So That Was WorldCon 2024? A convention review by Rosie Oliver.

Another WorldCon has come and gone, but Glasgow 2024 will be remembered for many good things. Membership was high, exceeding 8,000, with over 7,000 attending. It was friendly; there was plenty of room to move around in, and the subjects on the program were of general interest. On the negative side, I have received several comments indicating that certain aspects of the pre-event organization were inadequate. The venue lacked high-quality, authentic coffee, which was essential for keeping me awake. Many individuals expressed disappointment at not being able to participate in a panel discussion or visit the dealers’ room, and they felt that the Internet service could have been more efficient at times. There were the usual at-event organizational glitches (e.g., in my case, the person I wanted to talk to at a table talk did not turn up), which were to be expected at such a large event. It is a credit to the organizers and their helpers that they were able to counter many of the problems as they arose.

The venue, the Scottish Event Centre (SEC), is on the north bank of the River Clyde. The buildings are modern and therefore tend to echo. There are several nearby buildings associated with the SEC, including the famous Armadillo and OVO theaters and the Crowne Plaza hotel, pictured below next to Armadillo.

I stayed in this hotel, the view from my room:

The opposite building is the Glasgow Science Museum (a delight for real and at heart children! ), which all goes to show that there has been some major redevelopment in this area over the last few decades.

My primary interest lies in science fiction and science, so I tend to steer clear of anything that focuses on fantasy, crafting, horror, and filk. However, this eclectic mix was evident among the dealers and art show attendees.

The art show had some beautifully designed paintings in various mediums, needlecrafts, handmade jewelry, and models. One surprise was the apparent absence of more modern 3D printing techniques. It made me wonder if the art show was not as cutting-edge in techniques as it might have been.

Book publishers and bookshops formed a notable proportion of the dealers, ranging from the big presses to the independents. Waterstones had a large spread, but they did not carry any merchandise from the smaller presses. It was a commendable decision to allow smaller presses to sell their books without any competition. However, the variety of goods sold was typical for a convention. One disappointment was that several of the bigger book dealers decided to close for the final day, leaving distinct gaps in the table coverage. After talking to the dealers, they generally felt that trade had been good, although there were a few exceptions. The diminishing amount of goods on the table certainly agreed with their assessment.

Fan tables gave another surprise. There were those you would expect, like future conventions, established science fiction and fantasy societies (e.g., the British Science Fiction Association, BSFA), and fan clubs of various sorts were among those you would expect. There were more than several science-based fan tables, including those from nearby universities and i4is (Initiative for Interstellar Studies); clearly, they wanted to showcase their capabilities to an international audience. Many of these contributed talks to the science stream of events made me wonder if the presence of this stream pushed out some of the proposed technically biased panels from the program.

The first panel I saw was Terraforming: Science, Fiction, and Ethics. The panelists were people I hadn’t heard of, but they agreed that terraforming somewhere would take a very long time, longer than our lifetimes. This point highlights ethical issues such as: Is it right that we burden our future generations with our terraforming vision of a planet, moon, or asteroid? Should we request them to complete the terraforming process once we have reached planets that are ready for settlement? Besides all these issues, what right do we have to interfere with the development of local species? Despite posing insightful questions, we haven’t arrived at any definitive or clear-cut conclusions.

The talk by Alastair Stewart on Magnetism—the Force of the Future came with a warning that people with pacemakers, etc. should stay at the back of the room. Yes, playing with strong niobium-based magnets was fun, but they had a weakness: their iron content made them brittle. Alastair had one strong niobium-based magnet on hand that had started to rust! After providing a basic overview of magnets and their functions, he presented numerous potential future applications. He suggested employing the magnetic monopoles in the Bose Condensate to generate magneticity, which is the magnetic counterpart of electricity, and developing magnetic launchers that propel objects into ever-faster circles until they take off from the planet. Another little nugget of futurism was using the magnetic field of graphene sheets misaligned by 15 degrees to make miniscule magnetic sensors, which have all sorts of technological applications.

