Helmuth 4 for Sunday, February 15, 2004

Edited by Laurie Mann, Ruth Sachter and Sarah Prince

Logo by Suford

A Message from Chairman Rick Katze

Thanks to the volunteers, staff, and committee for your help in producing this Boskone! You did a great job!! And many thanks to the guests.

George R. R. Martin Wins Skylark!

The New England Science Fiction Association gave its annual Skylark Award to George R. R. Martin.

NESFA Short Story Contest Results

Winner: "White Like Me" by Tony Reidy

Runner-up: "The Kith" by Anjani Rogenski

Honorable Mention: "Pre-Columbian Art" by Ramon Rozas III and "The Welsh Squadron" by Margaret Ronald.

Justin Sweet Wins Gaughan Award

Gaughan Award Administrators Bob Eggleton and Richard Hescox announced that Justin Sweet won the Gaughan Award.

Hal Clement Charity Auction

Boskone raised $1,509 at the Clement Auction to benefit the Joslin Diabetes Clinic. Thanks to all who donated materials or bought items!

Program Change

Daniel Hatch will not be on "Stuff you Probably Missed" at noon today.

Call for Volunteers

As always, Boskone needs you to give a few hours of your time to help us tear down and move out the convention. We need people to help take down the art show and help get the convention materials to the trucks. We encourage volunteers to stop by the Information area on the second floor (near the stairs) or report to the Back Bay Ballroom anytime to volunteer.

Sunday Night Parties

Convention Dead Dog, Con Suite (Commonwealth), Tonight

Frogsmart.com Dead Dog Party, Room 904, 8pm-???

News from the Mall

The Narnia kiosk (in the mall between the Food Court and Legal Sea Food) changed its name recently. It used to be called Gormenghast, but no one understood what that meant...

The Triumphant Return of the Devniad!

Notes from Boskone panels by Bob Devney

"Robert Heinlein was pretty proud of opening up the first nudist colony west of the Mississippi," Charles N. Brown, "Changing Perceptions of Robert A. Heinlein."

"Fantasy, like science fiction, is a field that's largely been defined by its own worst examples." George R. R. Martin, "A Look at the Best Recent Fantasy"

"Should we use the frozen sperm of a dead man? Technology constantly presents us with these brand-new ethical dilemmas."
"We seem to be smart enough to wreck things, but not smart enough to fix anything...As far as human destiny is concerned, I'm an optimist, but a guarded optimist." Stephen Baxter, "Human Destiny."

"I don't know if you know this or not, but that painting of yours ended up in the Saddam Hussein collection." Bob Eggleton surprised Richard Hescox.

"Oxygen. He was necessary for our life." Tony Lewis describes the importance of Hal Clement to fandom.

"Every aspiring writer on the Internet linked to my Weblog piece on rejection letters, and said, 'Okay, you guys need to read this.'" Teresa Nielsen Hayden

"I was sitting in the hall at Readercon last summer and Kathryn Cramer walked by me with her kids. And I said to the friend next to me, 'You see that woman? She doesn't know me. But I know that 2 days ago, she dropped her baby on its head.'" Leslie Turek on reading Kathryn Cramer's Weblog.

Weather Whining

It's not Sn*k*ne but...Chillcon anyone?

The temperature is in the 20s and very windy. Beware of the windchill.

The Boskone Dinner Thing: Meet & Eat!

Want to meet other fans at Boskone? Come to Information (2^nd floor) and create your own meal group or sign up for an existing one. This is a mechanism for fans with similar interests in SF and food to get together in an informal atmosphere.

The Black Fin, a fine restaurant between the Colonnade and the Marriott, has a small menu with outstanding food, including some great desserts.

Boskone 41 Art Show Awards

Popular Choice - Best Professional Artist - Bob Eggleton

Honorable Mention - Richard Hescox, Ruth Sanderson

Popular Choice - Best Amateur Artist - Linda Champanier

Guest of Honor's Choice - Richard Bober - Nightside of the Long Sun (prelim)

Chairman's Choice Richard Hescox - Space Vectors

Art Show Directors' Choice - Rick Berry - Debutante
Marc A. Fishman - The Beast

Staff Choice - Marilyn Pride - A Species of Insect Eating Dragon

Security Guard's Choice Joleen Flasher - End of the Storm

Judges' Choices Rick Berry - Refugees
Richard Bober - City of Bones
Linda Champanier - Dragon Dreams
Gloria Conwell - Galaxy Bowl
Bob Eggleton - Cole's Spaceship
Bob Eggleton - Mars 1960
Marc A. Fishman - Midsummer Night's Dream
Richard Hescox - Mission Tori
Richard Hescox - Offering
Charles Lang - Ribot
Charles Lang - The Sad Fate That Befell the Crew of Lava One
Margaret Organ-Kean - Far Places
Marianne Plumridge - Old Man Kangaroo
Dave Seeley - Heat Stroke
Dave Seeley - Marque and Reprisal
Abranda Sisson - Priestess of Avalon
Cortney Skinner - body of work
Lisa Snellings-Clark - Rachel

Lizards and Blizzards

Hotels burning down two weeks before the convention, hurricanes, homicidal fans, sticky-fingered treasurers, and other interesting times paled beside "Concom Hell" when it came to naming the "Worst Convention-Running Nightmare" on Saturday afternoon.

"Guest of Honor Hell" placed second following nightmarish tales from both sides of the table. Everyone agreed that it's far worse when the convention does wrong by the guest than vice versa.

The panelists and audience spent enough of the hour laughing that it seems probable that fans will continue running conventions for the foreseeable future...