Norwescon 25 Post-Con Report

After convention wrapup for Norwescon 25.

Norwescon 25 Post-Con Report

Twenty-Five Years of Norwescon, and Fun was Had by All!

I never know quite what to write when it’s time for the Post-Con report, so many people to thank and so many wonderful people to acknowledge. I’ll try and hit some of the highlights of the convention, from my point of view, and thank as many people as I can without boring you to death.

First, my greatest thanks go out to our Guests of Honor.

One of the biggest events for me at the convention was meeting Jack and Norma Vance. I know that much ado has been made of Jack’s attendance as our Writer Guest of Honor, but enough can’t be said about how lucky we as a convention, and you as attendees, are to have had the opportunity to meet Jack. It’s been many years since Jack has attended a convention. We’ve had the honor of having the best of the best as our Writer GoHs in the past, but few can meet the stature of Jack Vance. He is one of the people who have inspired the current best writers of our time. He is truly one of the Grand Masters of Science Fiction, and is a Grand Man all around! Norma and Jack were most-gracious guests, making themselves available to our attendees as much as possible. Because, really, what Jack and Norma wanted was not just to sit on panels and talk at you, but they wanted to talk with you. In the halls, in hospitality, wherever they could meet fen. And I want you, Jack and Norma, both to know that it is one of the highlights of my life to be able to say I’ve had the honor of meeting you and spending time with you.

Thank you both.

Dr. James Glass has been an attending professional at Norwescon for many years and when we needed him most he was there for us. Dr. Glass, it is our honor to have had you as Guest of Honor this year, and your knowledge as a scientist and writer have been such a value to us and the science fiction community. We hope that you will consider us your home convention.

Brom, thank you for taking time out of your busy life to be with us and bring your wonderful family with you. The presentation of your work in the Art Show, and your highly-attended panel presentations, were a wonderful contribution to this year’s convention.

Andrew I. Porter, you are true a Fan. From almost the moment you got here you were in the halls looking for people to talk with and looking to help the convention set up. If there were ever a Top Ten list of Science Fiction Fans you would be on that list. It was a great pleasure meeting you and I hope that you’ll be able to come back and hang out.

Shelia Lenkman and Scott Corwin, our Costuming Guests of Honor, brought with them not only a long and rich background in costuming and masquerades but also great knowledge in the running of conventions. The exchange of ideas and knowledge made this a wonderful experience for the costuming community and for the convention as a whole. And Scott will now and for always be considered a member of Team Tech! He is possibly the first Norwescon GoH to get under the stage and pull cords. Shelia and Scott, I had a wonderful time getting to know you and only wish we could have had more time.

Mr. & Mrs. Roger S. Baum, though I didn’t get a change to meet you I am very grateful for you taking time to be with us. I know that it was difficult to meet this commitment due to personal schedule needs and have the greatest respect for you, and, again, I’m very grateful for you doing so. Your presence was special and lent a great feeling of excitement and magic to this year’s convention.

Peter Archer and Wizards of the Coast, your valuable insights and knowledge of the publishing world and the sharing of that knowledge make you one to the best Spotlighted Publishers we’ve ever had. Thank you for sharing and taking time to be with us this year.

I’d also like to thank the Convention Committees and Executive Teams, past and present. Over the last 25 years we’ve have an inside joke: “Heck, we’re just putting on a party for 2,800 of our closest friends!” Although our mission is more than that, in a sense it’s true.

In 25 years we’ve become the one-stop vacation designation for many of you. Where fun can be had and you can be you. Many of us first met our best friends, significant others, and spouses in the hallways of Norwescon. Even a few children have been begot (though not in the halls as far as we know). But more than that, Norwescon creates a forum where interests and ideas can be shared and, in a sense, a community develop. Where, in the rest of the country, conventions are finding it harder and harder to attract the young and the new to fandom, Norwescon continues to open it doors, to be vital, exciting, and innovating. We meet the needs of the many and are many things. You can take from us what you choose. But it’s all those individuals over the last 25 years that have given so much of their time and energy to make it possible—the convention committee members. So many of you have come and gone, and many of you I’ve never known, but Norwescon 25 should be dedicated to you. Without you, none of this would be possible. My personal thanks to those that it has been my honor to work with. You have my greatest respect for what you do for the convention and how well you all do it. Lastly, my thanks to those nine people who make up the Executive Team—the people who yell at me, tell me I’m wrong, or right, who go far beyond the call of duty all year long to make sure that Norwescon is the best it can be. Nine people who are nuttier than I am because they’re appointed and could have run the other way, but care too much.