Thursday’s final event for me was Worldships 1: Introduction, a talk by Simone Caroti, courtesy of i4is (Initiative for Interstellar Studies). If we must travel at sub-lightspeed, we can only reach the stars through generation ships, which require multiple generations to reach their destination. The three basic types are: sleeper ship, zygote ship, and worldship, i.e., a ‘pocket planet’ of people being born, living, and dying over one or more generations. Simone made the point that ships must be dependent on us humans if we are to travel on them. Why would it bother you otherwise? Send a robot instead. Equally, anyone wanting to join a worldship would be like a pilot at war on a suicide mission; they know they would never return. Studies at the start of this century suggest a worldship’s population should not exceed 200 to be stable. What types of individuals should comprise that population? It seems humans cannot live on science and technology alone; they need some art and culture to keep us together as a society.

Friday morning gave me an opportunity to listen to Christine Davidson’s talk about analytical geochemistry and sustainability. She described her research into contamination of the local soils. You could track the rise of local industrialization in and around Glasgow by examining the soils for arsenic, lead, and cadmium. By comparison, there is very little contamination elsewhere in Scotland, with one notable exception being the lead mines of Wanlockhead, which date back to Roman times.

I enjoyed back-to-back readings by Alastair Reynolds and John Scalzi. What a contrast! Alastair was reading a short story about the negative commercial consequences of the Internet, while John was making hilarious fun of a simple myth. He certainly knows how to take an absurd idea seriously and make it even more absurd. I felt the serious-funny contrast echoed the decades-long science fiction divide across the Atlantic.

The talk on Quantum in Space! The talk “Big Adventures for Small Satellites” detailed the history of the miniaturization of cube satellites for the provision of space-based internet services, primarily due to the development of quantum technologies. Saving on launch weight is turning into big business. To me, this is a natural commercial development path: provide a new service and then find ways to minimize its cost. While this talk was interesting and educational, it felt a bit like a commercial to me. The aim was to increase business for both the company and Scotland.

What would a WorldCon be without some reference to ‘The Expanse’? A panel discussing ‘The Expanse’ TV series discussed its development and improvement over the original novels, emphasizing that the episodes improved on some of the science in the novels. Speculation was rife about how the TV series could progress; discussions were ongoing about a streaming service picking up ‘The Expanse’ for a seventh season. All I can say is, ‘Beltalowda, watch this space.’

The Batmobiles in the main hall were some of the highlights of WorldCon. The Batmobiles from the 1960s and the most recent one, which resembles a moonbug, were the highlights of WorldCon. Someone took photos of these lovely film props.

The first panel on Saturday morning was all about using science fiction as a tool to increase STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) uptake. The panel believed that the primary barrier deterring people from pursuing STEM subjects was the high level of effort required to obtain the necessary qualifications, in contrast to the ease of entry into the arts and humanities. No amount of science fiction would overcome that resource barrier.

Marcus Gipps of Gollancz gave a talk about the state of UK publishing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror (SFFH). The science fiction market is reasonably steady but has declined a little bit in recent years. Their backlist is steady, and their classics continue to sell well. Epic fantasy has not seen as many breakthrough authors, and the size of these books is getting smaller due to print and shipping costs. The USA has witnessed a resurgence in horror literature, yet the UK has not witnessed such a significant upsurge. Romantasy is the ‘big thing’ that is driving growth in the fantasy market, though it is uncertain how long this ‘bubble’ of interest will last. There are around 50 SFFH publishers in the UK, with about 30 to 40 literary agents. The stigma associated with self-publishing has now gone.

I attended the first of two book launches at WorldCon. I would have loved to attend plenty more, such as some of the arts and crafts sessions, but I had my own agendas to fill. My focus was on the science fiction publishing trade, exploring the latest developments in science fiction and science, and hopefully initiating a project that will take several years to complete. Yes, I dedicated a significant portion of those blank spaces in my schedule to researching and preparing for this project. This is the problem with having so many competing streams vying for my attention. However, I greatly appreciated the style, display, and expertise of the official crafts display. The workmanship was absolutely gorgeous, and they even had a tartan specifically designed for WorldCon.

I did attend a table talk; the designated author did actually turn up for this one, by Allen Stroud. He was among friends and talked freely about how his science fiction career developed. It was surprising to learn that he does not have a literary agent, a rare occurrence for someone with his level of publications. He had tried earlier on in his writing career to get one, but it did not work out. His cat, who travels with him to conventions, is doing very well for her followers.

