Lunacon 2007: Half a Century

The New York Science Fiction Society—aka the Lunarians—hosted their 50th Lunacon 16-18 March 2007. The guests of honor were Christopher Moore (writer), Dave Seeley (artist), and Frank Dietz (fan).
After a few years in seeming exile, in hotels in New Jersey, Lunacon returned to the Rye Town Hilton in Rye Brook (Westchester), New York, where it had been for a decade. For long-time attendees, it was a very comfortable return to the so-called “Escher Hilton” (the hotel’s layout is a bit confusing for a first-timer, but easily learned and rather comfortable for a convention).
Lunacon 2007 dealers' room, left side>I spent a lot of the convention at a table in the dealers’ room, so my view of the whole may be a bit skewed, but I thought it was an excellent convention. A little small perhaps, though so of that attendance drop-off may have been due to the full-day rain/sleet/ice/snow storm that started Thursday night. But I didn’t hear a grumble from anyone at the con. All the expected elements were in place: a huge and varied program, and well-stocked dealers’ room, an art show featuring some of the best in the field, wonderful costumes (both the “hall” and “masquerade” varities) and, most importantly, lots of great people with whom to share our love of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The pictures here don’t do the convention justice, but the first two do give an idea of the dealers’ room (did I say I spent a lot of time therein?).<br /> I was only able to attend panels that I was actually on, but those panels, on the whole, went very well, and seemed very well received. First was “The Amazing Science Fiction and Horror Trivia Game”. This year, it was a sfnal version of <i>Hollywood Squares</i>, presented by Randy and Barbara Dannenfelser. I was one of the “stars,” and able to bluff fairly well. Other stars included Bill DeSmedt, Michael Grapin, Writer Guest of Honor Christopher Moore in the center square, Jeff Warner on the corner, Charles Pellegrino, and Sue Lange. The audience was laughing (at the appropriate times), while the contestants battled several hard-fought rounds for the prizes.<br /> <img decoding=My Saturday panel, “Marriage, Alien Style” was an interesting discussion of different forms of marriage and interpersonal relationships within the worlds of science fiction and fantasy. As the species we discussed became more non-human, the discussion moved on to alternative forms of procreation, but wandered back to the panel title, and contrasted writers’ predictions with the current debate over the definition of marriage in the “real world.” My co-panelists included Pauline J. Alama, Roger MacBride Allen, Lee Gilliland, and Gordon Van Gelder. The photo, by the way, is the opposite side of a typical convention panel photo. Rather than being a picture of the panelists, it’s the picture I took from the panel of the audience.
Finally, on Sunday, I was one-half of the panel entitled “The Next 10 Years in Space,” in which Bill Engfer (of the Space Frontier Foundation) and I discussed our pessimism for the near-term future of space flight, and then turned it around the many things on the horizon that give us some optimism.
Lunacon 2007 dealers' room, right sideOf course, that brief precis leaves out most of the flavor of the convention. There were the long, deep, wide-ranging conversations in hallways, party rooms, the restaurant, and the bar. There were the long-time friendships renewed, and the new friendships made. There were the wonderful parties (some of which ran way too late into the night). And, well, the Lunacon web site still has the program for this year’s convention.
Next year, Lunacon will again be in the Rye Town Hilton, 14-16 March 2008. The guests of honor will be Jacqueline Carey (writer), Johnna Y. Klukasa (artist), Joe D. Siclari (fan), and Winston A. Howlett (special guest). And I fully expect to be there, too.
—Ian Randal Strock
(Photo captions: Top: Lunacon 2007 dealers’ room, left side. Middle: The audience viewed from the panel at “Marriage, Alien Style.” Bottom: Lunacon 2007 dealers’ room, right side.)