SMOF News, volume 3, issue 8

News from Chengdu Worldcon, and news in brief.

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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