SWANCON XXX

A Festival of the Imagination, A Carnival of the Senses

Easter  March 24-28 2005
www.swancon.com

PROGRESS REPORT ONE
July 2004

Welcome to the future, and the first progress report for Swancon XXX.

In future, Swancon updates will be available in PDF and RTF format. If you wish to continue receiving PRs in hardcopy format, we beg you to reconsider. We as a committee feel that the amount of paper used when we have many viable alternative means of communication is a Bad Thing ™. We will continue sending hardcopy out to our members until they specifically ask us to stop. Please consider this, not only for the environmental impact, but also the effect to Swancon budgets.  E-mail us or return the enclosed form when you purchase your spanky new T-Shirt, and we’ll be very pleased to stop cluttering up your paper-free office.

More Invited Guests (New Ones!)

Shaun Tan is an amazing visual artist and author; creator of “The Red Tree” and “The Lost Thing,” prolific and generous illustrator of Australian speculative fiction and fantasy magazines, former art editor of Eidolon, and cover artist to the stars. He also has a BA in Literature, and has won heaps of awards, including “Illustrators of the Future Award” (1991), “Australian National Science Fiction Best Artist Award” in both 1995 and 1996, the “Convocation Award for Art Criticism and Fine Arts” awards for exhibitions in Kalgoorlie, Melville and Wanneroo.

Terry Dowling is the author of “Rynosseros,” “Blackwater Days,” “An Intimate Knowledge of the Night,” and much more.  He’s won ten Ditmars for his fiction, co-edited “The Essential Ellison”, for which he and his co-editors won the Bram Stoker Award (1987), currently reviews speculative fiction for The Australian, and is a former regular guest on “Mr Squiggle”. He has also won three Aurealis awards, and has been known to write rather successful video adventure games. Pssssst… he also filks. Don’t tell any one, it’s a secret! 

Our Guests of Honour Charles de Lint

Guest of Honour Charles de Lint is the author of over 50 books beloved by readers of genres.   He describes most of his work as "mythic fiction", or rather “basically mainstream writing that incorporates elements of myth and folktale, rather than secondary world fantasy".  These, particularly his wonderful Newford stories, have won him a variety of accolades, including the World Fantasy Award, the Aurora, and the Prix Ozone.  His works have also incorporated dark fantasy elements, science fiction, and illustrated children's books, and Charles is also well known for his Celtic & Americana music abilities, having been involved in various bands over the past 26 years 

For those of you looking for his work, the many titles are available in Australia via the Dymocks website, including: “The Onion Girl” (2001), “Forests of the Heart” (2000), “Someplace to Be Flying” (1998), “Trader” (1997), “Jack of Kinrowan” which is an omnibus containing “Jack the Giant Killer” and “Drink Down the Moon” and many, many more. Charles’ works are also available as E-Books from http://www.peanutpress.com/.  Excerpts, reviews, and a complete bibliography of Charles's work can be found on his website: http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/ 

Other Special Guests of Honour

Our Special Guest MaryAnn Harris is an artist, editor, musician, and collector of treasures. MaryAnn and Charles play regularly, with MaryAnn’s talents including mandolin, guitar, vocals and bodhran (Irish drum). MaryAnn also has a web page, located here:  http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/mah/

Guest Grant Watson has written plays, directed plays, acted in plays upon occasion, and we love him for his Angriest Video Clerk comic book series, which is shortly be available in graphic novel form. He has also won many Ditmar awards, been involved in many short films, and been involved in Fandom for over a decade. Most famous for his rants about Dr Who, Grant promises to be a lively and entertaining Guest who happens to have a blog at: http://angriest.blogspot.com/

Fan Guest

Anna Hepworth has been delighting, entertaining and organising Perth fans for the past ten years. She is an editor, musician, mother, co-ordinator, dancer and friend. During this time, she has been on two Swancon committees, three Borderlands convention committees and is layout editor for Borderlands magazine. *mwahhhh* Fan Guest of Honour Anna Hepworth has a blog at: http://thirdmonkey.blogspot.com/

Special Most Beautiful and Most Fictional Guest

Simono, the Most Beautiful Fan in the World, does not want a website, after all how can such a thing of beauty as himself be captured in the stillness of photography? Far too busy being beautiful to bother with the mundane, Simono does not yet have a website, but has promised to set one up as soon as he’s finished washing his hair. 

Have You Got Your Membership?

