If you are interested, please attend. If you know of someone else who might be interested in helping, bring them along.

The meet and greet will be in conference room 11 of the Marriott Rivercenter (101 Bowie Street · San Antonio, Texas) starting at 5 pm. We anticipate the conversations will continue in small dinner groups.

You can be a part of the vote for San Antonio and, the best part, voting now will help you get your membership at the lowest possible price. To participate, you must be a member of the Reno convention. You can get a supporting membership for $50 online from the Renovation SF website or you can download this PDF form and pay by mail.

I hear those hearts stopping tight now. $50!!!! But you get something for your money. For your membership, you get to vote for the Hugo Awards (the annual Science Fiction Achievement Awards.) And you get electronic copies most of the nominees. That includes six novels (BLACKOUT and ALL CLEAR by Connie Willis, THE DERVISH HOUSE by Ian McDonald, CRYOBURN by Lois McMaster Bujold, FEED by Mira Grant, and THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS by N. K. Jimisen) and all the nominated short fiction (five novellas, five novelettes, and four short stories). There are galleries of art by the fan artist and pro artist nominees (including Mission Unknown’s John Picacio). There are graphic novels from the nominees including Bill Willingham’s FABLES series. There are writings from the John W. Campbell Award nominees for Best New Writer including Lev Grossman’s novel THE MAGICIANS. In the Best Related Work you get two full volumes THE BUSINESS OF SCIENCE FICTION by Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg and CHICKS DIG TIMELORDS edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea as well as links to the entire WRITING EXCUSES, SEASON 4 by Brandon Sanderson, Jordan Sanderson, Howard Tayler and Dan Wells. That’s a lot of stuff. Essentially what you do not get are the Dramatic Presentation pieces (long or short form). All that for your $50. Plus they send you the program book from the convention and their undying love. All that is available until July 31 when the voting ends and the files go away.

At the time that you vote, you can also do site selection (that means voting for TEXAS in 2013. The fee for that is $60 and it gets you an automatic supporting membership in the SA convention which can be converted to attending. The voting fee applies toward your conversion to attending to make things better.

Now, if you do not want to pay it all out now, you have options. Pay in July and get the Hugo voter packet and vote. Complete the site selection ballot (at http://renosf.org/downloads/2013-site-ballot.pdf) and get it with your check to me before I leave for Reno and I will personally take it there and get it processed. You get the credit and hold off the payment until August. Simple. If you want to do it that way, drop me a line at scott@scottacupp.com before August 10 and we will work it all out. The earlier the better.

So, if you have always wanted to attend the World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio and you missed the 1997 convention (or, even if you went), you need to get on this right away. There are now less than THREE weeks for you to join and vote. And only five weeks until it all starts to come together.

Oh, and is that a name-drop of Missions Unknown and missionaries John Picacio, Sanford Allen and Scott Cupp? Yes, yes it is.

Parker mentions Missions Unknown in relation to some of the information we have provided regarding San Antonio as the ideal choice for WorldCon 2013. Want to see what we have said? Here’s a quick guide:

Interviews with members of the Texas 2013 bid committee: Bill Parker, Fred Duarte, and Karen Meschke.

Fan’s Guides: San Antonio’s Riverwalk, SA Downtown Dining List, The Southtown Arts District, and 10 Downtown Dining Favorites,

Miscellaneous: San Antonio Goes for WorldCon 2013, WorldCon SA: The Costumes of David T. Smith, and our Guide to SF/F/H in San Antonio.

If you are on the committee that is making the decision and you need help, feel free to drop us a line.

There are several more conventions coming up on us and they feature a plethora of amazing guests. I plan to attend all the Texas conventions.

At the end of this week, July 9 – 12, there is Mythcon 41 in Dallas, which is a primarily academic convention which concentrates on various myths as well as the work of the Inklings (J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Charles Williams). This is sponsored by The Mythopoeic Society. Guest of Honor include (author) Tim Powers and (scholar) Janet Brennan Croft. Other guest will include A. Lee Martinez, Shanna Swendson, Will Clarke, Suzanne Frank, Lou Antonelli, and me

Following that is ArmadilloCon 32 in Austin. Guests this year include Rachel Caine (Author GOH), Cat Conrad (Artist GOH), Anne Sowards (Editor GOH), Elspeth Bloodgood (Fan GHO), Nancy Kress (Toastmaster), Ilona Andrews (Urban Fantasy Special Guest, and Michael Bishop (Steampunk Special Guest). One of the most fun conventions around with a heavy guest list of Texas writers and artists. I have never missed one and I don’t plan to start now.

