LoneStarCon 3: Countdown Commencing

On Thursday, the World Science Fiction Convention, which is hosted by a different city each year, returns to Texas for only the third time in 71 years and the first time in 16. The five-day bash in San Antonio is being covered extensively by the Chronicle in print and online. But before we blast off for the future, how about going forward into the past?

The 1997 Worldcon – aka LoneStarCon 2 – was considered a big deal by Margaret Moser, then Chronicle Books Editor, and rightly so. Central Texas had a long and noble tradition of science fiction and fantasy writers – Chad Oliver, Bruce Sterling, Steve Utley, Howard Waldrop, Bradley Denton, Lewis Shiner, Jessica Reisman, et al. – and it had recently been enhanced substantially by the arrival of a titan by the name of Michael Moorcock. Austin had hosted the first Worldcon in Texas in Texas, and the sf & fantasy fan community had mushroomed in much the way Austin and San Antonio had in the dozen years since. So Margaret marshaled the paper's genre-loving writers to invade Alamo City and come back with their impressions. She put together a major section on the con and science fiction in general for the Sept. 19 issue, and it was featured on the cover (with multiversal versions of Mssr. Moorcock, as rendered by yours truly).

Aside from my own musings on LoneStarCon 2, you can find Allen Varney's look on gaming at Worldcon, Adrienne Martini's interview with Michael Moorcock, a list of that year's Hugo Award winners, and a collection of juicy quotes from the con.

Now that you're up to speed on what was, be sure to look for what will be in thie week's issue and on the blogs. Up next are Amy Gentry's interviews with George R.R. Martin and 2012 Hugo winner Jo Walton. For more information on the con, visit www.lonestarcon3.org.