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Events and Conventions, Fandom

Westercon to Bow Out at 80

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Westercon to Bow Out at 80

This past weekend at Westercon 78 (combined with BayCon 42) in Santa Clara, its Business Meeting ratified the motion from last year which dissolves the convention. This means this year’s was the last Westercon to host a Business Meeting, but the convention itself will persist for two more years.

Westercon 79 will be combined with BayCon 43. No bids had been filed for Westercon 80 as of two weeks ago, but two were presented at the meeting: one to combine it with BayCon one more time, and one to combine it with Loscon, the Los Angeles science fiction convention run by LASFS, the organization that created Westercon.

The Loscon bid was accepted, meaning that Westercon 80 will be held Thanksgiving weekend in 2028.

As the official announcment says:

The first three Westercons were held in Los Angeles in 1948-50, with Westercon 4 being held in San Francisco in 1951. These final two Westercons symbolically retrace the convention’s steps from the Bay Area to the Los Angeles area, and are a sort of “Retirement Tour” for the convention. Both BayCon and Loscon are expected to include programming about the history of Westercon.

Westercon has been held every year since except for 2020.

Only a few conventions can claim to be as old as Westercon or older. The UK’s national science fiction convention was also first held in 1948. Boskone in Boston, Philcon in the Philadelphia area, and the World Science Fiction Convention are the only other survivors from that era.

Fanzines

Fanzine round up.

Lots of zines to share!

First off, Winners of the FAAn awards: Incompleat2026results

From Bill Burns at e-fanzines:

  • Rob Jackson’s Inca #27
  • Henry Grynnsten’s Wild Ideas #68
  • Octothorpe #153, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
  • Nic Farey’s This Here…#96
  • Andy Hooper’s CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #87
  • Opuntia #620, edited by Dale Speirs
  • Leigh Edmonds’ The Chatter Box #1
  • Ray Palm’s The Ray X X-rayer #188
  • Kat Templeton’s Rhyme & Paradox #8
  • Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – February 2026
  • Perry Middlemiss’s Perryscope #57
  • Leigh Edmonds’ The Chatter Box #2
  • Derrick Ashby’s The Hungry Goblin #2
  • Octothorpe #154, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
  • Opuntia #621, edited by Dale Speirs
  • Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #90
  • Two Chairs in Print #14 by Perry Middlemiss and David Grigg
  • Henry Grynnsten’s Wild Ideas #69
  • Opuntia #622, edited by Dale Speirs
  • Littlebrook #15, edited by Jerry Kaufman & Suzanne Tompkins
  • Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #60
  • Octothorpe #155, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line

Sent directly to the MonSFFA e-mailbox and archived on our site:

Gazette Feb2026

CCFebruary2026-v01

TNFF202602

De Profundis #618 – March 2026

ObdurateEye60

Tightbeam378

CCMarch2026-v01

ES202603

Gazette Mar2026

Intermission164   Cosmic Mind!

That's needed when we somersault into fandom's probably all-time weirdest episode. And locally we had a similar twisted mind. Just aim for the stars with monumental visions -and find mental asylum! From
this idiocy we go to gathering intelligence about Artificial Intelligence. And get carousing with mighty Thor and crayfish in a jar from 1920. In this International Culture Magazine you can expect the
unexpected.
  Meanwhile, Agent Orange goes to war to distract from Epstein. In these insane times Intermission is needed to keep you out of Bedlam!

Mind the gap,

--Ahrvid "Editor" Engholm (AFAIK not in the Epstein files. Yet.)
Comments and scoldings to ahrvid@hotmail.com - yeah, despite
Microsoft's best efforts normal E-mail works again!

 

 

Events and Conventions, Fandom

ToyCon, Montreal event

Saturday/Sunday, May 3rd 2026 from 10am to 4pm.

