C.J. Cherryh's first science fiction novel, Gate of Ivrel, was published in 1976. Her work was immediately recognized as special and she received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer at SunCon, the 1977 Worldcon in Miami Beach, Florida.
In 1979, she won her first Hugo Award for her story, "Cassandra," at SeaCon in Brighton, UK.
Since then, she has won two additional Hugos. In Chicago, at Chicon IV in 1982, her novel Downbelow Station won. In 1989, Cyteen won the Hugo at Noreascon III in Boston and the Locus Award for Best SF Novel of 1988.
Sixty years ago, Milton A. Rothman cofounded the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society along with Jack Baltadonis and Bob Madle. At 17, he chaired the first science fiction convention, Philcon, in the basement of his father's house. Milt chaired the first Philadelphia Worldcon in 1947 and stepped in to replace Jim Williams as chairman of the 1953 Philadelphia Worldcon after Jim's death. Milt has had stories published in Astounding, Analog, and Asimov's. He has written several books on science, such as Discovering The Natural Laws and A Physicist's Guide to Skepticism.
Stanley Schmidt has been the editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine since 1978. He earned a Ph.D. in physics in 1969 and taught at Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio before taking over the editorship of Analog.
Stan's first sf story was published in Analog in 1968. He has written several novels, starting with Newton and the Quasi-Apple in 1975. Stan still finds time to write. His experience has enabled him to maintain Analog as the premiere outlet for hard sf stories and science articles.
Michael Whelan won his first Hugo in 1980. Eleven of his Hugos have been for Best Professional Artist, most recently in 1992. His book, Michael Whelan's Works of Wonders, won the Nonfiction Book Hugo in 1988. Michael studied art and biology at San Jose State University. In 1975 he began illustrating science fiction book covers for DAW Books. His early work was collected in Wonderbooks in 1979.
Our toastmaster, Charles Sheffield, is also a physicist and writer. His first SF story, "What Song the Sirens Sang," was published in Galaxy in 1977. "Georgia on my Mind," won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novelette. His short stories, novels, nonfiction books, and articles explore the future and our place in the Universe.
"A mind that is stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimensions"
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
It's been a long time since I was asked, "Why do you read that strange Buck Rogers stuff anyway?" Telling my tormentor that the book I was reading was written by James H. Schmitz or Ursula K. LeGuin, not Philip Francis Nowlan or Gene Wyckoff, did nothing to staunch their skepticism.
Oliver Wendell Holmes' message underlines the core reason for World Science Fiction Conventions. Ideas, in many forms, appeal to science fiction fans. Written science fiction is a large part of our heritage, but the breadth of our annual reunion reaches far beyond the exploration of the printed page.
The Worldcon gives us the opportunity to sample many other realities. Myriad enthusiasms, camaraderie and knowledge freely shared encourage science fiction fans to explore that which 'might be' and that which our society accepts as 'reality'.
The question now asked by mundane and fans alike is only slightly different, "Why are you spending years of your life working on a World Science Fiction Convention?" The most popular answer (from everyone on any of the 1998 bid committees) seemed to be, "Because I'm crazy!"
There is some truth to that response! However, our new dimensions balance the physical, mental, and monetary costs of working on a Worldcon. This is why so many of us, at the end of a convention, look back at all the work and say, "I'm afraid that I'm going to remember this as a wonderful experience!" Ah, a new way of viewing the torture chamber!
We're trying to increase the pleasure and decrease the pain of working on a Worldcon by trying some experiments. Rather than making many appointments for jobs right away, we are attempting to time appointments to encourage sensible planning while not diverting people's time and interest from other tasks. Before appointments are made, interested individuals brainstorm the task. They discuss and document the costs, benefits and known hazards of each task, how it fits in with the rest of Bucconeer, the resources available (people, budget, space), etc.
We have urged our committee members to think, dream, hope, and write down good ideas for lots of things (like Programming ideas, Opening Ceremonies, Closing Ceremonies, the Hugos, GoH exhibits, an evening "mixer," etc.), but not to promise that we'll do something or that a particular person will be the person to handle an activity!
