1.
Science fiction
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Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a literature of ideas. Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a range of subgenres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying science fiction is what we point to when we say it, a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of science fiction is like the definition of pornography, you do not know what it is, in 1970 or 1971William Atheling Jr. According to science fiction writer Robert A, rod Serlings definition is fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. Science fiction elements include, A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, a spatial setting or scenes in outer space, on other worlds, or on subterranean earth. Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots, futuristic or plausible technology such as ray guns, teleportation machines, and humanoid computers. Scientific principles that are new or that contradict accepted physical laws, for time travel, wormholes. New and different political or social systems, e. g. utopian, dystopian, post-scarcity, paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis Other universes or dimensions and travel between them. A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of science itself. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Keplers work the first science fiction story and it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earths motion is seen from there. Later, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon, more examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Wells The War of the Worlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry and it is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth. In the late 19th century, the scientific romance was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland, the term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars
2.
Fantasy
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Fantasy is a fiction genre set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Most fantasy uses magic or other elements as a main plot element, theme. Magic and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds, in popular culture, the fantasy genre is predominantly of the medievalist form. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy works by many writers, artists, filmmakers. Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other studies, cultural studies, comparative literature, history. The identifying trait of fantasy is the reliance on imagination to create narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that whereas realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, an author applies his or her imagination to come up with characters, plots, and settings that are impossible in reality. Fantasy has often compared with science fiction and horror because they are the major categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements, a science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seeming possible through logical scientific and/or technological extrapolation, whereas fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. The imagined elements of fantasy do not need an explanation to be narratively functional. Authors have to rely on the suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment. Despite both genres heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable, horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists. Beginning perhaps with the earliest written documents, mythic and other elements that would come to define fantasy. MacDonald was an influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, lord Dunsany established the genres popularity in both the novel and the short story form. Many popular mainstream authors also began to write fantasy at this time, including H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Indeed, juvenile fantasy was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, intended for children, though works for adults only verged on fantasy. Political and social trends can affect a societys reception towards fantasy, in the early 20th century, the New Culture Movements enthusiasm for Westernization and science in China compelled them to condemn the fantastical shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature
3.
Renaissance Center
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The Renaissance Center is a group of seven interconnected skyscrapers in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. Located on the International Riverfront, the Renaissance Center complex is owned by General Motors as its world headquarters. The central tower, the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, is the second tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere and it has been the tallest building in Michigan since it was erected in 1977. John Portman was the architect for the original design. The first phase consisted of a five tower rosette rising from a common base, four 39-story office towers surround the 73-story hotel rising from a square-shaped podium which includes a shopping center, restaurants, brokerage firms, and banks. The first phase opened in March 1977. Portmans design brought renewed attention to city architecture, since it resulted in construction of the worlds tallest hotel at the time, two additional 21-story office towers opened in 1981. This type of complex has been termed a city within a city, in 2004, General Motors completed a US$500 million renovation of the Class-A center as its world headquarters, which it had purchased in 1996. The renovation included the addition of the five-story Wintergarden atrium, which access to the International Riverfront. Architects for the renovation included Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Gensler, SmithGroup, work continued in and around the complex until 2005. Renaissance Center totals 5,552,000 square feet making it one of the worlds largest commercial complexes, in July 2015, the General Motors Renaissance Center re-branded itself as The GMRENCEN. The logo was modernized and Reflecting a New Detroit was introduced as the new tagline, a photo-journalistic advertising campaign launched to shine a spotlight on the people in Detroit who make remarkable contributions to the city. Conceived by Henry Ford II and financed primarily by the Ford Motor Company, the project was intended to revitalize the economy of Detroit. In its first year of operation it generated over $1 billion in growth for the downtown. The group announced the first phase of construction in 1971, in addition, Detroit Renaissance contributed to a variety of other projects within the downtown area in the ensuing decades. Henry Ford II sold the concept of the RenCen to the City and community leaders, the city within a city arose. The first phase of Renaissance Center opened on July 1,1976, for phase I, the facade of the first five towers was covered with 2,000,000 square feet of glass, and used about 400,000 cubic yards of concrete. This did not include the glass used for the atriums
4.
Detroit
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Detroit is the most populous city in the U. S. state of Michigan, the fourth-largest city in the Midwest and the largest city on the United States–Canada border. It is the seat of Wayne County, the most populous county in the state, the municipality of Detroit had a 2015 estimated population of 677,116, making it the 21st-most populous city in the United States. Roughly one-half of Michigans population lives in Metro Detroit alone, the Detroit–Windsor area, a commercial link straddling the Canada–U. S. Border, has a population of about 5.7 million. Detroit is a port on the Detroit River, a strait that connects the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The Detroit Metropolitan Airport is among the most important hubs in the United States, the City of Detroit anchors the second-largest economic region in the Midwest, behind Chicago, and the thirteenth-largest in the United States. Detroit and its neighboring Canadian city Windsor are connected through a tunnel and various bridges, Detroit was founded on July 24,1701 by the French explorer and adventurer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and a party of settlers. During the 19th century, it became an important industrial hub at the center of the Great Lakes region, with expansion of the American automobile industry in the early 20th century, the Detroit area emerged as a significant metropolitan region within the United States. The city became the fourth-largest in the country for a period, in the 1950s and 1960s, suburban expansion continued with construction of a regional freeway system. A great portion of Detroits public transport was abandoned in favour of becoming a city in the post-war period. Due to industrial restructuring and loss of jobs in the auto industry, between 2000 and 2010 the citys population fell by 25 percent, changing its ranking from the nations 10th-largest city to 18th. In 2010, the city had a population of 713,777 and this resulted from suburbanization, corruption, industrial restructuring and the decline of Detroits auto industry. In 2013, the state of Michigan declared an emergency for the city. Detroit has experienced urban decay as its population and jobs have shifted to its suburbs or elsewhere, conservation efforts managed to save many architectural pieces since the 2000s and allowed several large-scale revitalisations. More recently, the population of Downtown Detroit, Midtown Detroit, paleo-Indian people inhabited areas near Detroit as early as 11,000 years ago. In the 17th century, the region was inhabited by Huron, Odawa, Potawatomi, for the next hundred years, virtually no British, colonist, or French action was contemplated without consultation with, or consideration of the Iroquois likely response. When the French and Indian War evicted the Kingdom of France from Canada, the 1798 raids and resultant 1799 decisive Sullivan Expedition reopened the Ohio Country to westward emigration, which began almost immediately, and by 1800 white settlers were pouring westwards. By 1773, the population of Detroit was 1,400, by 1778, its population was up to 2,144 and it was the third-largest city in the Province of Quebec
5.
