If there was one thing that surprised me more than anything else about Worldcon, it was that there was a Freebies booth. I generally don't have a lot of faith in giveaways, as per the title of this posting*, but in this case, it turned out to be accurate.
There were three kinds of freebies available - random ephemera, like pens, buttons, post cards and book marks; free books from publishers; and, most unexpectedly, a donations section, where attendees dropped off unwanted books for the taking.
I have to admit that I do love little bits and pieces of merch, and the freebies table was a target rich environment. That being said, I managed to avoid overindulging, and walked away with a relatively small selection of glossy items, including a very nicely printed 11x17 poster for Matt Wagner's 2019 Grendel comic book series on heavy stock. (Full disclosure, I actually nabbed three of these, in hopes that at least one of them would survive the rigours of packing and the luggage compartment on the bus home.)
The selection of new publications being given away didn't hold a huge appeal for me, which is probably unfortunate, given that the whole purpose of giving away copies of a new book is to help create buzz. However, I've been trying to limit my new book acquisitions, even free ones, and I only had so much extra room in my luggage.
The free used books were a different story (no pun intended). I visited the used shelves several times during the convention, and there seemed to be a steady flow of new donations, my thanks to all the contributors who kept the selection fresh. I did my best not to get carried away, but I still ended up with a solid stack of replacement copies, along with a couple of spur of the moment choices, like the Jim Burns book. There were even some free Ace Doubles** in good condition - I can only imagine the embarrassment of riches in someone's library that would allow them to do this.
I could easily have come back with a much bigger stack of books, were it not for the realities of transporting them back to Canada on the bus. As it was, I felt a bit like a bag lady as I stood in line at the bus terminal, but fortunately, no one sat beside me, which gave me a little bit more room for extra luggage.
Oh, and all three of the Grendel posters reached Vancouver almost completely unscathed, please let me know if you're in the GVR and you'd like one.
- Sid
* There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, a phrase which I first encountered in the classic Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.
** Even more surprising than someone giving away free Ace Doubles in good condition was the fact that two of them were new editions of previously published Ace Double novels, which I'd never seen before. It had never occurred to me that that Ace would do remix editions.
