Locus, October 2014 Read online

  The Loncon 3 Masquerade took place on Saturday night and was hosted by Chris O’Shea and Sue Mason. There were the traditional prizes in master, journeyman, novice, and young-fan categories. Best in Show went to Aratalindalë by Maggie and Mike Percival.

  Candas Jane Dorsey & Timothy J. Anderson; John Harris, Omar Khan; Tansy Rayner Roberts, Amal El-Mohtar

  EXHIBITS & DEALERS’ ROOM

  The Exhibit Hall was immense, comprising the dealers’ area, exhibits, signing, and art show. Exhibits themselves were a high point of the room, sponsored by Anglia Ruskin University, and with Shana Worthen and Farah Mendlesohn deftly at the helm. Displays included science, fandom, and cultural and historical SF/F pieces – notably a Pigeon Simulator, the Herschel Plank display from Imperial, the Wriggle Wild Show, a fantastic bone chair, the past Hugos display, live fancy pigeons from Darwin’s Pigeons, the Tiptree Quilt, Kids Company, a costume display, and many photographic displays. There were several honoring the various GoHs, including a display honoring Robin Hobb’s works, John Clute’s Study, a Talbot mis en scène, and a book on Malcolm Edwards by Edward James, Farah Mendlesohn, and Adam Roberts.

  Gord Doctorow, Poesy Doctorow, Cory Doctorow, Roz Doctorow, Alice Taylor; Justin Landon, Myke Cole, Mallory O’Meara

  The dealers’ ‘‘area’’ was well situated in the center of the exhibition hall and laid out as a series of streets and roundabouts. There were 96 dealers on 172 tables, with everything from publishers, booksellers, jewelry makers, and more, selling collectible books, art, clothes, soap, tools, toys, and even a novelty drone. Dealers noted there was a steady buzz of traffic and sales were strong.

  ART SHOW

  Loncon 3 art activities began with GOH Chris Foss’s discussion on Art and Influence. The Gala Opening, sponsored by Titan Books, kicked off the art show, featuring the launch of Hyperluminal by Jim Burns, accompanied by fellow artists Ian Miller, John Harris, and Fred Gambino with books available for sale and signing. Special exhibits included the Best of British Illustration, Speculative Biology, and Across the Universe, which explored the changing landscape of SF illustration. The Chesley Awards were presented Friday, followed by an open reception, where fans were able to mingle with the artists.

  Simon Taylor, Crystal Huff; Clare Coney & Peter Nicholls; Keffy Kehrli, Nene Ormes

  PARTIES

  This year, without any contracts for parties in place and no real appropriate suites regardless at the various con hotels, the parties were held in a central location in the ExCeL center known as Fan Village. By day it was a general social space and hospitality hall for the con, including the convention bar and cafe areas, spaces to read and relax, fan tables, and a range of smaller and free-form program spaces including a library, Fanac and Games tents, and a bandstand. In the evening it became the main party space, with various tents hosting events and serving some alcohol and food. Parties included events from DC in 2017, Achipelacon and Nippon in 2017, MidAmeriCon II, Montreal in 2017, Helsinki in 2017, Beijing in 2016, KC in 2016, Dublin in 2019, Sasquan, and others. There was a Fan Funds Casino Night, Brotherhood Without Banners hosting karaoke, Tolkien and New Zealand in 2020 with pork pies and meringue, a Doctor Who party, Dysprosium (2015 Eastercon), a Welcome Party, Sime-Gen Zeor Day Celebration, BarFleet, and more.

  Alvaro Zinos-Amaro & Rebecca Swart Fowler, Karen Haber & Robert Silverberg; Cynthia Geno, Leslie Johnston, Vivian Perry, Debbie Bretschneider

  The publishers held parties in the Fox (ExCeL), the Aloft WXYZ bar, and other off-campus locations. It was a week of festivities for Gollancz, and their Saturday night party was packed and generously hosted. Gollancz and HarperVoyager bookended the weekend with events, with HarperVoyager rolling out Robin Hobb and George R.R. Martin for an event right after the con ended. On Friday night, Titan Books and Tor UK shared the Fox (ExCeL) with two hosted parties – Titan hosted beer and wine, with servers circulating hot appetizers, and a large cover-art decorated cake, and Tor, SFX, and Jo Fletcher Books celebrated Jo Fletcher’s birthday and the fourth anniversary of her imprint with face painting and other festivities. A Thursday night get-together hosted by Tachyon Books sported Writers’ Tears whiskey and cakes.

