That lack of news over the weekend was due to Albacon, a smaller convention in Albany, New York. I’ve attended most of the Albacons they’ve held since it launched in the 1990s, and I keep returning because it’s a very friendly, welcoming convention.
This year’s was smaller than in the past, due in part to the facilities (the new hotel is smaller than previously), and in part to competing events (we were sharing the hotel with a wedding party, and sharing the city with SUNY Albany’s alumni weekend—there were a lot of people with name tags other than Albacon’s walking around the hotel [oh, and SUNY Albany is located directly across the street from the hotel.) There may also have been a difficulty with pre-convention publicity.
However, smaller does not necessarily mean worse. In this case, it was a nice change of pace from the conventions I’m used to. The smaller hotel meant a smaller dealers’ room and art show, which meant I didn’t have a dealer table (for the last ten years, I’ve been working in the dealers’ room at nearly every con, selling books and magazines new and used). That meant that, other than my five scheduled panels, I wasn’t required to be anywhere for most of the weekend. At first, I felt at loose ends, fearing that just sitting still was somehow wrong. But I quickly got over that feeling, and realized that sitting still occasionally feels good. I also discovered that it meant I had more time to talk with people (as opposed to trying to sell them something). So I had pleasant, interesting, and in-depth conversations with people I normally only wave at. And it wasn’t just me. A smaller con means fewer professional guests, but those fewer guests are not as swamped with people demanding their time and attention, meaning the fans can get closer to the pros and engage them in conversations. Actually, there were several pros there I saw only passing in the halls, including Guest of Honor Elizabeth Hand, Paul Park, and Rosemary Edghill, but every time I saw them, they were walking and talking with other people. I, on the other hand, got to spend some quality time with Artist Guest of Honor Alan F. Beck, Fan Guest of Honor D. Cameron Calkins, and a bunch of pros I either knew before or met this weekend, including Rebecca Angel, S.C. Butler, F. Brett Cox, Susan Hanniford Crowley, Ron Drummond, J.A. Fludd, Carl Frederick (I enjoyed my first-ever private bagpipe concert), Will Hubbell, Peter Huston, Pat Lundrigan, Herb Kauderer & Isabelle Fournier (Orthopedic Horseshoes), Kim Paffenroth, Chuck Rothman, and Allen Steele.
As for my programming, well, the audiences were small, but responsive, and I think the discussions were very, very good. My first panel (indeed, the first panel of the convention) discussed the pros and cons of self-publishing one’s own work. It was a spirited discussion with no conclusions, but a lot to think about. Our discussion of “Can Hollywood Still Do Thinking People’s SF?” started by asking “Still?”, but then proved that indeed, it is possible (although the much larger audiences necessary for a successful film will tend to “dumb down” the blockbusters). “Is SF becoming mainstream?” is a question I’ve heard every few years since I joined the field, and once again, we came to no conclusion except that the difference between “sf” and “mainstream literature” is increasingly solely in the eye of the beholder. We discussed the future of magazine publishing (print vs. online), and decided we’re hopeful for the future of magazines in general, but we’re just as unsure of what tomorrow will bring as we ever were. Finally, there was the panel asking if characters are important than science in a sf story. For this one, we had an answer: yes and no.
The committee did a great job working with the limits of the physical space, and treated their guests very well. I’m glad I spent the weekend up in Albany, and recommend it to anyone who wants more face-time with the people who write what they read. Next year’s Guest of Honor, announced at the convention, will be Allen Steele.