Eastercon

Eastercon
Genre Science fiction
Venue varies
Location(s) varies
Country United Kingdom
Inaugurated 1948
Attendance ~800
Website
http://www.eastercon.org/

Eastercon is the common name for the British national science fiction convention. From 1948 until the 1960s, the convention was held over the three-day Whitsun bank holiday at the end of May. It has taken place over the four-day Easter holiday weekend ever since then. The pre-1960s conventions are generally considered to have been "Eastercons" even though they were not held over Easter.

Future Eastercons

Organisation

British science fiction fandom is far too disorganised to have anything so formal as an organisation to arrange its conventions. The British Science Fiction Association does not have anything to do with organising conventions. Instead, groups of fans (typically 5-8 in number) get together to form "bid committees" and plan where they want to hold the Eastercon, who they want to be their guests of honour, what the theme of the convention will be, etc. The winning bid is chosen by a vote among the people who attend the bid session at the Eastercon two years in advance, or one year if no bid was successful at the bid session two years out. Until the early 1990s there were commonly several bids to hold the Eastercon, but since then the realisation appears to have grown that putting on an Eastercon involves a lot of hard work, and now it is normal for there to be only one serious bid. There may also be a number of joke bids - it is rumoured that in 1989 the joke bid for Inconceivable narrowly beat the serious bid for Speculation on the initial show of hands, but the chair arranged a lobby vote which then went the "right" way. In some years e.g. 2005, 2009, no serious bids are made, but one usually emerges in the following year (See "Two Year Bidding" below) The concom for the 2003 Seacon'03 was put together in the bar shortly before the bidding session at the 2001 convention, in the absence of any other bidders - the Seacon name was extremely ironic as the convention was held in Hinckley which is about as far from the sea as it is possible to get on the British mainland.

As Eastercons are fan-run/not-for-profit events, the money raised by membership, advertising etc. is spent on running the convention. It is traditional that any surplus is used for the benefit of the convention members, fandom in general or donated to charity. This may include sponsoring items at other conventions, buying equipment for use by other conventions, donating to the RNIB to get works of SF literature converted to talking books for the blind, donating to the Science Fiction Foundation to fund a variety of educational projects relating to science fiction, and funding international fannish visits (often through The League of Fan Funds).

Certain Eastercon host venues have fallen in and out of fashion at various times. Often a particular hotel offers a good package for several years, then either the management prices itself out of the market (perhaps trying for more lucrative conference customers instead), or fans get bored of the location and demand to go somewhere different. For example, the Liverpool Adelphi was used five times between 1988 and 1999. It was due to be used again in 2007 but that convention was forced to cancel, in part because of the hotel's poor reputation among fandom. Glasgow was used four times between 1980 and 1991, then there was a break until 2000. Hinckley was used three times between 2001 and 2005 and was seriously considered for 2008 before Heathrow was chosen instead, but it has since come under new management who carried out extensive renovation work and then decided not to host Redemption in 2009.

Finding suitable venues for an Eastercon (enough function and social space of the right types, enough bedrooms, low enough rates, not in a city that's already hosting a big event on the Easter weekend, willing to put up with Eastercon's numerous unusual requirements such as supply of real ale, etc.) is a difficult job. Every year people say "there must be somewhere else we can go," and a lot of effort is put into trying to find new venues - usually with little success.

Two-year bidding

Some people claim there is little need to have a two-year lead time as the convention can be organised in less than a year. Others point out it is hard enough finding venues with more than two years to go, so potentially losing some of those makes it even more difficult. It also means only one year to get people to join, so the committee can't predict the number of members (and hence their budget). There are banking and taxation implications to take into account if bidding over a one-year period as some bank accounts have restrictions on how much money can be paid into an account without incurring further charges and if the convention financial year is only 12 months, they are at greater risk of breaking the VAT threshold, thus increasing the costs and administration for the convention. This is a contentious issue and a frequent subject for debate.

Eastercon traditions

The Doc Weir award is voted on and presented each year at Eastercon to an "unsung hero" of British fandom.[1]

The George Hay Memorial Lecture, a presentation on a scientific topic by an invited speaker, has been held every Eastercon since 2Kon in 2000. The lecturer and subject are selected and paid for by the Science Fiction Foundation who offer this programme item to each year's Eastercon. Since 2009 the British Science Fiction Association has presented a similar lecture, drawing speakers from the arts and humanities (with a declared bias towards history).

Trademark

In 2003 at Seacon, a fan offered to obtain the UK trademark for "Eastercon" on behalf of UK fandom and this was agreed by that year's convention. This trademark was subsequently obtained, meaning that any group that now wants to use the "Eastercon" name must obtain permission from the trademark holder first.[2]