  CON PUBLICATIONS

  The souvenir book was a handsome 175 pages, with a wrap-around color cover bearing a bold, original Chris Foss illustration. Content included appreciations and biographies of guests of honour, a complete list of past Hugo Awards and Retro Hugo Awards winners, WSFS materials, and credits. There was also the Artist Showcase, a limited edition book featuring 96 pages of biographies and artwork from artists featured in the art show, edited by Colin Harris and Sara Felix, who previously produced the art show publications for Renovation and Chicon 7.

  Matthew Hughes, Gordon Van Gelder, Andy Duncan, Ellen Datlow, David G. Hartwell; John Clute, Christopher Priest

  There were 13 official issues of the at-con newsletter, entitled ‘‘The Pigeon Post’’, keeping congoers up-to-date with program changes and errata, WSFS news, lists of parties and post-party reports, Stroll with the Stars updates, awards announcements, and more. Issue #2 had retro news and announcements to match the Retro Hugo results, and #4 had tips on common Finnish phrases like, ‘‘My hovercraft is full of eels.’’

  HUGO AWARDS

  The 61st Hugo Awards Ceremony took place at 8:00 p.m. on the evening of Sunday, August 17, 2014, in the ICC auditorium of the ExCeL Center, hosted by Justina Robson and Geoff Ryman. Ryman opened with, ‘‘Welcome to the 72nd WSFC. The first Worldcon held in London was in 1957. Robert Silverberg was there, and it had all of 258 members. As most of you probably know, we are now registered at just over 10,000 and might just be the largest Worldcon ever!’’ Robson followed with, ‘‘We have members here today from around the world: the United States of America, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Europe, Pakistan, and Japan, not forgetting all of the lovely members attending online and joining us on Ustream.’’

  The Beefeaters flanking the wooden structure onstage then opened the gates to unveil the 2014 Hugos with the bases designed by Joy Alyssa Day.

  The first award presented was the John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award to Sofia Samatar by Sheila Williams and Mur Lafferty. Julia Rios accepted the plaque and traditional tiara on Samatar’s behalf. Samatar was ‘‘proud to be receiving the award in the person of Julia Rios. We represent a gesture at least toward the true multiplicity of SF/F creators and fans.’’

  The first Hugo, for Best Fan Artist, went to Sarah Webb. Dave McCarty accepted for her saying, ‘‘I’ve been holding those awards all weekend, and it is a very different emotional experience when you’re accepting for someone who’s won.’’

  Siobhan Carroll, Madeline Robins, John R. Douglas; John Ladwig, Elise Matthesen, Kate Yule, David D. Levine, Sarah Goodman

  Dr. Tade Thompson and E. Lily Yu presented the award for Best Fan Writer to Kameron Hurley. Accepting for Hurley, Kate Elliot gave an emphatic reading of Hurley’s speech. ‘‘I’m told blog posts don’t matter. I’m told words don’t matter. Fans and pros write for all sorts of reasons, chief among them being love. I write for free online, out of love, passion, and often rage. It was this rage, I thought, that would preclude me from ever being nominated for a Hugo. Science fiction does not like change. Creators don’t like being called on their BS. Thank you all for supporting this change. Thank you for championing the voices of myself and my fellow nominees. I’m glad you’re all on board.’’

  The Hugo Award for Best Fancast went to the SF Signal Podcast by Patrick Hester and was accepted by Gail Carriger. Hester’s speech said, ‘‘I want to thank all the Hugo voters for giving me the opportunity to finally wear my Gail Carriger costume. To all of you, this award is as much yours as it is mine, but I’m going to keep it in my house.’’ He thanked Robert Silverberg for always doing his speech after the fan awards, Gail Carriger, the other nominees, the Hugo voters, John DeNardo, and a long list of contributors and colleagues.

  Presented by the GUFF
-funded visitor from Australia Gillian Pollack, Best Fanzine went to A Dribble of Ink, edited by Aidan Moher. Reading the speech he wrote on the back of his wife’s picture, he said, ‘‘It is to her that I owe the biggest thanks. For her unfailing encouragement, and just gracious patience, over the seven years that I’ve been running A Dribble of Ink.’’ He thanked everyone who voted, the readers and regular contributors, and Kameron Hurley. He thanked fandom for creating an environment that is ‘‘funny, it’s interesting, it’s smart, and it’s never boring.’’