FREE Event by ToyCon Montreal
7000 Place Robert-Joncas, Ville Saint Laurent, QC, Canada, Quebec H4M 2Z5
Duration: 6 hr
Public Anyone on or off Facebook
Notre événement aura lieu le dimanche 3 mai 2026 de 10h à 16h.
Our event will take place Saturday/Sunday, May 3rd 2026 from 10am to 4pm.
L’entrée sera GRATUITE pour tout le monde.
Admission will be FREE for everyone.
Stationnement/Parking: 4 hrs/ 17$
(Subject to change as per hotel)
Courtyard MARRIOTT Aéroport Montreal
7000 Place Robert-Joncas
Ville St-Laurent, QC H4M 2Z5
Date:
Dimanche/Sunday, 3 mai 2026 de 10h à 16h
GRATUITE / FREE ADMISSION 😀
Information:
https://www.cmdstore.ca/pages/montreal-toycon
Fandom

Across the Fandomension with Garth Spencer”

We have received an update regarding Garth Spencer’s website, “Across the Fandomension with Garth Spencer” . This is shaping up to be a valuable resource for fans of SFF.  –Cathypl

Dear Guys,

My SF information website, “Across the Fandomension with Garth Spencer” (https://www.vcn.bc.ca/~garth2), is now extended and updated. I intend to make additions and updates monthly.

This is still a bare-bones information website, so to begin with I have focused on simply finding the links to resources. If you spot errors and omissions in the information about clubs, conventions, fanzines, fandoms, writers’ resources, markets, or websites, please comment and criticize and suggest amendments. If you have suggestions for improved layout and format, I am open to them, too.

 

Yours cordially,

 

Garth Spencer

Fanzines

Fanzine roundup!

Here are the zines that arrived in the virtual mailbox. Enjoy! and share!

Greetings, programs!
Attached you will find the January 2026 edition of Tightbeam, number 376, with reviews, recipes, and reminiscence.
You are invited to peruse and send a letter of comment.

Jason P Hunt
Publisher/CEO
www.SciFi4Me.com

Jason also sent us N3FReview202601

From Leybl in Israel: CCJanuary2026-v01

From Matt Mitchell at LASFS: Please feel free to distribute to your members.  Thank you very much. De Profundis #617 – February 2026
From Nic Farey: “The Enlightenment view of mankind is a complete myth. It leads us into thinking we’re sane and rational creatures most of the time, and we’re not.”
From Jason Hunt, N3F, two zines.  Greetings, programs! Please find attached the latest instalment of NAPA280_jan2026 
As we work out the kinks in the schedule, the goal is to get everything on track for a regular schedule of dates on which each of our ‘zines will hit your in-box. I appreciate everyone’s patience!
As we draw near the end of the month, as I contemplate the ridiculously cold temperatures and snow on the ground and wonder if the deer in the back are OK, I am sending to you this last ‘zine of the month (I think?) — the National Fantasy Fan for January 2026, beginning Volume 85.
Letters of comment are welcome. And please continue to send me any updates on e-mail addresses. I’m trying to keep everything as current as possible. TNFF202601

From Ahrvid Engholm: Intermission163

Intermission in the Epstein files?

It wouldn't surprise us, considering how morally corrupt it is! But in
the Engholm files (latest example #163 enclosed) we find Jules Verne!
(With his unknown, only English story!) And a whole bunch of writers
in deplorable filthy-pro magazines such as Beyond Fantasy,
Imagination, Startling Stories and others presenting your wettest,
wildest dreams! Blue films - at least one - also covered, and AI
translation.
  But we start with the latest goofs by Trump and Putin. Agent
Orange's Greenland plans get cold shoulders from the Arctic and
Putins's under-supplied alcoholic bumbs of an "army" is destroyed by
drones. And why don't media report on Putin' collapsing economy?
 Finally, don't miss ■■■■  and ■■■■, especially ■■■■!!!

Don't Put Hands In Running Mower,

--Ahrvid Engholm, edit■■■■or
  (Comments welcome, but whatever you write, make CC: to
ahvid@atomicmail.io, due to failing Microsoft...)

From the N3F: Tightbeam 377 is attached. There is an Alarming Event…we are back on schedule. On the topic of schedules, Mindy Hunt reports that the next issue of FanActivity Gazette will be delayed.

