Worldcon 2025: Gallery.

 A selection of images from Worldcon 2025 in Seattle:

The big room - dealers, publishers, sellers, promoters...

And a Tiki Dalek. 

 

I somehow feel that there's always a TARDIS at this sort of event - as there should be, of course.

Legendary - LEGENDARY - artist Phil Foglio, whose comic book adaptation of Robert Aspirin's Mythadventures novel is a million times funnier than the source material.  I felt honoured - and a little bit shy when I asked for a photo. 

https://girlgeniusonline.com/

https://www.studiofoglio.com/

Grand Master of Science Fiction Robert Silverberg mingling - I somehow expected more exciting socks.

 

It did taste good, but I'm sorry, this plus a Sprite is NOT a $29.91 CAD meal.

Publisher's Row.

The LOCUS booth - but where are the other magazines?

Fantasy author Robin Hobb doing sponsored booth signings.  For absolutely no good reason, I always thought that Robin Hobb was a man, not that it matters.

I have thought about making a costume to go with my X-Wing pilot's helmet, but $450 USD is well above my price point - even if it comes with boots.

The venue's automated captioning system turned out to be an unexpected source of entertainment.

"If I were a rich man..."

"All day long I'd biddy dibby bum, if I were a wealthy man!"

"And I'd discuss the holy books with the learned men..."

Hard to go wrong with dinosaurs.

That being said, cephalopods are certainly having a moment.  I remember when it was dolphins...

I was strongly tempted by this one, Roger Zelazny has always been one of my favourite authors - but it actually wasn't in great condition.  No regrets...

A great selection, but honestly, all priced just a little bit too high - I would be able to find a lot of these locally in Vancouver for less money.  

The Sistah Sci-Fi Vending Machine - better living through science.

T-shirts, anyone? Fortunately I had already used up my clothing budget on a Worldcon souvenir t-shirt.

- Sid

 

Worldcon 2025: TANSTAAFL?

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.  

Worldcon 2025: Quotable Quotes.

"I'm the brontosaurus of the party. You're talking about history - this is my life."

Robert Silverberg, author

‘“Mars is my planet.”

Bridget Landry, JPL engineer, retired. 

"People complained, 'They made it funny.' - I am funny!"

Martha Wells, author, on the Murderbot series adaptation

"I'm a terrible actor. I would have to be a dead body."

Martha Wells, on doing a cameo on Murderbot 

"If you enjoy this reading, you can't buy it yet."

Fonda Lee, author

"I started writing fantasy because writing science fiction was just reworking the fears of the day, I wasn't bringing anything new to that conversation. And it was DEPRESSING!"

Paolo Bacigalupi, author 

"I never had a brand."

Nancy Kress, author  

 

 "When I get a fantasy idea, I write it.  Sometimes I write it as science fiction, in which case I write two stories."

Larry Niven, author 

"When I was starting out, I tried to learn from other writers.  It's very hard to imitate Bradbury, he has a great talent for implying that there’s a story there."

Larry Niven, author 

"I helped invent a lot of elements in these and I hate them."

David Brin, author, regarding his cell phone.  

"I get hate mail from my 35 year old self and I don’t remember how I sent them: GET ON WITH IT, OLD MAN!!" 

David Brin, author, on whether he will write another Uplift novel

"My name is Olav Rokne, and as of last night I have lost the Hugo for best fanzine six times."

Olav Rokne, blogger 

"Why do Klingons only speak one language? Genocide." 

Olav Rokne, blogger 

"The future belongs to everyone."

Jordan S. Carroll, author, from his Hugo acceptance speech for Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right

- Sid