NASFiC
StatusActive
GenreScience fiction
Location(s)North America
Inaugurated1975
Websitenasfic.org

NASFiC, an abbreviation for North American Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention scheduled in North America during years when a Worldcon is being held outside North America; NASFiCs are held only during such years.[1] Bids for the location of a NASFiC are voted on by the membership of the Worldcon (or NASFiC if it exists), the year after a non-North-American Worldcon site has been selected. As of 2014, this is one year in advance of a potential NASFiC, since Worldcon sites are chosen two years in advance.[2][3]

History

Activities at a NASFiC are similar to those at a Worldcon, but may differ somewhat with each convention committee. The convention may be held as an individual event or in conjunction with another convention. It generally occurs near the time of the Worldcon, but not in direct competition with it. Fourteen NASFiCs have occurred to date. The name NASFiC is owned by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS).

The late Robert Sacks organized an attempt to separate NASFiC from the World Science Fiction Society, similar to Eurocon, but WSFS has chosen to keep control of NASFiC.[4][5]

Conventions

This is a list of the NASFiCs held, or scheduled, to date:

Year Name City Guests of Honor Size Corresponding Worldcon
1st 1975 NASFiC[6] Los Angeles, California Harlan Ellison 1,100 33rd (Aussiecon One),
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2nd 1979 NorthAmeriCon '79 Louisville, Kentucky Frederik Pohl
George Scithers 		2,000 37th (Seacon),
Brighton, United Kingdom
3rd 1985 LoneStarCon 1 Austin, Texas Jack Vance
Richard Powers
Joanne Burger 		2,800 43rd (Aussiecon Two),
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
4th 1987 CactusCon[7] Phoenix, Arizona Hal Clement
Marjii Ellers 		3,000 45th (Conspiracy '87),
Brighton, United Kingdom
5th 1990 ConDiego San Diego, California Samuel R. Delany
Ben Yalow 		3,000 48th (ConFiction),
The Hague, Netherlands
6th 1995 Dragon*Con 1995 Atlanta, Georgia George Alec Effinger
Harlan Ellison
Timothy Zahn
Michael Whelan
Bjo Trimble 		14,312 53rd (Intersection),
Glasgow, Scotland
7th 1999 Conucopia Anaheim, California Jerry Pournelle
Ellen Datlow
Richard Lynch
Nicki Lynch 		1,734 57th (Aussiecon Three),
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
8th 2005 Cascadia Con[1][8] Seattle, Washington Fred Saberhagen
Liz Danforth
Toni Weisskopf
Kevin Standlee 		1,785 / 2,014
on site/total 		63rd (Interaction),
Glasgow, Scotland
9th 2007 Archon31/Tuckercon[9] Collinsville, Illinois Barbara Hambly
Darrell K. Sweet
Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett
James Ernest
Elizabeth Covey
Barry and Sally Childs-Helton
Nancy Hathaway
Lani Tupu
Richard Hatch 		1,950 65th (Nippon 2007),
Yokohama, Japan
10th 2010 ReConStruction[10] Raleigh, North Carolina Eric Flint
Brad W. Foster
Juanita Coulson
Toni Weisskopf 		~750 / ~900
on site/total 		68th (Aussiecon Four),
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
11th 2014 Detcon1[11] Detroit, Michigan Steven Barnes
John Picacio
Bernadette Bosky
Arthur D. Hlavaty
Kevin J. Maroney
Helen Greiner
Bill and Brenda Sutton
Roger Sims and Fred Prophet[2] 		1,450 / 1,628
on site/total 		72nd (Loncon 3),
London, England
12th 2017 NorthAmeriCon '17[12] San Juan, Puerto Rico Daina Chaviano
Tobias S. Buckell
George Perez
Paula Smith
Guy Consolmagno
Javier Grillo-Marxuach
 ~200 / ~575
on site/total 		75th (Worldcon 75),
Helsinki, Finland
13th 2019 SpikeCon[13] Layton, Utah David Weber
Laurell K Hamilton
Susan Chang
Vincent Villafranca
Linda Deneroff
Dragon Dronet
Bjo & John Trimble 		~800[14] 77th (Dublin 2019—An Irish Worldcon),
Dublin, Ireland
14th 2020 Columbus NASFiC 2020[15] Online
(originally planned for Columbus, Ohio) 		Brian Herbert
Kevin J. Anderson
Stephanie Law
Christopher J. Garcia
Marc Millis
Sue and Steve Francis
Eric Flint
 0 / unknown
on site/total 		78th (CoNZealand),
Online
(originally planned for Wellington, New Zealand)
15th 2023 Pemmi-Con[16] Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Julie E. Czerneda
Waubgeshig Rice
Nisi Shawl
John Mansfield
Philip John Currie
Lorna Toolis (posthumously, as Ghost Guest of Honor)
katherena vermette
George Freeman
Tanya Huff[17] 		509 / 849[18]
on site/total 		81st,
Chengdu, China
16th 2024 Buffalo NASFiC 2024[19][20] Buffalo, New York Alan Dean Foster
Nilah Magruder
Phil and Kaja Foglio
Tony and Suford Lewis
 TBD 82nd (Glasgow 2024),
Glasgow, Scotland

