Sidewise Awards and Chicon 7 recap

So if you aren't following AH Weekly Update on Facebook or Twitter, you missed the announcement of the this year's Sidewise Awards winners:

• Short Form: “Paradise is a Walled Garden” by Lisa Goldstein (in Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2011).
• Long Form: Wake Up and Dream by Ian R. MacLeod. Ian was kind enough so send a review copy, which will be reviewed by Kieran Colfer.

I was actually there when the Sidewise Awards were presented, which are presented every year at Worldcon. This year they were in my hometown and after applying (and receiving) a press pass I set out to attend my first ever science fiction convention.

So how did it go? Well first off the Sidewise Awards were a lot of fun. It was an amazing experience to be in the same room with so many authors and fans of the genre. It was also great getting to meet Dale Cozort and Steven H Silver, two people who I have only talked with through email, in person. I also discovered the definition of alternate history is still a debatable topic. Sidewise Judge Jim Rittenhouse is a strict constructionalist on the matter compared to my more all-encompassing definition I use with AH Weekly Update. Trying to define alternate history, among other subjects, was probably the best part of the awards ceremony.

This open discussion, however, did lead to a incredibly awkward moment. Someone in the audience brought up what he does not like about Harry Turtledove's writing...while sitting only six seats to left from the master of alternate history himself. To Turtledove's credit he did not react negatively, instead allowing other people in the audience to come to his defense. The guy, however, failed to realize how close he was sitting to the person he was criticizing, despite thinly veiled hints from people debating him (they even went as far as to address Turtledove and yet the guy still failed to get the hint). It wasn't until Silver, who was moderating the ceremony, requested everyone move on to another topic that the guy noticed who was sitting in his row.

Awkward? Yes. Embarrassing? For that guy. Funny? For me, oh yes.

So what about the rest of Chicon 7? Well I did not get to see the Hugo Awards, in fact I was only there on Thursday and Friday evening due to real life issues. I did get to attend several interesting panels. Fans of the 1632 series were having their own mini-con within the larger convention, with several 1632 themed panels. I attended one on "Weird Tech", which the panelists (many of them authors writing in the universe) compared to steampunk technology...except it actually worked. I also attended a panel about researching alternate histories, however due to a scheduling snafu, I had to stand the entire time in a hallway listening to a panel of authors mutter, so I did not get a lot out of that discussion.

I attended a few non-AH panels, just because they interested me and hey I have a life outside the genre, right? I learned about slower-than-light interstellar economies, how best to write a book review and the future of electronic publishing. Eric Flint actually managed that last panel and also dominated the conversation. He had a lot of poignant things to say about the industry, ranging from how Amazon rips off authors, how difficult it is to make it as a self-published author and DRMs. If you ever get a chance to hear Flint talk about the subject, I highly recommend it.

I also sat in for a reading by one of my favorite author John G. Hemry. He is best know for his Lost Fleet series, where he writes under the pen name Jack Campbell. Thinking he was going to read from an upcoming  book in that series, he actually surprised me by reading a short story set during War of the Worlds in India. A humorous tale about a sergeant in India who is set off to fight a tripod because his commander does not want to miss a ball. It got me thinking again about how silly the Martian weapons really are.

So what were my feelings of Chicon 7, my first ever SF convention, overall? Well I did not get enough time to sample more of the convention, the hotel was difficult to navigate and in many place I lost cell reception, which annoyed me since I wanted to Tweet live during the Sidewise Awards. Some audience members were rude, interrupting panelists and the fact that most panelists calmly told them to wait until the end for questions and comments made me think it was a common occurrence. Being somewhat of an introvert and this being my first time, I felt lost about what to do and what was the social etiquette. Consider this scenario: I spot an author I know if is perusing some books. Do I go up and strike up a conversation? Ask for an autograph or picture? Perhaps I should have done more research.

Still even with those issues, I had fun overall. Do I recommend that you should go? Sure, but to prevent yourself from being overwhelmed, try to find someone you know who has been to a convention before. It will make it a lot easier on you. Next time I plan to be more professional, but I will still try to catch a few event just for the fun of it.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for Alt Hist and a contributor to Just Below the Law. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and his own writing blog. When not writing he works as an attorney and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.

Chicon 7 Starts Tomorrow!

Chicon 7 (a.k.a. WorldCon) starts tomorrow. I will be attending as a member of the press, but don't worry, I still plan to post Thursday and Friday so you can end your week with the usual alternate history goodies.

