PR Alpha Report

Bell, Book and Dragon

Norwescon31

Norwescon30

Persistance of VisionPost Con Report

March 20-23, 2008Location:

DoubleTree HotelSeattle Airport

1.206.246.8600

Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements” -Napoleon Hill

“

Persistance of VisionPost Con Report

Norwescon30

Norwescon 30 Post-Con Report v �

Chairman’s Post-Con Report by Tracy Knoedler

I can hardly believe it’s over. The 30th anniversary of Norwescon was the best- attended Norwescon I have ever been to, topping over 3,000 people. The panel rooms seem to be filled as well as the Dealer’s room and Art Show. I want to give a big thank you to our wonderful Guests of Honor, Kim Stanley Robinson, Luis Royo, Donna Shirley, and Gordon Van Gelder for their help in celebrating our anniversary year.

As I sit here, a few weeks later, writing this up, I realize that we could never have made this happen if it were not for all of our wonderful volunteers. One name I would like to highlight is Dawn Kaufman for stepping in and helping translate for our Artist Guest of Honor, Luis Royo. She was a big help to all of us. Thanks Dawn!

This year I awarded the Lifetime Member Award to Shawn Marier for all his devoted years to Norwescon. He has spent many years volunteering for Norwescon in all areas of the convention. Congratulations Shawn! You deserve it and now we’ve got you forever!

Please watch our website for news on Norwescon 31. We should be up and running by September, 2007.

Norwescon 30 Art Show by Doug and Pat Booze

It was an amazing year; there are so many wonderful things that happened over this last year and so many people to thank that it is hard to know where to start.

It would not be an Art Show without our artists. First we would like to thank Luis Royo for traveling almost as far as you can to attend our convention. He is an amazing artist

and an extremely generous guest of his time, talent and good humor. We would also like to thank Rafa Martinez from Norma Editorial for making Luis Royo’s visit such a great success; spending four days interpreting and facilitating for Luis is a monumental feat of patience and we are very grateful.

The heart and soul of the Art Show is our attending and mail-in artists. We had a wonderful group this year that brought the best of themselves and their work to Norwescon. We would like to thank them for their time and talent that they have shared with Norwescon. Pat and I have really enjoyed working with each one of them.

None of this is possible without the tremendous help of our volunteers. First we would like to thank our Art Show staff. First a very special thank you to Lori ‘Shaughnessy’ Burtis who took us under her wing and taught us so much. We would also like to thank Melissa Kell and Shelly Stephens for managing the Artist Alley; they did a great job. E.J. Fadgen took on the ever-daunting task of bag check and did a brilliant job. LouAnna Valentine worked on our docent program this year, and we really appreciate all of her efforts. We would also like to thank Alex Popiel our IT wizard who kept our computers running and saved our derrieres more than once; as well as Rory Clark our Art Show programmer for all of his hard work supporting the Art Show computer systems. Thank you also to our wonderful finance team of Betty Claar, Melissa Kell and Mike Orosz. And a huge thank you to Walt Thomas, our construction chief. Without his hard work and patience there would be no Art Show. And last but never least, Ali Grieve who did a wonderful job in planning and executing our first Artists’ Reception, an outstanding event that we look forward to repeating next year.

The other group that we want to thank are our at-convention volunteers. We are very grateful for them taking the time out of their convention experience to come and help us. Without them it would have been a harder and longer weekend for all of our staff. We truly want all of them to know they are part of our team and we appreciate everything they all did to help. They are: Angela Lande, Nicholas Strickland, Kat Mercan, Jane Patterson, Jim Cox, Joyce Palmer, Gayle MacArthur, Dawn Jackal, Diane Wahlborg, Richard Stuer-Wooden, Mike Hardin, Carline Westra, Carmen Sumption, Marlene Helm, Laura Penty, Mathew Robertson, Stanley Leghorn, Stacy Mardin, Nate Austin, Nick Jones, Leonard Burstiner, J.D. Maynard, David Todd, Peter Eng, Alan Misten, Angela Horde, Katie Cagle, Shawn Lum, Eric Wilson, Viola Todd, Victoria Scanlon and Audrey Penty who was awarded our Norwescon Art Show Apprentice Award this year for being an outstanding volunteer.

Business Report for Norwescon 28

Budgeted ActualChair 6,015.00 6,812.45ViceChair 16,392.00 14,961.17Business 16,630.00 16,362.15Publications 40,100.00 21,854.71Programming 9,925.00 5,844.31MemberServices 3,890.00 3,211.09ConventionServices 18,870.00 17,617.41Personnel 9,565.00 7,973.45SpecialEvents 2,485.00 2,053.64CapitalExpense 9,780.00 10,559.03TotalIn 137,083.73TotalOut 107,249.32

29,834.32

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Thank you to everyone for attending and participating in this year’s Art Show. We look forward to seeing all of you next year.

Norwescon 30 Art Show Awards

Judges awards

Best in Show:Cory and Catska Ench In the Garden of Gaea

First Place:Jeff Sturgeon Power Place

Second Place:H. Ed Cox Brown Leaf Fairy

Third Place:Luis Royo Subversive Beauty (1)

Best 3-D:Stephen Lestat Time Machine

Best Jewelry:Elizabeth Fellows 30th Anniversary Jewelry Set

Best Color:Mark Roland Sunflower

Best Black and White:Luis Royo Mother Earth

Best Mix:Theresa Mather Amber Dragon

People’s Choice awards

Best in Show:Cory and Catska Ench In the Garden of Gaea

Best Sci-Fi:Stephen Lestat Time Machine

Best Fantasy:Todd Lockwood Dragon Fire

Best Horror:Todd Lockwood War of Angels

Best Humor:Sarah Clemens Joyride

Programming Report – NWC 30 by William Sadorus

What a monumental weekend! Huge crowds, big names, and 30 years of Norwescon!

