One of the most interesting things about conventions – Eastercon doesn’t make any exception to this rule – is the possibility given to the participant to understand the milieu, i.e., how the discipline itself stops being an abstraction only existing in books or on the web and become a thriving matrix full of living things (mostly humans) interacting in a given place (planet Earth for the moment). Now, anybody with experience of events of any kind knows well that each sector has its own rules, declared, unspoken, and no-no of some type.
You can easily discard this point and say this one is not a professional conference –and that it’s run by fans for fans. But you would be wrong. There are writers, agents and editors at these events – and, frankly speaking, they are far better organised and managed than many so called “professional” exhibitions I have been the pain to attend.
A feature that got all my attention is the board for advertising other events of the same kind, present and future.
Here you get more than you can chew – an awful lot more. I have counted a total of 47 displayed events in the second day only – meaning that by Day 4 we are going to have more than that for sure…
First of all there are the future international conventions planned, WorldCon and EuroCon at the top of the list. As I have learnt today, it is the seventh time since 1939 (http://www.worldcon.org/past.html) that we are blessed with hosting the WorldCon in the UK – this year in London (http://www.loncon3.org) – so I feel remarkably lucky. What will be voted at Loncon 3 is where the 2016 Convention will be held (2015 will be in Washington DC, http://sasquan.org) – with Kansas City and Beijing as the competitors.
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There are also all the national conventions people can think of – from New Zealand to Spain, from Sweden to the States – I had my head spinning before finishing half of the board. Yes, and Italy too, in which case I am being informed that young Italians do speak some English, so I won’t die lost in some remote areas. And the convention is held in Rimini (http://www.riminiturismo.it/CMS2/main.php?lang_index=1) that seems a nice place to get lost, after all.
Interestingly enough, you have also announcements of other events not exactly sci-fi – i.e., horror, fantasy and other beasts. If you were under the impression that sci-fi people shun them, well, think again. They generally don’t – and neither do I, even though this has been a recent achievement (but nobody sensible can, after listening today to Juliet McKenna….)
I will end on a cultural note – where do you think a convention called Utopiales (http://www.utopiales.org) will be held? But in France, of course!
Rousseau’s esprit is well alive and kicking, even in outer space (and before any French starts flaming, I do acknowledge a fair share of French genes in the family. That’s why I know exactly what I am talking about).