71st World Science Fiction Convention


The 71st World Science Fiction Convention, also known as LoneStarCon 3, was held in San Antonio, Texas, on August 29-September 2, 2013, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and Marriott Rivercenter. The convention committee was chaired by Randall Shepherd. The convention was organized by Alamo Literary Arts Maintenance Organization, Inc. which had previously organized LoneStarCon 2, the 55th World Science Fiction Convention, held in San Antonio in 1997.

Program and participants

The Guests of Honor were editor Ellen Datlow, author James Gunn, fan Willie Siros, author Norman Spinrad, and artist Darrell K. Sweet. Paul Cornell served as Toastmaster for the event. Special guests were musician Leslie Fish and author Joe R. Lansdale.
Programming included hundreds of panels, screenings, concerts, signings, meetings, and other events on topics including women in aerospace, Doctor Who, molecular gastronomy, the Vatican library, the histories of both science fiction and its fandom, plus readings of current work by attending authors. More than a dozen panels focused on Texas and its role in speculative fiction plus nearly as many on the life and work of author Robert E. Howard.
The conventions several hundred program participants included authors Lois McMaster Bujold, George R.R. Martin, Jo Walton, Howard Waldrop, and Bradley Denton plus artists John Picacio, Vincent Villafranca, and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman.

Site selection

Committees who had announced bids to host the 2013 Worldcon included "Zagreb in 2013", "Texas in 2013", and a hoax bid for "Minneapolis in 5773". Only "Texas in 2013" qualified to be on the official ballot. As such, Texas' bid to host the Worldcon was formally unopposed and won in balloting among members of Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Reno, Nevada, in August 2011. With 760 valid ballots cast, Texas received 694 votes beating out No Preference with 25 and None of the Above with 14. Write-in candidates included Xerpes with 6, Minneapolis with 5, Denton with 5, Boston with 3, and a number of single-vote entries.

Awards

Hugo Awards

The base for the 2013 Hugo trophy was cast in bronze by artist Vincent Villafranca and depicts an astronaut and several aliens reading books while seated around the globe on which the traditional Hugo Award rocket has landed.
The Hugo ceremony was hosted by toastmaster Paul Cornell in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Rivercenter in downtown San Antonio. Presentations included the Big Heart Award to Tom Veal by First Fandom, an ' reel featuring music by Leslie Fish, and a comedy routine by author Robert Silverberg. The proceedings were broadcast in partnership with Ustream but technical issues on-site kept the entire ceremony from being broadcast live.
The LoneStarCon3 masquerade was held on Friday, 31 August with 29 entrants.
The masquerade director was Jill Eastlake and the master of ceremonies was Paul Cornell. The judges were John O'Halloran, Pierre Pettinger and Sandy Pettinger for performance; and John Hertz and Michele Weinstein for workmanship.
The winners, across four experience-based categories, were:

Young Fan division

Workmanship awards:
Performance awards:
Workmanship awards:
Performance awards:
Workmanship awards:
Performance awards:
Workmanship awards:
Performance awards:

2015 Worldcon

Three committees announced bids and qualified to be on the site selection ballot for the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention: "Helsinki in 2015" to be held August 6–10, 2015, "Spokane in 2015" to be held August 19–23, 2015, and "Orlando in 2015" to be held September 2–6, 2015. The first contested Worldcon selection since the 2006 vote for the 2008 Worldcon site saw active campaigning and drew celebrity endorsements.
Spokane won the site selection contest on the third round of ballot counting in Australian-style preferential balloting. Spokane finished with 645 votes, gaining a majority over Helsinki with 610. Orlando was dropped in the second round with 307 votes and "none of the above" had been eliminated in the first round. Spokane's Worldcon is named "Sasquan".

2014 NASFiC

Two committees announced bids and qualified to be on the site selection ballot for the 2014 North American Science Fiction Convention : "Detroit in 2014" to be held July 17–20, 2014, and "Phoenix in 2014" to be held July 30–August 3, 2014. Detroit's bid was certified as the winner with 231 votes over Phoenix with 210 votes. Detroit needed at least 223 votes to win in the first round, based on the total of 453 valid votes cast. Detroit's NASFiC is named "Detcon1".