Well, this is getting long and I’m sure I said I wasn’t going to carry on and on and bore you. Okay, I may have failed. And though I did say I’d hit some of the highlights of Norwescon 25 I guess I’ll have to save that for the book I’ll be writing, “The Life and Times of a SciFi Chairman” coming out in 2015 from Bali Balmy Books. So on to the next 25 years.... and beyond!

Patricia Booze
Chairman, Norwescon 25

Norwescon 25 Programming

by Robert J. Grieve

Success can be measured in many ways. The fact that Norwescon has just celebrated its 25th year is one indicator. Over the years, this convention has been fortunate to showcase some of the biggest, brightest, and most talented writers, artists, scientists and fans in the genre. This silver anniversary was no exception.

Jack Vance is a king in the sf/f genre and was given appropriate regal honors at Norwescon 25. Seldom has this convention witnessed more excitement and interest in its Writer GoH. His every appearance meant a packed room full of eager fans. I can say with absolute certainty that Mr. Vance, and his lovely wife

Norma, thoroughly enjoyed their weekend in the Pacific Northwest. The clams may have been disappointing, but he found our convention quite satisfactory. Mr. Vance was the kind of GoH that makes a con worth attending.

Norwescon is renown in fandom for a strong science track. Fortunately, in addition to our usual outstanding assortment of panels and attending scientists, we were blessed with the appearance of Dr. James C. Glass. He has been a regular at our con and has the ability to captivate an audience. This year he went beyond the bounds of extraordinary and rewrote the book on how to be the Science GoH. Blessings flowed upon us as he also brought his talented wife, Gail, along with him to be on costuming and other panels.

In the past quarter of a century, Norwescon has featured such awesome and awe inspiring talent from fandom as Charles N. Brown, Jon Gustafson, Mike Glyer, Frederick Pohl, and Bob Shaw as our Fan GoH. This year we scored big time in having Andrew I. Porter take up the torch of “true fandom.” Unsurprisingly, he was helping out at registration, stuffing bags, not long after he arrived. This gentle giant from Fandom East was a delight to have with us for the weekend. We can only cross our fingers that he will join us again at some future Norwescon.

Norwescon has a rich history of GoHs but we also included a first this year. Scott Corwin and Sheila Lenkman were our hard working and diligent Costuming GoHs. Flying in from St. Louis (and, oh!, what a trip that was) to be with us for our anniversary convention, this couple were the toast of the costumers circuit at the convention. They have headed up the masquerade for Archcon for many years, as well as a Worldcon, and were able to gift us their special insights and unique perspective.

The theme in 2002 was “In the Land of the Emerald City” which included a tie-in to L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. While it would have been great to have that legend at our convention, fans from all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond were thrilled to have his great-grandson join us as a Special GoH. Roger S. Baum has continued his grand-sire’s work with several Oz books of his own. Regrettably, due to tragic circumstances beyond his control, he could only be with us less than 24 hours. Still, it was a landmark honor to have him here at all.

Our theme also was meant to highlight talent from around the “Emerald City,” Seattle. We came up with double dividends in this area. First, with the extremely talented and personable Artist GoH Brom, who is a member of the art team for Wizards of the Coast. Then we spotlighted their publishing department and were fortunate to have Peter Archer as their representative. Just goes to show that the Puget Sound area is brimming with gifted people.

