- Philcon
Infobox Convention
name = Philadelphia Science Fiction Conference
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genre =Science fiction
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location =Philadelphia ,Pennsylvania
country = United States
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organizer =Philadelphia Science Fiction Society
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attendance =
website = http://www.philcon.org/Philcon, also known as the "Philadelphia Science Fiction Conference", is an annual
science fiction convention , held in or nearPhiladelphia ,Pennsylvania , every year starting in 1936 (except duringWorld War II ). It is usually held in November. It is run by thePhiladelphia Science Fiction Society (PSFS). The convention features a mixture of literary, science, gaming, film, anime, and costuming programming. There is usually an open Meet the Authors/Artists Party on Friday and a Masquerade on Saturday, as well as the usual programming mixture of literature, art, costuming, and gaming panels, an art show, a dealers' room, and movies.The 2008 Philcon will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (2349 W. Marlton Pike (Route 70)Cherry Hill NJ 08002); on
November 21 –23, 2008. Principal Speaker will beTim Powers , multiple-award-winning novelist. The Artist Guest of Honor will beJohn Picacio , winner of the World Fantasy,Chesley (annual awards of Association of Science Siction Artists), and IHG Awards, and recipient of numerousHugo Award nominations. Special Guest of Honor will be Scott Christian Sava, the creator of the web comicThe Dreamland Chronicles .History
In 1936, a half dozen fans came down from New York by train for the first intercity meeting of fans ever held. A picture taken of the group at Independence Hall has appeared in a number of the histories of science fiction fandom. They held a business meeting at the house of Philadelphia fan
Milton A. Rothman , electing Rothman as chair and New YorkerFrederik Pohl as Secretary. [Sam Moskowitz, "The Immortal Storm, A History of Science Fiction Fandom", 1st ed.,1954, The Atlanta Science Fiction Organization Press, Atlanta, GA, page 82.] Since Philadelphia had been the site of the 1936 Democratic andRepublican National Convention s, they declared themselves the Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention. Part of the group went toJohn Baltadonis ' home to examine his art collection and the printing press used to publish the PSFS newsletter. At Rothman's house, the group talked about science fiction and played craps. On the way back to the train station, some of the attendees sang earlyfilk songs. One of the attendees,John B. Michel published an account of the day, the first convention report, in a New York fanzine.Many fan historians, as well as the PSFS, claim that the first Philcon was the first science fiction convention ever held. Others make this claim for a 1937 event in
Leeds ,England . Attendees at the British event bought tickets to sit in a hall and listen to several speakers and to hear a few congratulatory telegrams. They also voted to create theBritish SF Society .Trivia: Philcon has a "principal speaker" instead of a "guest of honor".
Sources
Information regarding this year's convention is taken from the convention webpage, www.philcon.org.
Sam Moskowitz, "The Immortal Storm", Hyperion Press, 1974, available from NESFA Press, http://www.nesfa.org/press/. The history of science fiction fandom up to World War II by one of the key players.
John Bristol (Jack Speer), "Fancyclopedia", Fantasy Foundation, 1944, is available online at fanac.org/Fannish_Reference_Works/Fancyclopedia/Fancyclopedia_I/. One of the first serious attempts to study science fiction fandom.
Dick Eney, "Fancyclopedia II", Operation Crifanac 1959, is available online at www.fanac.org/Fannish_Reference_Works/Fancyclopedia/Fancyclopedia_II/. This is an attempt to update Jack Speer's earlier encyclopedia. The site, www.fanac.org, is the site of The Fan History Project, an organization dedicated to the serious study of the history of science fiction.
Lew Wolkoff, "The First Philcon, An Oral History", Phanadelphia Corporation, 1985, is available from The Millennium Philcon, the 2001 World Science Fiction Convention, which may be contacted from www.2001.worldcon.org. This was an oral history, a series of interviews with the persons who had attended the 1936 Philcon along with supplemental material, which includes: a map of Philadelphia; listings of the contents of the October 1936 issues of various science fiction magazines; a summary of current events, current science fiction movies, and the current plotline of several science fiction/fantasy newspaper comic strips; photographs taken at the event and supplied by the photographer; and copies of the text of several science fiction fan magazine reports of the event.
Worldcons
The
World Science Fiction Convention , or Worldcon, has been held in Philadelphia three times:
* The5th World Science Fiction Convention , called Philcon I, was held in 1947.
* The11th World Science Fiction Convention , called Philcon II, was held in 1953.
* The59th World Science Fiction Convention , called the Millennium Philcon, was held in 2001.References
External links
* [http://www.philcon.org/ Philcon website]
* [http://www.psfs.org/ Philadelphia Science Fiction Society website]
* [http://www.theworksoftimpowers.com/ Tim Powers, Principal Speaker's website]
* [http://www.johnpicacio.com/index2.html/ John Picacio, Artist GoH website]
* [http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com/ Scott Christian Sava, Special GoH website]
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