Staying true to our theme “Persistence of Vision”, we had a great time giving you the kind of experience that you’ve come

to expect from Norwescon. We were so honored to have great Guests; Kim Stanley Robinson, Luis Royo, Donna Shirley, Gordon Van Gelder, and Rafa Martinez. Thanks to them for helping to set the tone of the convention. Snippets from our GoH’s: Donna talking about managing Martians, Gordon speaking on publishing bloopers, Rafa introducing us to the international experience, Luis drawing a fantastic picture, and Stan explaining how to reduce our footprint on the Earth while keeping our eyes on Space. [My most fascinating moment? Out in the Atrium on Saturday afternoon, the fifteen minutes of banter and humor as Greg Bear interviewed Stan and Gordon at the taping session for Closing Ceremonies. You’ve got to see the interview… jet noises and everything in the background. Wow!]

I always worry when we try something slightly different. This year we decided to start panel programming at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. I guess I shouldn’t have worried though. The rooms were filled and paneling was perking along right on time. With well over 200+ pros on hand to participate in the panels during the weekend I hope you found the topics you wanted to see. Flashes from panels; the audience helping the Let’s Make a Movie Guys make the feature “Man Slugs, Steve Barnes speaking about developments in LifeWriting, Alexander James Adams’ concert premier at NWC, how to poly-form armor at StarWars Fashion Show and Tell, promises of a recipe book from To Serve Man, the generation gap at Women in the Military, and Chris Bruscas on being a Geek Gaming God. [My moment of discovery? That there are people out there even more into gardening than I am while at the Fannish Gardening panel . . . ?!]

Norwescon Programming would not occur without the help of many people: Sunny Jim in the Pro Suite; Becky in Workshops; Denise in Traditional Events; Sally, Jo, Margorie, & Sprite in the Greenroom; Alan, Chris, and Joel in Media Services; Keith in Movie Previews; Mindy in GoH Relations; Kevin in Stage Management; Jordan, Elizabeth, Walt, and the rest of his tech crew; thanks guys! I especially want to thank Lori and Alisa for their help and support during the never-ending grind of Track Programming. You guys are the best! Thank you!!!

BTW, for all of you who might be wondering, Donna Shirley’s grandson was born about 2 weeks after the con. His name is Grayden Thomas. He was 8 lbs 8 oz & 20 inches in length at birth and currently growing like a weed. Congratulations to Nana Donna and to the proud parents!

If you think Norwescon 30 was a blast, just wait until next year . . . Norwescon 31 is gonna knock your socks off. See you soon!!

Norwescon 30 Post-Con Report v �

Norwescon 30 Programming StatisticsTotal Number of Tracks of Programming: 28 Hours

Breakdown of Hours of Programming (does not include Special Events):

Education Filk Readings GoHProgramming

Total

Thursday 71.0 4.0 4..5 3 82.5

Friday 148.5 11.5 10.5 6.5 177.0

Saturday 139.0 8.0 10.5 11 168.5

Sunday 62.5 2 4.5 1 70.0

Totals 421.0 25.5 30.0 21.5 498.0

Pro Breakdown:Invited 360

Declined 51

No Answer 78

Cancelled 17

Attending 214

Day Passes 28

Writer’s Workshop:Submissions 71.0

Participating Pros 148.5

Special Events by Shawn Marier

This was the first year that Special Events was an exec level department. This allowed us to spend the time and effort to make them “special” once again. When I first got involved with Norwescon 20 years ago, it was as a DJ. So from the beginning all the special events have had a special place in my heart. So I want to thank Tracy and Cheryl for giving me the opportunity to run the department.

I could not have done this job with out the help from my two assistants Tonya Clark and Peggy Stewart. They both were in charge of multiple areas in the department; and they did a wonderful job making sure that the people who attended them had a great time.

Tonya was in charge of the dances and she had some great DJs working with her this year. They kept the dance floor busy all three nights; so a big thank you goes out to all of them:

The Red Dance: DJ Black Maru and DJ Eternal Darkness. The Star Dance: DJ Jammin’ Panda and DJ Bomb The Saturday Night Hoedown: MC 300Baud

She also wants to thank all the people who helped with decorations and opening number.

She also was in charge of the midnight movies. This year we expanded to 3 nights of movies. On Thursday we showed Buckaroo Banzai and had Judith Herman who worked on the movie give a little talk about her experiences. On Friday we did our traditional Rocky Horror Picture Show with the VTC giving a show which I’m sure the audience will never forget. Finally on Saturday night for its 25th anniversary we showed Shock Treatment.

Peggy was in charge of the Masquerade. To put on the Masquerade, Peggy and her staff worked all day long getting everything setup so that you could all enjoy the show. It was an exciting year as it was the first Masquerade for us with a ramp. Backstage it was a huge hit. It was used by lots of entries and made it safer and easier for many of them. The ramp is definitely the wave of the future for Norwescon.

