ALT.SF4M

  I-CON '97

   • s*****f@***.com
     09/04/1997 00:00:000 UTC

     Hi, I am not a regular here, but a gentleman who read

     my report in alt.callahans thought you might find this of

     some interest, so here it is. I'll be happy to answer any

     questions by e-mail, as this is not one of my regularly

     scheduled news groups. Happpy day, all!

     Having only one day free, I had to make like the sailors from On The

     Town, and see it all in just one day. Well, I did my best. After a late

     start, I arrived in time for the panel discussion "Manufacturing God:

     creating Religion in SF", with James Morrow (Death of God),

     Sandra Morrese, Johns Lee, Betancourt, and Norman, and Barry

     Malzberg, who was in a contentious mood (typical? I don't know, as

     I've never seen him before). The discussion ranged from the droll to

     the ascerbic, and was only minimally enlightening, but very interesting,

     as it revealed some personal quirks of each participant. A good start
     for

     the day.

     Next was Guest of Honor Joe Haldeman, "Method and Madness", his

     description of his working habits, past and present. He seemed less than

     completely comfortable speaking, but was measurably better whenever

     he strayed from his notes and simply chatted. His description of working

     under the (legal at the time) influence of Scopalamine and coffee was

     both entertaining and thought-provoking. Especially when he described

     getting interupted by the cat, and losing a half hour without even

     realizing

     what had happened. (That happens to me without the benefit of drugs!)

     Then came the Babylon 5 panel, a huge room, filled to dangerous
     overflow.

     J M Straczynski (thank goodness for the program - I never could have

     spelled

     that on my own), John Peel, Peter David, and Michael O'Hare were all
     there

     but the audiance hissed when they tried to start without Harlan Ellison,

     until they said OK, we'll just sit here till he arrives. That settled

     everyone

     down. Then Harlan arrived in a rush and took over the discussion in his

     usual whirlwind fashion, much to the mob er, crowd's delight. Things
     were

     going along swimmingly, when 15 minutes into the discussion, Marvin
     Kitman

     arrived. He was supposed to have been the moderator, but tried too hard

     and

     effectively was ignored into submission by both panel and audiance. It

     was fun, and no-one wanted to leave when the time came.

     After that I needed a lunch break, and from 3 to 5 ate hotdogs and
     browsed

     the dealers floor, where I collected buttons and (OH HAPPY DAY) filled
     in

     the holes in my collection of Our Founder's works. My long missing copy

     of the first Callahans, plus Lady Slings the Booze, and The Callahans

     Touch,

     plus Starmind. Yippee! Needless to say, I was wearing the official

     T-shirt,

     and got stopped every few minutes by someone wanting to know WHERE

     DID YOU GET THAT!?!? It was almost embarrassing(ALMOST) to have to
     (ALMOST

     )it was a limited edition, but very gratifying to see how many fans

     were there who picked up on it. I didn't see anyone else wearing one, so
     I

     don't know if anyone else from our version of The Place was there. If
     so,

     sorry we missed each other. (I was looking. Honest!)

     Anyway, after that I dropped my treasures back at the car and spent a

     couple

     hours bopping in and out of Anime presentations, a panel on

     Anthropomorphics

     (I didn't know till the panel was under way just what that was going to
     be

     about,

     but it was funny enough that I stayed to the end. Fuzzy-love is very

     strange,

     to me, but apparently becoming very popular.)

     Finally, at 8:30, Harlan was scheduled to do a reading, and I was

     practically

     in the back row, but he said there were seats down in front, and so I

     jumped

     at the opportunity, and wound up closer than I ever expected - second
     row,

     dead center, scant feet away from the eye of the storm. He wound up
     having

     a 'shmooze-fest' instead of doing the reading originally planned, but no

     one

     was complaining. He told stories, jokes, ranted about the Heavens Gate

     cult and the way the media has tried to tar all SF fans with their bad

     brush

     ("What do you expect from a group that named themselves after the first

     big

     blockbuster Hollywood bomb?"). He seemed a bit mellower than the last
     time

     I saw him, thanks, I believe, in large part to the influence of his
     lovely

     wife

     Susan. Mazel Tov, Harlan!

     Naturally, there were lots of costumes to be seen, some apparently just

     for the fun of it, others more serious, for the various LARP's going on.

     All in all, not a bad way to spend a beautiful Saturday."

     Slywlf steps off the dais that somehow appeared in the hottub,

     and settles back into the comforting warmth of the water.

     "I'll be looking forward to hearing anyone elses tales of the con, if

     anyone else made it, even if we missed each other."