worldcon

When I heard about the New Zealand NatCon, Au Contraire, a week before Aussiecon 4, this year's Worldcon, I thought it was a fantastic idea. I thought it was such a good idea that we should do something similar in Dublin for the London Worldcon bid in 2014.

I mentioned this idea to a few people back home before leaving, and got a very positive response. I then mentioned it to some people at conventions down under, and they all said they'd love to come to Ireland. So I guess I was committed to running it.

Then another idea came to light.

For both Glasgow Worldcons, the Eurocon was incorporated into the Worldcon, and I assumed this would also be the case for London. However, since 2005, Worldcon has moved to a 2-year bidding cycle, and at the time when the Eurocon bidding takes place in Zagreb, London won't yet have won the Worldcon bid, so it won't be a convention, and without a convention it can't bid for Eurocon.

One of the great honours of being Fan Fund Delegate was being invited to present one of the Hugo Awards.  I've been very excited about it all weekend.

I popped into the rehearsal during the afternoon, where I was briefed on what to do. I made sure I knew how to pronounce all of the names of the nominees.

I was in a programme item until 6, after which I had to rush back to my room to get changed (I wore a black suit, which was fairly formal, but matched it with a tie covered in LEGO minifigs in an effort to not be too serious), and then rush back to the convention centre for the pre-Hugo reception. This was already in full flow, so I had a drink to make sure I was composed (but only one, so I wasn't too composed), and chatted with nominees and presenters (and others lucky enough to have an invite).

When I won GUFF, I asked the Aussiecon committee if I could run a LEGO related event, as I really wanted to do something to bring my hobbies of LEGO and Science Fiction together.

At first it was just going to be something general, but then I thought there should be a science fiction connection. I was hearing from a number of sources that Doctor Who was big in Australia, so I thought a Doctor Who connection would be a good idea. 

I had ideas around recreating one of the lost Doctor Who episodes using LEGO figures and bricks, but I soon realised that would be much to much to try to achieve in an hour, so I settled on just one aspect, which everyone loves: the Daleks!

Having found a fantastic Dalek design (thanks Kaptain Kobold), I set about collecting enough parts to make a hundred of them. This took quite a bit of effort as some of the parts are tricky to get hold of in quantity, but it all worked out in the end.

Aussiecon day 1 was excellent. A more detailed report will follow soon, but here are the highlights.

In the morning I bump into some people who are panicking over the Hugo award ceremony preparations, so offer to give them a hand. We get that sorted, then collect membership pack from the reg desk and head for breakfast.

I also give a hand in the Fan room setup. I have three tables to work there - the Fan Fund table, the London 2014 table and the New Zealand 2020 table, so stop by there and there's a good chance you'll find me.

Soon it's time for the opening ceremony. I was intending to slip into the back of the room, but I get grabbed and told to sit in the reserved seats in the front row. Then during the ceremony, after the guests of honour are introduced, the fan fund delegates get introduced and asked to sit on the stage, which is a completely unexpected honour - sitting beside Robin Johnson, Shaun Tan and the legendary Kim Stanley Robinson. Chuffed.

Continuing the slightly mixed up chronology, this entry covers the end of Au Contraire. The Beginning and Middle will follow shortly.

Having taken a brief respite from the convention for dinner, with those most excellent fans, CP, Kurt and Kate, we return to find the cocktail party in full swing. This was a nice relaxed event with an excellent selection of science fictional drinks available and live music from harpist Asni, which was a really nice touch.

I am immediately grabbed by Norman, who is organising the Sir Julius Vogel awards, who asks me if I’ll present one of the awards. However, it presents a dilemma, as I feel I’m not appropriately atyred, so I run back to my room to put a jacket on.

I get back just in time for the award ceremony. The Sir Julius Vogel awards are given for contributions to New Zealand science fiction, and are excellently run by Norman Cates. We had received ballot forms in our con packs, and the nominated works were all on display all weekend for people to study. Unfortunately I didn’t feel qualified to vote as I don’t know very much about New Zealand science fiction, but now I’ve been introduced to it I do hope to correct this.

I've some blogging to catch up on from Au Contraire, which will follow shortly, with full details of all that happened (or at least all that I witnessed), but I'm interrupting the flow of cronology to deliver some exciting news.

Following some gentle persuasion, Norman Cates (former DUFF delegate and all rouuund good guy) has stepped up to chair a bit to bring the 2020 Worldcon to New Zealand.

There was much jubilation at this development, and many people have stepped forward to lend a hand. As a consequence I am now webmaster for the bid, as well as European agent.

So without further fanfare, I give you New Zealand in 2020, a bid for the 78th World Science Fiction Convention.

The Aussiecon Four Programme is now online, and I have to admit there are some excellent items on it. I'm looking forward to quite a few items, though I already know I won't be able to get to everything I want to. The programme can be found here.

I'm on a total of seven items, which are: