Anarchic revelers have Burning Man; Hunter S. Thompson had the Mint 500; my compatriots and I have CONduit–Utah’s largest science fiction and fantasy convention.
Held each year during the last weekend in May, this year marked the event’s 17th birthday.
The CON means a great many things to a great many people. For giddy fans, it’s a chance to meet heroes–or at least the creators of those heroes. For the creators, it presents an opportunity for vital networking. And for both, the CON provides an opportunity to be among one’s own.
In past years, I have fallen distinctly into the admiring fan-boy category, though this year my purpose in attending the convention was somewhat different.
I was on a quest to better grasp the vitality of the world of speculative fiction–“a savage journey to the heart of American dreams,” so to speak. I was to crawl inside the great beast and attempt to illustrate the strange and singular beauty of the thing.
Day One
Upon arrival, the scene is hectic, as preparations are made for the coming horde–one more ferocious than any Uruk-hai war band.
The frantic energy in the main hall shifts to a practiced ease as things settle into the traditional schedule of rotating panels and events.
The events are well rounded. An interested party can attend a variety of discussions on various aspects of the fiction genre, the crafting of chain mail or the state of modern comic book publishing.
Among the events is a showing of Machinima films, courtesy of a group of computer science students from the U.
Machinima is a film genre created by manipulating the graphics engines of popular video games. The show opens with a CG adaptation of “Macbeth” and is followed by the group’s magnum opus: a humorous space opera entitled, “The Frohman Chronicles”–complete with spin-off shorts and a blooper reel.
The culminating event of the first day is the ice cream social, where one can see anime schoolgirls mingle with Jedi Knights and Trekkers while quality ice cream is available for the bargain price of 25 cents.
Riding high off of my post-dessert buzz, I decide to sit in on the filk concert.
Filk, for those not in the know, is a form of music that blends traditional folk with elements of fantasy or science fiction–sort of a musical fan-fiction, but with original content as well. The “filkers” are a die-hard group and their filk circle runs into the wee hours of the night.
They open things up with a humorous ditty about the na’vet of Hobbits. The chorus includes the lyrics: “That’s how they change the light bulbs in the Brandywine.” This is prefaced with an absurd description of how a Hobbit might go about changing a light bulb and is–I assure you–most unflattering to Halfling intelligence.
Regardless of the peculiarity of the stuff, filk has a sort of hypnotic power. Sitting dead tired on the floor of a hotel ballroom in the middle of the night, I cannot help but let the acoustic strumming wash over me as the mellow majesty of the scene envelops my mind.
Day Two
Morning comes early at the CON.
At 8 a.m., Tai Chi and Yoga classes are available for the geek-on-the-go.
After a bit of deliberation with the event staff, day two shifts from the gentle breeze of my average CONduit experience into a full gale.
The convention committee provides me with unprecedented access and has scheduled me for a full day of interviews.
My first formal interview is with noted author and Utah native L.E. Modesitt, who is chiefly known for his series of books The Saga of Recluse.
Modesitt opines about the grim state of modernity and its implications with our ability to understand what’s to come.
“I worry about where science fiction is going in the future,” Modesitt said. “Arthur C. Clarke once made the observation that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The problem today is that we have a sufficiently advanced technology and people tend to treat it as magic. On this planet we have instantaneous communications. What this means is we’re living in a society which focuses more and more on instant gratification.”
Modesitt worries that this perspective is hindering the science-fiction genre.
“How do you deal with travel to the nearest star taking probably somewhere between eight to 30 years one way, and a society who wants an instant response? Editors have told me that it’s getting harder and harder to find really good science fiction, but there’s a tremendous boom in fantasy. I don’t think this is accidental. We live in a magic society.”
Modesitt’s words ring true and lead me to take a breather in the CONsuite–the hospitality area where free sustenance and conversation can oft be enjoyed.
No rest for the wicked, though. My next meeting is with Anne Wingate, writer of the Deb Ralston and Mark Shigata series of mystery books.
She illuminates the value of speculative fiction as we discuss her work. “All science fiction and fantasy explores the question of what is human and what is not human. It comes closer to showing us who we are than other fiction,” Wingate said.
Her words take on new meaning as I find my way into a panel on furries–fans of stories, comics and movies which feature anthropomorphic animal characters–presented by a meerkat enthusiast and a self-avowed werewolf.
Both have a sincere appreciation and affinity for animals. The panel discusses aspects of the fandom and what it means to be furry, briefly touching on yiff–something I’ll let you Google on your own time.
Eager to clear my head after the hustle and bustle of the day, I find myself watching Japanese cartoons in the anime room sometime after midnight. Here one can get a dose of Far East pop culture throughout the entire convention, as they pump the stuff in 24 hours a day.
I end up minding the anime scene for a couple of all-night volunteers itching for a filk break from the elliptic seizure-inducing cartoon action. I zone out in the picture and wonder when, or if, they’re coming back. A long day two comes to a much-needed close.
Day Three
For the record, the anime room organizers returned after not too long and I was able to spend the night in my reasonably comfortable hotel bed rather than the wobbly hotel chair.
I’m sure the suspense was quite gripping.
Today I am allotted time with CONduit’s guests of honor: author David Weber. I join the creator of the esteemed Honor Harrington series of military sci-fi novels for lunch at the hotel restaurant.
Over bruschetta, he sheds light on the overwhelming popularity of speculative fiction as a genre. “Science fiction serves the same purpose in a post-technological society as fairy tales did before it. (Speculative fiction) offers outsiders a view of a different society into which they might fit better,” Weber said.
Lack of sleep and frazzled nerves find me somehow having coffee with Mike Dringenberg–one of the original artists of the watershed DC comic book series Sandman.
When asked what he feels the significance of fantasy is, he gives his opinion with full disclosure.
“Pure adolescent fantasy. When you’re in your adolescence you’re absolutely alive, and to a certain extent you’re like a 1-year-old kitten: jumping at anything that moves,” Dringenberg said. “There is a wonderful adolescent joy in this. Fantasy illustration is a way of recreating that experience after you’ve had it.”
Things begin to draw to a close and volunteers start to dismantle the fixtures. Guests and visitors collect into final puddles of conversation.
The closing ceremony presents one last chance for cheers and jeers about the year’s convention, and then comes the Dead Dog party–a casual get-together in the CONsuite for drinks and light refreshment.
Then the beast is gone as suddenly as it came–and with much less fanfare.
Science
fiction and fantasy bring people together in their shared capacity to imagine and hope for some kind of better world.
The most beautiful manifestation of the way imagination brings us together occurs when the sense of community is at its strongest: among the filkers, the gamers, the furries and all those who band together to celebrate their passions regardless of whether the outside world accepts them.
CONduit chairman Mike Oberg captured this sense of community best when he said, “I work in conventions because science fiction and fantasy have given me so much. They have helped forge me into who I have become. I feel I have to give a little back to the things that have given me so much.”
A group of science fiction and fantasy gamers play Dungeons and Dragons at the CONduit XVII Convention at the Radisson Hotel downtown. The yearly event is held during the last weekend in May, giving sci-fi and fantasy lovers a chance to watch themed performances, meet the authors of some sci-fi and fantasy series, play games and even attend Tai Chi and Yoga classes.