World Fantasy Convention: Some Words on the Kaffeeklatsch Situation

[scott_lynch]

This year’s World Fantasy Convention, which I will be attending, has just announced its policy of charging an additional five-pound fee to attendees of its Kaffeeklatsches. A few notes:

1. I, like several authors of my acquaintance, had previously and privately declined to participate in this Kaffeeklatsch track, for all the reasons John Scalzi

Comments

[ashbet]

I think that you're making the right choice, FWIW.

I find that quote to be offputting, given the price of the membership itself, and the fact that if no-shows are an issue, there can be a standby list. There is no reason to put a guilt trip on attendees, or soak them for an additional trifling amount of money (which, in light of all of the other expenses of attending, winds up contributing to the nibbled-to-death-by-ducks phenomenon.)

And, as a wheelchair user and MASSIVE fan who hands out and recommends copies of the first two GB books like candy in order to hook my friends on them ("the first one's free, muah-hah-hah!"), I *deeply* appreciate your stance on accessibility -- it really does make me feel more welcome at a convention, and I'm grateful that you are sticking to your guns about trying to make sure your readers can actually GET to see you, rather than running into physical barriers to attendance.

England is hell on wheelchairs anyway (many of the sidewalks slope into the street for drainage, which means that you have to constantly ride one brake to avoid swerving into the street), and many places aren't accessible, but as long as you aren't in the Lanes, many areas of Brighton are accessible and on slightly more reliable ground.

There's a bookshop at one of the centrally-located malls there (sorry not to have more details, haven't been there in a while) that has a wheelchair-sized elevator and should hopefully have sufficient upstairs and downstairs space for you to set up.

I'd be happy to ask my Dearly-Beloveds, who live near Brighton, to get the name of the bookshop for you if you'd like -- if you have other plans, go for it, but I just happen to know that this one is DEFINITELY accessible.

Thanks so much, and best wishes -- wish I could join you there, but there's an inconvenient Atlantic and looming spine surgery in my near future, alas!

-- Andi <3