One of the perils of themed conventions, as most conventions in Israel are, is that the program might be one-dimensional. For a convention like ICon, which is aimed at large and diverse audiences, it can be particularly problematic. Avoiding this requires choosing the right theme combined with hard work of the programing team, and the ICon team did a great job this year. The theme, “Love,” meant that the possibilities ...Read More

Dragon Con 2018 was held August 30 – September 3, 2018 across five hotels in downtown Atlanta GA. There were roughly 80,0000 attendees, about the same as the 2017 event. Steven Barnes was the literary guest of honor, and Brom was the art show guest of honor. The scores of guests included numerous actors from genre films and television, screenwriters, video game creators, editors, and writers. SF writers on programming ...Read More

Readercon 29 was held July 12-15, 2018, in Quincy MA. Guests of honor were Ken Liu and Nisi Shawl; E. Nesbit was the memorial guest of honor. There were an estimated 740 attendees over the entire weekend. The focus of Readercon is “imaginative literature” – literary science fiction, fantasy, horror, and their intersections. Programming was, as always, carefully organized and curated, with topics ranging from casual book-club style discussions to ...Read More

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 Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird was held March 23-25, 2018 at the Plaza Suites Hotel in Santa Clara and the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose CA. Approximately 65 people attended. The event was organized by Anya Martin and Scott Nicolay, producers of The Outer Dark podcast, hosted by This Is Horror.

Members received a bag with stickers, a program chapbook with biographies and selected works ...Read More

Norwescon 41 was held March 29 – April 1, 2018 in SeaTac WA at the DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport. The theme was “Uncovering Mysteries.” Guests of honor were Ken Liu (writer), Galen Dara (artist), and Mathew Wedel (science). (Wayne Barlowe was originally scheduled to be artist GoH, but had to cancel due to schedule conflicts.) Green Ronin was the spotlight publisher, represented by Nicole Lindroos and Chris Pramas.

Norwescon ...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