by Gideon Marcus
Goodness, what a show!
After eight days of the GOP and then the Democratic conventions, it was sure nice to go to a place where everyone was normal…at least, per our definition of normal.
Baycon program. From Fanac
Worldcon exploded in attendance last year, in part thanks to the influence of Star Trek, and it shows no sign of fading. Nearly 1500 people came to the Claremont Hotel in placid, undramatic Berkeley, California for a weekend of fan interaction.
Just lookit all the faces!
From Calisphere
Anne McCaffrey, Leigh Brackett, Blanche Williamson, Edmond Hamilton, Jack Williamson. From Fanac
There was an auction: Philip José Farmer got $210 for his Esperanto translation of Tarzan of the Apes while Kelly Freas got $160 for his painting, "The Royal Road"—the second highest art price in Worldcon history.
Also, Harlan Ellison auctioned David Gerrold, the newcomer who wrote "The Trouble with Tribbles"
From Fanac
Harlan was, in turn, auctioned by Bob Silverberg.
From Fanac
The Masquerade Ball was a tremendous success. Here's a sampling of costumes:
Best SF: Bruce Pelz as Heavy Trooper from The Dragon Masters From Fanac
Most Beautiful: Lin Carter as Elric From Fanac
Most Humorous: Cory Seidman as a bottle of Cor(rection) Flu(id). From Fanac
Contemporaneous with the Baycon was a Medieval event held by the Society for Creative Anachronism. This Bay Area organization has a lot of cross-over with the science fiction community, with a lot of fen sporting Middle Ages alter egos.
from Calisphere
Aiding the…otherworldly attitude of the convention was the infusion of mind-altering substances. While at Nycon, there was some partaking of grass, Baycon marked the arrival of magic little pills from Los Angeles sold at 50¢ a pop. Everyone was trying them, including Philip K. Dick. Supposedly, they were filled with THC—turns out it was actually PCP! This tidbit courtesy of Ted White.
I think Dick has had enough. From Calisphere
But, of course, the main event was the Fanquet, and the Hugo Awards handed out therein. Let's take a look:
Best Novel
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny [Doubleday (and F&SF)]
Nominees
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany [Ace]
Chthon by Piers Anthony [Ballantine]
The Butterfly Kid by Chester Anderson [Pyramid]
Thorns by Robert Silverberg [Ballantine]
I'm not sorry Lord got the top spot, though reviews have been more mixed of Zelazny's work than of Delany's. As for the others, Thorns was a bit too unpleasant for me, though Vic Silverwolf liked it, The Butterfly Kid was fine…as a bit of Greenwich Village fanfiction, and the less said about Chthon, the better.
This is one of the worst years for alignment between The Galactic Stars and the Hugos. Let's hope future history looks to us for guidance rather than Worldcon voters.
Best Novella
Co-Winner: “Riders of the Purple Wage ” by Philip José Farmer [Dangerous Visions]
Co-Winner: “Weyr Search” by Anne McCaffrey [Analog]
Nominees
“Damnation Alley” by Roger Zelazny [Galaxy]
“The Star Pit” by Samuel R. Delany [Worlds of Tomorrow]
“Hawksbill Station ” by Robert Silverberg [Galaxy]
Here, we end up in much closer alignment between Stars and Hugos. I am quite surprised that "Damnation" ended up here; I can only assume Zelazy has knee-jerk support from his fans. Also, "Purple Wage", while Victoria Silverwolf loved it, she did not love it enough to nominate it for the Star…and neither did anyone else.
C'est la Gernsback.
Best Novelette
“Gonna Roll the Bones” by Fritz Leiber [Dangerous Visions]
Leiber accepting his award. From Fanac
Nominees
“Wizard’s World” by Andre Norton [If Jun 1967]
“Faith of Our Fathers” by Philip K. Dick [Dangerous Visions, 1967]
“Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes” by Harlan Ellison [Knight May 1967]
What a divergence here! Only Leiber made the Stars list (and there was debate behind the scenes on that one), although the Dick made it as an Honorable Mention. Still, it's nice to see Norton on the ballot, even if that's not the work I would have chosen as her best from 1967 (Moon of Three Rings)
Short Fiction
Winner: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison [If]
Nominees
“The Jigsaw Man” by Larry Niven [Dangerous Visions]
“Aye, and Gomorrah" by Samuel R. Delany [Dangerous Visions]
Last year, we had, what? Seven entries to choose from? Only having three short story nominees (for comparison, the Stars had thirteen just in the Novelet category) really does the field a disservice.
