Editorial – November 2021

035, Editorial

We are almost at December, and weirdly almost at Worldcon. I will be attending virtually, and somewhat to my surprise I have three panels. Here they are:

  • Wednesday 15th 16:00, Kress Room: Fanzines and Meta Fandom
  • Thursday 16th 10:00, Kress Room: Planning and Running a Virtual Fan Event
  • Saturday 18th 10:00, Calvert Room: What Do We Look for in a Fanzine?

Those time are for Washington DC. For UK times add 5 hours.

If anyone thinks that it is odd having me on that Saturday panel, don’t worry, I’m moderating it. I promise not to kill anyone who has firm opinions about what a fanzine should and should not contain and seeks to impose that on others. It is, after all, a virtual panel. My claws won’t reach.

The one I am most interested in is the Thursday panel on virtual conventions, which I am also moderating. I am very much hoping that we can distill out some suggestions for best practice. There are two articles about running virtual cons in this issue, and I am expecting that my report on DC3 will also major on the virtual side (given that’s all I can be part of). How to do the virtual side well has to be the most important issue facing con-runners today.

Out of interest I checked the SMOFcon programme for next weekend. It has one programme item on how to run an in-person con during the pandemic, and one on hybrid conventions, the description for which begins, “We all got dragged kicking and screaming into the online convention running world.” There’s nothing on virtual cons. I despair, I really do.