And those are just our GoHs. Norwescon 25 boasted over 200 pros that would be the envy of any convention. The Programming Team worked diligently to develop a program that could show off their talents and provide a little bit of something for just about everyone, and was quite successful in achieving that goal. The convention kicked off with a discussion about two of the biggest book/movie tandems in recent times with “Harry Potter Goes to Hell” and “The Lord of the Rings Smack Down.” Mike Moscoe, Literary Track Leader and Nebula Award-nominated writer, laid out an amazing plethora of panels dedicated to the literary side of fandom. The entire convention was filled with panels dedicated to writing and literature, including the COTI (Cultures of the Imagination) workshop, the Brown Bag Readings, the aftermath of 9/11 on sf/f, and so very much more. Way to go, Mike!

For those more interested in discovering what’s new in the field of science, there were an abundance of choices as well. “Let’s Bring an Asteroid to Earth” discussed the idea of whether an asteroid should be permanently brought to near-earth space, while “What’s Up with the Space Station?” filled us in on the progress, pitfalls, and successes of the International Space Station. Norwescon was also pleased to hold its annual Science Debate. This year the topic was “Will Robots be Our Friends?” This debate was not only interesting, but informative, and if you have never been to one of the science debates, you should make an effort to attend next year! Just be ready to duck when things get heated up.

Anita Taylor and Margo Loes provided an ample supply of costuming and craft panels for our members with those interests. There were the usual workshops as well as Betty Bigelow and her always enjoyable “Clay-O-Rama,” a “Fashion Drawing Workshop,” “Chain Mail Workshop,” assorted how-to panels, “Fantastic Fairy Wings,” and the “Mask Making Workshop.” All in all, these two hard working talented women created an outstanding variety of panels.

Karen Rall and Robert Grey were equally successful in creating the filking and gaming tracks, respectively, that were everything a fan could want. From tried and true panels like “Filk 101” and “Games that Suck” to favorites such as “The Top Twenty Filk Songs” and “Games of the 21st Century” to “Open Filking” and “Tournament Gaming,” Norwescon had plenty to do for filkers and gamers alike.

Norwescon has always been renowned for its dances and this year was no exception. The facts are in and the dances at Norwescon rock! This year we were delighted to have the return of the Sunday Night Dance, back after a several year hiatus.

We also had some special events, such as the “Wizard School International Magic Show,” “Jousting Demo,” “Norwescon Honors with the Klingon Weakest Link,” as well as many activities and events being held in the hospitality room, including “Coffee Klatches” with the Guests of Honor and the ever popular “Klingon Karaoke.” If you have never heard the song “My Way” sung in Klingon, you have no idea of what you are missing! Many, many kudos go to that especially lovely genius, Lori Edwards, without whose charms and abilities our con would be that much poorer.

The Masquerade was a great success, as usual, and the Philip K. Dick Memorial Awards was a highlight of the weekend, with Norwescon having all but one of the nominees in attendance. Norwescon 25 provided panels, entertainment and ambiance for all its members and I can but hope that things will continue to improve for the future. Cross my fingers—take a deep, trembling breath—and hope.

Hospitality: Goodbye and Thanks for All the Fish!

by Judy Suryan

A very nice thing happened to me one day when my husband, Bob, and I were standing next to the Star Wars ticket line outside the Cinerama Theater in downtown Seattle. I was waiting for Bob to pay for parking and a woman was staring at me and finally asked “Are you Judy Suryan?” I guardedly answered that I was, at which point she gave me a big smile and said “I just wanted to say thank you for all you have done at Norwescon.” Surprised, I thanked her very much and told her this was my last year doing Hospitality. Three years is long enough. She said “Oh that’s too bad. Didn’t you do other things before that?” I told her yes, I had had other jobs at the con over the last 25 years. It was at this point that she told me that she had been attending NWC for many years and has never volunteered even though she knew she should. She just wanted me to know that she really appreciated all I had done to make NWC a place she enjoyed coming to.

That is one of those moments that stays with you. Kind of a warm fuzzy. And it’s a good note to say goodbye on. I have enjoyed my time as Hospitality Director and I know I will miss it. But the job has become physically too much for myself and my small, loyal crew.

