Uncle Fourth Street Wants You!

[mrissa]

So. The next con for which I have a membership is Fourth Street Fantasy Convention, which is about ten minutes from our house and will be full of awesome. June 20-22. You should definitely come if you possibly can. Lots of people have said this elsewhere, and they were right; listen to them. The registration deadline is not until May 31; if you don't pre-register, you can still come, but registrations are more expensive at the door. Go! Register! Frolic! Rejoice!

However. Several people have said to me, "I can't make it this year. Maybe next year." And oh my dears, conventions are not like violets. They do not spring up of their own accord in green and shady places. You cannot be sure that they will be there the next year, and the next, and the next. For why? Because conventions are work. And while we already know it will be awesome, if it is too small and awesome, the people who are doing the work might not be able to do it next year, or might not be able to find other people to do it next year.

And what can you, as a person who is unable to come this year, do about this problem? Why, I am so glad you asked, amiable reader! You can print this flier here, and you can take it to your local SF bookstore, or your local SF club meeting, or wherever else you think it might be of interest -- colleges sometimes have bulletin boards with announcements about conferences, and I don't see why eager college fabulists oughtn't to know about this, if you know some. And so on. I don't say you should post it at your local grocery store, but if you can think of interesting people who might not know about this event and might want to know, that would be exceptionally handy, and they and we would all thank you for it. And then the odds that there would be a next year's Fourth Street would increase by a non-zero amount, so you'd have another chance at it! See how this makes everybody happy? Mostly me?

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

No local indie book stores, but hey, I put something up on my blog. I hope it perks one or two people's interest.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Much appreciated!

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

So what is Minneapolis weather likely to be in late June? Summer, I suppose, but will it be desperately muggy?

[pameladean]

Mugginess has generally arrived by the fourth of July, but exactly how much before that is a matter of chance. We are having a cool, late spring, but it's hard to predict what that will mean for June. I am hoping for a cool summer, but who knows?

There's a nature preserve right next to the hotel, though, and it might be full of dragonflies. A lot of them emerge right around the summer solstice.

P.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Fireflies are nice.

"Would there be...fireflies?" she wondered hopefully. Please do not croggle so violently as to injure yourselves, but I have never seen fireflies in the real live flesh-and-person.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

Dragonflies, she said.

Dunno about fireflies locally. I sort of spent two years in a fog, and haven't been out much. (Sounds like exaggeration, but it's kinda true. Sad.)

Anyhow, dragonflies are nice....

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, I meant to say dragonflies the first time. I did have a brain once, but it was shot off in the war.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

Mine's been under the couch for months....

[pameladean]

There will absolutely be dragonflies. Barring some totally unseasonable hard freeze or a deadly rain of pesticides, more than the usual deadly rain of pesticides, absolutely.

I can't remember where you live, but I should think you'd have a few species, anyway. They may not be near your daily haunts, though. Minneapolis has so much water that we get the hardier kinds right in the city itself.

There will be fireflies too, but I'm not sure about how close to the city they'd be. I've mostly seen them late, late at night several hours away from the city. And they are more prevalent later in the summer.

P.

Fireflies

[eileenlufkin.livejournal.com]

I once saw fireflies in Minneapolis, in Minnehaha Park, by the creek below the falls.

Re: Fireflies

[pameladean]

Oh, lovely! I'll have to remember that.

P.

Re: Fireflies

[guppiecat]

Fireflies in Iowa are wonderful. You just need to find a hay field, and wait for sundown. They rise from the fields looking like a glowing and blinking blanket that undulates in the breeze.

Re: Fireflies

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Kipling has a poem about Philadelphia and how much it's changed since Washington's day, but how the Pennylvania back country is still the same. It's still true, and my absolute favorite line in it is "And the fireflies in the corn make night amazing." Brings back memories of the summer I was 16, sigh.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Ah, I keep introducing more confusion, don't I? Yes, there are dragonflies in Washington -- you get tiny blue ones in the vicinity of Lake Washington, for instance -- and there were dragonflies in California, too. There used to be lots over the fish ponds at Caltech. In fact, once I had a dead one fall out of the clear blue and drop into the middle of my sandwich. That was a bit surreal.

But fireflies -- the closest I've come to seeing fireflies is at the Blue Bayou in Disneyland.

[pameladean]

It's not at all hard to confuse me, alas.

I'm afraid it may be too early and cool for fireflies, but if there are any, the nature preserve should be a good place to look.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I've seen fireflies this close to the city, which is more or less as close to the city as the con hotel.

[pameladean]

Oh, good. I hope I may see some without a lot of driving, then.

P.

[fredcritter.livejournal.com]

Do you have fireflies where you live? Or lightning bugs, as we call them here…

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

No, no fireflies in Washington, nor were there any in California.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My best guess is high 70s/low 80s for the highs.

[fredcritter.livejournal.com]

So tell me… why is it we seem to have a disjoint set of conventions? *sigh* ah well. some time or other. waiting is.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I suppose you're not going to Farthing Party or World Fantasy this year, either. And while Convivial is on my list, it's the one I'm least committed to.

[fredcritter.livejournal.com]

"Farthing Party"? Heh. Don't even know what that one is. See how In The Loop I am? And as I say below, being a mere faan I feel even less welcome at World Fantasy than at Fourth Street, although I was perfectly happy to help work on the ones that were here. Finally, Convivial? Which one is that? Rick & Sharon? No, I guess not.

Looks like I was right: Totally disjoint set. Ah well, there may be other places, other times…

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Hmm. See, my main way of saying, "fans should feel welcome at Fourth Street, not just pros," is, "Lydy is the con chair for cryinoutloud." If that doesn't help, then I'm lost.

Convivial is the Minn-StF fall relaxacon these days. Very small, very local, very non-threatening. Very Laurel. Still plenty of time to decide you're not going to that. Err, I mean plenty of time to decide whether you're going, of course.

[janetwain.livejournal.com]

Does that mean you won't be at Fourth Street?

[fredcritter.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid so. I know it's weird, especially with the New! Improved! Resurrected! Fourth Street, but I've always felt … not entirely welcome at Fourth Streets, being as I am, a mere faan and not-a-pro. Go figure.

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

Now that our development schedule has settled a bit and I've been reminded of when exactly the convention is happening, I should be able to make it. Arrangements to be made when I am no longer bedridden with sick and stupid.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Awesome.

[lynnal.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting about the extended deadline. I wanted to go when I first got the flier, but was waffling because of schedule constraints. Between your post and talking to people at WisCon, I have tipped towards going and sent in my registration today. I am very curious to see what 4th St is like 15 years later.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am so glad to hear it!