“I really only write one or two books a year,” he adds, “ so once the backlog is in print, things will calm down. But that's not going to happen until 2010...” [For updates on Charlie’s work – and on Novacon in general – check out the news section at our website, .www.novacon37.org.uk..] Novacon 37 Bentley, near Walsall: 2-4 November 2007 Hotel Update Accomodation at the Quality Hotel is fast being taken up, so we Sidewise Success for Novacon GoH strongly urge you to book now if you’ve not already done so. You can check your status on the address label with this progress report. We’ve negotiated extremely competitive rates this year: £37.75 More good news for our guest of honour, sf per person per night for twins and doubles, which includes VAT, full author Charlie Stross: the opening three novels English (or continental style) breakfast and free parking adjacent to in his “Merchant Princes” sequence have won the hotel. The management has also agreed that any member missing the Sidewise Award for best alternate history breakfast – this is Novacon, after all - can exchange their ticket for a science fiction novel or series of 2006. baguette at the bar (vegetarian options will be available) The winner was announced at the convention A limited number of rooms were designated as singles by the hotel, TuckerCon, held in St Louis over the weekend of available via the membership forms issued since Novacon 36. We’ll do 2-5 August. Also shortlisted in that category our best to help anyone who prefers a single, but would ask you to were novels by Robert Conroy, Jo Walton, Paul seriously consider sharing as a fallback option. Park and Harry Turtledove. Additional hotel forms can be downloaded from our website, or It’s the first time Charlie has reached the Sidewise shortlist, and posted out to you if you telephone Steve Lawson on 0114 281 1572. follows an amendment opening the award up to multi-volume works. Members are reminded the Quality Hotel is now fully non-smoking; The next 18 months are “a busy patch”, Charlie tells us. “Because I this covers all accomodation, as well as the bar and function rooms was mostly published in the USA at first, my British publishers are now playing catch-up. The result is a deluge of books appearing in the Directions to our venue – by car, rail, bus and air – will appear in UK for the first time.” our third progress report, due to be distributed in mid-October. September sees Orbit’s release of The Jennifer Morgue, sequel to Those wishing to reduce their carbon footprint by sharing a car are civil service / espionage / horror spoof The Atrocity Archives, which welcome to join our online community (you don’t even need a Live came out in June. Two months later, Pan MacMillan begins publishing Journal account), at .http://community.livejournal.com.novacon_37.. his award-winning “Merchant Princes” series through its Tor imprint; The Family Trade is first out of the gate, with The Hidden Family and The Clan Corporate to follow at six-monthly intervals. Orbit opens the 2008 schedule in March, with Charlie’s new sf thriller Halting State. No definite date’s been set, but Orbit is likely to add his “comic space opera” Saturn’s Children later that year. 2 Main Programme New Members (as at 18 July) At this stage, much of the programme is still in flux, but the basic framework’s already in place and we can definitely promise the tradi- Alexander Clarke Chris Stocks Anne Wilson tional Novacon mix of serious items, idiotic items, alarming items and Kevan Grayson Mark Slater Alison Scott a few surprises along the way – particularly on Saturday evening, of Ian Warner Christopher Brooks Steve Cain which we’ll reveal more in our next progress report, due out in mid- Eddie Stachelski Steve Jeffery Marianne Cain October. (And before Tony Berry begins to panic: no, it’s not a disco.) Greg Pickersgill Vikki Lee France Jonathan Cain Catherine Pickersgill John Ross Wilson Gary Starr Tobes Valois Serena Culfeather Robert Day Film Programme John Dowd Phillip Collins David C Holmes Fran Dowd Tommy Ferguson Helen Holmes In addition to Dave Lally’s traditional line-up of televisual oddities, Heather Turnbull Malcolm Furnass Peter Weston we’ll once again be screening late-night movies on Friday – including David Kirby Jane-Louise Cracknell Eileen Weston the UK convention premiere of William Winckler’s feature-length Christine Gould Chris Murphy Krystyna Oborn homage to monster cinema, Frankenstein Vs The Creature From Blood Dave Lally Michael Abbott Cove – and showcasing a selection of shorter films on Saturday. [Updates are posted at our website, .www.novacon37.org.uk..] Children’s