North American Science Fiction Convention

"NASFiC" redirects here. For the first convention of this series, see NASFiC (1975).
NASFiC
Status Active
Genre Science fiction
Location(s) North America (to date, all have been in the United States)
Inaugurated 1975
Website
nasfic.org

NASFiC, a.k.a. the North American Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention scheduled only during years where the Worldcon is being held outside the North American continent.[1] NASFiC bids voted on by the Worldcon (or NASFiC if one exists) membership the year after a non-North American Worldcon site has been selected. As of 2014, this is one year in advance of a potential NASFiC.[2]

History

Activities at a NASFiC parallel those seen at Worldcon, but may differ with each convention committee. The convention may be held as an individual event or in conjunction with another convention. It generally occurs near the time of the Worldcon, but not in direct competition with it. Eleven NASFiCs have occurred to date. The name NASFiC is owned by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS).

The late Robert Sacks led a movement to separate NASFiC from the World Science Fiction Society, similar to Eurocon, but WSFS has chosen to keep NASFiC under its own aegis.[3][4]

Conventions

This is a list of the NASFiCs held, or scheduled, so far:

Year Name City Guests of Honor Size
1st 1975 NASFiC[5] Los Angeles, California Harlan Ellison 1,100
2nd 1979 NorthAmeriCon '79 Louisville, Kentucky Frederik Pohl
George Scithers
2,000
3rd 1985 LoneStarCon 1 Austin, Texas Jack Vance
Richard Powers
Joanne Burger
2,800
4th 1987 CactusCon[6] Phoenix, Arizona Hal Clement
Marjii Ellers
3,000
5th 1990 ConDiego San Diego, California Samuel R. Delany
Ben Yalow
3,000
6th 1995 Dragon*Con 1995 Atlanta, Georgia George Alec Effinger
Harlan Ellison
Timothy Zahn
Michael Whelan
Bjo Trimble
14,312
7th 1999 Conucopia Anaheim, California Jerry Pournelle
Ellen Datlow
Richard Lynch
Nicki Lynch
1,734
8th 2005 Cascadia Con[1][7] Seattle, Washington Fred Saberhagen
Liz Danforth
Toni Weisskopf
Kevin Standlee
1,785 / 2,014
on site/total
9th 2007 Archon31/Tuckercon[8] Collinsville, Illinois Barbara Hambly
Darrell K. Sweet
Kevin Murphy
Bill Corbett
James Ernest
Elizabeth Covey
Barry Childs-Helton
Sally Childs-Helton
Nancy Hathaway
Lani Tapu
Richard Hatch
1,950
10th 2010 ReConStruction[9] Raleigh, North Carolina Eric Flint
Brad W. Foster
Juanita Coulson
Toni Weisskopf
?
11th 2014 Detcon1[10] Detroit, Michigan Steven Barnes
John Picacio
Bernadette Bosky, Arthur D. Hlavaty, and Kevin J. Maroney
Helen Greiner
Bill and Brenda Sutton
Roger Sims and Fred Prophet[2]

With the selection of Helsinki to host the 2017 Worldcon, the decision whether and where to hold a 2017 NASFiC will be made by the members of the 74th World Science Fiction Convention (known as MidAmeriCon II), which will be held in Kansas City in 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 Martin, Jessica (August 29, 2005). "Science fiction Canadian style". SF Crowsnest. Retrieved August 14, 2009. Cascadia Con is the 8th North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC) in 30 years. A NASFiC is only held when the Worldcon for that year is outside of North America. In 2005 the Worldcon will be in Scotland and Seattle will host the NASFiC.
  2. 1 2 Pho, Diana M. (July 9, 2014). "SciFi in the Motor City: An Interview with the Committee of Detcon1". Tor.com. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  3. McMurray, Pat (June 1998). "Minutes of the Business Meeting 1993". The World Science Fiction Society. Worldcon.org. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  4. McMurray, Pat (2000). "Minutes of the Business Meeting 1987". The World Science Fiction Society. Worldcon.org. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  5. Morrison, Patt (September 7, 1975). "Sci Fi Confab Draw 'em All". Los Angeles Times. p. CS1. Retrieved August 14, 2009. The acronym sounded OK--but you got the feeling that if any of the guys at the four-day North American Science Fiction Convention at the Marriott Hotel [...]
  6. Martin, Sue (April 23, 1987). "Many Resources for Fans of Fantasy and the 'Far Out'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 16, 2014. Phoenix will also host the Cactuscon/North American Science Fiction Convention (Sept. 3-6) at the Phoenix Hilton, Civic Plaza Convention Center and Hyatt Regency.
  7. Chansanchai, Athima (September 1, 2005). "Sex in space? Sci-fi convention aims to please; Cascadia says it has something for every fan". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved August 14, 2009. If you have any interest in science fiction at all, you'll find something at Cascadia Con, an official North American Science Fiction Convention held only seven times since 1975. This makes eight, and for the first time, it's in the Seattle area. The five-day event, which begins today, is expected to draw 3,500 fans.
  8. Schlueter, Roger (August 2, 2007). "Archon 31 promises a science fiction bonanza". Belleville News-Democrat. Retrieved August 14, 2009. This year's Archon simply has to be bigger and better, say the organizers, St. Louis Science Fiction Ltd. Not only is it serving as St. Louis' annual sci-fi-fantasy confab, but it is doubling as the 2007 North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC), because the world convention was awarded to a non-North American site (Yokohama, Japan).
  9. "ReConStruction official website". ReConStruction. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
  10. "Detcon1 official website". Detcon1. Retrieved September 1, 2013.

External links

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