Fourteen years later, I’m fortunate to be in a unique position to look behind the curtain and watch the wizards creating the magic of Bucconeer. All the big and small details of running a Worldcon are being discussed now.

Decisions from badge design and volunteer benefits to at-the-door registration rates and function space allotment are being made now. “Should we include fannish names on badges?” “How can we fit a Hugo rocket into a bottle?” “What nights should we hold the Hugo Awards and Masquerade?” “No Michael, Bucconeer is never going to buy you a notebook computer.”

Oh, the sacrifices we make for Bucconeer—amateur brewmeister Dick Roepke is writing an article on Maryland microbrewed beers and brewpubs near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for our next progress report. Naturally, he needs to research the local pubs.

We will publish two more Broadsides and two more progress reports before Bucconeer. People have told me that they enjoy the fannish nature of the Broadsides—I like the informal newsletter format, which has given me an opportunity to play with the contents.

Write to me care of the Bucconeer postal address or pre.con.pubs@bucconeer.worldcon.org and let me know what you would like to see in our remaining pre-con publications.

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