List of Eastercons

Year Location Name Guest(s) of Honour Size
11948LondonWhitconBertram Chandler?
21949LondonLondonWilliam F. Temple?
*1951LondonFestiventionForrest Ackerman, Lyell Crane?
31952LondonLoncon?
41953LondonCoroncon?
51954ManchesterSupermanconJohn Russell Fearn?
61955KetteringCytricon?
71956KetteringCytricon II?
81957KetteringCytricon IIIsee note below?
91958KetteringCytricon IV?
101959BirminghamBrumconKen Slater?
111960LondonLondonE.J. "Ted" Carnell, Don Ford?
121961GloucesterLXIconKingsley Amis?
131962HarrogateRonventionTom Boardman?
141963PeterboroughBullconEdmund Crispin?
151964PeterboroughRePeterconTed Tubb?
161965BirminghamBrumcon IIHarry Harrison?
171966YarmouthYarconRon Whiting?
181967BristolBrisconJohn Brunner?
191968BuxtonThirdmanconKenneth Bulmer?
201969OxfordGalactic FairJudith Merril?
211970LondonScicon 70James Blish?
221971WorcesterEastercon 22Ethel Lindsay, Anne McCaffrey?
231972ChesterChessmanconLarry Niven?
241973BristolOMPAconSamuel R. Delany?
251974NewcastleTyneconBob Shaw, Peter Weston?
261975CoventrySeaconHarry Harrisonc.550
271976ManchesterMancon 5Peter Roberts, Robert Silverberg?
281977CoventryEastercon '77John Bush?
291978Heathrow, LondonSkyconRoy Kettle, Robert Sheckley?
301979LeedsYorconGraham and Pat Charnock, Richard Cowper?
311980GlasgowAlbaconJim Barker, Colin Kapp?
321981LeedsYorcon IITom Disch, Dave Langford, Ian Watson?
331982BrightonChannelconAngela Carter, John Sladek?
341983GlasgowAlbacon IIMarion Zimmer Bradley, Avedon Carol, James White?
351984BrightonSeacon '84Pierre Barbet, Waldemar Kumming, Josef Nesvadba, Chris Priest, Roger Zelazny?
361985LeedsYorcon IIIGregory Benford, Linda Pickersgill?
371986GlasgowAlbacon IIIJoe Haldeman, John Jarrold?
381987NEC, SolihullBECCON87Chris Atkinson, Jane Gaskell, Keith Robertsc.800
391988LiverpoolFollyconGordon Dickson, Gwyneth Jones, Greg Pickersgill, Len Wein?
401989JerseyContrivanceAvedon Carol, Rob Hansen, M. John Harrison, Don Lawrence, Anne McCaffrey?
411990LiverpoolEastconIain Banks, Anne Page, SMS1100
421991GlasgowSpeculationRobert Holdstock?
431992BlackpoolIlluminationGeoff Ryman, Paul J. McAuley, Pam Wells?
441993JerseyHeliconJohn Brunner, George R. R. Martin, Karel Thole, Larry van der Putte?
451994LiverpoolSou'WesterDiane Duane, Neil Gaiman, Barbara Hambly, Peter Morwood?
461995LondonConfabulationLois McMaster Bujold, Roger Robinson, Bob Shaw?
471996Heathrow, LondonEvolutionJack Cohen, Colin Greenland, Paul Kincaid, Bryan Talbot, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Vernor Vinge?
481997LiverpoolInterventionBrian Aldiss, Octavia Butler, David Langford, Jon Bing?
491998ManchesterIntuitionIan McDonald, Martin Tudor, Connie Willis?
501999LiverpoolReconvenePeter S. Beagle, John Clute, Jeff Noon?
512000Glasgow2KonGuy Gavriel Kay, Katherine Kurtz, Deborah Turner-Harris?
522001HinckleyParagonStephen Baxter, Claire Brialey, Lisanne Norman, Mark Plummer, Michael Scott Rohan?
532002JerseyHelicon 2Brian Stableford, Harry Turtledove, Peter Weston?
542003HinckleySeacon03Chris Baker (Fangorn), Christopher Evans (author), Mary Gentle?
552004BlackpoolConcourseMitchell Burnside Clapp, Danny Flynn, Sue Mason, Christopher Priest, Philip Pullman?
562005HinckleyParagon 2John Harvey, Eve Harvey, Ken MacLeod, Robert Rankin, Ben Jeapes, Richard Morgan?
572006GlasgowConcussionM. John Harrison, Brian Froud, Elizabeth Hand, Justina Robson, Ian Sorensen?
582007LiverpoolConvoyJudith Clute, Robin McKinley, Peter Dickinson, Sharyn November?
582007ChesterContemplationSharyn Novemberc.450
592008Heathrow, LondonOrbital 2008Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, China Miéville, Charles Stross, Rog Peyton1300+
602009BradfordEastercon LXJon Courtenay Grimwood, Tim Powers, Dirk Maggs, David Lloyd, Bill Burns, Mary Burns850
612010Heathrow, LondonOdyssey 2010Alastair Reynolds, Iain M Banks, Liz Williams, Mike Carey, Carlos Ezquerra, Fran Dowd, John Dowd1300+
622011 NEC, SolihullIllustrious David Weber, Peter F. Hamilton, David A. Hardy, Vince Docherty, Roz Kaveney 956/877
632012 Heathrow, LondonOlympus 2012Steph Swainston, Paul Cornell, Cory Doctorow, George R.R. Martin, Tricia Sullivan, Margaret Austin, Martin Easterbrook 1400
642013BradfordEightSquaredConWalter Jon Williams, Freda Warrington, Anne Sudworth and Edward James 800[3]
652014GlasgowSatellite 4John Meaney, Juliet McKenna, Jim Burns, and Alice and Steve Lawson, Special Guest Terry Pratchett 777
662015Heathrow, LondonDysprosiumJim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Caroline Mullan, Herr Döktor 1185
672016ManchesterMancunicon[4]Aliette de Bodard, Dave Clements, Ian McDonald, Sarah Pinborough?
682017BirminghamEastercon 2017/InnominatePat Cadigan, Judith Clute, Colin Harris?
692018HarrogateFollyconKieron Gillen, Kim Stanley Robinson, Nnedi Okorafor, Christina Lake?

Notes:

References

  1. http://efanzines.com/DocWeir/index.htm
  2. "Case details for trade mark UK00002330357". Intellectual Property Office of the UK Patent Office. 2003-09-26. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  3. "Membership Numbers" (PDF). Four Cubed. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2013-04-02.
  4. Glyer, Mike (2015-04-06). "Two Future British Eastercons Selected". File 770. Retrieved 2015-04-08.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.