Comments on: What’s Your Favorite Con?

By: Chris Coen

Chris Coen — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:08:42 +0000

I’ve been to one WorldCon (in Boston) and one WFC (in Austin), and am trying Fourth Street Fantasy in Minneapolis this year as an attempt to find a smaller con where I won’t feel entirely lost. http://www.4thstreetfantasy.com/

By: Jackie

Jackie — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:11:11 +0000

I like Romantic Times, specifically because there are so many readers who attend. It’s terrific getting to schmooze not only with industry professionals but also with the people who read our work. (Got to love the Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance crossover.)

By: S.C. Butler

S.C. Butler — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:11:11 +0000

Speaking of cons, I’ve been at Lunacon all weekend, which is why I’ve been so slow returning to this discussion.

Marie - I think we first met at a Vericon several years ago. As I recall, we both backed off from joining a group reading that seemed to feature too many dramatically trained readers. But it looked like a fun small con.

Chang - See you at Boskone next year!

chrisweuve - The only gaming convention I ever attended was an Origins more than twenty years ago. I noticed what you said about attendees’ skill sets. Balticon is one I really want to get to as I have a lot of friends in the area.

Joyce - Two more names to add to my list. Some day I want to do a west coast swing. It would be great to spend a month going to cons in the Northwest.

Kelly - You always know the best cons. I’m hoping to get to one in the Twin Cities next year.

By: Kelly McCullough

Kelly McCullough — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:12:16 +0000

WisCon and World Fantasy top my list but I’m also lucky to have CONvergence, MarsCon, and MiniCon, local to me–all fine conventions. I really want to get to ReaderCon and NorwesCon. And someday maybe I’ll get a chance to go to WorldCon–so far the combination of dates and times hasn’t worked for me, though I had a great time at NASFic last summer.

By: Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Joyce Reynolds-Ward — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:00:38 +0000

Both of these cons are local to me, but I’m rather fond of Orycon (in Portland, OR) and Radcon (Pasco, WA). Both are great fun, with good conversation to be found.

I’ve yet to make it up to Seattle for the Seattle-area cons, but plan to do that next year. Potlatch is a nice, intimate, reader/writer focused con that travels, and I’ll be at my second WorldCon this year (last one was LoneStarCon). I’ve done a couple of Westercons as well, and they can be quite nice.

By: chrisweuve

chrisweuve — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:59:03 +0000

I have limited SF con experience (3 PhilCons, a few day trips to Balticon, and an Arisia and a Boskone). I have been to a lot of gaming conventions, and I can answer (although this is not the question asked) that if I had to choose between never attending another game convention and never attending another SF con, I would deselect game cons in a heartbeat. SF cons are, on a whole, a lot more fun in my mind: the attendees are generally smarter, and while the social skills might be similar, SF con attendees aren’t thrown into a competitive environment. YMMV.

By: Chang

Chang — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:27:29 +0000

I’ve only been to Readercon and it was fun! Lots of great people there to meet, harass and enjoy.

I’ve missed Boskone two years in a row. I don’t plan on making it an even three. It’s looking too good to pass up.

By: Marie Brennan

Marie Brennan — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:50:30 +0000

World Fantasy’s one of my favorites for schmoozing, too. I also like ICFA: it’s an academic conference, but also has attending writers and editors and the like. Which sounds all very noble and high-minded until I admit that it’s in Florida next weekend, and that is a big selling point for those in more northerly locales.

My other standard is VeriCon, a college event hosted at Harvard. But I’ve got a personal attachment to that one — I was its guest coordinator for the first two years. It’s had some very good panels, but it’s a small con, and has a lot of non-publishing-related stuff going on.