She wants to give thanks to all the people that helped

Master of Ceremonies- Master Payne Sound- Keith Johnson Stage Managers- Paula and Berry Curry Head Den Mom- Kate McClure Den Moms- Audrey Penty, Erik Prill, Ruslund Geyer Front House Manager- Nels Satterlund Front House Staff- Tahlia Holt, Jeff Soesbe, Kayla Harrell Head Ninja- Trent Lum Ninjas- Kelly Forbis, Michelle Roberts, Cameron Wright, Toni Forbis, Pamela Wichger, Laura Penty, Martin Irvin, Jason Lum, Pete Powers, Sydney Lamb, Frieda “Bri” Orsborn, Lisa Eldred, Beth “Bethmo” Mourguard Lights/ Tech- Eric Stratton Spot 1- Larry Stratton Spot �- Edge Von Gore Technical Director- Michael Citrak Video- Alan Halfhill Photo Op- Thom Walls Children’s Masquerade Group- Felice Nightengale The Workmanship Judges- Alisa Green & Maria Cooley The Presentation Judges- Don Glover, Lori Edwards & Mimi Noyes Judge’s Assistant-Vicki Glover

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She humbly apologizes if your name was missed, but know that she thanks you too for your hard work. Everyone worked very hard, from staff to volunteers, and, of course, the entrants to make this a fabulous 30th anniversary Masquerade.

If the Masquerade wasn’t enough, she also managed the Fannish Fetish Fashion Show. She brought in Betty Rage who did a spectacular job of organizing the show, working with the designers and getting all the fabulous performers. Peggy would like to thank everyone who made it possible, Betty Rage, Todd Clark, Timitius, Felice Nightengale, Christopher Sumption, Leslie, The Von Foxies, Marci Beaucoup, Miz Ginger Snapz, Estella E’strange, all the volunteers and, last but not least, the designers, Notorious Curves and Fetishwear.net and their models.

For the Masquerade half time I brought in the Comedy Court Improve Group. This was a very entertaining local group of performers. If you like improve then you should check out their website to see where they are next performing. (http://www.comedycourtimprov.com/) We didn’t have the best sound setup for them, so I’m sorry to say that those in the back might not have heard the whole thing.

I also need to thank Pro Roy who ran our Gaming department. He stepped up and ran the department when the previous department head had to step down a month from the convention. With a short period of time and a new location, he did a great job.

He wanted to make sure that big props went out to the gaming staff that did a great job monitoring the floor and making sure games had tables and got started as scheduled! As well as a congratulations to John Baldwin, this year's Call of Cthulhu Tournament winner. John won a free membership to next year's Norwescon!

This year I brought back the casino to Norwescon. It has been years since we did one and even with it being on Thursday night we had a huge crowd (over 150 gamblers). I want to thank Mary Westerling who helped train our dealers and Becky Citrak who designed some of the best casino money I’ve ever seen. I also want to thank the following people who all volunteered to help deal cards: Leonard Burstiner, Bror Rand, Jessica Vauels, Pamela Wichgers, Alex Williams, Alan Milsten and Jason McDermott.

We also had a Texas Hold’em Tournament which ran over 3 days. Almost 90 players took part and the when the tournament was finally over on Saturday night the winner was Jeramy Hobouty. Thanks to all the people who helped deal the cards as well as all the players.

Another area which we expanded this year was Lazer Tag.

This year we had it running all 3 nights and because of this we had over 200 players. The room was once again run by Scott Perrin and Elizabeth Fellows who make sure that all the players have a safe but fun time. I don’t think we could do Lazer Tag with out all the hard work and time they put in.

Finally I need to thank the members of Amtgard who came in on Sunday morning to give us a demo. Think of them as a live action fantasy role playing using boffers. Norwescon could not have done this with out the help of two of their members, Matt Ward and Chris Bates. Check out the group’s main web site for more details: www.amtgard.com

Finally I want to thank the Norwescon Tech and Programming departments, we could not have done this with out your help and support.

Norwescon 30 Daily 'Zine Post-Convention Report R'ykandar (Dara) Korra'ti

Another year, another convention newsletter, yay! Our only big surprise this year was our sudden discovery that the shop we use for issue duplication suddenly decided to start closing on Sundays! It was quite the adventure. We want to particularly thank Laura Reilly, Kathleen Reilly (her mum), and Marianna Garrett (her sister) and the Office for working overtime to come up with an alternative copy location and getting the Sunday edition out on time. Well done, Office staff and family members, and special thanks to everyone involved!

In other notes, I want to address a few things that have apparently slipped by people. First, the newsletter is not, and has never been, titled "Daily 'Zine." It has a new name every year - as well as a new look, rebuilt from the ground up, or close to it. Unexpectedly, three people told me that they noticed I'd changed the 'zine's title this year from "Daily 'Zine" or some similar variant to "Runner" - well, Run, Runner! anyway - and that was, as they say, rather a surprise.

Secondly, our contribution to Norwescon's 30th Anniversary was to use graphic identifiers from each previous issue (where applicable) in our promotional posters. The current newsletter crew have put out the following convention newsletters, or daily 'zines, at Norwescons: The Claw, Mr.Cranky's Disruptive Newsletter, Gothpark Chronicles, FaxCascadia, Ad Astro!, Inevitability, The Great and Terrible Voice of OZ, Letters from Yingzhou, RUE the DAY!, RUN!!, and, this past year, RUN, RUNNER!. You may note a disturbing trend towards more and more exclamation marks. Consider that a desperate plea for attention. The graphics called back from the dead include the three-eyed upward-pointing alien, the Mr.Cranky Seal of Certification, Vampire Lord Fatass, Astro, Your Robotic Overlords, The Four Sigils of the Winds, the

Norwescon 30 Post-Con Report v �

Dr. Cranky Spotlight of Ruing, and this year's, Box, the Food Storage Robot. So that's what all that was about.

Thirdly, the newsletter comes out daily, which means (in all years but two when we had special editions), once a day. Yes, we had a Sunday Afternoon ("GO HOME!") edition of Mr. Cranky, and a special Saturerday Afternoon edition ("more heart pieces!") for RUN!! Because we had so much material, which was great, but that's not a guarantee we'll do that again ever. And finally, the newsletter is a morning edition, so if you want things to be in that day's issue, you have to get it to us the night before, or earlier. We were confused several times to find submissions for an issue submitted after that issue had already come out. So if you were wondering why your time-sensitive material didn't make it in, that's probably why.

