Lone Star Con 3 (The 71st World Science Fiction Convention)

[THB]

I won't ramble too much but just wanted to touch base on this convention here in my hometown of San Antonio. I will start off by saying that every year since 1991 I spend labor Day weekend at DragonCon. My dog had some life saving surgery and is in the recovery stage so this year I am home taking care of her. With it being the holiday my brother was able to come over and watch her while I made a quick trip downtown.

As I walked into the Henry B. Convention Center I started to hear that familiar "con buzz", I started to get excited and was wondering how bad registration would be. Ten minutes later I had my badge(a con record) and was heading to the Exhibit room.

The crowds were not huge and very manageable. I heard one exhibitor saying they expected between 3,500 -5,000 for the entire weekend. Not as big as last year in Chicago.

 

Well being a Dr. Who fan I was excited to see the original Tardis console from the 1996 film. The story is that it was being sent out to be disposed of and it was saved at the last minute.

 

They had a small mockup of the STOS bridge they used for a promo with George Takei in the 80's.

 

A Game of Throne's Throne!

 

A Paul Cornell(Toastmaster this year) Saucer Country Exhibit

 

and then off I went to find some comics and see the man of the day...........

 

There were only two comics exhibitors one with Golden Age to early Copper and another with Moderns with a lot of childrens comics. But first.....Kerry Gilley Comics!!!

I did not know where to start but the first book I asked about she said she was not sure but the pricier books were up front.......So I started to dig and they had it.

A nice VF if not better copy at the high price of $10?? Needless to say it was on! I spent the next hour and a half marveling at some great Golden Age, E.C.'s and solid runs of Marvel and D.C. comics. $200 later I came home with these...

The four Batman Adventures books and Mailbu Sun were $2 each and at the next booth across the aisle Bobb's Books. He is sure he has the Batman Adventures # 12 but he was still pulling books out and would hold it for me until tomorrow(today).

But now for the main attraction and why I was really there. The man himself George R.R. Martin.

I was hoping since this Con kicked off on Thursday I would be able to get a few things signed esp. for a good friend in N.Y. who makes custom dolls. It was a limit of two items signed since he would only be there for 45 minutes. But we could get back in line if we wished.

A pic of my friends custom Daenerys Targaryen signed for her. And then after multiple trips in line .....

George was so nice and signed at a lightning pace.

Oh and I spotted Paul Cornell and he happily signed and proclaimed there will be more Saucer Country!

Hope you all enjoyed this little slice of my World Con and if you are in S.A. you should stop by......Kerry had some amazing books and the prices were unbelievable esp...those early Supes and Batmans. I think I will go buy all those E.C.'s I saw they looked too cool to leave there.

 

Cheers!!!!

 

 

 

[mysterio]

Great report, thanks for sharing the stories and pics!

[THB]

Winners from Lonestarcon "Hugo Awards"2013

Final Voting and Nomination Statistics Report

Winners

Best Novel: Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi (Tor)

Best Novella: “The Emperor's Soul” by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)

Best Novelette: “The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi” by Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, Solaris)

Best Short Story: “Mono no aware” by Ken Liu (The Future is Japanese, VIZ Media LLC)

Best Related Work: Writing Excuses, Season 7 by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette

Kowal, Howard Tayler and Jordan Sanderson

Best Graphic Story: Saga, Volume 1 written by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image

Comics)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form): The Avengers Screenplay & Directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel

Studios, Disney, Paramount)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form): Game of Thrones: “Blackwater” Written by George R.R.

Martin, Directed by Neil Marshall. Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (HBO)

Best Editor - Short Form: Stanley Schmidt

Best Editor - Long Form: Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Best Professional Artist: John Picacio

Best Semiprozine: Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Jason Heller, Sean Wallace and Kate Baker

Best Fanzine: SF Signal edited by John DeNardo, JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester

Best Fancast: SF Squeecast, Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas,

Catherynne M. Valente (Presenters) and David McHone-Chase (Technical Producer)

Best Fan Writer: Tansy Rayner Roberts

Best Fan Artist: Galen Dara

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Mur Lafferty