1999
The 20th ICFA was a great success . . . fantastic scholarship and amazing guests, not to mention the usual amazing food and fantastic weather. It was a joyful occasion, but one that called for extra remembrances of departed comrades (and that often means a hangover the next day).
BETWEEN INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE Stephen R. Donaldson steps into the gap after my wife Donna (L) and our friend Elaine Hakala (R) finish their papers on his five-book GAP series.
"Hmmm . . . perhaps I'd better not read that part." Permanent Special Guest Brian Aldiss was also the Special Special Guest this year. He demonstrated how one becomes the holder of a Chair, then read selections from his Somewhere East of Life. Brian Aldiss has lived an amazing life in amazing times, and written most of it down at one time or another. Remember the Forgotten Army? Well, of course you don't; that's why they're called that. But Private, or possibly Sahib, Aldiss hasn't forgotten a detail.
TOMORROW'S YESTERDAYS
Tom Shippey warms up the crowd for Brian's Guest of Honor Lunch. Brian then carried us all into the 21st Century for a sneak preview of the future . . . or maybe of a future? It sounded better than the one we're probably headed for . . . but wouldn't tomorrow's yesterdays be, well, right about now? We need further study . . . let's form a sub-committee . . .
BILL CARTER TAKES OVER
Gary Wolf provides the voice of God as Brian Aldiss teaches his personal deity about pain and suffering before an enthusiastic crowd at Doubles.
"AND I'LL HUFF AND I'LL PUFF AND - OH, YOU'VE HEARD THAT ONE?" Rob Holdstock, an author of mythic proportions, explains the importance of carved masks, insistently prophetic dreams, migrating cities, and severed heads packed in oil to his work. I bought his 1977 EARTHWIND at the conference, never having read it before, and got all the way to page 94 before the first severed head rolled across the ground. L-R Peter Hunt (still thinking back to grandmother's pork pies), Holdstock, '99 Crawford Award Winner David B. Coe (I'll start his book when I finish Holdstock's) and session host Charles W. Nelson. Yes, Jane Yolen was there at far right, but I had to stand on an audience member to take this picture.
My wife Donna participated in a reading of fantastic-themed poetry, which was extremely enjoyable. Chair Judith Kerman (not shown) expertly knitted the session together (David Lunde at far right was cut out of these pictures). L-R Sydney Sowers, Marilyn Jurich, Donna Hooley, Don Riggs, Gene Doty.
"Hmmm . . . perhaps I'd better not read that part." Peter Straub read ASHPUTTEL, delighting his many fans and mystifying those who'd heard the rumor that he would read from his unobtainable cult classic Cottage By The Sea. 
He was joined by Suzy McKee Charnas, whose reading left us all suspicious of bears; the session was chaired by Tony Magistrale.
"If the Fantastic is so legitimate, then why do I have to fight for funding?" Some of the best minds in SF consider how best to retort to a feisty audience. L-R - Peter Hunt, Tom Shippey, Brian Aldiss, John Clute, Gary Wolf, H. Bruce Franklin, Kathryn Hume (and an invisible Brian Attebery at far right).
BOYZ IN THE HOOD Bill Senior announces the availability of a special boat tour of Fort Lauderdale on a luxury ship called the Beaumont Queen. Donald Morse recoils in horror at the mere thought.
BRIAN'S IN HEAVEN At least his shirt says so, courtesy of a local bar, and it doesn't seem too inappropriate.
Elaine and Donna prepare to give their papers on the "Gap" into Donaldson; respectively "The Gap into Experience: Staying in Power," and "The Gap into Innocence: Staying in Perspective," as Session Chair Bill Senior examines their slightly dubious biographies.
Previously Mr. Donaldson read from his new mystery novel, The Man Who Fought Alone which may allow 'Reed Stephens' to finally get the respect he deserves, and was kind enough to sign a few autographs afterwards.
BRIAN AND THE SCUTTLERS - An awed crowd was witness Saturday night to a ceremony of incredible dignity and power, as respected scholars and authors donned deelie-bobbers and joined a Greek chorus of scuttling cockroaches while Special Permanent Guest of Honor Brian Aldiss read from his interpretation of Kafka's Metamorphosis, or perhaps it was the Metamorphosis of Kafka.Better Morphosis? Anyway, Kafka was in it, and there wasn't a dry eye in the place (we laughed till the tears came).
(I advised Mr. Aldiss that the performance still had a few bugs in it. Is Sod off! one of those obscure British compliments? I thought not.)
Below: the Isaac Asimov Award Winners wonder if Joe and Gay Haldeman are going to keep their deelie-bobbers on throughout the banquet.
THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A DAME!
Well, granted, but possibly not politically correct; however since it wasn't I who suggested that song I feel fairly safe mentioning the fact. Pat Murphy and Karen Joy Fowler wrote about gender and invented the Tiptree. If YOU wrote about gender you could win a Tiptree, too. I kept an eye out for the ghost of Tiptree; perhaps the large raccoon which frightened my wife by the parking garage was an emissary.
DON'T TRY THE SOYLENT GREEN! Canapes are always a special time at a convention like this . . . you wonder if Peter Straub had a hand in them, or maybe Jeffrey Dahmer. I wasn't sure if I should eat mine or try to communicate with them. We observed a moment of silence just in case.
JUST A FEW BRIEF REMARKS L-R Special Guest Scholar John Clute and wife Judith, Bill Senior, Brian Aldiss with his Pod, Special Guest Kim Stanley Robinson, ? and David G. Hartwell. (Somebody write me and tell me who the lady was that I skipped; she came in Tom Doherty's place but wasn't in the errata sheet.)
ELEMENTS OF THE FANTASTIC
Having time to sit by a pool and do next to nothing is actually less likely than being chosen to save the world from orcs and trolls, if you know what I mean. My wife prepares to fulfill a yearlong fantasy by doing nothing for an hour or so. She's already looking forward to next year and another hour or two off.
Next year: 2000
THE FUTURE AT LAST!Fly in; teleport home in style. Room service by robot waiters. Antigravity beds. A waterfall in Peter Straub's room. Reservations by psychic clerks. Personal helicopters. Viewscreens on the telephones. At least, that's what they've been promising us for years . . .
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Blame it all on Steve Hooley / hooleyss@gsaix2.cc.gasou.edu
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