WonderCon

[kevin_standlee]

I had a really wonderful time (pun unintentional) today at WonderCon in San Francisco. WonderCon, currently a piece of Comic-Con Interntional, is about the size of the last San Diego ComicCon I attended, but that still put it in the 30K attendee range. My reason for attending was to help at the SF Outreach booth, where we were handing out free books and bookmarks and flyers for the next couple of Worldcons and for Westercon and generally telling people about the world of literary SF conventions out there. I was pleased that quite a few people reacted very positively to the news that the World Science Fiction Convention was (figuratively) on their doorstep. I had loaned my display copy of the 2002 Hugo Award to the exhibit, and found that many people had heard of the Hugo Award (more than had heard of Worldcon, actually), and that they were interested in discovering how the Award is presented. With some luck, many of these people will check out Worldcon, not to mention the Westercon that's even sooner and closer.

I also spent a long time hanging around the Studio Foglio table, dealing with some Westercon arrangements, but otherwise really enjoying talking with Kaja and Phil. We still hope to have a new Girl Genius Radio Theatre production for Westercon. Eventually I had to tear myself away from their table because I'm very sensitive about wearing out my welcome with them.

I also stopped by the table where Wendy and Richard Pini were. Wendy was so nice! When she recognized who I was (I look a fair bit different in Westercon t-shirt and cap full of Worldcon pins than in my business clothes), she got up and gave me a hug and thanked me again for now nicely BASFA welcomed her on her visit a few weeks ago.

Briefly, I stopped by Ron Lim's table and said hi to him. Ron was a regular customer and hangger-about at the comic book store where I worked in Marysville back in the late 80s.

I did a complete circuit of most, but probably not all, of the aisles. This is the first convention I've ever attended in Moscone Center South (the original convention center). ConFrancisco was in Moscone North, and earlier versions of WonderCon were in Moscone West, but this was a new experience for me. Amazingly, I bought almost nothing except a bit from the Studio Foglio table, but I loved looking at everything out there.

WonderCon is actually the largest genre convention I've ever attended, since I've never been to DragonCon or the current incarnation of ComicCon, and I'm rather unlikely to attend. Just walking the halls a time or so was exhausting, but also exhilarating in a different way. And the costumes all around me were great! I've taken some photos, but I'm just too tired now to post them. I will try to post them on Sunday.

After the hall closed, many of us who worked at the table today went to dinner at Chevy's. After dinner, I headed back to BART and home, particularly glad that I hadn't driven and could just sit back, read my copy of the novel Agatha H and the Airship City (prose version of the graphic novel), and not worry about driving. While I had a very good time at WonderCon, I'm still not really over the cold I've had this week, and I'm very tired. There's a good chance I'll spend large parts of Sunday comatose. But I'm glad I went today.

Comments

[travelswithkuma.livejournal.com]

Sorrys Bears was nots theres tos helps.
Besides Bears likes wearings costumes.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Bears and Girls would have had a good time. And if Bears was in costumes, he would certainly have been having his pictures taken.

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

I had not realized WonderCon was so big. As I'm a comics fan, I had given half a thought to attending. The only 30k+ "cons" I've been to are religious ones: Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. Those are heady and exciting (if you're a Catholic religious geek as I am), but the crowds are exhausting for us introverts.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

WonderCon's Dealer Room used all of Moscone Center South's main halls. I understand that they actually had to stop selling admissions on Saturday due to the crowds, and they would sell 3-day passes at the door. It's likely that attending Friday or Sunday would be slightly less challenging.