  The Best Semiprozine Award went to Lightspeed, edited by John Joseph Adams, Rich Horton, and Stefan Rudnicki. Stefan thanked everyone for reading and listening to Lightspeed, then read a statement from Adams: ‘‘I am deeply grateful to the readers and award voters who have supported my anthologies and magazines over the years.’’ He went on to thank all the writers and publishers he’s worked with; editorial colleagues Gordon Van Gelder, Joe Monti, and Ellen Datlow; and his agent, Seth Fishman. He thanked the people who help put together Lightspeed and Nightmare, saying ‘‘they are huge collaborative projects.’’ He thanked Wendy N. Wagner, John Langan, Rich Horton, Robyn Lupo, Erica Holt, E.C. Myers, Jim Freund, Jack Kincaid, Jeremiah Tolbert, and many others. Finally, he said, ‘‘I have to thank the best of all possible wives… my wife Christie Yant. I know she’s even prouder of this win than I am.’’

  Jeremy Zerfoss, Jukke Halme; Freda Warrington, Cheri Douglass; Shahid Mahmud, Rodney Somerstein

  After the Semiprozine Award, there was a moment of silence for those who died in the previous year. Applause was held until the end, to give a final, celebratory farewell.

  Jeanne Gomoll presented the award for Best Professional Artist to Julie Dillon. Kate Elliott, accepting, said, ‘‘I’m not gonna get through this one without getting a tear in my eye.’’ Julie thanked the WSFS and expressed deep gratitude to everyone who nominated her for the award. She thanked her fellow nominees. She thanked her mom, friends, and family. Elliott read on, saying, ‘‘She didn’t know if her art was good enough. If she would be able to support herself. If anyone would care about what she had to offer as an artist. This award… reaffirms that she made the right choice in doing the type of work that she loves.’’

  A tearful Ginjer Buchanan took the award for Best Editor, Long Form, saying, ‘‘Thank you all, for everyone that voted for me. I am not going to be able to get through this without crying. As many of you know, I retired this year. Boy, this really caps it off.’’ She thanked Ellen Asher, from the Science Fiction Book Club; David Hartwell, her boss of 30 years; Susan Allison; and her husband John Douglas. She finished by thanking the authors she’s worked with: ‘‘an editor is only as good as his or her authors.’’

  Malcolm Edwards presented the award for Best Short Form Editor, saying, ‘‘This award lies at the very heart of this evening’s ceremony. The term ‘science fiction’ was coined by Hugo Gernsback, and these awards are named after Hugo Gernsback. And Hugo Gernsback was a magazine editor. Had these awards existed in the 1920s and the 1930s, this is the category in which Hugo would have contended.’’ The award went to Ellen Datlow, who thanked fellow nominees, Tor.com, publishers and readers, and everyone who voted for her. She said, ‘‘I love short fiction, and I love science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and I’m very grateful for winning this.’’

  Both of the Best Dramatic Presentation awards were presented by Dave Bradley and Rosie Fletcher. Short Form went to Game of Thrones: ‘‘The Rains of Castamere’’, written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and directed by David Nutter. They thanked the Hugo Awards, and Dr Who & Orphan Black for being ‘‘fantastic’’. They held up the trophy and said, ‘‘Thank you, George!’’ Long Form went to Gravity, and was accepted by Vincent Docherty. He thanked the nominators, the voters, and the other finalists.

  Benioff and Weiss took the stage to present the award for Best Graphic Story to Time by Randall Munroe, accepted by Cory Doctorow. On stage, Doctorow put on goggles and cape at Munroe’s request, and read a speech, saying it was ‘‘truly an honor…. Thank you to everyone who came along on the four month journey with me, collecting information and building tools to view the story, all of you at Worldcon, and to Cory for generously volunteering to stand up here and read whatever words I write on this paper: gazebo, harpsichord, credenza, bungalow, thank you.’’

  Peter Crowther, Ellen Datlow, Michael Swanwick; Barry Goldblatt, Justin Ackroyd; Tom Easton, David G. Hartwell

  The Hugo for Best Related Work was presented by Bryan Talbot. Talbot’s mic didn’t work so he had to talk into Ryman’s micced chest. ‘‘By Grabthar’s hammer. What an honor!’’ The Hugo went to Kameron Hurley, and was accepted by Tricia Sullivan. ‘‘Ten years ago, this rant about llamas would have dropped like a stone. This change isn’t mine to crow about. I’m just one person, one voice. Without other voices amplifying my voice and sharing our discussion… then I… would sink like a stone. This win goes to the llamas. Every one of us, of every type. Even the alpacas.’’

