Browncoat Ball 2010
The 2010 Browncoat Ball, bringing together fans of Firefly and Serenity, will be held from October 22-24 in Charlotte, NC.
For more information… (eventually, the site hasn’t been updated yet).
GUFF 2010 Race
The candidates for the 2010 GUFF race to send a fan from Europe to Australasia have been announced. James Shields and Douglas Spencer are vying to represent Europe at Aussiecon IV. Voting runs until April 5 and is open to anyone active in fandom prior to August 2008 and makes a contribution of at least £5 or AU$10.
Nisi Shawl to Attend ICFA
Nisi Shawl has been announced as the recipient of a private scholarship to attend next year’s Internation Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. Arthur Hlavaty, Bernadette Bosky, and Kevin Maroney has previously announced that they would be giving a private scholarship to an individual to attend.
ISFiC Writers Contest Winner
John M. Cowan won the ISFiC Writers Contest for his short story “Oracle,” announced at opening ceremonies at Windycon 36 on November 13. The ISFiC Writers Contest has been running since 1986 and is open to any unpublished author living in Illinois or an ajoining state, or any member of Windycon. This year’s entrants were judged by Roland Green, Betty Ann Hull, and Bill Fawcett. Cowan was previously an attendee at the Windycon Writers Workshop, administered by former ISFiC Writers Contest winner Richard Chwedyk.
Senter Pleads Guilty
Shane Senter has pled guilty to four counts of the indictment against him. When sentencing occurs later this month, he is expected to receive 5 years probation, not be allowed to own, operate, manage or control a business where he takes payments/deposits up front, and be ordered to pay restitution.
H1N1 at WFC
One case of H1N1 has been confirmed among attendees of World Fantasy Con, held last weekend in San Jose. Australian editor Jonathan Strahan became ill immediately after the convention and has been diagnosed as suffering from the virus, although his doctor did not run clinical tests. Although other cases of concrud may affect people, no other confirmed cases of H1N1 have been reported from World Fantasy Con.
Private ICFA Scholarship Available
A private scholarship to permit a person of color to attend next year’s International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando, FL from march 17-21. The award is a private presentation by Arthur Hlavaty, Bernadette Bosky, and Kevin Maroney.
To qualify for the scholarship, the applicant should:
- have an interest in race and fantastic literature including science-fiction and/or horror, identify
- be known as someone who is not white
- will be 21 or over in March
- want to actively participate in conference activities/discussions
- cannot get money from a university to help you attend
The decision will be made by the judges using their our own criteria, including (but far from limited to) any writing you have done that we have seen and if we already know you personally; the decision is not subject to debate.
The deadline is Thursday, November 12.
SFSFC Awards 2009 SMOFCon Scholarship
San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (SFSFC) has announced that Kirsten M. Berry is the recipient of this year’s scholarship to attend SMOFCon 27 in Austin, Texas. Berry has been attending and working on conventions of various sizes for twenty-five years.
Obituary: Shel Dorf
Comic Con founder Shel Dorf (b.1933) died on November 3. Dorf was trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before working as a freelance artist in New York. As a teenager, he had helped run Triple Fan Fest in Detroit. When he moved to San Diego in 1970, he decided to run something similar and Golden State Comic Con was born. Dorf walked away from the convention in the mid-80s after running it for 15 years.
SFSFC Offers SMOFCon Scholarship
SFSFC, San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, is once again offering a scholarship of $500 to allow convention runners to attend SMOFCon, this year to be held in Austin, Texas. The scholarship is open to any con-runners, but applicants must demonstrate that their attendance will benefit Bay area science fiction fandom. Applications must be received by October 15.