And that's about that. Thanks for reading and contributing; hopefully you found it useful and fun!

Norwescon Elections

Elections were held for the officers of Norwescon 31 on Saturday, May 12th with Doug Booze, Shawn Marier, and Catrina Foulger on this year’s election committee. The results were:

Chairman Tracy Knoedler Vice-Chairman Pat Booze GoH Election Committee Kevin Black GoH Election Committee Dara Korra’ti

Congratulations to the new officers Tracy, Pat, Kevin and Dara; and thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s elections.

Post Con Report for Norwescon 30

Marion Zimmer Bradley Food Drive

We would like to thank the Dealers (from the Dealer Room) for their donations. We Raised $917.00 from the charity auction and received many wonderful things for our valued volunteers.

There were $237.00 donations at registration and we collected 34 lbs of food.

Thanks to all for your donations.

James “Scotty” Doohan Blood Drive

It was fun to see the blood mobile though it was a bit small for our convention. All of the Blood drive techs were delighted to

be with us and enjoy Norwescon. They were able to collect 18 units of blood, with 19 donors. Thank you to all of our donors.

I would like to send out a special thanks to Lydia Bigger and her staff for the wonderful lunch they made for the blood drive techs. They enjoyed it very much.

Campaign Sight First II

We had at least 3 donated glasses. This is our first year doing the eyeglass collection and we appreciate your donations.

Norwescon 30 Masquerade Running Order

1. Lead us Not Into Temptation- Journeyman- Designed and constructed by Laura Rieschiek Entrants: Laura Rieschiek, Mark Rieschiek

2. Ambassador Hugh- Novice- Designed, constructed and worn by Hugh Mannfield

3. Scratched-

4. Gabrielle vs. Captain Barbosa- Novice- Designed and constructed by “Can’t read her writing, sorry.”

5. A Poem for Padme- Journeyman- Designed, constructed and worn by Bethany Roullett

6. Passion- Non- Comp (won at a Costume Con with costume before)- Designed and constructed and worn by Alicia Faires

7. The Gardener’s Dream- Master- Designed and constructed by Betty Bigelow, Lisa Satterlund, Julie Zetterberg and sound by Erik Prill. Entrants: Betty Bigelow, Greg Sardo, Lisa Satterlund, Julie Zetterberg

Fairy Tale Bachelor, Copyright 2007 Thom Walls

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8. Firey Angel – Novice- Designed and constructed and worn by Mandy Barnett

9. Jedi Knight Tatiana –Novice- Designed and worn by Dana Marshall, Constructed by Keith Marshall

10. Into the Woods- 30th Anniversary Cat.- Designed and constructed by Claudette Wagner. Entrants: Cassie Hallmark, T. Brian Wagner

11. Robotica- Journeyman- Designed, constructed and worn by Diana Daniels

12. Stalking Elk- Novice- Designed, constructed and worn by Tiffany Hugentobler

13. Raider of the Temple of Doom- Master- Designed and constructed by Richard Stephens. Entrants: Richard Stephens, Ciandi Stephens, Tia Stephens, Forest Kohler, Austen Del Grado, Chris Girr

14. Gaia’s First Children- Master- Designed and constructed by Molly Boone, Jonnalyhn Wolfcat, Juliana Robinson, Bronwyn Thomas, and Jennifer Neel. Nick Strickland (construction only) and Elizabeth Fellows for the snood.

Entrants: Molly Boone, Jonnalyhn Wolfcat, Juliana Robinson, Bronwyn Thomas, Jennifer Neel, Nick Strickland

15. Medusa –Novice- Designed, constructed and worn by Rita Pudlewski. CD by Carl Bergstrom and Rita Pudlewski

16. Advanced Tactical Assault Trooper –Journeyman- Designed, constructed and worn by Mike Duquette

17. 7 Deadly Sins – Journeyman- Designed and constructed by Rose City Costumers. Entrants: Annika Johnson, Suzie Thomas, Mike Elsner, Marilyn Mcquire, Patrick Wiese, Christie and Doug Van Winkle

18. Fairy Tale Bachelor- Master- Designed and constructed by Amanda Harris-Forbes, Margo Loes, and special thanks to Shuree Lovell Entrants: Amanda Harris-Forbes, Margo Loes and the Mystery Prince

19. Latouni- Journeyman- Designed by Banpresto Games and constructed and worn by Angela Krupp

20. Freya Cresent- Trance Mode –J- Designed by Squaresoft and constructed and worn by Shawna Needengard

21. The Ruler of the Tholian Assembly –M- Designed, constructed and worn by Garth Stubbs

22. Medusa Luna-J- Designed, constructed and worn by Joanne Spink, music by Erik Prill, and electronics, Macdonald Instruments

Norwescon 30 Masquerade Winners

Best in Show#22 Medusa Luna

Best Master#18 Fairy Tale Bachelor

Best Media Recreation- Master#13 Raiders of the Temple of Doom

Best Journeyman#22 Medusa Luna

Best Media Recreation- Journeyman#5 A Poem for Padme

Best Novice#2 Ambassador Hugh

Best Original Concept#12 Stalking Elk

Judge’s Choice#7 The Gardener’s Dream

Beyond Reality Costumer’s Guild Award- or the “Ooh, shiney” award

#20 Freya Cresent- Trance Mode

Workmanship Awards

Best in Show#14 Gaia’s First Children

Best Master#18 Fairy Take Bachelor

Best Journeyman#22 Medusa Luna

Raiders of the Temple of Doom. Copyright 2007 Thom Walls

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Best Novice#9 Jedi knight Tatiana

Honorable Mention#1 Lead us Not into Temptation

Best Media Recreation #5 A Poem for Padme

Most Creative Use of Materials#2 Ambassador Hugh

Best Use of Sculptural Details#13 Raiders of the Temple of Doom

Best Headpiece#15 Medusa

Best Concept#21 Ruler of the Tholian Assembly

Best Use of Machine Embroidery#7 The Gardener’s Dream

Best Hands and Feet#20 Freya Cresent- Trance Mode

Registration Post-Con NotesSubmitted by J’wyl

Wow. No, really! I wouldn’t kid you . . . wow. You people are awesome!

