this year’s Business Meeting, posted reports on Facebook about the preliminary, main, and site selection/second main sessions.
One bid development was announced: the Cairo in 2026 bid has gone dormant because it cannot obtain necessary local permissions for the event. This leaves Los Angeles as the only city actively bidding for 2026.
Aside from the ASFiC motion, here are the fates of the proposals mentioned here a couple weeks ago. All passing proposals except for C.1 must be ratified at next year’s Worldcon to take effect.
A.2.1 (handling a year with no Business Meeting): Passed.
C.1 (bilingual debate at Business Meetings): Passed. As this is merely a change to the standing rules of the meeting, it takes effect immediately.
F.1 (specific timeframe for holding Worldcons): Passed after changes to remove the “preferred” timeframe and replace it with a requirement to consult with the following Worldcon if moving to later than September.
F.3 (clarifying address requirements on site selection ballots): Version A, the more complete requirements, passed.
F.4 (converting word counts between languages for determining Hugo category placement): Passed.
F.8 (removing second year of Hugo eligibility when works first published outside the US are then published in the US): Replaced by a rewritten proposal, modifying the rules to specify the country that year’s Worldcon is held in. The new proposal passed.
In Brief
Spooky Empire (Orlando, Florida, October 27-29) has added Raphael Luce and Drew Fuller as guests.
Ohayocon 24 (Columbus, Ohio, January 19-21) has added Samantha Inoue Harte as a guest. (No further developments about the overall con have emerged since many of its staff and volunteers went on strike.)
The Uncanny Experience (Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 28-29) has added George Buza as a guest.
Event Calendar
Weekend of October 27-30
MileHiCon 55, Denver, Colorado, USA
Astronomicon 14, Rochester, New York, USA
World Fantasy Convention 2023, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Hallowcon 2023: Plan 10 from Outer Space (fantasy/horror), Dalton, Georgia, USA
Ohio Valley Filk Festival 39 (music), Worthington, Ohio, USA
Spacedock GLC-13 (anthropomorphic), Hasliberg, Switzerland
Furpocalypse 2023: Summercamp Slasher (anthropomorphic), Stamford, Connecticut, USA
Biggest Little Fur Con 2023: Curse of Cœurasa (anthropomorphic), Reno, Nevada, USA
Carnage 26 (gaming), Killington, Vermont, USA
S’mores and Meeples (gaming), Spring City, Pennsylvania, USA
GaelCon (gaming), Dublin, Ireland
Cardboard Caucus 2023 (gaming), West Des Moines, Iowa, USA
CinCityCon 2023 (gaming), Sharonville, Ohio, USA
Conecturday (video games), Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
Board to Death Con 2023 (boardgaming), Wayne, Michigan, USA
Anime Weekend Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
UwUCon (anime), Mesa, Arizona, USA
Anime Halloween, Rosemont, Illinois, USA
YumeCon USA (anime), San Jose, California, USA
ExpOtaku Granada 2023 (anime), Granada, Spain
DerpyCon 2023 (anime), New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Music City Multi Con (media/video games), Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Hal-Con (media), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Winnipeg Comiccon, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
KingCon NW (media), Renton, Washington, USA
Sinbad and the Eye of the Monsterama (retro media), Peachtree Corners, Georgia, USA
Spooky Empire (horror media), Orlando, Florida, USA
Weekend of November 3-5
Les Utopiales, Nantes, France
ArmadaCon 2023, Plymouth, UK
Lodge Con 2023, Peotone, Illinois, USA
Y/Con 9 (LGBT sf), Paris, France
Doxacon X (sf and Christianity), Arlington, Virginia, USA
Virtual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts: AAAA! - AI, Algorithms, Automata, and Art (symposium), online
Furry Blacklight: Welcome to Olympus, Tremblay-en-France, France
PAW '23: Tu-deer England (anthropomorphic), San Jose, California, USA
Kee Con VI (gaming), Cherokee, Iowa, USA
Lucca Comics & Games, Lucca, Italy
Spellen Spektakel (gaming), Utrecht, Netherlands
FLAG Con (gaming), Ithaca, New York, USA
TimpCon (gaming), Provo, Utah, USA
Tampa Nerd Con (gaming), Clearwater, Florida, USA
Spielwiesn (gaming), Augsburg, Germany
Rock-Con (gaming), Rockford, Illinois, USA
AcadeCon (gaming), Dayton, Ohio, USA
Effing-Con (gaming), Effingham, Illinois, USA
Twincon (gaming), London, UK
BottosCon 2023: A Mere Matter of Gaming, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
TableCon 2023 (gaming), Springdale, Arkansas, USA
AmberCon NW (diceless RPGs), Troutdale, Oregon, USA
Good Game Fest (video games), Westminster, Maryland, USA
LoBsterCon XXV: Silver Jubilee (boardgames), Eastbourne, UK
LAN All Night VIII: For LANdetta (video games), Grapevine, Texas, USA
Fall In! (miniatures gaming), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Warfaire Weekend (wargaming), St. Louis, Missouri, USA
J1-Con (anime), Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
