| BayCon | |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Science fiction/Fantasy |
| Location | Santa Clara, California |
| Country | United States |
| First held | 1982 |
| Organizer | Artistic Solutions, Inc. |
| Official Website | http://www.baycon.org/ |
BayCon is the San Francisco Bay Area's main Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. It is held over Memorial Day weekend in San Jose, California.
BayCon is a large convention topping two thousand attendees over the last several years. The convention draws many attendees from throughout California and also as far away as Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. Some of the better known regular attendees include Howard Hendrix, Diana Paxson, Lee Martindale, and Irene Radford. Past Guests of Honor include Gene Wolfe, Frank Kelly Freas, Mike Jittlov, James P. Hogan, Don Maitz, Michael Whelan, Los Hermanos Hernandez, Art Widner, Barry Longyear, Harry Turtledove, David Brin, Spider and Jeanne Robinson, Harlan Ellison, Forrest J Ackerman, Kent Brewster and Esther Friesner. Toastmasters have included Frank Catalano, Richard A. Lupoff, Frank M. Robinson, Raymond E. Feist and Laura Brodian Freas.
Co-founded by John McLaughlin and Randall Cooper, the first BayCon in its current existence as "The San Francisco Bay Area Regional Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention" was held over Thanksgiving weekend in 1982. BayCon '83 was also held over Thanksgiving weekend. (The name was previously used by the 1961 Westercon, 1968 Worldcon, and a San Francisco Bay Area comics convention from 1973-78.) To avoid conflicts with Southern California's annual regional convention, Loscon, BayCon moved to Memorial Day weekend, skipping Thanksgiving in 1984. For most of its history, it was held at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose (formerly the Red Lion). In 2007, it was held at the San Mateo Marriott Hotel. From 2008-2010, it will be held at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara and Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. [1]
Guests of Honor
2005:
- Writer: Jay Lake
- Artist: Frank Wu
- Fans: Kevin Roche & Andy Trembley
- Special Guest: Chase Masterson
- Toastmaster: Chris Garcia
2006:
2007:
- Science Fiction Writer: Alan Dean Foster
- Fantasy Writer: Diana L. Paxson
- Artist: Richard Hescox
2008:
- Writer: Tim Powers
- Artist: Todd Lockwood
- Fan: Patty Wells
- Toastmaster: Scott Sigler
2009:
- Writers: Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon
- Artist: Tim Kirk
- Fan: Fred Patten
- Toastmaster: Jennifer Brozek
External links
- Official BayCon Website
- Parent corporation website
- Flickr.com photos tagged with "baycon"
- History of BayCon's founding
- ^ Baycon 2008, accessed June 5, 2007
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