Memberships are $95 until October 11th, just after the end of the Wasteland Convention, which is also at The Emerald.  A new, higher price will come into effect after the Dinner with Sean Williams, so make sure you are there!  A membership form is enclosed with this PR, plus T-Shirt registration form.  Memberships are also available from Tactics, JAFWA and from the committee. In the efforts of environmental happiness, an online form will be on the webpage shortly. 

More than 100 memberships have been sold since Swancon 29.  We regret that it has been necessary to cap memberships at 250, but would like to point out that this is more people than attended last Swancon, including full and day memberships. We’d also like to note that the 2005 Natcon has a current cap of 150 persons. The alternative would have been to increase membership costs by roughly 40%, so please buy your membership early and avoid the rush! Grab a committee member today!

More Movie Screenings!

The “Day After Tomorrow”, “Shrek 2”, and the “Chronicles of Riddick” have been screened and were quite successful. A great time was had by all! The following films are yet to come. As we all know, the cinemas are wont to change things with very little notice, so please check out any of the communication mediums available closer to the dates for more up-to-date information. 

“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow “ (July 29), This film is has Angelina Jolie in it. What more do you need to know? Gwyneth Paltrow also gets a mention (she is the lead character after all) and there are evil scientists. It also includes Giant Robots, Flying Wings, and Mechanical Crabs. Plus, editors have been piecing together footage of Lawrence Olivier in a special posthumous role as the evil human leader of an army of robot killers!  This is going to be awesome! 

“Hellboy” (Sep 2): Derived from the comic by the same name, Hellboy promises to be a visual feast with stunning CGI, on top of beautifully choreographed fight scenes and an intricate and interesting plot. If you read the comic, all reviews point to positive, so grab a group of friends for this movie’s debut. 

“Alien vs Predator” (Sep 16): Who’s been waiting eagerly for this one? In the tradition of suave, fast paced violence and aliens which scare the sh*t out of people, AVP comes to our screens to answer the age old question; which is the better monster, Alien or Predator. (Kind of like Sigourney Weaver’s pet versus Arnold Swarzeneggar’s pet. Isn’t this sort of thing illegal?) Come see it when it comes out with us! 

“Blade: Trinity” (Sep 30): Yes, they have made a third one! With an equally rocking soundtrack and equally brilliant plot as the last two, this is sure to be the gore splattered kick-ass vampire-fest we know and love from the Blade films. Come and see some films with fellow fans and support Swancon XXX.

T-Shirt T-Shirt T-Shirt T-Shirt  T-Shirt Mushroom Mushroom …er…oops…

In response to the wails of “You didn’t print enough!” and other less printable complaints, there will be another run of Swancon XXX shirts with the wonderful Brian Choo design on August 30, for $20 each ($25 for long sleeves).  Anyone wanting non-fannish colours or sizes (e.g. anything smaller than large, larger than XL, or any colour other than Model T Ford black), or long sleeves, should place an order by e-mailing Swancon30@westnet.com.au or using the form enclosed by 23/8. Black L and XL T-shirts will be on sale at Wastelands, GenghisCon, and Swancon XXX. Please be prepared to pay for your T-Shirt on delivery, or feel free to send us a cheque!

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
  
Eat! If you’re not selling chocolate now for a good cause, then let us know about it! Email Sarah and the committee on swancon30@westnet.net.au now!
Drink! Sarah is getting very excited about selling WINE for Swancon! Yes, Margaret River Reds, Whites and Champagne at an extraordinarily reasonable price for the good of Swancon! There will be a tasting session, however more details are to come! Watch out all the Swancon spaces for more updates later. 
Be Merry! Dinner with Sean Williams! Save the 13th of October for Dinner with Sean Williams! On the Wednesday after Wastelands, Swancon is holding a fundraising meal thanks to Wastelands’ Guest of Honour Sean. Be treated to delicious food, and great company, listen to Sean rant about whatever takes his interest, and all this for only $50 a head! Book now as seats will be limited. More details to come! 

Wedding Bells

Plans for Lyn and Lee's wedding were vaguely halted for a while after being given the news of an impending arrival: a baby, nicknamed 'Nemo', due in early December! After a threatened miscarriage, all is well, and plans are back on track: Music is being chosen (although much discussion over Elton John's "The Bitch Is Back" has ensued), rings have been bought, Lyn has her dress,(bought three days before they found out about the baby...) and they're about to start tracking down a celebrant brave enough to stand in front of everyone without shaking. The happy couple are due to meet with the Emerald Hotel in the next couple of weeks and thrash out plans for the ceremony.