  John Clute presented the Best Short Story Hugo, saying, ‘‘Short stories are still the heart of the action. It must be the hardest category of all the categories in the Hugo Awards, to select the best short story out of the huge array of great pieces of writing that appear every single year.’’ The award went to ‘‘The Water that Falls on You from Nowhere’’ by John Chu. Looking flustered, Chu gave perhaps the most touching speech of the night, saying, ‘‘I can’t begin to describe how much this award means to me. When I started writing, so many people told me, I mean the words were literally, ‘I’m not racist, but…’ or ‘I’m not homophobic, but…’ there were so many ‘buts’ and they all told me in polite, civil, and sometimes these exact words, that no one was interested in, or would ever publish, anything that I would ever write. So to win a Hugo, and then for this story, I literally cannot put into words how much that means to me. Especially since there were so many people, too many to name, that have supported and encouraged me.’’ He thanked Ted Chiang, Chip Delany, and Nick Mamatas for insight on writing, Cat Valente for insight on story, and ‘‘especially Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, who never gave up on me and insisted my work was publishable.’’

  Best Novelette went to ‘‘The Lady Astronaut of Mars’’ by Mary Robinette Kowal, who thanked Ellen Klages, her dad, the astronaut Mike Fincke, Gardner Dozois, and her grandmother, who passed in March at 109, and who ‘‘taught me how to age gracefully, and that 65 is not old, 70 is not old, 80 is not old, and even when you are old you can still be wonderful and powerful.’’

  The Best Novella Award was presented by Jo Fletcher and Peter Crowther. Fletcher said, ‘‘Many of our most successful writers have honed their art and polished their work by writing in the novella form.’’ The winner was Equoid by Charles Stross, who thanked acquiring editors Patrick Nielsen Hayden of Tor.com and Bill Schafer of Subterranean Press, Teresa Nielsen Hayden for copy editing, H.P. Lovecraft, Stella Gibbons, John Scalzi, and Lou Anders.

  The hosts paused the ceremonies to play an interactive game with the audience called Mornington Crescent, involving London Underground station names, before announcing the Hugo for Best Novel. It was to massive applause that the award went to Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Leckie thanked Orbit, Jenny Hill, Tom Bowman and Will Hinton, her agent Seth Fishman, her husband Dave, and her children. She said, ‘‘You write alone, but it makes such a tremendous difference to have your family love and support you, whatever sort of family it is that you have. But most of all, I would like to thank you. You write alone like I said, but you write hoping there will be readers who will connect with what you write. And it’s so wonderful and amazing, I can’t even tell you, when that actually happens. Thank you so so much.’’

  At the end of the event, the hosts thanked the people who worked on the ceremony, while their photos were shown on screen. They thanked the Beefeaters, the fans, writers, producers, illustrators, gamers, fancasters, and expressed congratulations to all nominees and win
ners.

  Patrick Rothfuss, Sam Bradbury; Mur Lafferty, Fiona Van Verth, Jim Van Verth; Remote Attendees: Brad Templeton, Kathryn Myronuk; Sumit Paul-Choudhury,Lavie Tidhar

  The Hugo Awards ceremony was broadcast live online on Ustream for an international audience. The full broadcast of the ceremony is now available on the Ustream website at . Other awards presented at the convention included the 1939 Retro Hugo Awards, Seiun Awards, the Chesley Awards for science fiction and fantasy art, the Sidewise Awards for best alternate history fiction, the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Prometheus Awards, and the Golden Duck Awards for children’s and YA science fiction.

  1939 RETRO HUGOS AND FAN AWARDS

  The 1939 Retro Hugo Awards and the Fan Awards were presented on Thursday, August 14, 2014 in the ICC Auditorium. The awards were presented by Mary Robinette Kowal and Rob Shearman, who transported the audience back to 1939 to present the now-75-years-late Hugo Awards, with music provided by the Brideshead Ballroom Stompers. According to the Loncon 3 website, 1,307 valid ballots were received and counted in the final ballot.

  The Wasp Factory by Tessa Farmer (inspired by the work of Iain M. Banks); Darwin’s Pigeons: a live bird display