Links: Balticon Website / Gayle's Blog on Balticon 42 / Show Official Info /

Well, Balticon 42 has come and gone. Once again it was held in the Hunt Valley Marriott which is a huge hotel but since it's a bit Escheresque it's rather hard to tell the size. Lasting from Friday May 23 to Monday May 26th. It was well attended and we had a good time.

The convention had a wonderful slate of guest this year. The Masquerade was standing room only and as usual the judging took hours after the Masquerade ended. I think I managed to attend just about all of the items featuring Connie Willis. The art show had some amazing works by John Jude Palencar.

I didn't get to any of the filking events. I always mean to but just don't seem to have the time or energy. Some day...some day.

For details on Balticon see my blog entries. I blogged each day of the convention and the link is near the top of this page. Overall, we had a wonderful time. We got to spend time talking with many people that we don't often see. The panels that I attended featuring Connie Willis were worth the convention by themselves. The art show was also first rate. The Dealer's Room was pretty much the usual, but somehow felt lacking in book sellers. But since I got my regular book fix from Larry Smith, I was happy. The Masquerade was of the usual high quality and well run.

The only drawback this year, and I think it was a me problem, not a convention problem, was that it seemed that programming was rather light in the literature track. They had the usual outstanding science track. For the rest, well it was hard to tell. You see the program book had very little description of the panel. Some had as much as three sentences but none had enough to tell you what it was going to be about -- or so it seemed to me. Of course, I could just have been sleep deprived from early rising and late hours which usually became early hours. All the more reason for good panel descriptions. So, a minor irritant.

Next year it will be in the same place. If you have the time you should check it out. It's a fairly big convention and well attended.

A very peculiar pocket program. The traditional grid was fine, but if you wanted to look up a panel description, you had to go to a section arranged by programming track and room! And only some tracks were represented; as I recall, the science track was not.