Copyright 2001 by Edward Willett

Last week I had the pleasure of once again attending ConVersion, the annual science fiction convention held in Calgary.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're picturing a bunch of oddballs in Star Trek and Star Wars costumes, sitting in the dark watching videos and yelling out the dialog in time with the actors. But you couldn't be more wrong.

Oh, sure, there was a video room (though I never went into it). And sure, there were costumes--costuming is a big part of science fiction fandom, with every convention featuring costuming contests. The entries are always entertaining and often spectacular.

But the heart and soul of every science fiction convention are the panels, featuring both special guests brought in for the convention and numerous local scientists, science fiction writers and artists. I, once again, was a "local" guest (science fiction fans are thin enough on the ground in Western Canada that Regina and Calgary can be considered the same neighborhood, I guess).

Heading the list of guests this year was David Drake, author or co-author of more than 49 books. A Vietnam veteran, Drake is best known for his science fiction with a military theme, but he's also written humor, thrillers, epic fantasies, sword and sorcery, space opera and historical SF and fantasy.

I had the opportunity to take part in a panel with Drake called "The Writer's Life--Living Outside the Craft," where I talked about my interest in acting and singing as well as writing (although you use many of the same skills as an actor building a character as you do as a writer building a character) and Drake made it clear that he considers writing his job, and he works hard at it--in fact, he said, he's a workaholic, which isn't a bad thing in a writer!

(This, naturally, made me feel guilty that I don't work harder on my writing, but then, that feeling of guilt is one of the reasons I go to science fiction and other writing conventions--a little guilt can be a useful incentive!)

ConVersion also features a Science Guest, who this year was Dr. Bill Brooks of Saskatoon. Dr. Brooks is executive director of the Western Space Education Network Inc., a non-profit volunteer organization set up to foster interest in science and technology using outer space as the starting point. The organization directs its programs at teachers and students in the elementary and secondary school systems throughout the prairie region.

The convention has both a writing and a science guest because science fiction--well, the best science fiction, anyway--is, as its name implies, an amalgam of the worlds of science and literature. The duel interest of science fiction writers and readers in science and in literary technique was evidenced in the wide range of panels, which included both scientific and literary topics.

For instance, on the scientific side, you had, "Living in Space (Floating Around Isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be)," "New Planets: Recent Astronomical Discoveries," "The International Space Station--Pit Stop to the Stars or Money Pit in Orbit?", and "Glow-in-the-Dark Mice (and Other Tricks of Genetic Engineering," to name just a few. These co-existed with literary topics such as "The Classic Hero--Passé or Still Needed?", "Humour in Science Fiction--When and How to Use Humour Effectively" (one of the panels I was on), "Avoiding Stereotypes--Making Characters Real" and "Character-Driven Plot--How Authors Effectively Integrate Plot and Character to Tell a Better Story."

Aside from the literary side of the convention, the arts were also well-served by the other "streams" of panel topics, focusing on comics, anime and art.

This ConVersion also featured an artist guest of honor, Jean-Pierre Normand, a professional illustrator from Quebec who has specialized in science fiction and fantasy art for the past 20 years, producing more than 100 book and magazine covers. Normand gave a presentation on "The Art of SF&F," and other art-related topics included a jewelry workshop and another on making your own comic books.

And, to be sure, there were also a few panels that focused on so-called media science fiction--TV and movies--particularly since this year's convention featured a media guest, actor Dirk Benedict, former star of Battlestar Galactica and The A-Team, who now lives in Kalispell, Montana.

The eclectic nature of the convention isn't surprising to those of us who read science fiction short stories and novels; the science fiction genre is, after all, the only form of fiction in which literally anything goes, in which your imagination is set completely free, rather than being bound by the constraints of the here-and-now and the limited expectations of the mainstream or literary-fiction reader.

To the science fiction reader, everything under our sun, not to mention other suns, is of interest, and to the science fiction writer, grist for the story mill.

I wrote last week that raku, in which technical and artistic ability mingle, is perhaps the perfect metaphor for art in the 21st century. Science fiction is the literary equivalent of that, a genre in which the science and technology shaping our world mingles with the skill of talented writers to create stories that can illuminate, educate, and move their readers.

Next year's guests at ConVersion will include bestselling Canadian SF writer Robert Sawyer, NASA scientist and award-winning SF writer Geoffrey Landis, and Canadian fantasy writer Charles de Lint. I can't wait.

I just wish Regina had a similar convention to call its own.

Posted September 22, 2004