World Fantasy Con 2016 Programming has been announced.

On the bright side, after some internet backlash, it looks like they’ve renamed the “Spicy Oriental Zeppelin Stories” panel. So, um, yay for that? But that particular panel name was a symptom of a bigger problem.

I first found out about this from Sarah Pinsker’s series of Tweets. Some of the ( Read more... )

ETA: On 10/28, the following was posted on the WFC2015 Facebook Page:

On reflection, and with guidance, we have realized that our sincere attempt to do the right thing in this regard was inadequate. We focused too much on complying with the legal advice of Saratoga authorities and not enough on making certain that our members feel confident in ( Read more... )

The World Fantasy Convention was held earlier this month. I wasn’t able to attend this year.

Let me repeat that. I wasn’t at WFC this year. What follows is based on online announcements from the con itself, a screenshot or two, and various blog posts and discussions. My main goal here is signal-boosting and hopefully helping more people to ( Read more... )

I’ve been hearing a fair amount of frustration with this year’s World Fantasy Convention over various issues.

WFC was the first “world-level” convention I attended, more than a decade ago now. It was intimidating and overwhelming, but also fun and rewarding. Sadly, I won’t be at WFC in Brighton this month. Which could raise the question, “Why am I ( Read more... )

Most of the time, when I attend a convention and do programming, membership is comped (i.e., I don’t have to pay for a convention badge). This makes sense to me. Generally you have to do a minimum of 3 or so panels, but at that point you’re considered to be contributing to the con, just like someone who volunteers for X hours in exchange for a ( Read more... )

ETA: Based on suggestions in the comments, I will be contacting the major publishers to try to find out who to contact if you’ve experienced this sort of harassment from one of their employees.  I will publish that information as soon as I can.

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Yesterday I posted about the good that was WFC.  Today I wanted to talk about some of the bad and the ( Read more... )

I never know how to write up a con.  The long list of names is rather dry, and I obsess over whether or not I forgot someone.  A detailed blow-by-blow is a bit much for anyone who didn’t attend.  I could do a photo album, but that’s a lot for a blog post.  (I’ve posted pics on Facebook in the WFC album. A few are also up on Twitpic.)  So maybe I’ll ( Read more... )

I’m off to World Fantasy Con this weekend.  This will be my first WFC since 2002, and I imagine it will be a very different experience this time around.  The best change isn’t that I’ve gone from bookless unknown to six-book goblin king (though that’s pretty cool too); the best part is that I’ve met so many wonderful people in the past eight years ( Read more... )