The convention was a lot of fun, with over 4500 people pre-registered [so probably some 5000 attending], including 22 from Australia. Specific Gay-themed panels included "From Torturing Villains to Screaming Queens: How Does SF/F Treat GLBT Characters?" on Thursday afternoon and "Lesbian/Bi/Gay Images and Themes in Genre Media" on Saturday morning. Of course, Gay issues came up in other panels as well, such as Sunday night's "Where Else Can These Characters Go: A Look at Fan Fiction," which discussed a lot of the slash fiction and approaches it takes. And authors such as Rob Gates and Don Sakers were among those giving readings during the course of the weekend's programming.
The Spectrum Awards, which honor works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror that deal positively with Gay characters, themes, and issues were presented by the Gaylactic Network on August 30, in conjunction with the Thursday panel on how sf/f treats GLBT characters. David Gerrold's "Jumping Off the Planet" won for best novel, and the television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" won for best other work, and also won the People's Choice Award for the single work in any category receiving the most nominations from Network members. Interestingly, "Jumping Off the Planet" also won the Golden Duck Hal Clement Award for excellence in young adult science fiction, the first time a novel has received both a Spectrum and a Golden Duck award. Three winners were selected in the Hall of Fame category: (1) Arthur C. Clarke's "Imperial Earth"; (2) Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow" and "Children of God"; and (3) Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat series [collected as "Dangerous Angels"]. Finally, a Special Achievement Award was presented to Samuel R. Delaney for his groundbreaking work within the genre.
The Gaylactic Network hosted a fan suite on Friday, Saturday [theme: alien abduction], and Sunday [theme: fruits and dips] nights, which was attended over the course of the weekend by over 300 people. The Network hosted a reception for Spectrum Award winners in the fan suite Friday evening. In addition, several authors gave readings in the suite during the course of the weekend, and lots of Gaylactic Network merchandise was sold and raffled off during the weekend. In addition, copies of winning and nominated books were offered as prizes in a raffle to benefit the awards.
The masquerade on Saturday night was spectacular and a lot of fun, from the young fan entries on up to the master class entries. The winning entry as Best in Show was "Fridays at Ten," an homage to "The Twilight Zone," which was presented and created by, among others, Don Sakers and his costumer partner Tom Atkinson. Hugo Award winners included "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" as best novel; "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as best dramatic presentation; and Gardner Dozois as best professional editor. Retro Hugo Awards for 1951 included Robert Heinlein's "Farmer in the Sky" as best novel, Damon Knight's "To Serve Man" as best short story, and "Destination Moon" as best dramatic presentation.
Boston won the bid to host the 2004 Worldcon, which will be Noreascon 4, and will be held September 2-6 of that year. Guests of Honor will be Terry Pratchett and Philip Klass [aka William Tenn]. I had the chance to meet Philip Klass at a literary beer at the con, and he is a fascinating man with keen insight, as his many satiric short stories demonstrate [my favorite is "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi!"]. The UK bid for 2005 in Glasgow still has no serious opposition, and a Japanese group launched their bid campaign for 2007 to great interest. 2006 is being contested by several USA cities. Meanwhile, start planning for ConJose [August 29-September 2, 2002 in San Jose] and TorCon III [August 28-September 1, 2003 in Toronto]!
Hope this is timely, and that all continues to be well with you and with Spaced Out. Keep well and in touch.
Cheers, Barrett