If you follow us on Twitter you can check in live when I announce the winners of the Sidewise Awards this Friday night at 9 pm CST. If you are attending Chicon you can find me there Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I will be out of town Sunday and Monday because of wedding so I won't be there for the end and I will also not be posting a Weekly Update on Monday. Sorry, I just won't have the time, but next Monday I will have two news posts to make up for what I missed last week.

This will be the last post I make about Chicon before the convention begins. Below is some important information for you to know if you are going.

Artist Guest of Honor Rowena Morrill Unable to Attend Chicon 7

Artist Guest of Honor Rowena Morrill will be unable to attend the convention. Rowena has recently been hospitalized following health problems, but is now recovering well. She has expressed her regret that she is unable to make a personal appearance at Worldcon.

Rowena's original art, prints and books will still be on display and for sale in the Chicon 7 Art Show and
Dealer's Room, and Rowena's many fans are encouraged to stop by to appreciate her work.

Chicon 7 Announces Mobile App for Android and Apple Devices

Chicon 7 is providing its members with an online application for handheld devices that provides key convention information. The app was developed in partnership with Viafo and is available for Android phones and tablets through Google Play, and will shortly be available for iPhone and iPad through the iTunes App Store.

The Chicon 7 app is an enhanced version of the software that was previously used for Renovation, the 2011 Worldcon. The app includes a full program schedule with item descriptions, times, and locations; a linked program participant list; social media integration; and hotel maps. A key improvement from Renovation is that the app now comes with an integrated version of the program database, enabling it to be used offline. Members can resynchronize the app at any time to provide the latest version of the program.

I have personally downloaded the app onto my phone and it has been very useful in helping me create my schedule. Full information and download details can be found on the Chicon 7 website.

Chicon 7 Confirms High Turnout for Hugo Awards Ballot, Announces More Ceremony Details

A total of 1922 valid final ballots were received, representing a 37.7% turnout. The figure of 1922 is the second highest ballot count in history after Renovation, the 2011 Worldcon. Chicon 7 previously announced an all-time record of 1101 nominating ballots, highlighting the ever-increasing interest and support for the Hugo Awards.

The 2012 Hugo Award winners will be announced on Sunday evening, September 2, at a formal ceremony in the Hyatt Regency Grand Ballroom. At Chicon 7's invitation, the host for the night will be Chicon 7's Toastmaster, Hugo and Campbell Award-winning author and blogger John Scalzi. Members can look forward to Scalzi's inimitable combination of insight, humor and sheer coolness throughout an exciting and entertaining event.

The Hugo Award ceremony will start at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live around the world via Ustream. In addition, the official Hugo Awards site will provide live text coverage via CoverItLive. The CoverItLive broadcast will be hosted by former Worldcon Co-Chairman Kevin Standlee and Campbell Award Nominee Mur Lafferty.

It is a Worldcon tradition that while the Hugo trophy itself always takes the form of a silver rocket, the base on which it stands is unique to each year. The 2012 Hugo Award base has been designed by Deb Kosiba, who previously designed the trophy bases for the 2005 and 2006 awards. Ms. Kosiba will be revealing and discussing the base design at the Chicon 7 Opening Ceremony on Thursday, August 30, and members are encouraged to attend for a first look at this coveted item.

The Hugo Awards are the premier award in the science fiction genre, honoring science fiction and fantasy literature and media as well as the genre's fans. The awards were first presented at the 1953 World Science Fiction Convention ("Worldcon") in Philadelphia (Philcon II), and Worldcons have continued to present the awards annually for nearly 60 years.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for Alt Hist and a contributor to Just Below the Law. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and his own writing blog. When not writing he works as an attorney and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.

Chicon 7 Unites the Past and Future of Electronic Gaming

Chicon 7 (Worldcon) is bringing together a unique pairing of historic and contemporary electronic games with free access for all convention members.

Historic games will be provided through Star Worlds Arcade of DeKalb, Illinois. Star Worlds is widely recognized as one of the last arcades with coin-operated games in the US, and takes particular pride in maintaining and refurbishing historic arcade games from the 1980s. Star Worlds will be bringing no fewer than 15 of these machines to the Chicon 7 concourse for exclusive use by Chicon 7 members throughout the convention. Games on offer are expected to include such classics as Space Invaders, Missile Command and Robotron.

