Friday Afternoon Edition, 2/14/97
Hi. This is Helmuth, your Boskone newsletter. We should be out five or six times during the convention (depending on the amount of news). Copies should be available at Information, in the Con Suite, in the Dealers' Room, and at other gathering places. We'll have program changes, party listings, award winners, and any other important information that turns up.
We welcome your news (especially those party listings) or commentary. There will be boxes set up to receive Helmuth contributions at Information (on the Promenade) and at Services (in the Executive Boardroom, down the corridor past the elevators). Contribute early and often!
The next issue should be out around mid-evening, with a list of the Friday night parties. Try to get your announcements in by 6:00 if possible.
Your attention is called to the major program items in the Grand Ballroom tonight.
At 7:30 is the Meet the VIPs Party, in which most of our program participants will be sitting at tables and signing autographs. (It's set up like a World Fantasy Con autographing session, if you're familiar with that.)
At 8:30 our Guest of Honor conducts "Ask Dr. Mike -- Boskone 101," which is indescribable (or at least Dr. Mike declined to describe it when I asked him). Come and find out!
And at 9:30 is "Whose Line Is It, Anyway," which Jerry Kaufman
describes for us:
In the fine tradition of stealing ideas from mainstream comedy, Orycon has presented "Whose Line
Is It, Anyway" for several years. Four people improvise skits, sight gags, or blackout humor in
response to audience suggestions, props, or the moderator's directions. The moderator then scores
the contestants' success on some scale I've never been able to divine. When the contestants are
spry and quick-witted, the results are hilarious. (By the way, the original was a British TV show,
carried by Comedy Central in the U.S.)
Daniel Dern's Discussion (7:30 p.m. Friday) and Reading
(10 p.m. Friday) are both
cancelled.
Joe and Gay Haldeman and Rusty Hevelin are reportedly stuck in
Atlanta, and will be in
late. So Joe will definitely miss "My Ideal Reader" at 5 p.m.
tonight, but we still hope they'll
all arrive in time for their 7 and 8 o'clock panels.
Jane Yolen's Reading has been moved from 8:30 to 10 P.M. Friday.
Here are some preregistration figures (as of the last minute, we think):
For comparison, here are some figures from the past two years:
(Note that attendance was held down last year by the heavy snow.
And it's already snowing
this year . . . Anyone want to move Boskone to Florida?)
Bulletin: The hotel is full for Friday and Saturday nights.
In the last few days, the floors of the NESFA Clubhouse have been
groaning under the arrival
of several hundred cubic feet of new books. We have the Boskone Book,
John M. Ford's From
the End of the Twentieth Century; the monumental His Share of
Glory: The Complete Short
Science Fiction of C. M. Kornbluth (the latest NESFA's Choice
book); and the first paperback
edition of Lois McMaster Bujold's Dreamweaver's Dilemma
(included in the new Locus
Recommended List). They'll all be available at the NESFA table in
the Dealer's Room, and at
other fine dealers.
Here's where you come in: We need you to buy these
books, so we can get our space in
the Clubhouse back. (And besides, they're all really Good Stuff.)
Lots of people were already here Thursday night, including all
the Guests of Honor and
attendees from three continents. They gathered in the Grand Ballroom
and helped to unload
Stuff from the truck, erect the Art Show, devour the scrumptious
Secret Buffet of Fandom,
and generally schmooze. If you weren't there, you might consider
trying it next year.
(Things broke up around midnight, when your reporter observed
the con chair departing
with her husband and a large blunt instrument.)
This evening there's a St. Valentine's Dinner Buffet in J Witherspoons, costing $12.95 (plus
tax and tip). The menu includes:
Soup du Jour; Tossed Greens; Rolls and Butter; Grilled Marinated
Chicken Breast with
Champagne Cream Sauce; Baked Native Schrod with Cracker Crumb
Topping; Penne Pasta
with Roasted Garden Vegetables; Baby Carrots with Brown Sugar
and Fresh Dill Glaze;
Baked Roma Tomatoes with Parmesan; Oven-Roasted Rosemary and Thyme Red Bliss
Potatoes; Strawberry Shortcake;
Chef's Selection of Assorted Valentine's Desserts
(No, we don't know what Valentine's Desserts are either.)
In addition, the Windsor Grille has
a four-course Valentine's menu at $28.95 per person, in addition to the
regular menu; open
5-10 p.m., reservations recommended.
And Molly Malone's has hot and cold food until
midnight.
"[Boskone] was a tyranny, an absolute monarchy, a despotism not
even remotely approximated by the dictatorships of earlier ages.
It had only one creed--'The end justifies the means.'
Anything--literally anything at all--that produced the desired result
was commendable; to fail was the only crime. . . . And of all its
cold, hard, ruthless crew far and away the coldest, hardest, and
most ruthless was Helmuth, the 'speaker for Boskone.' "
--E. E. Smith, Galactic Patrol
Honest, the snow is supposed to change to rain.
And it should all blow over by Sunday, so you
can go home (whether you like it or not).
But if you're going home by plane, better check your
reservations: The last we heard,
American was still likely to go on strike.
Kaffeeklatsches with authors begin at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Seating is limited, so sign up at Information.
Important: There is NO SMOKING in convention areas, including
the promenade in front of
the Grand Ballroom. Please observe this rule: Some people literally
can't go through the area
if there's smoke around.
There will be a party in the Con Suite for the Odyssey writing workshop
from 9 to 11 tonight.
Details in Helmuth #2.
Remember, the hotel staff depend on tips for part of their income.
Don't forget to tip waiters
(even for a buffet) and to leave tips for the room maids.
Program Changes
Obligatory Boring Numbers
Paid members 455
- payments by life members and
program participants -6
___
Net paid members 449
Unpaid members
Honest-to-God life members 134
Former GoH life members 52
___
Total life members 186
Total program participants 97
- life members on program -15
___
Total unpaid members 268
Total members 717
Prereg. Total Attend-
Year Paid Total Reg. ance
1995 432 667 1037 902
1996 476 710 983 829
Help the NESFA Space Program!
What You Already Missed
Notes on Hotel Restaurants
Our Heritage
Meanwhile, in the Outside World . . .
Miscellaneous