abor Day weekend: most Americans will be having picnics,
taking trips to the beach or in some other way celebrating
summer's last hurrah. Most Americans, but not most science
fiction fans. Because that weekend is also the date of the 1997
World Science Fiction Convention, where thousands of SF
professionals and enthusiasts from all over the world will meet
for a five-day extravaganza of panels, parties, films and more.
This year's Worldcon, called LoneStarCon 2, will be held in San
Antonio, Texas, and the LoneStarCon Internet Information Center has been created to give the Who, What, When and Where for this mega
event.
The When and Where have already been covered. The Who are the convention's Guests of Honor -- authors, artists, fans and others.
Here users can find biographies of the major guests, as well as a list of
all the other participants, who number in the hundreds. The list
reads like a Who's Who from the world of science fiction.
Then comes the What. The site has information on all the various
and eclectic events that make up a Worldcon -- the art show, Hugo
Awards ceremony, masquerade, discussion panels, workshops,
contests, games and more.
Additionally, there are pages dedicated to what might be called
infrastructure: how to get to the Worldcon, where to stay and
what it will cost, access services, babysitting, deadlines, etc.
It's all there. Because most Worldcon attendees come from out of
town, the site also has information about local tourist
attractions and amusements in and around San Antonio (the Alamo
is just a few blocks away).
Want to go? Be in the know
It's a lot of information, but the site does a fair job of
keeping it organized and accessible. It excels at providing
essential facts: times, dates, places, costs -- the nitty gritty
details. Most of the required forms are also available online.
Moving beyond the facts, the Features section is a nice
selection of essays that describe people's experiences at past
Worldcons, life in San Antonio, and other topics of interest to
fans. Progress reports from LoneStarCon's chair give insight
into how this tremendous operation is organized and operated.
Yet, although the essential facts are all in
place, it would be nice to see more "extra" material about
LoneStarCon 2 in particular. For example there is just one short
paragraph about each of the author guests of honor -- Algis Budrys
and Michael Moorcock -- two of the most influential people in
speculative fiction, both of whom deserve far more than a
paragraph. A list of the planned discussion panels would also be
nice, so that attendees could know ahead of time what issues will be explored and perhaps even do some preparatory
reading. A search engine would be helpful as well.
For the most part, though, people who go to Worldcons go no
matter what is planned. It's a kind of annual pilgrimage. With
that in mind, a Worldcon's Web site has two tasks: to give a good
introduction to the Worldcon phenomenon for people who have never been to one, and to provide the vital facts for those who are
definitely coming. LoneStarCon's site performs both these jobs
admirably.