3,000 members attended the con this year. That is a record. I think it is like second highest attendance ever (all time highest is still the year that Anne McCaffrey was there). They discovered that we do online reg and take PayPal, too! We had a LOT of pre-reg via PayPal. It was daunting! We thought that with all those folks doing the pre-reg thing, that the at-the-door would be slower than usual. Nope. That isn’t how it was. We are all so thrilled that so many people came and had fun at the con!

Did you notice what was new this year? We had LAPTOPS! I know it seems like it is a silly thing to be excited about, but it was a SUPER help to us! They were easy to set up, easy to take down and since the IT Ninjas rawk in sooo many ways, they were easily interchangeable between departments if one went south on us! They were faster, too. Thank you IT and Exec’s for having the vision to see that this would work out so well. We also purchased our own badge printers! The badges/printers worked out so well last year, that we decided it was worth it to have our own.

Continuing to have a Problem Only Line seemed to work too. I know because I spent most of the con behind that station, working out the problems that came up. We tried to

troubleshoot problems that we sensed could happen before the con, and we did have fewer to work out, but that meant that Problems also managed to do quite a bit of regular registration.

We remembered to make signs that were easier to read, but I still missed a few. We made notes for next year, to better speed up the reg process. I also have my fingers crossed for new printers for speedier form printing. If that happens, we may have slightly different forms and can color code to make the different types of forms easier to figure out.

Our volunteers, as usual, kicked major boo-tay! Nina Chapman was our Touch Typist of the Year and was constantly cheery, smart, and fun to be around. We look forward to having her on staff next year! Richard, DragonMom and so many others helped us stay sane and kept the reg lines moving. Willow, Jeff and I thank you ALL!

Judy Oxford, Registration Lead, also known as J’wyldragon of Reg

2007 Philip K. Dick Award Winner Announced

It was announced at Norwescon 30, in SeaTac, Washington, that the winner for the distinguished original science fiction paperback published for the first time during 2006 in the U.S.A. is:

Spin Control by Chris Moriarty (Bantam Spectra)

Special citation was given to:

Carnivalby Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra)

The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The 2006 judges were Geary Gravel, Anne Harris, Christine Mains (chair), Kristine Smith, and Mark W. Tiedemann.

The 2007 judges are Steve Miller, Chris Moriarty, Steven Piziks, Randy Schroeder, and Ann Tonsor Zeddies.

For more information, contact the award administration:

David G. Hartwell (914) 769-5545. Gordon Van Gelder (201) 876-2551

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For more information about the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, contact:

Gary Feldbaum (215) 563-2511 http://www.psfs.org/

For more information about Norwescon contact:

http://www.norwescon.org/

Hospitality Report by Roberta Carlson

Another Norwescon is over and the Hospitality Staff is glad you all stopped by, and did you ever stop by! You all drank 70 cases of pop, ate 75 pounds of ham, 40 pounds of roast beef and 35 pounds of turkey, a case and a half of chili, and much, much more. Special thanks go to my wonderful assistants Kristy, Cherie, and Jean. Without them, there couldn’t have been a hospitality. I hope to see you all next year.

Writers' Workshop

The writers' workshop at Norwescon 30 continues to hit high marks, thanks to the efforts of everyone involved. This year's workshop filled up quickly with 36 participants, and we regret having to limit them to a single manuscript apiece in order to make room for as many people as possible. Half of this year's participants were new to the Norwescon workshops and half had experience with at least one previous year's workshop; while most of our participants come from Washington and Oregon, this year we also drew writers from California, Texas, Arizona and Minnesota. We also offered workshop participants a special hand's-on workshop on writing flash fiction taught by Mary Rosenblum, a short-story writer, novelist and writing instructor.

30 Years of Norwescon History

We hope you enjoyed our 30th Anniversary Celebration and history display. Norwescon is getting older, and we believe it is important to remember our roots and the milestones along the way. We hope you enjoyed the history article in the program book, and found it interesting and informative! We would like to extend a special thank you to Carolyn Palms who was our first historian.

The History Display was set up in Olympic 2, quiet hospitality. There was a display of badges, badge holders, volunteer tokens, t-shirts, fanzines, flyers, cups and more. We even had the tiny, little Norwescon 1 Program Book, which is smaller than our current pocket programs! We had program books from years past in a display in the lobby, and extras for

the taking at the history display – which you seemed to like, as about 50 books were taken. We should have brought more!

We had two types of picture displays – paper and electronic. People gathered around the PC monitor sharing ooohs and aaahs and playing “remember when”. The albums were scattered on tables around the room.

Several Norwescon members submitted “favorite memory” stories which we printed out and taped on the walls. We are always looking for stories to add to the memory book. If you have a story you would like to share send it to Michael Citrak at mcitrak@comcast.net.