References

  1. ^ a b Martin, Jessica (August 29, 2005). "Science fiction Canadian style". SF Crowsnest. Retrieved August 14, 2009. Cascadia Con is the 8th North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC) in 30 years. A NASFiC is only held when the Worldcon for that year is outside of North America. In 2005 the Worldcon will be in Scotland and Seattle will host the NASFiC.
  2. ^ a b Pho, Diana M. (July 9, 2014). "SciFi in the Motor City: An Interview with the Committee of Detcon1". Tor.com. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  3. ^ WSFS Constitution accessed 2021-08-05
  4. ^ McMurray, Pat (June 1998). "Minutes of the Business Meeting 1993". The World Science Fiction Society. Worldcon.org. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  5. ^ McMurray, Pat (2000). "Minutes of the Business Meeting 1987". The World Science Fiction Society. Worldcon.org. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  6. ^ Morrison, Patt (September 7, 1975). "Sci Fi Confab Draws 'em All". Los Angeles Times. p. CS1. Retrieved August 14, 2009. The acronym sounded OK--but you got the feeling that if any of the guys at the four-day North American Science Fiction Convention at the Marriott Hotel [...]
  7. ^ Martin, Sue (April 23, 1987). "Many Resources for Fans of Fantasy and the 'Far Out'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 16, 2014. Phoenix will also host the Cactuscon/North American Science Fiction Convention (Sept. 3-6) at the Phoenix Hilton, Civic Plaza Convention Center and Hyatt Regency.
  8. ^ Chansanchai, Athima (September 1, 2005). "Sex in space? Sci-fi convention aims to please; Cascadia says it has something for every fan". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved August 14, 2009. If you have any interest in science fiction at all, you'll find something at Cascadia Con, an official North American Science Fiction Convention held only seven times since 1975. This makes eight, and for the first time, it's in the Seattle area. The five-day event, which begins today, is expected to draw 3,500 fans.
  9. ^ Schlueter, Roger (August 2, 2007). "Archon 31 promises a science fiction bonanza". Belleville News-Democrat. Retrieved August 14, 2009. This year's Archon simply has to be bigger and better, say the organizers, St. Louis Science Fiction Ltd. Not only is it serving as St. Louis' annual sci-fi-fantasy confab, but it is doubling as the 2007 North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC), because the world convention was awarded to a non-North American site (Yokohama, Japan).
  10. ^ "ReConStruction official website". ReConStruction. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
  11. ^ "Detcon1 official website". Detcon1. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  12. ^ "North Americon '17 official website". NorthAmericon17. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  13. ^ "Layton, Utah to host 2019 NASFiC". North American Science Fiction Convention. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  14. ^ "Spikecon Spoonfuls". File 770. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  15. ^ "Columbus NASFiC 2020 official website". Columbus NASFiC 2020. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  16. ^ "Pemmi-con 2023 - the 2023 Nasfic Winnipeg". Pemmi-con 2023. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  17. ^ "Guests of Honour - Pemmi-Con". Pemmi-Con 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  18. ^ ((cite web |url=https://main.pemmi-con.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mooseletter-4.pdf%7C access-date=26 July 2023))
  19. ^ https://buffalonasfic2024.org/. Retrieved 26 July 2023. ((cite web)): Missing or empty |title= (help)
  20. ^ "Buffalo NASFiC 2024 Announces Guests of Honor". File 770. Retrieved 2022-07-23.

External links

North American Science Fiction Conventions
Categories