ConSequences: Seattle Worldcon

Welcome back to ConSequences where I, your humble Book Kaiju, talk (i.e., gripe) about the most recent conventions that I’ve been to. You might have noticed I’ve been gone for a few weeks. Don’t worry, the Gnome didn’t do a coup, I’ve been traveling across the country to Worldcon. What’s Worldcon? Well, you may know it better as “that convention where they hand out the Hugo Awards.” This year it was held in Seattle and I had not only the opportunity to attend but be on panels!

Worldcon isn’t like other cons out there. Most cons have an organization that puts them on every year. GenCon is run by the same people year after year, and that means they can build upon it. Worldcon moves places every single year. And even more importantly, the leadership changes every single year. The people putting it on in Seattle are not the same people who worked it in Glasgow.

Like the proverbial snowflake, no two Worldcons are alike. So as you’re reading the review, just remember that. I’m not reviewing Worldcon in general. I’m reviewing Seattle’s version of Worldcon.

With that in mind, let's jump in!

The Seattle Worldcon committee chose a wonderful site for the convention. The Summit Convention Center still has that new building smell. It was spacious with plenty of conference rooms, ball rooms, and exhibit halls to house all of us nerds. The food options connected were decent, ranging from "sell a kidney" to "take out that third mortgage" in price. Plus there were plenty of places to chill and vibe. Overall, Worldcon could not have been in a better place.

With so much space available to them, Worldcon really stepped up their programming. There were so many panels, workshops, signings, readings, and get togethers to choose from it felt daunting. I always felt that no matter what I chose to do, I was missing something else that was just as interesting. There wasn't a dull hour in the week.

Plus they really leaned into accessibility this year. They provided plenty of time between panels to get to the next event. Every room had sufficient microphones, and the panelists were reminded to actually use them! They also had these transcription machines that provided real time captioning of what the panelists were saying... Well, approximately what the panelists were saying...

The main reason why I love going to SFF Cons is the chance to meet authors, and Seattle did not disappoint me. This Worldcon was stacked with authors. Attendees included such big names like George R.R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, Scott Lynch, Robin Hobb, Seanan McGuire, Becky Chambers, Matt Dinniman, and Rebecca Roanhorse. That's not even including the authors who were there as attendees, not panelists. I just randomly ran into Benjamin Liar (and I just know the Gnome is jealous)!

With so many big names, that meant that there were some truly spectacular panels. SFF Addicts Podcast, in particular, had an amazing live show. Up on the stage they had Ryan Cahill, Rebecca Roanhorse, Brandon Sanderson, George R.R. Martin, and Robin Hobb. It was spectacular to hear these giants of fantasy talk about the current state of the genre and where they see it going in the future.

It was awesome just being able to sit in on a panel discussion and hear authors give their thoughts on whatever random topic they happen to be discussing. There was a conversation with Seanan McGuire about why you should go back to Tumblr or John Scalzi talking about writing stories that skewer High School required reading. You had to strive to be bored at Worldcon.

Not everything was perfect, however. I have a few minor quibbles. For example, I found the dealer hall a bit lackluster. The scourge of drop shipping affects every nerdy shopping mall from Ren Fairs to Cons. The freebie lounge (while having some really cool stuff) was picked clean five minutes after opening. The transcription machine became less a tool of accessibility and more a toy for panelists to play with as they tried to get it to type more ridiculous things. Some events were placed in wrong sized rooms (Becky Chambers had a reading in a forty person room and two hundred people showed up). There were some weird scheduling choices. The author signing lines were a little too hectic and for some reason was placed right next to the “calm lounge,” so good luck everyone who needed a space to relax and decompress. You’re just gonna have to deal with the three hundred nerds vying to get George R.R. Martin’s signature.

Those all have pretty easy fixes, and honestly are kind of a nitpicky. But they start building up after a week. Things you aren’t bothered by on day one are now the worst thing in the world on day four.

Then there are the big controversies. You might have seen online the big drama over AI being used to vet panelists. With such a big, negative PR storm Worldcon would obviously stay far away from AI then, right? Nope!

Yeah, in the dealer hall had a booth for a company telling authors that they can easily use AI to make their own audiobooks and movies. Since this booth was RIGHT next to where a signing line was, I was stuck watching that stupid commercial on repeat for an hour. Apparently, some of the panels ended up being rather pro-AI as well. That’s just rumor and hearsay on my part, but Neil Clarke addressed it in his Hugo acceptance speech.

Then there’s the other big controversy with what happened with George R.R. Martin. A fan confronted him during a big Q&A and basically said that he’s going to die, so let Brandon Sanderson finish the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. This was at the large SFF Addicts Podcast where Sanderson was also on stage. That level of disrespect is mind boggling. Like, why would you ever do that?! What a jerk!

Then there’s the Hugos ceremony. They did a parody song from Agatha All Along called “Down the Hugo Road.” It was… fine the first time. I didn’t get the reference at first, but it was cute. But then they kept singing it every few awards, but no one seemed to know how many times they would repeat the chorus so it just would abruptly end or linger.

A few years ago George R.R. Martin got rightfully skewered for mispronouncing Hugo finalist’s names during the ceremony. Well, guess what? This year’s hosts also butchered pronunciation. Some of the hosts forgot the script, or script pages went missing. Sometimes the host needed to vamp and let me say that improv isn’t a natural skill. Other times the sound would just go out.

The Hugos are the biggest award in SFF. When a piece of genre fiction has “Hugo award winning” placed on its cover, then it’s going to sell. One of the hosts went on a monologue about how it was a shame that the producers and studio behind Dune didn’t send a video or representative to receive such a prestigious award. But can you blame them? The Hugo ceremony was a mess. Why should they take time out of their day to go to an award ceremony that’s going to probably screw up the name Denis Villeneuve and then accidentally cut off the mic during the acceptance speech while blasting a parody song?

I know, I know, everyone involved is a volunteer. They didn’t get paid to do it. But we paid to be there. Maybe we should treat this like the professional event it strives to be. The Hugos matter, so we should treat the ceremony like it matters. We need to show the proper respect to the award.

Huh… When did I climb up on this soapbox? Let me just get down from here…

Still, I had fun. I got to see some of my favorite authors in person. I had some good panels and my fellow panelists were a hoot. Seattle is an amazing city that everyone should go visit. I’m definitely placing it on my vacation list for the near future.

Overall, it was a pretty good con. Now I just need to get over the ensuing con crud and get to reading all those books I bought.