Chilled-out Novacon

[peteryoung]

It was the con where I took no photographs, bought hardly any books and for most of the time just hung out in the bar, and actually had some time to read for once. Then again, there was the absence of several regulars who were missed, notably Dave Langford, who a few of us met in Reading just before we drove up. He was looking very fragile after just having had his stitches out from his operation, and he clearly wasn't up for doing anything at all, let alone anything fannish.

So Alastair Reynolds was a great Guest of Honour and very likeable guy, his tongue-in-cheek concept of 'Ductile SF' (somewhere between Hard and Soft SF) is to me infinitely preferable to Geoff Ryman's 'Mundane SF' manifesto.

Nova Award results (in case you haven't heard elsewhere):
Best Fanzine: Banana Wings
Best Fan Writer: high-heeled fishlifter
Best Fan Artist: bohemiancoast

My own Zoo Nation came in second on the fanzine list, around 30 votes behind Banana Wings, so many thanks to everyone who voted for it. Banana Wings was a well-deserved win, the fishlifters have done four excellent issues this year alone, high-heeled fishlifter was once again lost for words at winning another fanwriter Nova, and I think bohemiancoast thoroughly deserves her fan artist win on the strength of her great Plokta covers (I tied 3rd with grytpype_thynne).

It was something of a relaxacon this year, with quite light programming. Of my two panel items, the first was a University Challenge-style SF quiz on Friday chaired by grytpype_thynne, Birmingham vs. Rest of the Universe, which with Greg Pickersgill and Julian Headlong we trashed Birmingham by a long margin (but then we did have fluffcthulhu as a mascot so we couldn't really lose). The second was 'Why Aren't Catastrophes So Cosy Anymore?', to which I contributed less and less as it inevitably turned into a (rather unmoderated) 'disaster management' discussion, there being two disaster managers also on the panel, looking at the aftermath of New Orleans and the coming bird flu pandemic. But there was quite a bit of audience participation, so it wasn't entirely a catastrophe.

We could also have done with molesworth to liven up Saturday night with a TAFF party, as the bar was suddenly taken over by a posse of Bingo players for at least an hour. The hotel is certainly becoming less popular, but it seems we're there for next year as well.

Best quote of the weekend came from hong-haired fishlifter, referring to Alastair Reynold's discussion of Greg Egan's Schild's Ladder, and fjm's enjoyment of said book: "Science Fiction so complicated only Farah can understand it."

Comments

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, Al said "Far-rah" instead of "Farah" (and without a redeeming Scots inflection :-)

I realise that no one tried to sell me a membership to next year's Novacon. As there were rumours of splitting the concept of 'Novacon' from the 'annual Brum group convention', I'm now quite confused.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

There were membership forms on the Novacon table but I agree - there wasnt much encouragement to fill them in and handover cash.

Picocon and Distraction in February
Concussion at Easter.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

So Novacon will still be in Walsall next November. OK. Has the membership rate gone up since the weekend, do you know? (the Novacon Web site doesn't seem to address this question).

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

The rate was £30 at the weekend, and I think £36 after.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

As there were rumours of splitting the concept of 'Novacon' from the 'annual Brum group convention', I'm now quite confused.

No more than I. What rumours? Novacon has been the Brum Group's convention since 1972 and is bound to it by the BSFG Constitution. I'd be fascinated to hear what's being whispered, and who's whispering.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

I have a sneaking suspicion this is a badly-mutated version of the straw poll about whether to widen Nova Award voting to people who aren't attending or supporting members of the current Novacon.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

That's a possibility, I suppose, but I should point out the Novacon 35 committee was unaware of my intention to include it on the form, and the Novacon 36 committee is not bound by the result in any way.

Who knows?

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Nothing in the one relevant conversation in which I participated ties in with that suspicion.

Not much help...

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I can't dredge up who made the suggestion, unfortunately. There was a discussion of possible alternative Novacon hotels (the current one is too much a 'motorway inn' for my tastes, and lacks a suitable smoking room). Someone said that Novacon might start moving around the UK to find hotels, and suggested that this made sense given that the committee is largely non-Brum these days anyhow. It was further stated that the Brum Group c/would continue to hold an annual convention in the West Midlands area.

Re: Not much help...

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Actually, that makes no sense whatsoever. The Brum Group has enough difficulty already organising one convention per year, and if Novacon can't find a suitable site in the West Midlands, how would this new local event cope? Never going to happen.

Re: Not much help...

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

The idea seemed to be that Novacon would become an acknowledged national event, and the Brum Group would organise a much smaller con.

Re: Not much help...

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

But why should the Brum Group let go of an event with a proven track record, an established slot on the calendar and significant brand recognition, in order to start again from scratch? I'm not a member, but I cannot imagine any circumstances in which the group would agree to that.

Re: Not much help...

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Remember this is me channelling the devil's advocate for a rumour whose source I promptly forgot...

Because membership is in a long decline, the venue is widely criticised, and they can't find a better one in the geographical confines of 'Brum'? Also, what fraction of the organising for Novacon is still done by Brum people?

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Taking those in order...

