News from Norwescon - March 2022

Norwescon 44 is Sold Out!

Norwescon has reached its 1,000-member cap and is sold out. Virtual memberships are available free of charge (donation suggested), so you can register at our website to interface with other virtual participants and experience convention content from home. Selected live content will be streaming throughout the weekend, and the virtual lounge will be open.

Prefer to attend live? Email registration@norwescon.org and ask to be placed on our wait list. We are hoping to be able to accommodate members as slots become available, on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Do you have an in-person membership for Norwescon 44 you aren't planning to use? We are looking for you! Please contact registration@norwescon.org so we can convert your membership to a virtual membership, which will allow more people to attend. We appreciate your support and willingness to let others use the physical space that you won’t be using. At your request, we will issue a refund or roll over your membership to Norwescon 45.

Announcing our Norwescon 44 Guests of Honor

Norwescon is pleased to announce its 2022 guests of honor.

Writer Guest of Honor – Cat Rambo

Cat Rambo lives, writes, and teaches somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Cat’s 250 pieces of published fiction include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In 2020 they won the Nebula Award for the fantasy novelette “Carpe Glitter” (Meerkat Press). Their most recent works are space opera You Sexy Thing (Tor Macmillan) and science fiction anthology, The Reinvented Heart (Arc Manor), co-edited with Jennifer Brozek. Upcoming in 2022 are the novels Devil’s Gun (Tor Macmillan) and Gods of Tabat (Wordfire Press).

Artist Guest of Honor – Rob Carlos

Rob started his art career in 1998 selling prints on his website, which led to being asked to create paintings for Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time: Collectible Card Game. Recently Rob has concentrated on illustrating for independent and small press writers and musicians, most notably the fan-favorite band Tricky Pixie. Rob started showing his work at Norwescon and other sci-fi/fantasy conventions in 2007.

Spotlight Publisher – Fairwood Press

Fairwood Press has been exploring speculative fiction as a small press publisher since the year 2000. Fairwood Press has released over 100 titles of science fiction, fantasy, and dark fantasy, as well as occasional SF mysteries, writing reference, and work-for-hire titles. Fairwood Press owner and publisher Patrick Swenson was a finalist for the 2015 World Fantasy Award in the special award—nonprofessional category.

Special Guest – Connor Alexander

Connor Alexander is the owner and creator of Coyote & Crow, a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game. It smashed Kickstarter records, earning more than $1 million in 30 days. The game is set in an alternate history future where the colonization of the Americas never occurred. The book was assembled and led by a team of Native American creators. Coyote & Crow LLC has since grown into a full-fledged game publisher dedicated to raising Indigenous creative voices. Connor Alexander is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

Special Guest – Lydia K. Valentine

Lydia K. Valentine is a playwright and poet, director and dramaturg, editor and educator. Lydia’s writing has recently appeared in the anthologies We Need A Reckoning (Blue Cactus Press) and Denial Kills (Not a Pipe Publishing). Her poetry collection, Brief Black Candles, dropped in 2020 (Not a Pipe Publishing). She was a sensitivity reader for Rough House by Tina Ontiveros and serves as the copyeditor for the social justice and literary arts magazine Speak. Her proudest accomplishment, however, is being mom to two inspiring individuals and activists.

Norwescon’s Bibliophiles Meetings for March and April

Norwescon’s official book club is reading two Philip K. Dick nominees. On March 21 at 7 p.m. we meet online to discuss the novella Defekt by Nino Cipri. The next meeting is in-person during Norwescon at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 15, to discuss Dead Space by Kali Wallace (link for online participation available). Look us up on Facebook or email kevin.black@norwescon.org to receive the weblinks.

Remember our Vaccination and Masking Policy

Just a reminder that in-person attendance of Norwescon 44 requires bringing proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to the registration area and wearing a mask within convention space. For more information, please check out our COVID Policy page.