Showing the huge developments in arcade games of the last 30 years, the concourse will also host six BattleTech Cockpit Simulator Pods. These cockpits, created by Virtual World Entertainment, are fully enclosed military style simulators that feature seven displays (one primary and six secondary) and a full set of 90 controls (footpedals, throttle, joystick and numerous buttons). When seated in the pod, the player pilots one of a selection of BattleMechs onto one of 25 landscapes to compete for battlefield superiority with those seated in surrounding cockpits. The BattleTech pods were invented in Chicago, so Chicon 7 is doubly pleased to offer its members the chance to try them out.

For more information, go to Arcade Classics and BattleTech pages on the Chicon 7 website.

Chicon 7 and Dragon*Con Announce Shared Programming Initiative

You have heard me talk about Dragon*Con in the past, especially when I interviewed the Director of the Alternate History Fan Track Dr. Q. Well this year Chicon 7 and Dragon*Con are teaming up as part of their Labor Day weekend activities.

For the first time, Worldcon and Dragon*Con will run joint programming through a two-way video link. Chicon 7 and Dragon*Con attendees will be able to sample the flavor of each other's events through a series of program items featuring participants at each location. In addition, Dragon*Con will show a live broadcast of the Hugo Awards Ceremony from Chicon 7, while Chicon 7 will present a video (previously recorded) of the unique Dragon*Con parade on the streets of downtown Atlanta, which features over 3,000 costumes.

Details of the joint programming can be found on the Chicon 7 website. Four shared program items have been scheduled for each day from Friday, August 31, to Sunday, September 2. Final details of program participants at each location will be added to the Chicon 7 website in the next week.

Chicon 7 Steps Up Art Activities with ASFA Support

More news from Worldcon. Chicon 7 will showcase science fiction and fantasy art with the support of ASFA, The Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists. ASFA is a non-profit organization of science fiction and fantasy artists that promotes art in the genre. ASFA has a long association with Worldcon going back to 1985, and traditionally presents the Chesley Awards during the event.

Chicon 7's art activities will include the Art Show, an Artist Showcase publication, a special exhibit from Guest of Honor Jane Frank, and the presentation of the Chesley Awards. The Art Show will be presented in the Regency Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel and will feature the work of over 100 artists including leading names in the field such as Artist Guest of Honor Rowena Morrill, Kelly Freas, Elizabeth Berrien, Richard Powers, and Don Maitz.  Original works and prints will be available in all price ranges from a few dollars to many thousands.

The Artist Showcase is a limited edition, 56-page, full color commemorative publication featuring biographies and selected artworks from the exhibiting artists. The Showcase will be available to Chicon 7 members from the Art Show and from the Sales to Members area, at a price of $10 per copy. A free, online, gallery of the exhibiting artists can also be found on the Chicon 7 website.

The Chicon 7 special art exhibit is the Frank Room, a recreation of the Haggard Room from Jane and Howard Frank's house. This room celebrates Jane and Howard's love of the works of H. Rider Haggard and features specially commissioned art illustrating many of Haggard's stories, in a room decorated with Victorian era furnishings. Artists represented in the Haggard room include Michael Whelan, Don Maitz, Bob Eggleton, Donato Giancola, Ian Miller, Jeff Jones, Richard Bober, and Steve Hickman.

The 2012 Chesley Awards ceremony will be held on Friday, August 31, starting at at 7:30 p.m. in the Comiskey Room at the Hyatt Regency. The Chesley Awards recognize individual artistic works and achievements in 11 categories, including cover illustration in hardcover, paperback, and magazine formats, interior illustration, unpublished color and monochrome work, three-dimensional art, product and gaming-related illustration, art direction, and overall artistic achievement.

Chicon 7 Presents Theatrical Double Bill of Neil Gaiman Stories

There is more to Chicon besides the Sidewise Awards. Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), is pleased to announce a theatrical double bill of plays adapted from two short stories by multiple Hugo award-winning author and screenwriter Neil Gaiman. In "Snow, Glass, Apples" Gaiman dissects the disturbing reasons for Snow White's snow-white skin and blood-red lips, while in "Troll Bridge" he replaces the Three Billy Goats Gruff with a feckless boy named Jack who carelessly trip-traps over the fateful bridge.