Fencon VII is in Dallas September 17 – 19. This year’s Writer Guest is Spider Robinson and the late Jeanne Robinson . Music Guests of Honor: Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff, Fen Guests of Honor: Kevin Roche & Andrew Trembley, Artist Guest of Honor: John Picacio, Science Guest of Honor: John Randall, Toastmaster: Joe R. Lansdale, Special Guest: Jessica Wade, and Special Guest: Robert J. Sawyer. Again many writers and artists from Texas and Oklahoma and surrounding areas will be present.

Other not quite so near conventions include the North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFIC) which is held whenever the World Science Fiction Convention is not in the US. This year it will be held in Raleigh, NC. The NASFIC will be held August 5 – 8. Guests of Honor include Eric Flink (Writer), former San Antonian Brad Foster (Artist), Juanita Coulson (Fan), and Toni Weisskopf (Toastmaster). There should be many writers and editors there who decided not to trek to Australia.

The World Science Fiction Convention will be held this year September 2 – 6 in Melbourne, Australia (go to www.aussiecon4.org.au for details). Guests of Honor include Kim Stanley Robinson, Shaun Tan, and Robin Johnson. The WorldCon is always a fun way to spend your days and this year if you can make it into a nice long vacation, swing by New Zealand and see those Lord of the rings sites. Lots of writers and editors generally attend, though fewer go when it is a non-US WorldCom.

For the mystery fan, there is BoucherCon. This year it is BoucherCon by the Bay and it is in San Francisco October 14 – 17. Guests include Lee Child, Denise Mina, Laurie M. King, Eddie Muller, and Maddy Van Hertbruggen. Bouchercons are a tremendous amount of fun if you are a mystery fan with programming for virtually every style and a large number of accessible guests and editors.

The World Fantasy Convention is one of my favorite conventions with a heavy writer to fan ratio. This year’s show is in Columbus, OH October 28 – 30. This year’s Guests include Dennis McKiernan, Esther Friesner, David Hartwell, and Darrell K. Sweet.

And that does not include the comic related things like San Diego’s ComicCon (July 22 – 25) where roughly 150,000 people mingle and mix. My nephews will be there this year. I should have gone when I had the chance in the past. Not likely now that the crowd has reached these sizes. Or Dragon*Con (September 3 – 6) in Atlanta which has huge crowds also. Their guest lineup is magnificent with some big name writers, stars, and artists. Check them out.

The last time WorldCon was held in San Antonio was 1997 (under the name of LoneStarCon II) and it was wildly successful. We have dug through the archives to present a little flavor from that last century con, so enjoy the humorous costumes of David T. Smith. For more on Smith, check out this profile on WFMU’s Beware the Blog.

The Sci-fi Costumes of Dave T. Smith from tronfrog on Vimeo.

Thank you all for the great year. We look forward to much more in the year to come.

Sanford Allen

Quarantined by Joe McKinney: Part murder mystery, part apocalyptic SF, McKinney’s latest novel moves quickly but carries real character depth. Detective Lily Harris investigates the mysterious death of a World Health Organization doctor as San Antonio grapples with a viral outbreak that’s wiped out a huge swath of the population. An SAPD detective himself, Joe ably handles the action sequences and the procedural stuff. The pleasant surprise is how well he weaves domestic drama into the story as Lily tries to keep her family sane, stable and together as the world falls apart around them.

John Picacio

The Texas in 2013 WorldCon Bid: The most exciting San Antonio science fiction news of the year was that San Antonio is a proposed city for the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention bid. Note that San Antonio is NOT guaranteed to win the bid, and at this point, there’s no word which cities are bidding against Texas for that year’s convention. One way or the other, the Texas bid will have its work cut out for it, but it’s quite an opportunity for San Antonio’s sf/f community to rally together. If you’re a San Antonian who wants a more literate, sophisticated sf/f scene in SA, or just a driveby Alamo City fan of sf/f media, now’s your chance to make a difference and make San Antonio a better science fiction city.

Mistah Pete - Left Foot Red Productions

The Brain that Wouldn’t Die at the Overtime Theater: Let it first be said, I hate theater.  I don’t go to plays.  I have the attention-span of a caffeinated gibbon, and you’ve got a very brief window before I’m bored enough to start ripping up the seats and lighting fires. And unlike movies and books and music, I feel an obligation to sit through it all; the people who made it are there in front of me and will look at me walking out and suddenly it’s the screaming pyromaniac vandal who’s the bad guy.  But the Overtime Theater‘s production of The Brain That Wouldn’t Die was fun. Even for me. The songs were peppy, the set design was beyond clever (that car was aaaawesome!), and the cast was engaging. What’s more, it adhered to that great San Anto tradition of snatching up the discards of those with more money than sense and turning it into something useful: the producers took a cheesy public domain movie, copped the plot and title and characters, and fed it back to us with a heaping tablespoon of attitude. It worked. Worked enough that they should take it on the road.  And one day, I hope to see the movie of a play of a movie, raking in the bucks at the multiplex. That’ll show the fatcats. Next time they’ll spend their money more wisely!  Wait, then maybe they’ll not make the bad movies that the Overtime can rip off… hmm, gotta rethink this…

