Con or Bust

Con or Bust’s dinocorn T-shirts will be available for sale in the WisCon dealer’s room, at the Aqueduct table, hopefully starting late this afternoon (that is, after my flight gets in and I claim my boxes from the hotel).

Crew-neck shirts are available in red or green (“forest”) in sizes S-3XL (details):

V-neck fitted T-shirts are available in purple in sizes M-2XL (details):

Shirts are $20 each; all profits are used to help fans of color/non-white fans attend SFF cons.

After WisCon, the shirts will be available by mail; I’ll put up a post when they are. Please spread the word!

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Nominations for the Con or Bust Face-Off, to be held tomorrow at WisCon’s Gathering and Carl Brandon Society party, are still being taken through 11:59 p.m. Eastern tonight! Name your favorite character of color from an SFF work in the form below. The characters with the most nominations will face off against each other in a bracket challenge that takes the classic geek pastime of arguing over which fictional character would win in a fight and melds it with fantasy sports. The Face-Off also introduces people who may not have encountered your favorites to new characters of color to explore.

(LJ users, click through to the original post or go straight to the Google Docs form.)

You can also browse the current nominations, but remember that the field will be narrowed based on total number of nominations—so if you haven’t nominated yet, be sure to even if your favorite characters are already on the list!

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Con or Bust, which helps fans of color/non-white fans attend SFF cons, is accepting requests for assistance to attend cons in July, August, and September 2013 from now until Saturday, May 25.

These cons include Readercon (July 11-14, 2013, Burlington, MA, USA), which has donated three memberships to Con or Bust. Readercon is “devoted to “imaginative literature” — literary science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the unclassifiable works often called ‘slipstream’”; its guests of honor are Maureen F. McHugh & Patricia A. McKillip, and its memorial guest of honor is Roger Zelazny. (Your humble Con or Bust administrator is also planning to be there.)

Edit: they also include Diversicon (August 2-4, 2013, Saint Paul, MN, USA), for which a kind individual has donated a membership. “Diversicon is a serious, nerdy SF/Fantasy convention” that aims for cultural diversity, diversity of fan groups, and diversity in media. Its guest of honor is Jack McDevitt; special guests are Catherine Lundoff and Roy C. Booth; posthumous guests are Cordwainer Smith and Peter Cushing.

Here’s how to request assistance. Please spread the word!

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Edit May 16: characters from SFF are eligible, not just fantasy works! (“Fantasy” in the original phrasing referred to fantasy sports.) I have edited the subject line to be less ambiguous.

Posted on behalf of Lizbet, coordinator extraordinaire of Con or Bust’s fun at Wiscon:

It is time again for Wiscon, and that means it’s time for another Con or Bust Fantasy Face-Off! The Fantasy Face-Off takes the classic geek pastime of arguing over which fictional character would win in a fight and melds it with fantasy sports. Because it is sponsored by Con or Bust, all characters in the Face-Off are characters of color. Even though the final rounds of the game get played at Wiscon’s Gathering and the Carl Brandon Society party, everyone is invited to submit their nominations! Nominate as many badass characters of color as you like; the characters with the most nominations will be slotted into a bracket and the face-off will be determined by votes received at the Gathering and CBS party until only one winner remains! This game both encourages geeks to fiercely debate the merits of their favorites — always a bonus — while introducing people who may not have encountered them to new characters of color to explore.

Enter the name and fandom of the character you’d like to nominate below. (You can nominate more than one, there’ll be a link once you submit the form to start over.) If it would be helpful, add whether the fandom is a movie, book, etc.

(If you’re viewing the LJ crosspost, you’ll have to click through to the WordPress post or go straight to the Google Docs form, because LJ won’t allow this kind of embedding.)

We welcome your nominations! Nominations continue through Thursday, May 23, 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. After that, Lizbet will count up the nominations and prepare the bracket for the Friday Gathering. If you’re going to be at Wiscon, please come see us at the Gathering each hour to cast your votes and encourage your friends to do the same; the final two rounds will be held at the Carl Brandon Society party on Friday night, after which this year’s winner will be announced.

