For those of you driving to Westercon 64, note that there is no free parking in downtown San José and that the hotel’s parking garage is valet parking-only (no self parking) for $26/day. There is plenty of available parking in downtown San José, however, including both surface lots suitable for taller vehicles and parking garages, all of which are close to the hotel. See our Parking page for more details.
Westercon 64 issued the following press release this morning discussing the convention’s major special events.
WESTERCON 64
2011 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference
PO Box 61363, Sunnyvale CA 94088-1363 USA
info@westercon64.org; http://www.westercon64.org/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 20, 2011
This Fourth of July weekend sees Westercon 64, the 2011 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference, coming to downtown San Jose. Westercon 64 will include several special events in its schedule in addition to traditional SF/F convention programming. Among the special events planned is a performance of a radio-style play written by artist guests of honor Phil and Kaja Foglio, a themed Saturday afternoon tea with writer guest of honor Patricia McKillip, a focus event on the guests moderated by Terry Bisson from the SF in SF reading series, and an SF/F-themed game show. The convention will also include two Regency Dances and the Westercon Masquerade costume contest.
Read more…
John Hertz will be leading discussions of three classic SF works at Westercon 64. As he puts it, “A classic is a work that survives its own time. After the currents which might have sustained it have changed, it remains, and is seen to be worthwhile for itself.” If you have a better definition, bring it to the panels.
Each of the three classics is worth reading, or re-reading. Each discussion will take up one. Come to as many as you like. You’ll be welcome to join in. Check the program schedule at the convention for the specific time and location of the discussion.
Read more…
If you’re planning on presenting a costume in the Westercon Masquerade, check out the revised Rules page for copies of the Masquerade registration forms and the Technical/Stage Info page for a copy of the planned stage/room layout.
At 7:30 on Friday evening of Westercon 64, John Hertz will be teaching and leading Regency Dancing in the appropriately named Regency Ballroom. More details on the Dances page.
Westercon 64 plans an extensive program of Anime, staring the Thursday night before the convention’s official Friday, July 1 opening, running 10 AM-2AM on Friday through Sunday, and continuing until Monday afternoon. We’ve published the planned schedule of items on the Anime Program Page.
The ongoing SF in SF reading series has been bringing quality science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors to the Bay Area literary community since 2005. Westercon is pleased to host a special San José edition of SF in SF on Saturday, July 2 from 5:30 to 7:00 PM in the Club Regent Room on the ground floor of the Fairmont Hotel. This special San José edition of SF in SF will feature moderator Terry Bisson and Guests of Honor Patricia McKillip, Phil & Kaja Foglio, and Mike Willmoth.
For more details about this special SF in SF focusing on Westercon 64’s Guests of Honor, see the SF in SF page in our Programming section.
We’ve posted a map of our planned function room assignments on the Hotel Map page.
Most of Westercon 64’s functions will be on the second floor, including convention Registration, which will be in the Market Street Foyer (take the escalators from the lobby). Some Programing and special events like Girl Genius Radio Theatre will be in the Club Regent room on the ground floor near the hotel’s Lobby Bar.
Note that the function rooms on second floor are arranged as a hollow square, so if you keep walking around the halls here, you will eventually come back to where you started. Some people have found this confusing, but it does mean that if you take the elevators or the First Street stairs on your way to register, it doesn’t matter whether you turn left or right, because it’s the same distance either way to Registration on the opposite side of the first floor.
We are not using any of the hotel’s function rooms in the south tower. All functions will be in the main tower.
Westercon 64 will feature two shows of Match Game SF, the SF/F-themed game show based on the popular 1970s game show. Contestants will be randomly selected from the audience to match wits with our panel, with the object being to guess how the panel answers fill-in-the-blank questions like “Captain Kirk has the biggest ___ in Starfleet.” Winners receive prizes such as gift certificates from Westercon 64 dealers, while all contestants receive Lovely Parting Gifts (TM).
Match Game SF will be on Saturday afternoon of Westercon at 2:30 PM, while the second “Late Night” edition will be on Sunday night at 10 PM after the performance of Girl Genius Radio Theatre. Both shows will be in the Club Regent Room on the ground floor of the Fairmont Hotel. The Saturday afternoon show is “rated PG” for suggestive language, while Sunday’s “Late Night” show is unrestricted, with parental discretion strongly advised.
Note: the initially announced time for Saturday’s show was 4 PM. This has been moved to 2:30 PM.
The highlight of Sunday evening’s programming at Westercon 64 will be a performance of Girl Genius Radio Theatre, a live performance of a radio-style play based on the Girl Genius graphic novels. Featured in the cast will be Westercon 64’s guests of honor Kaja and Phil Foglio and the Girl Genius Radio Players. The Players are recruited from among the convention members during the convention, so persons interested in performing in the cast can stop by the Studio Foglio table in the Dealers’ Room and talk to the Foglios about the play.
The Girl Genius Radio Theatre performance is scheduled for Sunday evening at 8 PM in the Club Regent Room on the ground floor of the Fairmont Hotel. (Note that this is the only convention program space on the ground floor. All other functions will be on the second floor.)
