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Daily Archives: 2024-08-16
Smof news re World Con in Scotland
SMOF News, volume 3, issue 50
Worldcon news roundup, and news in brief.
Petréa Mitchell
News From Worldcon
Glasgow 2024, the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention was held in Glasgow on August 8-12.
Awards awarded
The Hugo Awards were presented with no further controversies beyond the fraudulent voting uncovered last month. Full voting statistics and an administrator’s report on disqualifications and withdrawals are available with the list of winners.
The First Fandom Awards for fannish achievements were given at the opening ceremony. (Official site not yet updated, but the list of winners is available at File 770.)
The Nommo Awards were presented by the African Science Fiction Society.
The Sidewise Awards for alternate history were also presented.
Future Worldcon and bid news
Next year’s Seattle Worldcon 2025 (August 13-17) announced that its optional special Hugo category will be Best Poetry. An eligible poem is “within the speculative, science fiction, and fantasy genres, published in 2024, that is at least three lines.”
The Seattle Worldcon has also announced a Community Fund, starting with $30,000 in seed money, to assist four groups in attending: first-timers from the Pacific Northwest; LGBTQIA+ fans; BIPOC/AANHPI fans; and fans from anywhere in the Global South. Applications have not yet opened. Those wishing to donate to the fund can do so through the con’s registration portal.
LA in 2026, now LAcon V, won the vote easily to hold the 84th Worldcon on August 27-31, 2026 in Anaheim, California. Fears of a stealth write-in campaign were unrealized. Guests of Honor will be Barbara Hambly, Ronald D. Moore, Colleen Doran, Dr. Anita Sengupta, Tim Kirk, Geri Sullivan, Stan Sakai, and Ursula Vernon.
The bid for Kampala, Uganda in 2028 has changed its proposed location to Kigali, Rwanda.
The Brisbane in 2028 bid is reconsidering its dates for the convenience of those travelling to Australia for the 2028 solar eclipse.
Business Meeting Summary
The WSFS Business Meeting took up nearly all its allotted time across four days of Worldcon. A full set of videos is available on YouTube for those who want to relive it in real time. If you would just like a summary of the results, pull up the agenda (PDF) for reference, and read on.
Many items were referred to committees, some of which are still open to additional members. To join one, contact businessmeeting@glasgow2024.org by 1700 BST (UTC+1) this Friday, August 16.
The Retro Hugos are on their way to removal with the initial passage of proposal F.19. This change will need to be ratified next year.
The controversial proposal to restrict which countries can hold Worldcons (F.13) was referred to a committee of its own. This one is not open to additional members unless they are representing a potentially affected country. F.12 (restricting the voter pool) was voted down.
The proposal to create a new Asian Science Fiction Convention (ASFiC) in parallel with NASFiC (E.12) was defeated. It was expected that this would provoke proposals to remove NASFiC, but none were submitted this year.
The censure motions which could not be printed due to local laws were referred to a Committee of Investigation, elected at the meeting by secret ballot. This committee cannot add further members. F.16 (making censures more censurious) was voted down.
Further motions to address the Chengdu results directly, D.13 (the formal apology) and D.14 (retroactively adding more finalists) were passed with significant changes. D.14 is now a constitutional amendment allowing the Business Meeting to retroactively change finalist lists and must be ratified in Seattle to take effect.
A Hugo Process Study Committee was formed and is still open to more members. It was handed F.5 (requiring more transparancy around disqualifications), F.6 (separating Hugo administration from individual Worldcons), F.7 and F.8 (restrictions on disqualifications), F.9 (barring of wayward administrators), and the part of F.10 which would create an oversight committee.
F.10 was divided into three other pieces, two of which were voted down. The remaining part, about Hugo software, was referred to its own committee.
F.11 (another oversight committee), F.17 (Best Editor Long Form wording change),F.18 (art category wording changes) were passed for ratification in Seattle. E.8 (figuring out word counts for non-English works) was ratified.
E.7 (Independent Film category), E.9 (Best Fancast modification), and E.10 (removing US-centric language rules) were all defeated. The Glasgow committee ran an advisory vote of the general membership about the independent film category, in which “No” won with 57.7% of the vote.
