Take 5,000 science fiction fans, 100 famous authors, artists, publishers and editors, 300 dealers of science fiction and fantasy books and memorabilia, mix in too many parties and not enough sleep and stir for five days. What you get is the 58th World Science Fiction Convention, or ChiCon, held in Chicago, Ill on August 31 to Sept 4, 2000.

This is not a Star Trek Convention. Amongst all the fans at ChiCon, not a single Star Trek TV personality could be seen. “This is a literary convention,” said Herbert McCaullan, owner of Starbase Atlanta, one of the dealers. “If it’s not a book without pictures, it’s not SF to most of these fans.

That’s not to say fans at ChiCon are dull and boring bookworms.

In addition to over a hundred seminars and panel presentations, ranging from “The Latest Results from the Hubble Telescope” to “Are Comic Book Plots Real Literature?”, a highlight of WorldCon is the announcement of the Hugo award winners, the most prestigious award in the Science Fiction genre.

The Hugo for best novel went to Vernor Vinge for A Deepness in the Sky. The Hugo for best short story went to Michael Swanwick for “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur”, published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July, 1999. The Hugo for best dramatic presentation was awarded to Galaxy Quest, produced by DreamWorks SKG.

Each year, a Guest of Honor author is chosen. Ben Bova, author of 59 science fiction books, 88 short stories and 32 non fiction books, was selected for 2000. His stories, which he has been writing since the late 40’s, all have the common theme of  “…the human expansion throughout the solar system,” Bova says. “We need to move out into space for one simple, brutal reason, survival,” he concludes.

As a best selling science fiction author and futurist, he offered four predictions for the near future: “…we’ll find life on Mars, we’ll develop fusion based energy, we’ll find intelligent civilizations and we’ll stop and reverse the aging process.”

WorldCon is the annual meeting of the World Science Fiction Society. All members of the society are eligible to vote for the Hugo winners. All WorldCons are held over Labor Day weekend. The 2001 WorldCon will be in Philadelphia, PA. In 2002, it is scheduled for San Jose, CA.

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Published in JCCC Campus Ledger September 4, 2000,