Facilities Novacon 38… Although – as in recent years – Novacon 37 will not be organising an official creche, we will set aside a room for younger members to …will almost certainly be held somewhere in the Midlands during amuse themselves. Please note any use of this facility will be strictly the autumn of ’08. Anyone interested in working on Britain’s longest- the responsibility of their parents. running regional science fiction event is invited to get in touch with the Birmingham Science Fiction Group by writing to Vernon Brown at 106 Green Lanes, Wylde Green, Sutton Coldfield, B73 5JH. The Nova Awards Voting forms for the 2007 Nova Awards will be available to down- load from the Novacon website in mid-October, for those members who wish to vote prior to the convention. Hardcopies will be included in the convention membership packs. Eligible members are encouraged to vote in all three categories - best fanzine, best fan writer and best fan artist – and the results will be announced on Sunday afternoon. The current rules and a regularly-updated “long list” of those fanzines known to be eligible (plus a few which aren’t, but are still well wouth checking out) are available at .www.novacon37.org.uk.. 3 4 70 Years of British Science Fiction Conventions his lady enrolled, just for the Saturday night dance / fancy dress ball. 1960-1979 by Peter Weston I was there when the lady paid over her fee – she and her husband left in a chauffeur-driven Rolls.” Last time, we saw how the 1959 Brumcon was going to herald a And now Ken Slater showed what he could do with Bullcon at bright new dawn, when the BSFA would run conventions, and they Peterborough. Ken’s attitude towards membership was typically would be focussed on science fiction to make them more welcoming bullish: “We set a target that was about fifty more than the normal to newcomers. That idea didn’t last the year! The 1960 event was a attendance outside London. GoH was No.1, Chairman was No.150, and muddle from the start: first it was supposed to go to Harrogate, then we tried to fill the gap between the figures.” They didn’t quite to London, then they tried to switch it to good old Kettering, scene of succeed (with 130) but had wall-to-wall professionals: Amis again, so many fannish romps, then back to London, until – three days Edmund Crispin, Tom Boardman, Mack Reynolds, Brian Aldiss, Dan before Easter – the chosen hotel cancelled the booking. And Contem- Morgan, John Brunner and many others. Everything went so well that plation thought it had problems! the hotel begged them to come back in 1964, and so Repetercon was True fannish heroism was displayed by the formidable team of Ella born, my own first convention. Parker and Bobbie Wild, who tramped the streets of London to find a new venue in Bloomsbury, which was a much better bet than the But, for the first time, older fans began to realise they had original choice: at least this place wasn’t teetotal! But the BSFA took spawned a monster, as the BSFA’s success in recruiting continued to no part in the organisation, publications were feeble, and the bring in new faces: by now, roughly 25% of the 150 attendees were minimal programme had almost no sf content other than Ted newcomers. And they had different attitudes, as Charles Platt swiftly Carnell’s GoH speech. Even so, some ‘first-timers’ appeared and made clear. He thought the whole thing was pathetic, and thus began enjoyed themselves, and the ‘London factor’ helped boost numbers to the period of the fannish ‘New Wave’ which highlighted a massive 87 (my count). And when it was all over, Vince Clarke said, with no ‘generation-gap’ in British fandom. This was illustrated at the bidding trace of irony, “...not to worry, KETTERING is the word for next year session, when older fans led by Ron Bennett campaigned for a return and things will be back to normal then.” So much for ‘a new dawn’! to Harrogate, but were defeated by just one vote in favour of Ken Cheslin’s bid for “Birmingham in 65”. Kettering was not to be: the ‘George’ was being refurbished, and So what happened? They stayed away. Brumcon-2 was a tiny affair, instead Eric Jones and the Cheltenham Circle held LXICon in only partly because of the second London worldcon due in August. Gloucester, in a hotel much too small. An ‘overflow’ hotel was And it was different in kind, not just in size, with a committee of nominated (across the road), but attendees were advised not to ‘new fans’ such as Rog Peyton, who found themselves cast adrift from mention the con as the management strongly disapproved! Still, this many of the traditions painfully evolved over the previous 15 years.