A Business Meeting Process Study Committee was also formed and is also open to further members. It was given F.14 (ratification of WSFS constitution changes by a wider vote of Worldcon members) to study. F.15 (holding subsidiary Business Meetings throughout the year) was defeated.
Among lower-intensity proposals, E.1 through E.6, plus E.11 were all ratified. F.1 through F.4 were passed for ratification next year. Various standing rule changes and eligibility extensions were also passed, though the extension for Godzilla Minus One was revoked after the full Hugo voting statistics showed that it had nearly been a finalist this year.
SMOF News thanks the Glasgow Worldcon volunteers who provided play-by-play reporting on Discord for members who could not be present in person.
MonSFFA Meeting Tomorrow!
NEXT MonSFFA MEETING SET FOR TOMORROW, SATURDAY, AUGUST 17!
1:00PM-5:00PM
Le Nouvel Hotel, 1740 Boul. René-Lévesque (corner St-Mathieu), “Salle Maisonneuve” (South Tower)
…and concurrently on ZOOM! – www.MonSFFA.ca
MonSFFA’s regular meeting schedule resumes tomorrow afternoon, on Saturday, August 17! We’ll be meeting in our usual hall, “Salle Maisonneuve,” at Le Nouvel Hotel! Le Nouvel is located on a major bus line, and is just a short walk from either Metro Guy/Concordia or Lucien-L’Allier.
Note that our new locale is only one block west of our pre-pandemic meeting place, the Hôtel Espresso (corner Guy and René-Lévesque)! We have returned to our old, familiar neighbourhood, folks! And, as always, we hope to welcome home both current and former club members, and new members, too! Come check us out!
Meeting Theme: MonSFFen offer their top picks of the genre’s coolest gizmos and gadgets, as seen on TV or in the movies, or within the pages of SF/F literature! For the purposes of this list, we’ll define a gizmo or gadget as a technological or magical device small enough to hold in one’s hands, or carry on one’s person—a Star Trek phaser or tricorder, for example, Thor’s hammer (assuming, of course, you are sufficiently worthy to wield it!), a magic wand, Excalibur, a lightsaber, Batman’s utility belt, or a Bat-a-Rang—you get the idea.
So, as cool a technological marvel as may be the starship Enterprise, the Batmobile, Iron Man’s suit, the Seaview, the Millennium Falcon, Clarke’s Orbital Tower (space elevator) or Niven’s Ringworld, they are too big to qualify for this list!
Which gizmos or gadgets do you think are among the coolest, and why? We ask club members to come prepared to contribute an item or two to our list!
AUGUST’S AGENDA:
1:00PM – Game: Bug-Eye Bet!
We resurrect a game created by our late friend and fellow club member, Sylvain St-Pierre, in which still photographs and video clips from SF/F movies or TV shows are shown to players, who must then answer a series of questions focused on the minute, inconsequential, trivial details of that which they have just seen! Bets are placed on how accurate will be their recall of said details.
1:45PM – Tom Swift and his Science Fiction Book Series
A primer on the numerous Tom Swift sci-fi/adventure books, ranging from the 1910s to the present day. The adventures of the original Tom Swift and later, his descendants, introduced many a young lad to science fiction, and in its nascent years, helped to popularize the genre.
2:45PM – Break!
Raffle, announcements, brief discussion of club business, including preliminary plans for club’s Christmas Dinner and Party 2024.
3:00PM – The Multiverse
We examine the concept of “the Multiverse” in science fiction, including those famously depicted in both Marvel’s and DC’s comic book superhero stories.
4:00PM – Sci-Fi’s Coolest Gizmos and Gadgets!
MonSFFen are asked to offer their top picks of the genre’s coolest gizmos and gadgets, as seen on TV or in the movies, or within the pages of SF/F literature! We define a gizmo or gadget as a technological or magical device small enough to hold in one’s hands, or carry on one’s person—a Star Trek phaser or tricorder, for example. Which gizmos or gadgets do you think are among the coolest, and why? We ask club members to come prepared to contribute an item or two to our list!