The 30th Anniversary celebration continued throughout the con with many special touches. We had:

Pearl embossing on the program book cover in keeping with the traditional 30th anniversary symbol of pearls.

“30 Years of Norwescon” souvenir bags.

A special category in the masquerade.

Play money in the casino commemorating our various hotels.

“30 Years of Norwescon Stories” panel on Friday.

Special goodies for the Volunteers, including a “pearl” for each year volunteered.

We would like to thank:

Jordan Orr for building two beautiful table-top display cases!

Rory Clark for the computer and photo displays!

Elizabeth Thomas-Rodolf, Daniel Pawtowski, Don Glover, John Andrews, and many others for the photos!

Carolyn Palms, Beth Dockins, Jim Cox and many others for the T-shirts!

Tracy Knoedler for the 30th Celebration Souvenir bags.

You for sharing your ideas and input over the years! Keep it coming!

We had our first history display at Norwescon 25, and hope to have the next one at Norwescon 35 – which means, of course, that it will become a tradition. The goal for the next 5 years is to get all of those old photos scanned!

Norwescon 30 Post-Con Report v �

Bell, Book and DragonPR Alpha Report

Norwescon31

Sneak Preview - Norwescon 31 by William Sadorus

Norwescon turned 30 this year. The celebration was stupendous! Our GoHs glorious! I had a (*) time! You might ask, “How’re they gonna top that?” Well, it isn’t going to easy, but we’ve got some pretty good ideas up our sleeves just for you . . .

As announced by Tracy and myself at the Masquerade halftime, our theme for next year at Norwescon 31 will be Bell, Book, and Dragon. Is this an invocation? A spell? Maybe it’s an allusion to a favorite movie from 1959 starring Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart? C’mere Pyewacket. That’s a good cat. You got to admit it sounds a bit better than “Music, Literature, and Fantasy”, doesn’t it?

Bell, Book, and Dragon will be fun romp in the eclectic mix of topics that you’ve come to expect from Norwescon. To help spice up the fun we’ve lined up some spectacular Guests of Honor including Dan Simmons as our Writer GoH, Ciruelo as Artist GoH, and Naomi Novik as Special GoH.

Dan Simmons is the award winning and versatile author of many books such as Hyperion, Ilium, and Song of Kali. He writes science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror. His combinations of storyline, character, and realism are both driven and hypnotic. I came to know Dan’s work through the Hyperion Cantos, a hard science fiction collection with a fantasy edge. Children of the Night proved to me that Dan had a dark side that could compete with the best of the vampire genre. In the Hardcase detective-mystery books he created characters that give you a non-stop roller coaster ride of murder, mayhem, and action. Dan’s latest release, The Terror, combines artic history with a thrills and chills creature of epic horror dimensions. Norwescon will be the first convention that Dan has attended since World Horror Con - Denver in 2000. We are so honored to be able to have Dan Simmons at NWC 31.

Ciruelo is the Argentine-born artist now living in Spain known for his fantastic art. His art has been displayed in books (Book of the Dragon; Luz, the Art of Ciruelo; Magia, the Ciruelo Sketchbook), on album covers (Steve Vai’s The 7th Song), in Heavy Metal, Playboy Magazine, Wizards of the Coast, and book covers from Tor, Warner, and Ballantine. Ciruelo is usually seen at large Comic Cons so we are

especially lucky to have him here next year!

Naomoi Novik has burst onto the scene as the author of the Temeraire series. If you haven’t read His Majesty’s Dragon you might want to pick up a copy. This year it’s nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, as well as the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel, and the Locus Awards for Best First Novel. Naomi has also been nominated for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Can we say, WOW!? I’m excited about having Naomi here at NWC 31 . . . Are you?!!!!

Stay tuned for more announcements of new Guests of Honor. You ain’t seen nothing yet…!!!

*Add your own superlative here

Get Ready for Norwescon31!

Naomi Novik will be a special guest at Norwescon 31 March 20-23, 2008. See www.norwescon.org for further information.

Norwescon works hard to produce quality publications for our members, however errors do occasionally occur.

In the previous version of this report the picture that accompa-nied the article "Sneak Preview - Norwescon 31 was not Naomi Novik. The picture was actually of P.K. Dick nominee Andrea Hairston author of Mindscape. This updated version of the progress report includes the correct picture of Naomi Novik.

We apologize to Ms. Novik and Ms. Hairston for the error.

Naomi Novik

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Statement by the Chair by Tracy Knoedler

Well I guess it’s that time again. Our lovely executive team has been eagerly working all summer to plan a wonderful Norwescon 31. With the conventionharder and faster.

This year we have made a few changes in our team. My Vice Chair is Pat Booze. Since she has been Chair of Norwescon as well as both Publications and Convention Services director, I’m sure many of you already know her - and how can you forget her!

In charge of our Business department is Ali Grieve. In the past she was in charge of Programming. I’m very excited to be working with her again. She will be working hand in hand with our Treasurer, Mike Orosz, a staple within our convention as he has been with us for many years. They will keep us in line and on budget this year.

Our lovely Secretary , Felice Nightengale, is coming back to help us remember exactly what we say, plan or do. She does a wonderful job.

Also returning is Rob Stewart, our Member Services director. You’ll find him hanging out around Registration as well as helping his wife sell in the Dealers’ Room.

Don Glover has gladly taken up the challenge of Publications for the first time. He has held many positions with Norwescon in the past, including Vice Chair.

Everyone knows William Sadorus. He has been around Norwescon in many capacities, including Chair and as overseer for the PK Dick Awards. We are lucky to have him returning as Programming director again. Send him your ideas for new Guests of Honor.

Shawn Marier has returned as Special Events director. Since he received the lifetime membership award last year, we refuse to let him go.