The Your Future Thoughts May Not Be Your Own panel discussed the development of brain implants and how they could change our behavior. For instance, we have the Internet of Things (IoT) today; tomorrow it could be the Internet of Minds (IoM) that would control devices. The extent to which we can enhance our minds was a topic of discussion. It reminded me so much of John Meaney’s debut novel, ‘To Hold Infinity’ in 1998! A couple of interesting snippets were omitted from the text. Silk is much better than metals for connecting the implant into the brain, and people who want brain implants would have to undergo mediative training so they can focus on one line of thought.

Sunday morning’s first panel was Book Marketing in the Digital Age. Tips included using TikTok: know who your audience is and target it; have the graphics aligned to your novel content; and be an ‘almost’ accessible person online. A couple of pieces of wisdom: marketing your novel can easily take all your time and more, but don’t let it. A blog’s number of followers does not translate into sales. Invest approximately eight months to increase the visibility of your novel before its publication. Naturally, strive to garner a minimum of 50 reviews on Amazon, as this will trigger their promotion of your book in their literature section.

Ecological Futures was an engaging discussion about how a children’s game can raise awareness of the tensions between the need for a comfortable life and sustainability. It’s encouraging to see such initiatives in action.

The Best Cats of SFF panel honored the great cats of the genre and then delved into how real-life meat cats serve as inspiration for genre stories. While these stories were humorous, there were some interesting aspects, such as the fact that a science fiction author’s cat could type messages to her owner! Photos appear to capture the cat in action. One panelist was convinced that cats have a network to ensure that their favorite humans are never without cats to entertain them. Of course, none of the cat tales are like the stories about cats I have published; they are all so unique in their behaviors, even if idiosyncratic. Mrrroooowwwww.

The Gravitational Waves: What, How, Where, Why? Jamie Scott’s talk was informative and easy to understand. It certainly was a good lesson in how to explain them simply in science fiction writing. Why does registering gravitational waves matter? Perhaps it is to assist in locating black holes.

Stephen Oram’s Applied Science Fiction: The Who, What, Why, and How Talk provides a history of how the collaborative anthology ‘All Tomorrow’s Futures: Fictions That Disrupt’ between Science Fiction writers and scientists came about. He went into some depth as to how both communities benefited from each other, not only during the process of developing the stories, but also the longer-lasting benefits. It was unfortunate that this talk took place right before the Hugo Awards ceremony, drawing only a small audience. It would have benefited so many people.

The first panel of Monday morning was the only one at WorldCon to really disappoint me. The panel titled “Going Up: Space Elevators as Highways to the Stars” covered a familiar topic in a manner that left me feeling somewhat disappointed. I anticipated learning about inflatable space elevators and their potential transformative impact on construction, particularly when considering ancillary applications and leveraging the design for additional safety features. This, in turn, would make such projects more viable.

I was disappointed that the talk on String Theory Made Easy could not go ahead in situ as programmed, for whatever reason. A leisurely lunch of fish and chips beckoned instead.

Andrew Strain’s talk, The Awesome Scottish Space Sector, made up for a so-far dismal Monday. The industry started out with just two companies 18 years ago. Now there are 180 companies in Scotland, each contributing their different expertise to the sector. His first job was to help one man build two solar panels in four weeks. It was a job that normally took six months. They did it in five and a half weeks. Andrew continued to explain how his company transitioned from the development and construction of component parts to the construction of complete satellites. Regulations have become more stringent over time, leading to a reduction in deorbiting time from 25 years to 5 years after mission completion. Fortunately, the small size and more combustible materials of their satellites allow them to burn up upon re-entry into the atmosphere. On the table was a model of their first satellite:

The real surprise came with the announcement they had a space communications ground site very close to Scottish Event Centre in the aptly named Skypark, with satellite dishes.

Overall, despite WorldCon being plagued by organizational gremlins and many people not getting an opportunity to take part as they wished, the atmosphere was a happy one. The organizers did a good job under at times difficult circumstances and should be congratulated on producing such a memorable event for all the right reasons.

Rosie Oliver

August 2024