PS: The grapevine informs us that plans for Lyn's hen's night are being formulated deep in a secret bunker far from spies and scrying pools. Contact Calli on Callisto@gmail.com if you'd like to turn your own special brand of evil toward helping...

Hucksters

Hucksters tables are open for booking! Book for hucksters’ tables now by e-mailing Steve at Swancon30@westnet.com.au. Please note, that Hucksters will need to move their tables and goods every night as we need the space to Party Hard! 

SWANCON XXX
Easter  March 24-28 2005
www.swancon.com
Registration Form

Name (legal)										
Name (For Badge, if different)							
Address										
Suburb/City										
Postcode			Country						
E-mail											
Phone											
Would like to volunteer for (gopher, day manager, panels, etc.):			

T-shirt orders: (colour, size, sleeve length)						
											
Yes, I would prefer to receive my newsletter by e-mail/snail-mail (Please circle your choice)
Please mail form to:
Swancon 2005
C/- PO Box 212
Osborne Park 6917
Western Australia.
Or e-mail: Swancon30@westnet.com.au

Swancon XXX Programming Questionnaire
Please rate the following subjects and formats from 0 to 5, with 5 being ‘Reason for Living’ and 0 being ‘Would rather watch paint dry (or Matrix Revolutions)’

Academic papers
Panels
Moderated discussions
Demonstrations/workshops
Author readings
Science fiction novels and short stories
Science fiction films
Fantasy novels/series
Fantasy films
Horror novels and short stories
Horror films
Writing, the art of
Writing, the business of
Role-playing games
Collectable card games
Computer games
Other games
Anime
Other animation
Manga
Superhero comics/movies
Other comics
Physical sciences
Life sciences
Social sciences
Technology
Religion and mythology
Politics
Conspiracy theories
Fannish history
Medieval or other history
SCA/Grey company
Martial arts
Star Trek series
Babylon 5
Doctor Who
The Prisoner
Blake’s 7
Buffy and/or Angel
Xena and/or Hercules
X-files
Other TV series (90s and later)
Other TV series (70s and 80s)
Other TV series (60s and earlier)
SF/F on radio
SF/F theatre
SF/F music
SF/F Illustration/covers
Poetry
Filk
Fanzines and blogs
Slash
Feminism/gender issues
Gay/queer issues
Adults-only programming
Children’s programming

Need More Info? Feed the Beast!

In today’s Technological world, there are a huge number of ways to keep your eye on Swancon. If you haven’t checked out our Webpage, http://www.swancon.com/ do so today. Other ways you can keep a watch on us include the Livejournal Community “Swancon” and also Perth Fandom has a Gossip Blog at, http://PFBG.blogspot.com/, where rumours, lies, gossip and the occasional update from Swancon will appear. These are friendly forums where any one can post. Don’t forget, if you are not yet on the Swancon E-Mailing list, then you should be! And if you’re on Orkut, check out the Orkut Swancon group. Here’s your chance to watch us like hawks, make suggestions, volunteer to sell chocolate, and catch up with friends you usually only see once a year! 

More about the Emerald Hotel [24 Mount Street, Perth]

The Committee has walked the Emerald twice now and are pleased to report the facilities are all we could wish and the hotel staff are most helpful.  The gaming suite includes two sizeable rooms, a kitchen and bathroom, and there will be overflow gaming space available on the ground floor near Registration or in the fan lounge, which will be supplied with tea and coffee.  As well as our main function rooms, the Emerald has also given us the bar during the day, and several other rooms excellent for a children’s programme, author readings, and other activities.

The hotel shop will be stocked with sandwiches, chocolate, and most things necessary to fan survival.  The guest rooms are well supplied, including microwave ovens as well as the usual tea and coffee and fridge facilities.  Some of the rooms are in two parts, a bedroom half and a passage going past the sideboard with oven, fridge etc to a sitting room area.  Other rooms are one big space, so let the hotel know which kind you would prefer when you book.

The Committee

Elaine Kemp – Con Chair and Venue Liaison
Stephen [Steveg] Gunnell – Treasurer
Sue Isle – Secretary
Stephen Dedman – Programmer and Guest Liaison
Alistair McKie – Department of Youth and Chief Minion
Cathy Cupitt – Academic Stream Co-ordinator and Swancon 29 Liaison
Craig Greenbank – Video Stream
prk and Tori – Gaming Stream

Contacting the Committee

Swancon30@westnet.com.au

Logo © Brian Choo.  Thanks, Brian.