A Tale of Two Conventions

Posted on | July 16, 2023 | 1 Comment

— by Wombat-socho

Or, Taking Back SF One Convention At A Time.

Every year in June, there’s a science fiction convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that is so popular, memberships sell out in a matter of hours when they become available. Part of this is because (thanks to some arcane rules I don’t pretend to understand that don’t have anything to do with fire marshal regulations) Libertycon limits its membership to around 750 people. The other part is that unlike most SF conventions, the people who run Libertycon are adamant about maintaining a convention free of the ridiculous woke crap that has made a lot of SF conventions, big and small, places where conservative and libertarian authors and fans aren’t welcome. So Libertycon memberships are very much in demand, despite the facts that 1) Chattanooga is damned hard to get to unless you live in driving distance, and B, every year the hotel that hosts it seems to change hands and forget how to do room reservations.

Well, I think there ought to be more conventions like Libertycon, and having some experience at starting & running these sorts of conventions, I decided to do something about it. Thus: Son of Silvercon. I’m starting small this first year, aiming for a membership of 100+ people, and hoping in subsequent years to grow to 1000 or more, which would allow us to move from a Best Western to one of the larger hotels in downtown Las Vegas – the Plaza, say, or one of the Station hotel/casinos, which have the kind of function space I’m used to from running Anime Detour in Minnesota. My intention is not to compete with Libertycon, which has been around quite a while and has a rich tradition -not to mention a couple of anthologies- but to supplement it, provide a place for people who can’t make it to Libertycon because Chattanooga is too far/too big a pain to fly to or because they just couldn’t score a membership. We have a guest of honor (M.C.A. Hogarth) and a couple of special guests (Sarah* & Daniel Hoyt, and Jon Del Arroz) who are most definitely not part of the Pink Wave that wants to make SF as dull and intersectional and hateful as mainstream literature, and who I expect will have interesting things to say about ignoring what traditional SF/comics publishers want and going your own way. We’re going to have a con suite where you can hang out, drink sodas of various types, nibble on snacks, and talk to your fellow fans as well as our guests and other pros who wandered in from the desert. We even have a blog to keep you posted on how things are coming along.

So if you happen to live in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, or Utah (or someplace else with cheap airfares to/from Vegas), think about coming down to Son of Silvercon the weekend of October 13. Hop in the car, book a flight or a bus ride, and come on down! If you can’t make it for some reason, consider a supporting membership to help make it happen (It’s only $20) and mention us to someone who might be interested. If you’re a veteran or an N3F member, we offer a $5 discount off the attending membership price. We also have a limited number of vendor tables available, if you’re interested in flogging some books or games to the masses. Do your part for the culture war! Buy stuff from authors and artists who don’t hate you! Come to Son of Silvercon!

*Some of you may recognize Sarah as the occasional overnight blogger at Instapundit, as well as mistress of her own blog, According To Hoyt.

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