The Gaiman Theatre presentation is a co-production by Pintig Theatre (Chicago) and Socratic Theatre Collective (Toronto) in association with Tattle Tale Theatre (Dublin). The plays are directed by Ruth Pe Palileo and Liz Bragg.

The plays will be presented on the afternoons of Friday, August 31 and Saturday, September 1 as part of Chicon 7's extensive range of special events. Attendance will be open to Chicon 7 Adult and Young Adult members only as the material includes mature content.

More information can be found on the Chicon 7 website at www.chicon7.org/gaiman.php.

Are you going to Chicon 7?

When you are on the road of life, you can become so obsessed with reaching your destination, you blind yourself to the myriad other paths to take.  If you are lucky, however, someone will come along and point out the road less traveled.

That person was my brother, John.

It happened last Sunday.  We were standing on Montrose Beach listening to a classic rock cover band and drinking some beer.  I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.  I had finished the 5K obstacle course known as Beach Dash.  While my time could have been better, just completing the race was something I would not have accomplished 40 lbs ago.  So I was in a good mood and quite chatty.  I mentioned to my brother how much I looked forward to attending Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention, and see the Sidewise Awards for Alternate History be presented.  My brother, who is well aware of my obsession with alternate history, asked if I would be attending as a member of the press because of my blog. I laughed and said no, I could not qualify as a member of the press.  He asked why not.

That is when I realized I did not have an answer for him.  Why couldn't I apply for a press pass?  Do I know for sure whether blogs qualify?  

On Monday I checked out the Chicon site and discovered that for a blogger to be considered a member of the press, the blog "must be sufficiently on topic (or potentially so), and has been established at least 6 months."  Having just celebrated the one-year anniversary of a blog dedicated to alternate history I realized that Alternate History Weekly Update qualified.  Feeling  I had nothing to lose (I was going to attend regardless) I sent in my application and waited to hear back.

Yesterday, Chris M. Barkley, the press relations coordinator, informed me that I would be receiving a press pass for the convention.

This is really cool.  What started as something to keep me writing, even I had nothing to say, has given me so much more.  I read amazing books I would have passed over.  I meet and talk to interesting people who would have remained strangers to me had I remained silent.  Now I am attending an SF convention as a member of the press!  I get to see the Hugo Awards be presented and maybe even meet Mike Resnick. More importantly I get to hang out with authors and fans of alternate history when I go see who wins the Sidewise Awards this year.

So on to the big question: are you going to Chicon 7?  Maybe all of us AH fans can meet up to discuss our favorite what ifs and what have you.  It would also be cool to meet some of the readers of the blog in person.  I know a few places in the city, having lived and worked here  most of my life, that could accommodate a group of us.  Let me know if you are interested and who knows, maybe this will become an annual thing.  Meanwhile, I will keep you updated on Chicon news as it becomes available.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for Alt Hist and a contributor to Just Below the Law. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and his own writing blog. When not writing he works as an attorney and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.

Breaking News: 2011 Sidewise Award Nominees announced

The nominees for the 2011 Sidewise Award for Alternate History have been announced. The winners will be announced and awards presented at Chicon 7, this year’s Worldcon. The award, named for Murray Leinster’s short story, “Sidewise in Time,” was founded in 1995. This year’s judges include Stephen Baxter, Evelyn Leeper, Jim Rittenhouse, Stu Shiffman, Kurt Sidaway, and Steven H Silver.

Short Form

“The Iron Shirts,” by Michael F. Flynn
“Paradise Is a Walled Garden,” by Lisa Goldstein
“Orion Rising,” by Jason Stoddard
“Lee at the Alamo,” by Harry Turtledove

Long Form

Castro’s Bomb, by Robert Conroy
Himmler’s War, by Robert Conroy
Then Everything Changed, by Jeff Greenfield
Wake Up and Dream, by Ian R. MacLeod
Planesrunner, by Ian McDonald
Heart of Iron, by Ekaterina Sedia
Camera Obscura, by Lavie Tidhar

Weekly Update is making it a point to provide its readers with reviews on all the short stories and novels mentioned.  If you have read one of these stories and want to post a review, contact me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.  In the meantime check out our new poll asking you what short story should win the Short Form award.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for the Alt Hist magazine and a contributor to Just Below the Law. One of his short stories will be published in the upcoming Echelon Press anthology, Once Upon a Clockwork Tale (2013). When not writing he works as an attorney in the state of Illinois and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.