Doing an absolutely wonderful job is Catrina Foulger, our Personnel director. She feeds all of us so be nice to her.

Last is Charlie Knoedler, our Convention Services director. He makes sure we have a smoothly running convention at the hotel. His first year was last year and he and his team did a wonderful job keeping things going.

Where Things Are by Charlie Knoedler

So you ask “Where is the cloakroom?” Well, let me tell you. Below is a list of where things are within the convention. If you have any questions, please stop by the convention office in room 7106 and we’ll be glad to help you.

Cloakroom/Lost and Found Room 7101 Norwescon Office Room 7106 Security/Dispatch Room 7108 Volunteers Olympic 2 Hospitality Olympic 3 Green Room Cascade 1 & 2 Dealers’ Room Northwest Ballroom 1-3 Art Show Grand Ballroom 1 Artist Alley Past Wing 7 in Hallway Gaming Cascade 11 &12

Norwescon 2008 Art Show by Doug Booze, Art Show Manager

We are planning another amazing art show for you again for Norwescon 31. We are excited to bring you many of the same great talent that we have had in the past as well as may new faces which we hope will excite and intrigue you. We are thrilled to have as this year’s artist Gust of Honor, Ciruelo the depth of his work will make an amazing addition to our already diverse pool of talent. We are also excited to announce that John Picacio who has won such awards as the Chesley and the World Fantasy award and was recently in Seattle to receive the Locus award as best artist will be showing this year. We will bring you news of additional artists to the art show as they become firmed up; please check the website for updates.

Specific news for our artists. All of the information that you need to sign up for the art show is on our website, we hope that you will check us out and be a part of our art show community. If you have any questions always feel free to contact me directly. I am always available to help you out with any questions or concerns that you might have about the art show. You can reach me at artshow@norwescon.net.

The art show has a great team of volunteers but not enough of them; these are the people who through their hard work make the art show fun and a success for both the artists and the congoer. We are looking for more volunteers to make the art show more successful and rewording for our volunteers and our members. If you are interested in joining us we would love to hear from you.

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Beyond Here There Be Dragons! by J'wyl

Registration is run by dragons. No, really… it is! Trust me on this I should know, as I am your Registration Chair, J’wyl – the Reg Dragon! You may have guessed that I am very excited about Norwescon 31: Bell, Book and Dragons. Ok, information about Registration, that is what I am supposed to be going on about.First, we encourage you to pre-register. You will save a few bucks and your badge will be pre-printed and waiting for you when you arrive. Again this year, you can register online at http://www.norwescon.org/memberships.htm. Registering online allows you to pay by credit card, gives you an immediate email confirmation, and ensures that we don’t mistype your badge name. However, you can still print out a registration form and mail it in with a check, and this gets you the same savings!

Price for membership is $50 until 12/31/07; when it goes up to $55 until 2/28/07; when pre-registration is closed. Price at the door will be $60.

If you are under 18 or accompanying people who are, get a minor permission slip from http://www.norwescon.org/memberships.htm and fill it out before coming to the convention and waiting in line. The minor’s parent/guardian must sign the permission slip, and either the parent/guardian or another adult designated by the parent/guardian must be on site and a member of the convention.

Oh, and just FYI: Dragons RULE!

Special Events at Norwescon 31 by Shawn Marier

The Special Events department has been expanding the events which will be happening at Norwescon 31. Some of the new things we are currently working on:

Game Shows: On Friday night we will have multiple game shows for you to watch, and if you are lucky, participate in.

Maxi’s Bar Events: The hotel has allowed us to take over Maxi’s Bar at the top of the tower on Friday and Saturday nights. We are creating specialty themes for each night. So come on up to the top floor and enjoy the experience at Norwescon.

Burlesque Show: Last year we held a popular burlesque workshop, this year we are going to do it again. After the workshop (assuming you are willing), you will be able to participate in a burlesque show in the evening.

Scavenger Hunt: This will run during the entire weekend. We will give a list of items to be found; the person (or group) who finds the most will be awarded a prize.

501st Charity Event: Ever wanted to have your picture taken with a bunch of storm troopers or maybe even Darth Vader? Well for a small donation to a deserving charity you can.

Of course we will also be bringing back all your old favorite events:

Gaming: From tournaments to open gaming we will have something for you to play the entire weekend. The main gaming rooms will be at the end of the Cascade hallway with open gaming space out in the Rotunda.

Dances: Dance the night away on all three nights.

Midnight Movies: We will be showing a cult classic each night at midnight. Audience participation is always appreciated.

Lazer Tag: We expanded to three nights last year and we still had people who wanted more. So once again we will have lazer tag on all three nights.

Masquerade: Come and watch, or even better, bring your newest costume creation and present it at our largest attended event.

Fannish Fetish Fashion Show: Back again by popular demand, come see all the newest designs in fetish fashion wear. What new things might we have in store for you this year? Come and see.

Casino: On Thursday night come and gamble the night away. We will have a selection of your favorite casino games as well as our Second Annual Texas Hold’em Tournament.

Programming Update by William Sadorus

The question was, after all the fun and excitement of our 30th anniversary, what can we do to top ourselves? As it turns out, I shouldn’t have worried . . . with the turn of a phrase, “Bell, Book and Dragon,” Norwescon 31 Programming has started to fall into place.