James Hartz – Film Classics Productions

Dr. S Battles the Sex-Crazed Reefer Zombies: OK, since I’m obviously biased as all hell on this one I’ll let part of this review from Quiet Earth do the talking: “[Bryan] Ortiz gives us three chapters, which help to structure the story and keep-up a flowing narrative in a film that could have easily fallen apart. With the imposed three-act structure in Doctor S, as well as a rather saucy intermission, it’s a fun ride to follow the story without worrying too much about missing any important plot-points. I’d go as far as to say that Doctor S is a film that doesn’t really require in-depth analysis, it’s simply an excellent example of itself as a spoof/homage and any attempt to see it as anything other than a bit of fun, anyone trying to seriously look at it as a morality tale or cautionary warning on drugs, communism or teenage sex is going to be left scratching their head by the end. It’s presented as a wacky horror comedy, that’s clear from the poster and tag-line, but the talent on display is at times quite staggering. Ortiz uses the fact that the budget was low to his advantage, basing the film on a style of 50′s sci-fi that was cheap and, by today’s standards, laughably cheesy. He manages, however, to create enough moments where the viewers expectations are confounded; special effects actually look special, fight scenes are amazingly graphic and well co-ordinated, jokes are laugh-out-loud funny, references to old horror films and b-movies are noticeable and witty, etc, etc, to transcend it’s limitations and to seriously impress. Honestly, there were moments during the two viewings I’ve seen of Doctor S. where the word genius wasn’t far from mind…”

Paul Vaughn

In Astrovision by The Sandworms: I love music that caters to my genre taste and this disc I picked up at a live show did that in spades. I actually missed the Sandworms when they were on stage, but everybody said they killed so I purchased their CD, In Astrovision. It was a great choice. Straight ahead goth surf rock instrumentals. Like if Dick Dale was pierced, tattooed and alienated. With song titles like Red Planet Green Love, Frankencrisp, Thundercorpse, Agents of Terror, Vampire Clam Babies from Outer Space and Invasion of the Octopus People it’s almost like they were making the disc with me in mind. If you are looking for some high-energy instrumental music for your next goth rave or the perfect score for your vampire zombie surf movie, take a look at The Sandworms. A close second was Hyperbubble’s Better Set Your Phasers to Stun. A synthpop homage to Star Trek is always worth a listen!

Jeff from Hyperbubble

1984 by The City of San Antonio: The City of San Antonio gets The Maxwell Award this year for covering downtown with shiny new closed-circuit TV cameras. Now everyone is a star. The National Security Agency is also working on a new data archive in SA, said to be about the size of The Alamodome, to house our email, phone calls, web searches, bookstore visits etc. For more info on the NSA, read The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency by Matthew Aid (2009)… Hola, Big Brother.

Frank Zieglar - KiDDandGEEZER

Missions Unknown: Not to be brown nosing, but honestly, the best genre-related item from San Antonio in 2009 is Missions Unknown. I’ve known for years that San Antonio is home to some great stuff, but I had no idea about most of the things I’ve learned about from this website. The people and events that you guys bring to my attention is unbelievable sometimes. Thanks guys for all your work!

Scott A. Cupp

The Texas in 2013 WorldCon Bid: The best Genre related thing to come out of San Antonio in 2009 did not actually come out of San Antonio. More accurately, it came into San Antonio. I am talking about the announcement of bid for the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention. While this is nowhere near a sure thing, I will be working hard for the next two years on the bid process. The bid will be determined at the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention in Reno, NV. The various bids will be voted on there and the 2013 site will be selected. Then the real work begins to show the rest of the world what a cool place we live in. The last Texas World Convention was held in San Antonio in 1997. I did not live here then, but I attended and it was an extreme amount of fun and work. I worked briefly on that convention and now that San Antonio is once again my home (my third tour here in the last 42 years) I want us to give the most exciting Texas related whup-ass convention seen in a long time. I will keep touting the bid here during the two year bid time and will be trying to get locals very involved. It takes a lot of folks to make one of these things run. The more locals involved, the better. Check out the website.

Michael Mehl – Fotoseptiembre USA

The Sasquatch Bigfoot of the Southside: Or as I call it: El Sasquatchale Patotas. Of course, it’s only fitting that El Sasquatchale will breed with El Chupacabras (at the end of the day all SF monsters are gay), begetting the heretofore renowned -and feared- El Chupaquatchale. Hear the actual 911 call below.