Updates from Bill Burns at d-fanzines
  • Perry Middlemiss’s Perryscope #56
  • Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation, Spring 2026 is now on line
  • Octothorpe #151, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
  • Two Chairs in Print #12 by Perry Middlemiss and David Grigg [2025 issue]
  • Henry Grynnsten’s Wild Ideas #67 [2025 issue]
  • John D. Berry’s dot-fanzine: guillemets
  • Nic Farey’s This Here…#95
  • Andy Hooper’s CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #86
  • Opuntia #618, edited by Dale Speirs
  • Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – January 2026
  • Christopher J. Garcia’s Claims Department #94
  • John D. Berry’s dot-fanzine: interrobang and dot-fanzine: colon [archive issues]
  • Two Chairs in Print #13 by Perry Middlemiss and David Grigg
  • Octothorpe #152, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
  • Opuntia #619, edited by Dale Speirs
  • Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #59
Fandom

Announcing the Launch of an information website

Dear Guys and Gals,

Canadian fan, Garth Spencer

I am now launching a fannish information website, listing Canadian and Pacific Northwest clubs and conventions, as well as less regional information for fanzine fans and aspiring writers. Please check out https://www.vcn.bc.ca/~garth2/ and let me know if you find it useful. The plan is to edit the web page monthly.

Any critical comments or helpful suggestions are welcome, so I have put an email link on every web page to make it easy to contact me. I have no aesthetic sense, so this month’s edition is almost entirely text-only. (My smiling face is on the welcome page, but it’s a bit large – I think I must cut it down.)

Many thanks are due to the Vancouver Community for hosting this website, and to their Help Desk and to Kalin Stacey of the Canadian SF and Fantasy Association for getting me over some glitches.

Yours cordially,

Garth Spencer

Fanzines

Fanzine to Share!

We have received the following fanzine to share. Enjoy!

From Ahrvid Engholm in Sweden: Let’s invade & Kidnap a little!

Mission completed!

Intermission too. It’s a complex, chaotic world, and here’s something
to make it chaotier! We found Hugo Gernsback’s excuses for not paying his authors, take you on a tour through Bobby Heinlein’s fantastic home and present the A-Bomb’s mother. We go through the Ukraine peace plan, a conflict almost as intricate as some fanfeuds. Then we turn to poetry, a concon and prepare to join the paperclip-makers… An idea: Instead of Greenland, why don’t go for Blueland or perhaps Yellowland instead?
You need Intermission for national security!

Only necessary cookies,

–Ahrvid Engholm, editor-in-chief
Comments welcome! Due to some mail snags make CCs of comments to
ahrvid@atomicmail.io

Awards, Fanzines

Voting for the 2026 FAAn awards (for work done in 2025) is now open. 

Voting for the 2026 FAAn awards (for work done in 2025) is now open.
The seven award categories are unchanged as follows:
FANZINE AWARDS
Best Genzine
Best Perzine
Best Special Publication/One-shot/Limited series
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Best Fanwriter
Best Fanartist (Steve Stiles Memorial Award)
Best Letterhack (Harry Warner, Jr. Memorial Award)
Best Fanzine Cover
Voting is open to anyone with an interest in fanzines, no memberships or voting fees are required.
Ballots must be received by 23:59 Pacific time, Saturday February 14th 2026, and the awards will be presented at Corflu Pickled (fanzine convention) in Santa Rosa, CA after the banquet on Sunday March 1 2026.
Anyone wishing to watch the ceremonies in real time will need at least a virtual membership, details at https://corflu.org/ along with The Incompleat Register 2025, the awards voters’ guide and pro forma ballot, which is also available for the asking from the awards administrator, Nic Farey, fareynic@gmail.com , and attached to this email.
Fanzines

Fanzine Roundup

Fanzine Roundup

From Matt Mitchell: De Profundis #616 – January 2026
I present to you the new issue, the first of 2026.  Feel free to distribute this among your membership. Thank you.

Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society

From Nic Farey, who says: “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.” TH 94r contains important info regarding Corflu and the FAAn awards.
From Garth Spencer:  Obdurate Eye 58
The first person you encounter on Mars says:
“Hello. We’ve been trying to contact you about your overdue account …”
From Bill Burns:

Just when I thought I had safely closed out 2025, four new fanzines arrived dated December 31st. Then on New Year’s Day, the first issue of 2026 arrived.

All these are now at https://efanzines.com

  • Opuntia #617, edited by Dale Speirs
  • J.L. Farey’s JenZine #13
  • Nic Farey’s This Here…#94
  • Journey Planet #92 & 93, edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia, et al