Some of our favorite events are returning, including the Fandance Film Festival, the Single Pattern Contest, and the Norwescon Writers’ Workshop in conjunction with the Fairwood Writers Group. Rules and regulations for these events will be posted in the Programming section of the Norwescon home page so please check it frequently for notices and updates. We’ll also have movie previews, filk concerts,

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artist workshops, autograph sessions, and readings by some of your favorite authors. Panel ideas are being compiled and distributed to our program participants for consideration. Did you think that maybe we’d have a couple of panels about dragons? Well, you’d be right! If you need more than dragons though, science fiction and fantasy are big parts of panel programming at Norwescon; and we’ll be including all the associated topics of writing, editing, and publishing to say the least… For those of you who enjoy the chills and thrills of the dark, programming will feature a bit more horror than we normally do. This emphasis on horror will include panels, readings, and some flix you may not have seen before. Stay tuned for more developments!

I’m not neglecting our Guests of Honor, Dan Simmons, Ciruelo, and Naomi Novik. My enthusiasm about having them at Norwescon knows no bounds! We are so honored in having them here!! Please check out their bios on the Norwescon home page; and be sure to follow the links to their web sites. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, seek them out in your local bookstore or public library. Congratulations to Naomi on receiving the Joseph Campbell Award at Worldcon this year in Japan! Ciruelo, your reputation in the international art community precedes you! And Dan, your genius at story writing astounds us!

Join us this year for a convention filled with the brilliance of wonder, the magic of fantasy, the mystery of space, and that lurking darkness-within as Norwescon welcomes Dan Simmons, Ciruelo, and Naomi Novik as our Guests of Honor for NWC 31, March 20th through the 23rd, 2008. See you there!

Open the Door to Better Writing! by William Sadorus

Now's your chance to advance your writing skills through critiques by professional writers. Norwescon 31 and the Fairwood Writers Group are sponsoring a science fiction, fantasy and horror writers' workshop for short fiction and novel excerpts.

We offer individual sessions with a small group of the convention's attending pros; we also offer short-story participants a group session option that allows you to critique the other submitted manuscripts as well as receive feedback on your own.

Our submission deadline is early this year: November 28, 2007. Late entries submitted by December 2, 2007, may be accepted if space permits, but we will not take submissions after December 2.

Guidelines are posted at www.norwescon.org and www.fairwoodwriters.org.

Please contact writersworkshop@norwescon.net with any questions.

Doubletree Hotel Suite and Social Event Guidelines

Norwescon returns to our home of the last 14 years, the DoubleTree Hotel Seattle Airport. We have negotiated a flat guest room rate of $105.00 per night for up to four (4) people. These rates are available for up to 3 days before and after the convention. A daily charge of $10.00 for an additional person will apply if more than 4 people occupy a guest room. There is a five (5) person maximum per room.

You can make a room reservation by calling the DoubleTree Seattle Airport Hotel at (206) 246-8600.

Recently there have been some changes in the way in which parties and other social gatherings can be held in hotel rooms. These rules are still undergoing modification to ensure that they are mutually agreeable to Norwescon and the hotel. Please visit the hotel page on the Norwescon web site at www.norwescon.org to get the latest information.

Come and Join the Fun!

Volunteers are the backbone of the convention, from those of us who donate our time year round to those of you who lend a much needed helping hand for a couple of hours at the Convention. Whether that be watching the doors at the Masquerade, helping out at the Registration Desk, or manning the Cloak Closet, we need that help.

As part of our appreciation for those of you who do help us out, we have changed our policies. Now, instead of simply receiving some "bling" for days and hours worked, we will be rewarding you with a discounted badge for the following year, provided you work 30 hours. Activities that count for double hours (which are sticking around) will only count as single hours for the purposes of being awarded a discounted badge for the following year. The discount will be the minimum staff rate plus $5.00, for that year. It is not transferable and must be purchased during the pre-registration period. So, if you work the 30 hours at Norwescon 31 you will be able to purchase a discounted badge for Norwescon 32 at the discounted rate of $25.00.

There will be a couple of other changes for this coming year. The Volunteer Table will be located in the Volunteer Lounge

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instead of with the Fan Tables. Also, instead of the traditional end of convention raffle drawing for volunteers, we are going to try something new and have an auction and you can bid your hours for the things you want instead of hoping on random chance. Lastly, we are likely to have some left over "bling" from previous years, so if you miss the "bling" and ask very nicely— we may have something for you.

What is not changing is there will still be access to the Volunteer Lounge and a volunteer appreciation picnic come summer, as well as prizes for top hours worked.

As of right now we need volunteers for:

Cloak RoomWe need both volunteers to man it and Concom volunteers to run it.

RegistrationWe need both volunteers to work it and Concom members to help staff it. There are pre-convention training sessions on February 9th and March �st.

Masquerade

Art Show

Laser TagAnd check the Volunteers section of the website for more positions and updates.

Membership Service

Hi my name is Rob Stewart and I am the head of Member-ship Services. I am sure you are wondering what Membership Services is.

Membership Services is the first department with which you interact when you arrive and register at the convention. Please make sure you pre-register sooner than later.

We run the Art Show! Doug and his staff have great plans for Norwescon 31 and we hope you get a chance to stop by, check it out and support the artists. If you would like to exhibit your art, please check out the Art Show article in this very publication.

We run the Dealers room, where I know you like to leave your money every year. If you are interested in exhibiting your wares in Norwescon 31’s dealers room, please contact the Dealer room coordinator at dealers@norwescon.net.

Please make sure you stop by and check out the local clubs who are attending to share their interests with you.

If you are a club and would like a table, please contact lobbytables@norwescon.net. We also manage the informa-tion table, peace bonding, Voodoo message board, and the cloak room.

I am looking for someone to manage the cloak room and if you are interested, please e-mail me at membershipservices@norwescon.net. The staff of Membership Services is looking forward to seeing you at the convention.

Thank you, Rob Stewart Membership Services Director