Knowing that this was our last year, that it was Norwescon 25, and with the theme of “In the Land of the Emerald City,” the main Hospitality crew (my sister, GerryAnn, and her husband, Gordon, and I) decided to go all out. Hospitality’s presence in the hotel started at the elevator end of the Cascade Rooms hallway with the beginning of our yellow brick timeline road and ending at Cascade 11 where a small scale Emerald City (Seattle, complete with the Space Needle) was located. It glowed green, inviting all to enter.

What started out three years ago as an idea on my part to get fans interested in coming to Hospitality has resulted in some really exciting and fun events. This year, we had even more Klingons invading our room for events, including a Karaoke Kontest. Saturday evening’s event started with a Khorus of Klingons singing “Over the Rainbow” in the original Klingon, of kourse.

The big-screen TV was a special treat to have. It was used for “The Wizard of Oz on the Dark Side on the Moon” and our “Gas Planet” visual shorts. It also came in handy for the “Speed Racer Party” and “Ukyou’s Bar and Grill Anime.”

Kitty’s Tower of Toys was in fact many towers. It even added to the Seattle skyline in the room. It was also enjoyed by everyone entering who wanted a chance to “play.”

When Chairman Pat needed a last-minute space in the schedule, I moved things around a bit in Hospitality to help. What a delightful and wonderful experience it turned out to be having William Zeitler playing his glass armonica. As Kitty put in when I went in to check on things, “I’m in heaven.” I bought three of his CDs and have been enjoying them ever since.

And what a special treat for everyone to have our Guests of Honor come into Hospitality and just sit with the fans and visit. Jack Vance enjoyed himself so much after his first day, he came back again. Thanks to our Programming Director, Bob Grieve, for not running from this new idea, but instead making sure these times were in our GoH’s schedule.

Now, once again, on to those silly numbers that we fans love to see. I will apologize in advance however about the accuracy of some of the numbers. You all were consuming thing so fast that I was loosing count. Remember this does not include all the support items that are also used like cups, forks, foil, trays, and sterno that help get the food from behind the curtain to you.

200 (24 count) cases of soda pop
35 (35 count) cases of bottled water
800 cups of coffee
250 cups of tea
200 cups of cocoa
5 lbs. of sugar
3 lbs. of creamer
200 pks. Sweet ’n’ Low
30 gals. of various juices
More ice than I care to think about
90 lbs. of ham
70 lbs. of turkey
50 lbs. of beef
20 lbs. of salami
160 lbs. of various cheeses
1000 hot dogs and buns (ya know—A Horse of a Different Color)
10 lbs. of ketchup 6 lbs. of mustard
20 doz. eggs
4 40 lbs. of meatballs
20 lbs. of tortellini
250 pot stickers
250 egg rolls
400 mini tacos
20 lbs. of nachos
10 lbs. cream cheese and butter
2-3 lbs. various jams
15 lbs. of olives
2 lbs. of green chilies
60 lbs. of broccoli
50 lbs. cauliflower
50 lbs. of carrots
20 lbs. of tomatoes
10 lbs. of peppers
20 lbs. of mushrooms
40 lbs. of cantaloupe
50 lbs. of honeydew
60 lbs. of oranges
10 lbs. of bananas
15 lbs. of pineapple
15 lbs. of strawberries
25 lbs. of grapes
4-5 gals. of veggie dip
4 gals. of salsa
6 gals. of various sauces
50 bags of chips
70 lbs. of cookies
50 lbs. of munchie chips
70 lbs. of crackers
25 lbs. of candy
30 doz. muffins, bagels, doughnuts and croissants
8 lbs. of chocolate fondue

Special Thanks to the Hospitality Crew

GerryAnn Laplante
Gordon Laplante
Dan Laplante
Andy Laplante
Mickey
Jamie Morgan
Bob Suryan
Peter Suryan
Alex Suryan
Angela Suryan
Erica Weiland
Katie DeMar-Aldrich
Cindy Wolfe
Sheila
Rustycon crew
And all the fans I know helped but I have forgotten your names.