As for the choices, well, Harlan's story is certainly memorable, and we've no complaints about the Gomorrah. There's nothing wrong with "The Jigsaw Man", but it's not one of the best stories of 1967. Indeed, per Larry, it wasn't even a final draft. He wanted to polish it before sending it on to a magazine, but Harlan, soliciting stories for Dangerous Visions, said he'd liked it raw.
If there's one thing the Hugos show, though, it's that Ellison has an outsized influence on the Hugo nominators. Nearly half of the sub-novel nominees came from DV, and two more pieces were penned by the man (and see below…).
"Harlan's ego grew three sizes that day…"
Best Dramatic Presentation
Winner: Star Trek – “The City on the Edge of Forever” [Desilu] Directed by Joseph Pevney; Written (sort of) by Harlan Ellison
Nominees
Star Trek – “The Trouble with Tribbles” [Desilu] Directed by Joseph Pevney; Written by David Gerrold
Star Trek – “Mirror, Mirror” [Desilu] Directed by Marc Daniels; Written by Jerome Bixby
Star Trek – “The Doomsday Machine” [Desilu] Directed by Marc Daniels; Written by Norman Spinrad
Star Trek – “Amok Time” [Desilu] Directed by Joseph Pevney; Written by Theodore Sturgeon
Talk about outsized influence! Last year, there was a lot of worry in the community that Trek wouldn't win since there were five nominees, three of which were Trek episodes. The concern was that the Trek vote would get split such that Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea or Fahrenheit 451 would win.
No such trouble this year! City would not have been my top choice, however. It wasn't even in the top five for me. I'd have picked Doomsday Machine as it is both stellarly SFnal and quite good. Mirror, Mirror is even better, but it requires a knowledge of Trek to fully appreciate, whereas Spinrad's script does not.
I do appreciate all the big SF names in this line-up. Trek really is our show.
Best Professional Magazine
Winner: IF Science Fiction ed. Fred Pohl
Nominees
Analog Science Fiction and Fact ed. by John W. Campbell, Jr.
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ed. by Edward L. Ferman
Galaxy ed. by Fred Pohl
New Worlds ed. by Michael Moorcock
This is, with the exception of the addition of F&SF, an exact duplicate of last year's slate. IF seems to be floating on inertia since last year marked the beginning of its decline. On the other hand, 1967 was a pretty middlin' year for mags anyway, so I suppose any pick is a fair one.
I'm just glad Amazing didn't make the cut…
Best Professional Artist
Winner: Jack Gaughan
Nominees
Frank Kelly Freas
Chesley Bonestell
Frank Frazetta
Gray Morrow
John Schoenherr
I'm not sure why Jack won–he's not bad, but he's easily my least favorite of this group (Schoenherr is my favorite, but Freas, being #2, tries harder–there are whole issues of Analog that only have his art in them!)
Frazetta does't do magazines, but he does do a lot of high profile book covers. Gray Morrow's work is always consistent, always pretty good. I'm surprised not to see Virgil Finlay here, but I suppose his comeback didn't start until later last year.
Best Fanzine
Winner: Amra ed. by George H. Scithers
Nominees
Australian Science Fiction Review ed. by John Bangsund
Lighthouse ed. by Terry Carr
Yandro ed. by Robert Coulson and Juanita Coulson
Odd ed. by Raymond D. Fisher
Psychotic ed. by Richard E. Geis
Sadly, Lighthouse is no more (though its final issue had an hysterical piece by Ellison, the last word in Adam & Eve stories). Yandro remains consistent, and a good source of Trek news. I like ASFR when I can get a copy.
Offhand, I'm not familiar with the rest. I do note the conspicuous absence of Galactic Journey…again!