We encourage you to complete and return the questionnaire that we will be including in our Progress Report One. We'd appreciate your input via the questionnaire or a letter and your assistance before and during Bucconeer!
C.J. Cherryh fans will be happy to hear that she is writing several books, both sf and fantasy. C.J. will be attending Dragoncon in July. In addition, she will be traveling in the central U.S. (and probably Seattle) this summer to do book signings.
She's also arranging a web page, which is turning into quite an undertaking. C.J. has decided to set up a large page, with lots of graphics and articles. She said, "This started as I'd like to have a page and ended up far more complicated than I thought. I'm now able to write HTML and am more conversant with the web than I thought I'd become in the next three years." You will be able to e-mail her and visit the site at http://www.cherryh.com as soon as it's running... which she hopes will be before this article sees print!
Milt Rothman has been retired as a physicist for over ten years. He is taking piano lessons and is the Secretary of a literary society called The Franklin Inn Club. He spends a good deal of time publishing their monthly bulletin (very much like publishing a fanzine, except that he now uses a laser printer) and dealing with sundry correspondence.
Milt recently benefited from an operation on his fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae, which eliminated all the leg pains he had suffered for years. He encourages us to praise the accomplishments of those who invented x-rays (100th anniversary this year), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), anesthetics, and all the other technologies that enabled a skilled surgeon to perform the delicate work on his vertebrae.
Stanley Schmidt modestly reports that his life is fairly quiet right now. Analog recently acquired a new publisher, Penny Press, so he's working on getting the two organizations working smoothly together. Stan finds time to write but not as often as he would like. Stan doesn't like to speak about work in progress but a novelette and fact article are awaiting publication.
His book Aliens and Alien Societies: A Writer's Guide to Creating Extraterrestrial Life-Forms has just been published by Writer's Digest Books. He has also recently coedited an anthology of fact articles (mostly from Analog) entitled, Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space, with Robert Zubrin, which was published by Wiley.
Stan plays in brass quintet and symphony orchestra concerts, with a big concert including Beethoven's Ninth coming up. He plans to be at the International Space Development Conference in New York City in May. This summer, along with L. Sprague de Camp and archeologist Bradley T. Lepper, Stan will be helping to run the Asimov Seminar in Hamilton, New York. The seminar will start with a simulated archeological dig on Mars.
Last autumn Michael Whelan hoped to begin a two year break from accepting art commissions. However, he was not able to complete his remaining commissions until the first of April.
Michael is currently working on two large canvases and has several more paintings in the planning stage. These pieces may eventually appear as book or CD covers. Michael will be bringing a few of them to Bucconeer.
Mark Zeising will be publishing a new poster book collection of Michael's horror work before the end of this year.
Charles Sheffield returned from England a couple of weeks ago, and is currently working like a demon. He is finishing Putting Up Roots for TOR, reading the copy-edited version of Tomorrow and Tomorrow for Bantam, writing a short story for Sci-Con 18's program book, and doing an analysis of cellular antenna placement that in principle has nothing to do with science fiction. "Higher Education" is being serialized currently in Analog and comes out from TOR in June.
Charles will be attending Disclave over the Memorial Day weekend. In July, he will probably attend Readercon and hopes to be able to go to Rivercon and L.A.con III in August. He will be at Contradiction and Sci-Con (he's Sci-Con's Guest of Honor) in the fall.
Bucconeer will be attending L.A.con III. We will be having a Treasure Hunt (with prizes). Progress Report One will be distributed to our members.
We will be selling limited edition Bucconeer t-shirts at L.A.con III. Please visit our table or party to find out the latest information.
We hope you will take the time to complete the Bucconeer idea questionnaire.
We are sharing a party suite with LoneStarCon 2. So look for our party announcement!
If you are interested in helping out with Bucconeer's activities at L.A.con III, contact Judith Kindell at jekindell@aol.com or 4001 N. 9th St, #927, Arlington, VA 22203.
