We were wandering around the party floor this evening and popped into the Chicago party, where they were playing the blues at high volume. Suddenly, the music quieted, and there was a voice, louder than the music had been, explaining that the music was too loud for people to have decent conversations. I looked, and the badge attached to the voice had the name “Harlan” on it. (In the interest of plausible deniability, I won’t mention the last name, but it’s the one you think it is.) Moments later, he was out of the room and down the hall.

A few minutes later, we left and walked over to the Con Suite, where the story was already being told. News travels fast….

Technorati tags: worldcon, laconiv, lacon.

Tom Veal has written a detailed analysis of the 2008 Worldcon site selection results. I feel the need to correct him on one point: the “Denver Wins!” headline on the hoaxzine was not there because Seth (or the rest of us) thought it was an improbable result (we covered that in the item about the demolition of the Oasis Tower of the Marriott) — it was there because we knew the facts, and the best hoaxes are well-dusted with facts (see, for example, the runup to the Iraq War).

I can’t speak for everyone who voted for Denver, of course, but I can speak for seven voters who chose Denver (and may well choose Montreal for 2009) based entirely on the date of the convention. School in our part of California starts a week or more before Labor Day — even Kehillah has given in on that this year and is starting school next Tuesday. So a Labor Day con is at a disadvantage for us compared to one which is set during summer vacation. Of course, by 2008, Jeff will be in college, and we don’t know what that particular college’s schedule will be — but in any event, it’s likelier that he’ll start before Labor Day than afterwards.

Technorati tags: worldcon, denvention, smoffing.