VCON 44: Where, who, and how.

Although it's a bit of a trek down to New Westminster, I'm glad that I attended today's Fandom Bazaar, hosted by the West Coast Speculative Fiction Association.  In addition to picking up a couple of replacement Ace Doubles in good condition for an affordable three dollars each (and just generally enjoying the vibe), I discovered some additional information about VCON 44.*  

According to the promotional postcards available at the event, programming will take place in Buildings SE02 and SE06.  The Guests of Honour will be SF author Holly Schofield, and conceptual FX artist Eric Chu. And, if the theme of your event is "Pick Your Punk", who better to make a special appearance than William Gibson, whose work virtually defined the subgenre of cyberpunk?**  

If you're interested in attending, you can register at this address:

VCON Registration. 

Reduced Early Bird pricing is available until August 31st.

- Sid

* This is actually a little puzzling.  Yesterday, the VCON web site said (and still says) that there was no news other than to say hello.  Today, I was able to pick up a postcard with information about the guests of honour and the special guest, along with a QR code linking to the registration site.  If that info was available for a postcard, why would it not be posted to the website?

** The postcard describes him as "The Father of Cyberpunk" - I almost guarantee that William Gibson has NEVER referred to himself as such, I strongly suspect that his opinion of the relationship is far more nuanced than that. 

VCON 44: Pick Your Punk — Living Through the 21st Century.

For decades, VCON has been part of British Columbia’s speculative fiction history.

Now, VCON is back!

On Saturday, November 14, 2026, WCSFA will host VCON 44 at BCIT Burnaby: a one-day convention focused on speculative fiction, fandom, creativity, community, and the many futures we imagine, resist, build, and survive together.

This year’s event is a deliberate rebuilding step. It will not attempt to recreate every part of past three-day VCONs all at once. Instead, VCON 44 begins with the core of what our community told us matters most: strong programming, shared fandom culture, meaningful conversations, and the chance to connect with other fans.

Our 2026 theme is Pick Your Punk: Living Through the 21st Century.

Cyberpunk, solarpunk, steampunk, dieselpunk, hopepunk, biopunk, mythpunk, stitchpunk, nanopunk, lunarpunk — bring your goggles, your circuits, your seedlings, your cautionary tales, and your better futures. 

I've been a member of the West Coast Speculative Fiction Association (WCSFA) for about a year now.  I freely admit that I joined for the simple reason that I wanted to attend their annual Fandom Bazaar: members got free admission, and the membership fee was the same as the admission fee. Since then, I've enjoyed their monthly newsletters, and won the monthly draw once, an occurrence which excited me more than it should have - I am generally not lucky when it comes to winning prizes.  

Among other activities, the WCSFA hosts VCON, an annual three-day convention based in the greater Vancouver area.*  Sadly, VCON has been inactive since 2021, and as part of the process of rebuilding the event, the WCSFA is planning a one-day convention this fall as a bridge to the full three day version.  

VCON 44 will take place at the Burnaby BCIT campus on November 14, 2026.  For updates on guests, programming, panels and vendors, bookmark the VCON site at vcon.ca, subscribe to the WCSFA newsletter, or follow the WCSFA on Instagram, Facebook, or Bluesky.  

- Sid

* The first VCON was held in 1971.  Responsibility for the event transferred from the Western Canadian Science Fiction Convention Committee Association to the WCSFA in 1993.  You can read the full history of VCON at the WCSFA VCON Archive.

But not actually, you know, exploding.

"I must remind you that the scanning experience is usually a painful one.”

ConSec scanner, Scanners 

I suffer from Exploding Brain Syndrome, a harmless condition with the most over-the-top name ever.  EBS is a sleep disorder-related sensory illusion: some people hear explosions, or perceive flashes of light - in my case, it's like a brief cymbal crash that occurs three or four times in a row, separated by a few seconds.    

Because EBS has such a dramatic appellation, it's impossible for me to experience it without thinking about Scanners, David Cronenberg's breakout 1981 science fiction horror film.  Scanners is best known for the horrifying scene where Canadian actor Louis del Grande's* head is made to explode by Michael Ironside, who plays the villain of the film.  The overly graphic effect was created through the rough and ready special effects expediency of firing a shotgun up through a prop head filled with dog food, leftover hamburger, and rabbit liver, resulting in an undeniably effective moment** that makes me very grateful that my experience of EBS is not a literal one.

- Sid

* Coincidentally, Del Grande went on to create and star in Seeing Things, a CBC dramedy about a newspaper reporter who experiences psychic visions of crimes.  The show ran for six years and featured the who’s who of the 80s Canadian acting community.