Hospitality Events Crew

Kitty Canterbury—Kitty’s Tower of Toys
Shawn Marier—The Wizard of Oz on the Dark Side of the Moon
Team SakuraCon—Ukyou’s Bar & Grill
Katy Klienhans—Speed Racer 35th Birthday Party
Rustycon Crew—Saturday Hosts, Horse of a Different Color
William Zeitler Concert—Glass Armonica
Patrick and Honna Swenson—Talebones Live
Bobbie DeFault—Klingon Karaoke and Kontest
Pat Booze—Dead Sasquatch PJ Party and Spring Rites
And all our Guests of Honor!

Dances

by LouAnna Valentine

With the re-introduction of the Sunday Dance, the NWC Dances department was a presence every night! Mark “DJ Hardware” Pringle got us started off right on Thursday night. Shawn “DJ Marier” Marier piloted the Stardance in the right direction, aided by a late-night guest stint by Riff “DJ Retcon” Millar. Keith “DJ tox2much” Johnson shook Saturday’s MasterMix Cafe back and forth in time with a song from all 25 years. And Sunday marked the triumphant return of Todd “MC 300 Baud” Clarke to the Norwescon fold. My deepest thanks go to all of my DJs.

I was again astonished by the enthusiasm generated by our Opening Number this year—our homage to Moulin Rouge transplanted to the Emerald City. We had a wide assortment of dancing can-can “Emerald Dogs”, a smattering of patrons, even an exhuberant Zigler. You were all wonderful, and we have video to prove it!

Stardance Opening Number
“Can-Can” (in alphabetical order):

The Emerald Dogs
Janet Borkowski
Julia Clayton
Susan Courney
Lori Edwards—“Tartie”
Amanda Forbes—“Envy”
Vicki Glover—“June”
Alisa Green—“Harlequin”
Cherie Harris
Margo Loes—“Wild Irish Rosie”
Laurel Parshell
Kim Poua—“Scraps”
Terry Specht—“Jade”
Anita Taylor—“Emmie Rald”

Patrons
Doug Booze
Mike Edwards
Sean Forbes
William Sadorus
Richard Stephens—“Zigler!”
David Tackett
Andrew Wilson

Fannish Olympics

by John Holdren

Norwescon 25 marked the return of the ever popular and exciting Fannish Olympics. And this year’s competition was no exception. Three teams hotly contested for those gold medals, and it was a close race all the way. The teams were: “The Clones,” “The Umberhulks” and “Garrison Titan/Alpha Base.”

The event started off with a scavenger hunt. The teams had until 4pm Saturday to gather the items and bring them in to be scored. They then had to convince the judges that the items matched the criteria set forth. They were inventive and down right crafty. From the “First Edition L. Frank Baum Oz Book” that The Clones actually managed to get their hands on, to the dragon puppet singing a scale (for “a dragon’s scale”) from Garrison Titan/Alpha Base. Everybody had a lot of fun, with The Clones coming out on top of the first round.

In the team competition phase, all scores were reset, with the points from the scavenger hunt only to be used in case of a tie. Now things got a little tougher. The teams had to complete various tasks such as “Longest Paper Clip Chain in 60 Seconds,” “Sorting M&Ms by Color,” “Sparkling Cider Speed Drink” and “Pudding-Eating Relay Using Only a Straw.” We also made them answer trivia questions about Norwescon, in which one team put down “Mrs. Boozer” when asked who Norwescon 25’s Chairperson was. (Gee Pat, are you?) They also had to act out an improvisational scene from a movie based upon a list of our choosing. As The Clones did the “arriving at the castle” scene from Rocky Horror, “Riff Raff’s” cell phone chose a most appropriate moment to ring.

In the end, The Clones squeaked out a win with The Umberhulks coming in second. Closely behind was Garrison Titan/Alpha Base. The Clones were each awarded gold medals and memberships to Norwescon 26. The Umberhulks each won membership to the Northwest Science Fiction Society, and Garrison Titan/Alpha Base gets an automatic entry into competition next year. Great fun was had by all, including the audience.

