WisCon 42 was held May 25-28, 2018 at the Concourse Hotel in balmy Madison WI, with Saladin Ahmed and Tananarive Due as guests of honor. 924 full memberships were sold, plus 71 single day memberships. Programming offered 140 panels, solo presentations, and roundtables, focused on SF/F literature, diversity, feminism, disability, criticism, and more. Other options included 19 reading slots with 68 authors, 23 writing workshops, 12 kids’ items, 10 gaming ...Read More

The 42nd Williamson Lectureship was held April 5-7, 2018, in Portales NM. The Lectureship, held to honor SF pioneer Jack Williamson, took place at Eastern NM University with casual gatherings around town. Santa Fe author S.M. Stirling, known for his Emberverse series and other alternate his­tory efforts, was the guest of honor, and Connie Willis served as toastmistress. The theme for the 2018 Lectureship was “Changes.” The event, often dubbed ...Read More

The 39th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) took place March 14-18, 2018 at the Orlando Airport Marriot Hotel. The theme was ”200 Years of the Fantastic: Celebrating Franken­stein and Mary Shelley”. Academics, writers, publishers, editors, artists, students, independent scholars, and more participated, with about 457 people attending (down from 490 last year) and about 306 either presenting a paper or appearing on a panel (up from ...Read More

The 2018 Friends of Genre convention (FOGcon 8) was held March 9-11 at the Walnut Creek Marriot in Walnut Creek CA. 190 memberships were sold, plus an additional 32 day passes. The theme was “Performance in SF&F”, with honored guests Andrea Hairston, Ada Palmer, and Thomas M. Disch (posthumously).

Programming included 74 participants and 55 slots, with panels on science, writing, publishing, literature, politics, and more, with titles such as ...Read More

StokerCon, sponsored by the Horror Writers Association, was held at the Biltmore in Providence RI, March 1-4, 2018. HWA president Lisa Morton said, “It’s hard to beat hundreds of horror-lovers huddled together in a suppos­edly haunted hotel while a Nor’easter rages outside.” Guests of honor were Ramsey Campbell, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Victor LaValle, Elizabeth Massie, Sam Weller, and Craig Engler; Jeff Strand was emcee. Morton said, “This was our third ...Read More