Edit: check out how your favorite characters are doing at the nomination list! (But remember, the field will be narrowed based on number of nominations, so use this for inspiration and recruiting only.)

Questions should be directed to popelizbet@gmail.com; questions left in comments may not be answered quickly as Lizbet has only phone access to the Internet for most of this week, but she will try. Thanks so much for your participation, and GAME ON!

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Fans of color/non-white fans, are you going to be in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. in May and are you interested in going to a con for free?

If so: I have available two free memberships to Balticon (May 24-27, Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA) and a whopping twenty to the Steampunk World’s Fair (May 17-19, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA). Please don’t be shy about requesting them! I hate to see free memberships go unused, and especially for the Steampunk World’s Fair, there is no reasonable possibility that you will be depriving someone else of a chance to go.

In addition, if anyone is interested in attending ConTemporal, June 28-30, 2013, Raleigh, NC, USA, a steampunk con whose guests of honor include Ursula Vernon, Thomas Willeford and Sarah Hunter, and Tom Smith, please contact me at knepveu@steelypips.org, as there is a possibility of a membership to that con as well.

Request the free memberships to Balticon and the Steampunk World’s Fair through this Google Docs form, or read more about the cons below:

• Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, has donated two memberships to Con or Bust. Balticon takes place from May 24-27, 2013 in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Its guests are: Joe Haldeman (Guest of Honor); Rick Sternbach (Artist Guest of Honor); Nnedi Okorafor (Special Guest); Ada Palmer (Music/Filk Guest of Honor); and Sassafrass (Featured Filkers). Balticon will have sign language interpreters at all major events and on call as needed.
• The Steampunk World’s Fair, has donated twenty (20) memberships to Con or Bust. The Steampunk World’s Fair takes place from May 17-19, 2013, in Piscataway, New Jersey. It is the world’s largest steampunk event and welcomes steampunk veterans or total curious bystanders, “no matter how you’re dressed, no matter what your background is, and no matter how much or little you’ve ever played with Steampunk!”

Please spread the word!

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Con or Bust, which helps fans of color/non-white fans attend SFF cons (about), will be accepting requests for assistance to attend cons beginning in July, August, or September 2013 from May 15-25, 2013.

These cons include Readercon (July 11-14, 2013, Burlington, MA, USA), which has donated three memberships to Con or Bust. Readercon is “devoted to “imaginative literature” — literary science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the unclassifiable works often called ‘slipstream’”; its guests of honor are Maureen F. McHugh & Patricia A. McKillip, and its memorial guest of honor is Roger Zelazny. (Your humble Con or Bust administrator is also planning to be there.)

Here’s how to request assistance. Please spread the word!

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Some news for fans of color/non-white fans interested in attending SFF Cons:

First, I still have free memberships available to Balticon (May 24-27, 2013, Hunt Valley, Maryland) and The Steampunk World’s Fair (May 17-19, 2013, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA). If you’d like to go, request one first-come first-served through this Google Docs form.

Second, requests for assistance to attend cons in July, August, and September will be taken from May 15-25, 2013. For more information on the procedure, see the request assistance page. If you are associated with a con that takes place during those months and would like to support Con or Bust by donating a membership or other support, please email me at knepveu@steelypips.org. Or you can help by simply spreading the word that assistance will be available!

(Also: I’ve closed comments on all the old auction offer posts so that you won’t have to be bothered by email notifications of spam comments. Any problems or questions about auction items, please feel free to email me.)

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Three reminders for fans of color/non-white fans interested in attending SFF cons:

First: today, February 25, is your last day to request assistance from Con or Bust to attend cons in April, May, and June.

Second: Balticon (May 24-27, 2013, Hunt Valley, Maryland) and The Steampunk World’s Fair (May 17-19, 2013, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA) have donated free memberships to Con or Bust; request them through the above link.

Third: last-minute memberships are still available to Emerald City Comicon (March 1-3, 2013, Seattle, WA, USA) and EightSquaredCon, The 2013 Eastercon (March 29-April 1, Bradford, UK). For these memberships only, use this Google Docs form, first-come first-served.

Please spread the word!

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