FOGcon 4

[stonebender]

I've been involved in organizing FOGcon for years now. I did publications for a couple of years. I was Vice Chair of FOGcon 3 and this year I am chairing the convention. Our theme is Secrets and one of our biggest secrets so far has been who were going to be our honored guests. I know many of you have been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for the news. Well, here is. As Chair of FOGcon 4 I'm thrilled beyond measure to let you know that our guests this year will be Seanan McGuire and Tim Powers! Our Ghost of Honor will be James Tiptree Jr.

I'm really excited about this year's guests and our theme. Reading the news these days certainly makes our theme timely. If you'd like to know more about our guests or FOGcon, please check our website FOGcon.

I plan to write more about my adventures in chairing this convention. So check in here as well. There may still be a few more surprises coming up, so pay attention. We're going to have fun! Try to come out and see me this March.

Comments

[cme]

Woooo! I am really excited!

I heard a rumor that FOGcon is interested in growing up to be "Wiscon west", and that's certainly what I and other people I know assumed whne we saw the group who were getting it started.

In that light, I wanted to suggest that some sort of social justice statement would be a fetching addition to the website. It seems particularly important in light of the issues of racism, sexism, and harassment that have been exposed to the public (fannish) eye recently.

[stonebender]

The organizers of Wiscon have certainly been helpful to us and we would be very pleased if our little convention grew up to be something as amazing as a Wiscon West. We are still a pretty young con so it'll be a while before I would be comfortable claiming that as a goal.

As you probably know, we've had a harassment policy since I think our second FOGcon. Not having talked to the Concom, I don't want to make any commitments, but I would be shocked if we didn't come up with some kind of statement on social justice. We're all just heartsick (I wish I could say surprised) at recent developments. If you have any thoughts on the subject or good examples of what other organizations have done, I'd love to hear about them.

Programming suggestions are also always welcome. Working on ourselves, our communities and continuing to learn is certainly important to us.

[voidampersand]

Wow. That's some really first-rate guests there.

[stonebender]

Thanks, we're pretty excited!