KidKon

by Shannon Hillinger

Once again, KidKon ran smoothly. This year we had 57 children, most were there for one or two visits, and most wanted to return but were there only for a day or two.

Even though we raised the rates this year, parents did not seem to mind. We even had comments that they were surprised that we hadn’t done it sooner.

This year we were blessed with the attendance of three secondgeneration KidKon children (children of people that attended KidKon when they were young), Emily, Corbin and Devon.

A couple of cute things happened that we would like to relate. Just before she had to leave the con to head home, Danielle, age 7, came in for a half an hour and paid with her own money. Thomas told Eleanor, age 3, that if she did not come back right now they wouldn’t come back to KidKon. She immediately obeyed.

On Saturday we held a pie-throwing event to raise money to replace the castle. We made $90, which gets us partway there, and there will be another pie throwing event at Norwescon 26. You may want to set aside some time if you missed your chance to pitch a pie at our illustrious Chairman and others that dared to put their face in danger

We will be replacing the plastic castle with another one, possibly made from wood. We are also looking for ideas for materials that will be lightweight yet still be able to withstand the weight of many children, compact down for storage, and be safe for little fingers. So, if you have woodworking skills or can wield a paintbrush, please contact us through kidkon@norwescon.org or through the Post Office box.

Thank you to our volunteers—Thomas Boutel, Jennifer Younts, Rebecca Stevens, Jesaka Irwin, and Jason Lum and the rest of our staff, especially Khris Gould (The Button Man). Special thanks go out to our junior volunteers—McKenzie, Shelbie, Riannon, and Martin. Thanks also to Pat Booze, Shawn Marier, and Mark Pringle, the nice guy from security who stepped in at the last minute, for joyfully being targets for whip cream pies. I was a target also, but people really seemed to want to paste the others more than myself. Thanks to Tracy, Cheryl, everyone in volunteers and staff support, Ben and Beth for the computers, Jordan and the Costuming Guests of Honor, Shelia Lenkman and Scott Corwin, for assembling the castle, and thanks to the Pawtowskis for putting up with it for so long. Keith Johnson—KidKon will always love you.

Thank you for another great year, and remember... everybody’s unicorn is different.

Lobby Services

by Sally Woehrle

Lobby Services worked very hard this year to make the lobby as fan friendly as possible. I think the chairs and tables under the stairs were a great idea (thanks Bob) and we will probably have them again next year.

I want to thank Patrick Nash for his outstanding job at the Information Table, Joshua Nash for doing Peacebonding, Carolyn Palms for her usual wonderful job running the Cloak Room, and Lisa Woodings for the Voodoo Message Board.

The only problem we had was the table for the free movie memorabilia got very messy at times. Next year maybe we can put a person (volunteer) in charge of making sure it stays neat.

The Fan Tables were especially busy with 18 clubs, 12 conventions, and 5 corporate groups represented. Thank goodness everyone was friendly and willing to share tables.

The groups were: Alpha Force, Camarilla, Fist of the Empire, IKV Deathgrip, IKV T’Mar, Imperial Costuming Division, Imperial Starbase Society, International Wizard of Oz Club, Mad Scientists, NW Convention League, NSS/Mars Society, NW Propmasters, Northwest Science Fiction Society, Robert A. Heinlein Society, Rebel Costuming Division, Speed Racer Club, and Star Wars Rebel Legion.

The conventions represented were: Anglicon, Calgary in 2005 Westercon Bid, ConJose (2002 Worldcon), Foolscap, Marquette Place, Seattle Nasfic Bid, Team Sakura, Westercon 56 in Seattle (2003), Kansas City in 2006 Worldcon Bid, UK in 2005 Worldcon Bid, and V-Con.

The corporate groups were: Cheapass Games, Youthstream Media Networks, New Dimension Games, Organized Play, and Wizards of the Coast.

Hope to see you all again next year.

