While
the cactus were blooming all over Phoenix, Emily and I went to
another LepreCon, at the Doubletree, next to the library where
I work, across the street from Hooters.
The
hotel looked like the set of a sci-fi flick from the Seventies.
There
was a Lyft station our front to remind us what century we were in
while I took Kubrickian snapshots.
The
con was small. A good thing, because so was the hotel. Most of the
time you could walk around and not notice that there was convention
going on.
The
attendees were mostly older fandom. Our g-generation.
But
there were younger folks, too, in costumes that seemed more eclectic
than tributes to favorite franchises. One young woman showed off a
shield she was making emblazoned with the word “fuckface” that
was inspired by her baby, who she pushed around in a stroller.
It was a flash of the old days when all this was considered a threat
to polite society.
We
had to talk about where the whole damn SFF kit and kaboodle is going.
We can to the conclusion that it was all getting bigger and more
diverse. We’re in for an explosion.
Later
I got to talk about what the new classics could be (beats the hell
out of me), and bullshit about creativity.
Nobody
had anything for me to sign, so I doodled at the signing. Note to
writers: Unless you’re super famous and know there’s going to be a
long line with stacks for stuff for you sign, bring along something
to amuse yourself.
The
audiences were small, were actually
interested in books and wanted to talk about them. This got me
thinking on the last day, Easter Sunday, while most folks were
celebrating in honor of everybody’s favorite zombie: Just what is
SFF/Fandom all about these days?
This
was not just an excuse to eat at Chino Bandido.
Has
it all been totally commandeered by big publishers, and corporate
media franchises? Where are the new ideas coming from? Is anything
important ever discussed at the newfangled “comic cons.”
(Corporate lawyers please note the lower case letters, no hyphen, and
quotation marks, no copyright infringement is intended--I’m just
trying to say something so that people will understand it, godammit!)
People
still find out about new and unusual books, and other interesting
cultural phenomena at small, independent conventions, like Leprecon.
We need them, but keep your funky subcultures going.
So
support your local conventions!