All Science Fiction Fans born on February 29th have been apprenticed to the Pirates of Fenzance until their twenty-first birthday. Their apprenticeship will continue well into the next century.
Birthday Greetings to Michael Nevin and Philip Schmitt, our first apprentices.
All other apprentices are to notify Bucconeer of their current address immediately.
All Pirate Apprentices are invited to attend a High Tea with C.J. Cherryh during Bucconeer.
You are invited to join our crew and help us run Bucconeer. Please contact Gina DeSimone at our address for volunteer information.
Ahoy! We wish to thank Adobe Systems Incorporated for their generous gift of PageMaker 5.0 for Windows, which was used to create this publication.
The first Bucconeer progress report will be distributed to our members at L.A.con III and mailed to the rest of our members in mid-September. Progress Report Two will be available at LoneStarCon2 in 1997. Progress Reports Three and Four will be published in 1998.
We have decided to produce just four full-sized progress reports and a number of informal newsletters. This decision was made because we want to keep in touch with our members and there's not much to report two years prior to the event.
You ask, "But what am I holding in my hands?" This is a Broadside. A broadside is the side of a ship above the water line or the simultaneous discharge of all the guns on one side of a warship. A broadside can also be a large sheet of paper usually printed on one side. But in this case, our broadsides are newsletters to our members. Broadsides will be published between our progress reports.
Broadside Two will be mailed early next year. Shortly before Bucconeer, a Broadside containing last-minute Worldcon information will be mailed out.
As editor, I hope to bring you current news on the activities of our honored guests and the plans for Bucconeer, behind-the-scenes gossip from our committee meetings, letters of comment from you, and maybe even some successful attempts at humor.
A retrospective Broadside issue will be discharged after Bucconeer.
- Michael Nelson
| Fan | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter Page | $30.00 | $90.00 |
| (3.25" x 5", 7.5" x 2.5") | ||
| Half Page | $50.00 | $150.00 |
| (7.5" x 5", 3.25" x 10") | ||
| Full Page | $100.00 | $250.00 |
| (7.5" x 10") | ||
| Full Page, Inside Cover | $200.00 | $350.00 |
Rates are for camera-ready black-and-white copy. Please contact us for special requirements. The deadline to reserve space in Progress Report One is May 31, 1996. All ad copy is due by June 30, 1996. Ads were accepted for Progress Report One, which was scheduled to be published before this Broadside. Therefore, while Broadsides won't normally contain ads, this issue has some time-senstive ads. Bucconeer offers a half-page credit to legitimate Worldcon bid committees.
Bucconeer wishes to congratulate all the 1995 Hugo Award nominees, especially our guests Stanley Schmidt and Michael Whelan. We are pleased that our own editors Richard and Nicki Lynch and artist Joe Mayhew have been nominated for Hugo Awards.
We thank L.W. Perkins for contributing the art used in the Broadside "flag" on page one and Joe Mayhew for his art-work on page eight. Please contact us if you wish to get in touch with any of our artists.
Contributions for future Bucconeer publications are welcomed and appreciated.
While we're still in the early planning stage of Bucconeer, we wish to find out what's important to you. This is a list of possible discussion topics for the next BS. Please send us your comments.
| Supporting | $30.00 (£22) |
| Attending | $98.00 (£71) |
| Children's | $50.00 (£36) (4 to 12 years old on August 5, 1998) |
After September 30, 1996, attending memberships will increase to $110 (£80). Children's memberships will increase to $55 (£40). Discounts for Baltimore Pre-Supporters and Privateers who did not vote for the 1998 Worldcon site will expire on December 31, 1996. All rates are in U.S. dollars or British pounds sterling as a credit or debit card charge (MasterCard, Access, Visa, or American Express), bank draft, money order, or traveler's check. Make all checks or money orders payable to Bucconeer. Please do not send cash. All memberships are nonrefundable but may be transferred. Please include names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses when you purchase memberships. When purchasing memberships for other members of your household, please indicate whether they should also receive copies of our publications.
Three Pirates gif by Joe Mayhew