Sin City Anime, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Anime Pasadena, Pasadena, California, USA
Kaiga Anime Convention, Perth, Australia
HotaruCon (anime), Milton Keynes, UK
NekoCon 2023: Little Witch Catademia (anime), Hampton, Virginia, USA
Youmacon 2023 (anime), Detroit, Michigan, USA
Con Nichiwa 2023 (anime), Tucson, Arizona, USA
Coosacon! (media), Rome, Georgia, USA
Comic Con Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
Akron Comiccon, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA
Twin Cities Con (media), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Grand Rapids Comic Con, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Creation Jacksonville (media), Jacksonville, Florida, USA
NC Comic Con, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Rhode Island Comic Con, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
D. A. M. Con 2023 (Japanese live-action media), Dallas, Texas, USA
H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Mobile, Alabama, USA
Pony Friends Forever (My Little Pony), San Antonio, Texas, USA
Weekend of November 10-12
Novacon 52, Buxton, UK
TusCon 50, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Windycon 49: Adventure is Out There!, Oak Brook, Illinois, USA
OryCon 43: Phoenix Rising, Portland, Oregon, USA
OmegaCon Fall 2023 (relaxacon), Siren, Wisconsin, USA
New England Crime Bake 2023: deadactually (mysteries), Dedham, Massachusetts, USA
Steampunk November, Venus, Texas, USA
Vermont Steampunk Expo, Essex Junction, Vermont, USA
Howloween: The Nightmare BeFur Christmas (anthropomorphic), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Hexcon (gaming), Trondheim, Norway
Mythic Con (gaming), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Save Against Fear (gaming), York, Pennsylvania, USA
Compass Games Expo Fall 2023, Meridien, Connecticut, USA
Spielewelt in Bielefeld (boardgames), Bielefeld, Germany
EuroQuest 2023 (Eurogames), Annapolis, Maryland, USA
Phantasm 33rd (RPGs), Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
The Long Con (RPGs), Longview, Texas, USA
Arcade Expo, Houston, Texas, USA
TORG Gaming Expo 2023 (video games), Columbus, Ohio, USA
Oni-Con XX (anime), Galveston, Texas, USA
Animaine 11: I Died and was Reincarnated as the Animaine Mascot?! (anime), South Portland, Maine, USA
Animaga (anime), Melbourne, Australia
Nishicon (anime), Eindhoven, Netherlands
Anime Iwai: Horizons, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
anime expo chibi, Ontario, California, USA
Rocky Mountain Con X (comics), Denver, Colorado, USA
Thought Bubble (comics), Harrogate, UK
Motor City Comic Con, Novi, Michigan, USA
Grit City Comic Show, Tacoma, Washington, USA
Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Twin Tiers Comic-Con, Horseheads, New York, USA
Weekend of November 17-19
Philcon 2023, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA
CONjuration (fantasy), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Dragonsteel 2023 (Brandon Sanderson works), Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
LIL-CON 7 (gaming), Lockport, New York, USA
Con-Densed (gaming), Worthing, UK
DAU Barcelona (gaming), Barcelona, Spain
BGG.CON (gaming), Dallas, Texas, USA
Meeple-A-Thon (gaming), Kansas City, Missouri, USA
U-Con (gaming), Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA
Dragonsteel 2023 (gaming), Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Gridcon 4 (boardgames), Taunton, UK
Free Play Florida (retro video games), Lakeland, Florida, USA
SNAFU Con (anime), Reno, Nevada, USA
Kumoricon (anime), Portland, Oregon, USA
Colossalcon North (anime), Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA
Anime NYC, New York City, New York, USA
Anime Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Anime Town Pensacola, Pensacola, Florida, USA
Naiccon 2023 (media), Nairobi, Kenya
Heroes Dutch Comic Con, Utrecht, Netherlands
Memphis Comic & Fantasy Convention, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Weekend of November 24-26
Westercon 75/Loscon 49: Enchanted Loscon, Los Angeles, California, USA
Imladris XXI, Kraków, Poland
ChamBanaCon 52: The Final Fannish Family Reunion (relaxacon), Normal, Illinois, USA
Consequences P: Passionate Consequences (gaming), Christchurch, UK
GobbleCon (gaming), Burlingame, California, USA
LFG Canberra (boardgames), Griffith, Australia
Asian Board Games Festival 2023, Singapore
De Bello Ludico (wargaming), Bracciano, Italy
Anime Festival Asia, Singapore
Anime Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA
Akimatsuri (anime), Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
Milan Games Week & Cartoonomics (media/gaming), Milan, Italy
Stars of Time Comic Con, Weston-super-Mare, UK
Fan Expo San Francisco (media), San Francisco, California, USA
GalactiCon 2023 (media), Denver, Colorado, USA
Chicago TARDIS (Doctor Who), Lombard, Illinois, USA
Starbase Indy: The Past is Prelude (Star Trek), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Coda
Shoe store challenges customers to steal merchandise (OregonLive)
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