Membership was lower this year, but there was a much more significant collapse in 1991, which was only two-thirds the size of its predecessor. It picked up in 2003 (thanks in part to word of mouth on the Quality Hotel, prior to its decline), but has hovered around 200 for the past five or six years. What was noticable this year was the absence of regulars such as Dave Langford (unwell), brisingamen (another event, I believe) and Martin Tudor, which made it feel emptier.

Standards at the Quality have dropped, no argument. Maybe the management has got complacent. Maybe we should put our complaints down on paper and tell them so. Could even strengthen the hand of next year's committee and get the place back on track. Meanwhile, though, the Brum Group should start looking for another location, as a contingency. All suggestions welcome.

Tony Berry, Helena Bowles and Vicky Cook live in the Midlands, and Yvonne Rowse lives just over the border. Cat Coast, Steve and Alice Lawson live outside. So, about fifty-fifty, same as last year. Previous two years, it was down to one-third Midlanders. Last all-Midlands committee was 1996.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Just noticed, that collapse in 1991 came as Novacon returned to the same hotel for the third time, a venue which was rapidly losing popularity. Might be a lesson there. (On the other hand, eight of the nine Novacons between 1975 and 1983 were held at the Royal Angus, and people still hold that hotel in much affection.)

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

OK, not bad for undermining a rumour which may never have made it beyond this page.

How about I start a call for constructive comments on this subject in my journal?

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

I'm a great believer in nipping things in the bud, particularly where LJ is involved.

I was not on this year's committee, nor am I on next year's, but as someone with a long history with Novacon, I would be delighted to see any constructive feedback, suggestions, etc, in your journal. Novacon can only benefit as a result.

Perhaps when the thread winds to a close, a summation could be forwarded to the Novacon 36 committee? As mentioned previously, I'm pretty sure none of them is on LJ, although Tony Berry has responded tonight to surliminal's comments at her site.

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I missed bingo!

[del-c.livejournal.com]

I was amused that the people who dissed Bingo as tragically mundane and sad eagerly dug out their raffle tickets and listened to the Guest of Honour calling out numbers to a crowded room for ten minutes.

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

Heeeee.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I thought the same thing

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

I wasn't in the lounge at the time, but Ann tells me it was a freebie the hotel seems to put on every Saturday, and only lasted for about 10 minutes or so. Some fans do seem to over-reacted to what was obviously intended as a bit of fun for the regulars and any guests around (let's not forget, most hotel guests go out on a Saturday night).

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

I'm intending to post the breakdown on PNN and Trufen sometime today.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Now at AnonC.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

Of my two panel items, the [...] second was 'Why Aren't Catastrophes So Cosy Anymore?', to which I contributed less and less as it inevitably turned into a (rather unmoderated) 'disaster management' discussion, there being two disaster managers also on the panel, looking at the aftermath of New Orleans and the coming bird flu pandemic.

Also, the reason why Catastrophes aren't so Cosy anymore is that everybody makes fun of John Wyndham, including writers who can only dream of being as good as John Wyndham. (#362 in the series "Simple Answers To Unneccessarily Complicated Questions")

Which goes to show that a cute title doth not a successful panel make, you also need something to talk about, and it's not clear to me what you could have discussed if it wasn't Nigel and Sabine's day jobs.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Which goes to show that a cute title doth not a successful panel make, you also need something to talk about, and it's not clear to me what you could have discussed if it wasn't Nigel and Sabine's day jobs.

I tried to kick the panel in a science fictional direction at the beginning, then when things became too grounded in reality I wanted to throw in a few disaster movies to discuss, but it was becoming impossible to steer the conversation. I think Julian should have moderated to keep it on-topic more but the audience seemed happy enough.

[numbat.livejournal.com]

Nice to see the fishlifters getting some more recognition for their efforts. I have to admit to a certain amount of bias here because I was part of those issues of Banana Wings which won this latest award.

[the-maenad.livejournal.com]

The hotel is certainly becoming less popular, but it seems we're there for next year as well.

In the name of Jesus and all that is holy, MY ANUS IS BLEEDING WHY?

[pwilkinson.livejournal.com]

Apparently because the Novacon committee have not been able to identify anywhere else in the Birmingham area with the combination of size, price and function space to take the con as it's currently structured.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Indeed. As discussed in more depth at surliminal's site, there would need to be significant hikes in both the membership and room rates to use most of the hotels able to cater for even a small Novacon (which this was). An event with 50-100 people has few such problems, because you can pack a small hotel (ie. the Plokta cons), whilst something in the 400-500 range at least has some financial clout, but 200-250 falls between two stools.

Wolverhampton?

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, the Britannia Hotel in Wolverhampton can fit 200 people in (33 singles, 43 twin, 39 doubles, 1 suite, 1 family room) and has a main hall which seats 250 theatre-style, plus assorted smaller rooms. It's a stone's throw from the railway station and has an arts centre round the corner (which is where I was working on Halloween, and how come I noticed the hotel), plus cafes, restaurants, etc. No idea what the room/function rates are, but they're sending me some info.

My main concerns would be (a) any members past the 200 mark would have to use an overflow, (b) parking, (c) it's owned by the same group who own the godawful Birmingham Britannia. One good point is that it's quite some way from the NEC and the Birmingham conference centres.

Anyone out there ever used it or know someone who has?