Voodoo Message Board

by Lisa Woodings

The Voodoo Message Board went fairly well for Norwescon 25. Nobody took us up on the offer to use a different name, other than his or her legal or registration name, in the listing. That option will remain open for next year. Just let us know how we should list you when you pre-register or anytime after. Most people found the board in the new location, or were directed there by the Information Table. Next year we may be in that same general area, so keep an eye out. Also, there were people looking for the board even before it was set up. Now that people know to look for it, we will try to set it up earlier. Thank you for using the Voodoo Message Board.

Dealers Room

by Charlie Knoedler

Overall, sales in the Dealers Room seemed to be up this year. Many dealers reported record sales. This is good news considering the state of the local economy at the time. With any luck, the economy will pick up from where it is now, and give all of us a little more spending money. Twenty percent of our dealers were new to Norwescon. We had dealers from across the country, including New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Minnesota, as well as our core of West Coast vendors. We plan to continue to diversify our Dealers Room while still keeping fan favorites.

Single Pattern Contest Winners

Best Visual Impact
Waterfall
Susan Courney

Best Use of Traditional Japanese Textile Technique
Deer in Autumn Woods
April Faires

Judge’s Choice
Oburisode-kobana
Alicia Faires

Judge’s Choice
Passage to Insanity
Julie Clayton

Best in Theme of Convention
A Tribute to Oz
Kelly Green

Best in Show
Cosmic Conjurer’s Robe
Katrina Marier

All enrties used a standard Japanese kimono pattern. The judges were Marie Cooley and Tsuruko Deb Strub.

Art Show Awards

Color

Best
The Storm
Richard Hescox

Honorable Mention
Lemon Sails
Elizabeth Hail

Fantasy

Best
Lyonese
C&C Ench

Honorable Mentions
Fog Prince
Paul Chadwick

The Big “C”
Douglas Herring

Science Fiction

Best
Colapsium
Ed Cox

Honorable Mention
Charlie Brown
Erika McGinnis

3-Dimensional

Best
Ninthza
Rebecca Schumacher

Honorable Mentions
Baphomet
Jason Soles

Lady
Windy Lewis

Two Tone

Honorable Mention
Poppy Field
John Alexander

Textiles

Honorable Mention
Flight of Fancy
Katherine Howes

Lechery

Honorable Mention
Lechery
Suzanna Fisher

Chairman’s Choice

Lyonese
C&C Ench

Body of Work

Best
rk Post

Best
Ed Cox

Honorable Mention
Harpold

Best of Show

Best
Unmask
rk Post

Honorable Mention
King’s Sword
Brom

Budget Report

Gross income $ 125,442.50 Total Expenses $ 109,198 .99 Reserve Balance $ 16,243.51

A Letter of Comment

Below is a letter sent to me after Norwescon 25 which I have been asked to include in the Post-Con Report. I’m personally saddened by this letter but feel, as does the rest of the Executive Team of Norwescon, that including it here may serve good purpose. I hope that everyone takes it to heart as I have.

Pat Booze
Chairman

The Death of Northwest Fandom?

Unlike most letters of criticism, this is not about the Con-Com, or how things were run; but about the conventioneers, the masses of people that gather, mingle, meet and party.

My first con was Norwescon 9, 16 years ago. I walked through the doors of the then RedLion and knew that I had found a home. There were gamers, freaks, geeks, trekkies and trekkers. I found acceptance for who and what I was. Not the “get a life” attitude that the rest of society gave me, as did those around me. We were the outcasts, those that were slightly, or a lot, different from “Normal” society. Gay, straight, fat, thin, tall, short, black, white, yellow, brown or red. It didn’t matter. We had a common bond.

Smoke was still in the air from the battles that had been fought, the war for acceptance, for a place to be. As the years went on, other refugees entered our world. All of them were allowed to carve a place for themselves.

