Let me begin by explaining what Worldcon is: the World Science Fiction Convention is an annual convention which is hosted in a different city and/or country each year. The location is selected by the members two years in advance from the available bids; bids are usually presented at least two years in advance of that selection. Among many other things, the annual Hugo Awards, recognizing the best science fiction and fantasy achievements from the previous year are presented at Worldcon.
I’ve been aware of Worldcon since 1995, when I missed one in Glasgow by a couple months. This year was the third time Chicago has hosted a Worldcon since I moved here, and the first time I was able to attend. I was recruited to help with some of the pre-convention work, which gave me an interesting glimpse into the various pieces that make up a convention this size. (In-person attendance was just under 3,600.)
When the convention announced their programming line-up, they released an online guide that allowed users to select items of interest and save it to a personalized schedule. I saved both of our events (I was on a couple panels and helping with convention tours), plus events that I was interested in attending. If I ended up missing events – mainly due to convention shopping or meals – I unchecked them, leaving me with a fairly good idea of what I actually attended.
Shopping was similar to other local science fiction conventions we’ve attended… just larger. We picked up a few books (OK, almost 30), though to be fair, Cassandra only bought books by authors who were there, and (not counting the used books) I only bought one book by an author who wasn’t present. Going forward, I may establish this rule for book shopping at other conventions.
We bought a few things other than books: chocolate in steampunk shapes, some cursed items (from Strange Hours), and some clothing. The chocolate is as tasty as it is distinctive … they were handing out samples continuously during exhibit hall hours. There was also an ample selection of jewelry, DVDs, and toys, though none of those made our shopping lists.
As I mentioned last week, we did unintentionally acquire Covid at the convention, presumably at a reduced intensity because we were all vaccinated and wearing masks most of the time. Despite that, I wouldn’t have missed this amazing convention and the chance to catch up with some good friends – and meet new ones – in person.