I’m in the mood to attend a science fiction convention next year, but it has to be one I don’t regularly attend, like Orycon, GameStorm, or Radcon. It also has to be:
A general science fiction convention, not a comicon or one dedicated to a specific television or movie series
It has to be fan-run and preferably not for profit, not a corporate con that specializes in selling big name actors and their autographed photos for a hundred dollars or more.
The later the programing and events run, the better.
Bonus points if I can room with you for free(Just kidding).
I’m a volunteer with ConDor, in San Diego, which has been running for over twenty years now.
We’re small. DARN small. But that’s the sell: you can meet everyone, get good personal time with the guests, even the Guests of Honor, and relax in an uncrowded atmosphere.
Los Angeles’ LosCon has many of the same benefits: it’s small enough to be comfy, but still significant enough to be non-trivial.
The rotating regional Westercons also tend to have these advantages: you’re getting up into the “mid-size” to “large” cons now, but there is still room to stretch, without the hideous cramping found in (alas) the San Diego Comic Con.
(I used to be a volunteer with the Comic-Con, but found it hellishly claustrophobic, and simply stopped going.)
Westercon is in Denver in '18, and I know from experience they have the ability to throw a right fine convention.
So, based on your location, location, location, I’ll recommend LosCon first, Westercon second, and if San Diego is at all an option, our own little friendly relaxacon, ConDor.
Well, Pepper Mill and I (and MillCal for her whole life, until this upcoming one) have attended Arisia in Boston. It meets all your criteria – Fan-run, science fiction/fantasy. Lots of panels (including some in the hotel pool), events running into the wee hours of the night (especially the not-for-kids things). A great art show and masquerade contest, and a huge Dealer’s Room.
It meets every Martin Luther King weekend, but the hotel (and, I think, the overflow hotel) are already booked, but you can stay elsewhere. It runs the whole weekend, over a period of four days (counting Friday).
Plus I’m on a bunch of panels, including The Year in Bad Science, which I’ve contributed to ever since they started it.
Unfortunately LosCon is held around the same time as Orycon, but the other two(Arasia and ConDor), although a little soon, might be possible in 2018 or 2019.
Balticon (in Baltimore, MD) meets your requirements. It has excellent panels not just on science fiction, but also on science and writing science fiction. There’s gaming, a wonderful costume contest, two large dealer’s rooms, and filking.
I’ve been running Albacon in Albany NY for twenty years. It’s small (around 150), very friendly, and a lot of fun. Tends to be literary oriented, but there are things on movies and TV, too. We’re doing more with cosplay to draw in younger fans – our costume contest actually had more entries (over 20) then many cons three times our size – but we are very much a traditional style convention. It’s one where you can really get to know the guests.
Events include the Ice Cream Social on Friday and the Saturday Night Extravaganza (different each year). We’ll be holding the next one in September of 2018. Also, there are some interesting parties, usually starting at 9pm and continuing as long as people want. In previous years, this including Maltcon (for aficionados of single-malt scotch).
I went to Philcon for the first time last year and enjoyed it immensely. I hear it was even better this year.
If it meets your standards: http://www.monsterbashnews.com/bash.html
Monster Bash in Butler PA always has my vote. More a general sci-fi/horror than say Blobfest https://thecolonialtheatre.com/programs-categories/blobfest/
or Zombiefest http://pittsburghzombiefest.com/
it gets some fantastic guests and vendors and has won multiple Rondo Awards for the best fan gathering. It isn’t strictly non-profit but once all the bills get paid and some is set aside for future rainy days the organizers basically don’t get much of anything and most of the help pretty much zilch.
For further info on a lot of various conventions there is a board out there but I am not sure if a link like that is within the rules here so maybe Google-fu something like Classic Horror Film Board or Rondo Hatton Awards. And if a mod thinks that is over the line, feel free to edit it out.
I’ve been to several Readercons. It’s small, but not tiny. There are a LOT of writers and the dealer room is almost all books and magazines. Plenty of panels on literature and more “kaffeklatsch” sessions with the authors than other cons. They don’t have an art show (although a couple of years ago they invited artist Lee Moyer in). It’s great, but you have to realize that it lacks any media, art, performance, or kids’ programming.
My only real complaint is that now they’ve switched the location to an isolated hotel on top of a hill that’s even farther from Real Life than is usual for Cons. If you want to eat anywhere besides the hotel you’ll need a car or a cab, because it’s an awful long walk anywhere else.
I nominate TusCon, held in early November in Tucson. I got back from 44 last weekend. It’s small – capped at 500 – but generally falls a bit short of that (except 43 when George R.R. Martin was the writer GoH). It’s a general purpose con with literary and media both getting attention and a small art show. Any media guests aren’t paid much (if anything) and they don’t do the paid autograph thing so anyone there is for the love, not the dinero. ASU, UofA, and even NAU have strong space research departments so there are science panels galore. Masquerade is intermittent, depending if the local costumers are up for it, but there are hall costumes aplenty.
One thing I particularly like is that movies are run 24-hours during the con but they are movies and series that you just don’t see all that often (Rocky Horror excepted). For example, Carrie Snodgrass, one of the writers for TNG’s Measure of a Man was the media GoH so, of course, the episode was shown, but it was an extended version with about fifteen minutes more than the broadcast version.
The site hasn’t much on it yet for 45, but here is the archived site for 44 which will give you an idea of the panels, and such and they even had an online, smartphone-friendly program that you can mark-up.
Boskone is the older one. The name is obviously inspired by the usual formation Bos[ton] Con[vention] = BosCon, but someone noticed the similarity between that and Boskone from “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series, so it became Boskone.
In 1989 a group of fans weren’t happy with the way Boskone was going, and wanted to open the Con up to more media and the like, so they broke off and formed their own convention. “Boskone” is the name of the Bad Guys in Lensman, so the new cionvention was named after the Good Guys – Arisia.*
I’ve been to both, but my wife, Pepper Mill, had been going to Arisia, so that’s where we go (I go to Boskone later, on my own. I go to ReaderCon on my own, too.) Eventually we not only went, but started staying at the hotel, then participating. Pepper Mill helps run Children’s Programming, and I’m on multiple panels and give talks. Even our daughter, MilliCal, helped run things for a few years.
Arisia is much bigger (they’re held in the same hotel now, and you can see that Boskone takes up a lot less space) and has a costume competition, manga and anime, films, readings, panels and demonstrations, and the like. Panels and events range all over the map – comics, TV, costumes, lifestyle, politics, art, literature, you name it. The dealer room is huge, with books, jewelry, costumes, sculpture, games, buttons, etc. etc. There’s an art show
Boskone is smaller and lacks the breadth – less media stuff, no movies, no costumes. There’s an art show and a dealer’s room, but they’re smaller (both fitting into the same space Arisia’s Dealer’s room is in, and with space left over). Boskone feels more “professional”, with older and more established writers. Their art show has a large “retro” section Arisia’s lacks, with classic artwork from magazines and such.
They’re both worth going to, but have different styles. There’s a lot of overlap in the participants and members.
*The Green Lantern Corps owes a lot to E.E. “Doc” Smith’s “Lensman” series – they use “lenses” instead of Power Rings, but they’re an organization of hyperpowered beings from several alien races. The folks at DC paid Smith a sort of tribute by naming one of the Green Lanterns “Arisia”, which is how you get a comic book character and a convention sharing the same name.