Enter the present. Those that fought the battles have left or become complacent in their comfort. The few that remember the struggles are few indeed. Those that now enter on the roads that were paved for them come with arrogance and disdain. They come expecting acceptance, expecting to be given what they feel that they deserve, with no real understanding of what it took to get to where we are now. They come with their friends, stay in their groups and cliques, barely interacting with those around them. At best, ignoring those that aren’t part of them and at worst, palpably projecting their derision, disdain and contempt. Where is their acceptance? Fandom is based on acceptance; you know the words... “Regardless of Race, Creed, Color etc. etc. etc.”

For me, this weekend has been a great disappointment, great enough that, for the foreseeable future, I no longer wish to subject myself to the quagmire of negative energy that I have had to deal with. For the past couple of years I thought I was just imagining things but Friday and Saturday showed me I wasn’t. So I wore a dress. There were a number of other “Men” that were in drag, safe in their own communities, untouched and un-harangued. What was so special about me? Why was I the one that received the looks, derisive comments, and snickers? Was it because I was alone? Or perhaps it was because I failed to fit some preconceived notion of how a person in drag was supposed to act and look. Or was I alone, were some of the other “Men” also made to feel uncomfortable, or ashamed? Where was the acceptance that fandom was built on?

In the distance I can hear the bagpiper tuning, I can smell the lilies in the wreath. Will they be needed? I will leave it to the rest of you to find out. It was fun up until now.

Sincerely,
Hans Meier

Fanzine Library Report

by R’ykandar Korra’ti

Another year, another reconfiguration of the Fanzine Lending Library, and this year things seemed to work very well. Particularly, as part of the 25th Norwescon, a large, rotating display of memorabilia from Norwescons past was assembled and was displayed in the library. We were in Cascade 1, the first of the function rooms in the Cascade hallway. Hospitality was at the far end of the hall, and the combination of a special display feature and good traffic placement helped keep the amount of visitors up. And, since we weren’t sharing space with programming, we were able to be open from 9am until 2am on Friday and Saturday, providing more opportunities for people to drop by during the day.

As always, we want to thank all the people who sent or brought in fanzines. We continue to think that the written word and illustration are important parts of fandom—and not just in a historical sense. While more fannish writing does seem to go online every year, we think that there’s a separate value in the more permanent, paper form as well. We hope that the people who visit and support our library each year agree.

We’d also like to thank our Fan Guest of Honor, Andrew I. Porter, who stopped by several times and donated a selection of Science Fiction Chronicle and Starship back-issues, as well as other, older fanzines of his, such as a 1969 issue number two of Convention: News for Convention Planners. It’s all greatly appreciated, and has been added to our archives for future years.

Thanks to everyone involved, and we hope to see you again next year at Norwescon 26.

Masquerade Winners

Workmanship Awards

Best in Class—Novice
Ghostbuster
Keith Marshall

Best in Class—Journeyman
Sara’s Ballgown from Labyrinth
Patti Stone, Rachael Stone and Alec Smith

Best in Class—Master
Queen for a Day
Mary Ellen Smith

Gravity Defying
Death Scythe and the Red Comet Zaku
Emily Ryan and Todd Smith

Design and Detailing
The Four Seasons
Anita Taylor, Lori Edwards, Margo Loes and Wayne Wallace

Presentation Awards

Young Fan
Butterfly Princess
Toni Forbis

Judge’s Choice
Queen for a Day
Mary Ellen Smith

Judge’s Choice
Death Scythe and the Red Comet Zaku
Emily Ryan and Todd Smith

Judge’s Choice
Sara’s Ballgown from Labyrinth
Patti Stone, Rachael Stone and Alec Smith

Best in Class—Novice
Wicked Stage Mother
Holly Forbis and Kelly Forbis

Best in Class—Journeyman
Alien Dating Game
Amanda Forbes, Cherie Harris and Alisa Green

Best in Class—Master
Cirque Du So Lame
David Tackett and Erick Prill

Honorable Mention
Gem Tones
Orchid Cavett and Shannon Flint

Audience Choice
Cirque Du So Lame
David Tackett and Erick Prill

Best in Show
The Four Seasons
Anita Taylor, Lori Edwards, Margo Loes and Wayne Wallace