Best Fan Writer
From Calisphere
Winner: Ted White
Nominees
Ruth Berman
Harry Warner, Jr
I'm quite excited about this list. Ted, of course, is a polarizing figure, but he's never boring. He is also quite friendly to fellow fen, even if he is now also a "filthy pro", and we have had a long and enjoyable correspondence for years.
Ruth Berman, of course, is both a superfan AND a big Trek booster. She practically wrote Inside Star Trek. We became acquainted this year, and she is a delight.
Harry Warner has been around since the dawn of time, and I always look forward to his FAPA (Fantasy Amateur Press Association, natch) contribution (Horizon). He lives in Hagerstown, not far from my mother-in-law. I should visit him someday…
Best Fan Artist
Winner: George Barr
Nominees
Bjo Trimble
Johnny Chambers
Steve Stiles
Arthur “ATom” Thomson
Barr, in addition to being a prolific cover artist, does the comic "Broken Sword", which appears in the fanzine, Trumpet. I've seen Trimble's art in various zines, clean and cute lineart. Johnny Chambers does the 'zine Ymir, Steve Stiles' work appeared in Cry of the Nameless (which just got revived!), and you probably know UK artist ATom from Hyphen.
Where next?
One of the most important items of business at any Worldcon is the determination of where the next Worldcon will be held. The one bid I'd heard advanced as an alternative to St. Louis was Columbus, Ohio. In the end, St. Louis trounced Columbus 393 to 5 (with a few votes going to such places as Tel Aviv, Leningrad, and Deer Knuckles, British Columbia, etc.—maybe year after next).
Incidentally, it was also decided that Worldcons would happen overseas every fifth year. For those waiting eagerly for a West Berlin convention (unless you want Berlin, Maryland), it'll be a while.
Anyway, we already have a Guest of Honor for '69: artist Jack Gaughan. Fan Guest of Honor will be Ted White. Two fan/pros. Interesting.
Hope to see you there, but if you can't make it, remember that a supporting membership is just $2 (enjoy it while you can—they're gonna vote to raise it to an outrageous $3 next year…)
From Fanac
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Certainly a good year for Harlan, though given the things he's said, I imagine he'd be happier without the Dramatic Presentation award.
One quibble with your write-up. "Faith of Our Fathers" is not the only overlap with the Galactic Stars in the novelette category. The Hugo winner "Gonna Roll the Bones" was also on our list.
IF winning again is a bit of a surprise, but as you say, none of the mags really stood out last year. But if Fred wants to take another stab at a Hugo Winners issue, he's got 6 (if you count Ted White) writers to draw from. Anne McCaffrey might be tough to get, since she doesn't seem to write all that much these days and Analog probably has first dibs on her dragon stories. The other four pros all regularly submit stories to Fred, though.
A point to correct — Theodore Sturgeon (not D.C. Fontana) wrote "Amok Time." Fontana wrote the other major look-at-Vulcan-society episode, "Journey to Babel."
Well, you know what they say: 90% of things written by Ted Sturgeon are…by Ted Sturgeon!
Seriously, thank you. Corrections have been applied.
No complaints on the winners from me.
My first worldcon (and first convention of any kind!). Quite an adventure for a country boy from Indiana. I thought I might spot myself in the crowd photo, although that’s Alan Dean Foster wearing the turtleneck in the front. I think this was his first con, too, and we hung around quite a bit. I was staying in the Shattuck a few blocks away (Chelsea Quinn Yarbro was a shuttle driver), and there was the occasional whiff of teargas from the demonstrations nearby. I was immersed in sf and fandom for three years by then, and meeting fannish friends and sf legends for the first time was overwhelming.
Thanks very much for that, Bob!
Only three Short Story nominees is absurd. Why does the Novella category have more? Anyway, this was Harlan’d victory lap. All of the short fiction winners except for the McCaffrey were either written by Ellison or appeared in Dangerous Visions, and his Star Trek episode also won (although he doesn’t seem too happy about that). And he won a special Hugo for Dangerous Visions itself. Personally I think DV’s importance is being overstated… never mind its quality is wildly uneven.