The Forbidden Newsletter

I take considerable interest in at-con newsletters, on account of having edited BayCon, SiliCon, and OryCon newsletters some years ago. And I try to produce material for at-con newsletters, too, as I know how difficult it sometimes can be to fill things with news of the proper length. So I always pick up the at-con newsletters as soon as I can. Late on Monday at BayCon, I was rather surprised when convention staff members came around picking up all copies of issue 7 they could get their hands on, saying that they'd been instructed to retrieve the entire run. I declined to give up my two copies.

I have read the issue in question, and I still can't figure out what triggered a recall. My only concern with it was that it was pretty lightweight, especially when I had turned in several real-news stories the previous day and even one pre-con about the BASFA meeting happening on Monday evening. None of those items made the 'zine while there were full-page features on the FGoH and Toastmistress.

Did anyone else who managed to read a copy of the Forbidden Issue 7 figure out what it was that incurred the Wrath of Con?

Hugo Awards Discussion

In case you're not following hugo_recommend but are interested in the Hugo Awards, I think you may be interested in this discussion of the 2007 Hugo Award Nominees on John Scalzi's blog.

Yes, I've gotten involved, as I don't like accusations of institutional bias in the Hugo Awards being used as a screen for "They didn't nominate the things I like, and no, I'm not a member and probably never will be. You should vote the way I say, however."

Stand Up and Be Counted

First ganked from debgeisler, this is a group that is trying to count how many LJ members consider themselves part of fandom.

Mind you, I suspect that there are a lot of mutually-contradictory definitions of "fandom" out there, but what the hey. There is already a five-figure count of members.

More Microphone Tales

Those of you who saw the show at BayCon or looked at the photos may have noticed the rather ugly brown foam pop-screen on the microphone. I made this myself in something of a hurry because the microphone didn't come with one and I didn't have time to go looking around for one.

This evening, I discovered that the foam screen from the headset on my desk telephone here at home is just the right size to cover that microphone. This means I now know what size of cover to be searching for, and if I can't find one easily, where I can borrow one at need.