** For anyone wishing to see the cinematic results, here's a link to the clip:

https://youtu.be/KYEOuBWVFvk?si=cthRaE_tf0ApOJDF

The exploding head is quite near the end of the scene, if you happen to be one of those people who just can't wait to see what that might look like. 

Canada Day 2026: Art Imitates Life.

Happy Canada Day, everyone - celebrating 159 years of being the place that desperate people escape to from the United States.*

- Sid

* Strangely enough, it actually never occurred to me that this statement applied in the real world as well as in science fiction until I typed that sentence.  I was really just thinking of The Handmaid's Tale, although the photo is from a Philip K. Dick story.

2026 Aurora Award Nominees: Represent!

And now, some Canadian content to balance out the Hugo Awards coverage: the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) has released the slate of nominees for the annual Aurora Awards, which recognize the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy works of the year.  In the past, the awards ceremony has been held in conjunction with Canvention, as with the Hugos and Worldcon, but in recent years the organizers have transitioned to an online ceremony in order to allow for a wider viewership.  The 2026 ceremony will be livestreamed on YouTube on August 9th - the link will be published closer to the event.

This year's nominees are:

BEST NOVEL

• The Bewitching, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Blight, Rachel A. Rosen
• Direct Descendant, Tanya Huff
• The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine, Robert J. Sawyer
• Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales, Heather Fawcett
• A Shift of Time, Julie E. Czerneda
• Written on the Dark, Guy Gavriel Kay

BEST YOUNG ADULT (YA) NOVEL

• Breath of the Dragon, Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee 
• Fireboy, Edward Willett 
• A Lion’s Head, D.M. De Alwis
• Minotaur, Jamieson Wolf
• One Morning Sun, Avi Silver
• Winging It, Jen Desmarais

BEST NOVELETTE/NOVELLA

• The First Thousand Trees, Premee Mohamed
• In the Gardener’s Service, Michèle Laframboise
• The Lure of Stone, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• A Palace Near the Wind, Ai Jiang
• The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar

BEST SHORT STORY

• Hunted To Extinction, Premee Mohamed
• I Ain’t Your Doll Face, Jacqueline Thorpe
• the love song of house and lake, Gillian Secord
• The Stone Played at Tengen, R.H. Wesley
• What If We Kissed While Sinking a Billionaire’s Yacht?, Rachel A. Rosen

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMIC

• Atana and the Jade Mermaid, Vivian Zhou
• Bonds of the Forest, Ally Rom Colthoff
• It Never Rains, Kari Maaren
• Questionable Content, Jeph Jacques
• Shark Girl, Kate Beaton

BEST POEM/SONG

• At the Spaceport Bar, Lisa Timpf
• Bigfoot Farewell, Carolyn Clink
• Dragon Karaoke, David Clink
• Explosive, Derek Newman-Stille
• flowers without meadow, Tiffany Morris
• From Dust, J. Y. Zhang

BEST RELATED WORK

• As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, Terese Mason Pierre
• Augur Magazine, Issues 8.1-8.3, Kerry C. Byrne, Toria Liao, André Geleynse, Kelley Tai, and Azure Arther
• On Spec Magazine, Issues #131 – 134, Vol 35, Diane L. Walton, Managing Editor
• One Message Remains, Premee Mohamed
• Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three, Stephen Kotowych, Editor

BEST COVER ART/INTERIOR ILLUSTRATION

• Dancing With the Holly King, Janice Blaine
• Seance, Alice M.
• Lunar Base, Dan O’Driscoll
• Starship Librarians, Lorna Antoniazzi
• Listen to Me and I’ll tell You a Story, Ejiwa “Edge” Ebenebe

BEST FAN WRITING AND PUBLICATION

• Amazing Stories online columns, Numbers 405-420, Steve Fahnestalk
• Book Reviews in The Ottawa Review of Books, Robert Runté
• Polar Starlight Magazine, Issues 17-20, Rhea E. Rose, editor
• Speculative Poetry and the Hugos, Lynne Sargen
• Young People Read Old Science Fiction, James Davis Nicoll

BEST FAN RELATED WORK

• Can*Con, Marie Bilodeau, chair and Brandon Crilly, vice-chair
• Scintillation, Jo Walton and Rene Walling, co-chairs
• Two Old Farts Talk Sci-Fi, Troy Harkin and David Clink
• Wizards & Spaceships, Rachel A. Rosen and David L. Clink
• The Worldshapers Podcast, Edward Willett 

I see that The Infinite Revolution has not received a nomination this year - obviously not a surprise, but can you imagine?  Joking aside, I suspect that my little hobby is a bit too casual for awards consideration - although, we are coming up on the 20th anniversary of this blog, perhaps I should be recognized for sheer persistence.

- Sid