Michigan
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Michigan /ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit, Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, as a result, it is one of the leading U. S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, a person in the state is never more than six miles from a natural water source or more than 85 miles from a Great Lakes shoreline. What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century, the area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Eventually, in 1805, the Michigan Territory was formed, which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26,1837, the state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination. Though Michigan has come to develop an economy, it is widely known as the center of the U. S. automotive industry. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa, the three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest, French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlés expedition in 1622, the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions, missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were received by the areas Indian populations, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph, in 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present day city of Niles. The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent, cadillacs wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post, the Église de Saint-Anne was founded the same year
6.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
7.
72nd World Science Fiction Convention
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The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, also known as Loncon 3, was held 14-18 August 2014 at ExCeL London in London, England. The convention committee was co-chaired by Alice Lawson and Steve Cooper, Loncon 3 sold the most memberships and had the second largest in-person attendance of any Worldcon to date. The Guests of Honour for Loncon 3 were, Iain M. Banks died in June 2013, John Clute, a critic and writer of international renown, whose extensive work in the genre includes co-editing The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Malcolm Edwards, currently Deputy CEO and publisher at the Orion Publishing Group, and who has also been a fiction editor, critic. Chris Foss, an artist whose ground-breaking images revolutionised SF paperback covers from the early 1970s and shaped the way a generation visualised science fiction. Jeanne Gomoll, recognised as one of the movers in science fiction feminism in the 1970s, and who has been influential in SF fandom as an artist, editor, writer. Robin Hobb, the author of five series of fantasy novels, in addition to earlier works written as Megan Lindholm. Bryan Talbot, a writer and artist whose career of over 30 years in the field includes the creation of the first British graphic novel. At the March 2012 filing deadline, only one committee who had announced a bid to hold the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention had filed the paperwork to be on the site selection ballot. That bid, London in 2014, was chaired by Steve Cooper, Londons bid to host the Worldcon was formally unopposed and won in balloting among the members of the 70th World Science Fiction Convention held in Chicago, Illinois, in 2012. As a result of Londons win, a vote for the 11th North American Science Fiction Convention to be held in 2014 took place at the 71st World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio, Texas, in 2013. Of the two announced bids, Detroits bid was certified as the winner with 231 votes over a Phoenix bid that garnered 210 votes, the Detroit convention was named Detcon1. Loncon 3 was co-chaired by Alice Lawson and Steve Cooper, the Hugo Awards, named after Hugo Gernsback, are presented every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. Results are based on the ballots submitted by members of the World Science Fiction Society, other awards, including the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, are also presented each year at Worldcon. The 1939 Retro Hugos were presented in 2014 to honor the 75th anniversary of the 1st World Science Fiction Convention, the convention received 3,587 valid ballots for the 2014 Hugo Awards and 1,307 for the 1939 Retro Hugo Awards. Both figures are record participation by members in these awards, more than 99% of the ballots were cast online with just 16 by postal mail for the 2014 awards and 12 for the 1939 awards. Authors Mary Robinette Kowal and Rob Shearman hosted the Retro Hugo Award ceremony, ross subsequently tweeted that he was withdrawing from hosting the ceremonies. Authors Geoff Ryman and Justina Robson were later named as hosts for the ceremony, weiss, original novel by George R. R. H. White Best Novella, Who Goes There
8.
John Picacio
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John Picacio is an American artist specializing in science fiction, fantasy and horror illustration. Picacio was born on September 3,1969, in San Antonio, as of 2007, he still lives and works in San Antonio, together with his wife and daughter. In May,2001 he ended his career in architecture to become a full-time illustrator and his early work featured in many annuals and art compendiums, including Spectrum, The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, as well as magazines such as Realms of Fantasy. He works particularly well with fellow-Texan Roberson, and the director of Prometheus Books science fiction imprint Pyr Lou Anders. For Anders, Picacio has provided covers for several anthologies from multiple companies since Wildside Presss 2001 Outside the Box, in 2001 and 2006, he was awarded the International Horror Guild Award for Best Artist, and was Artist Guest of Honor at the 2003 ArmadilloCon. In 2005, he won both the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist and the Chesley Award for Best Paperback Cover, in 2006 he won the Chesley Award for Artistic Achievement and in 2007 the Locus Award for Best Artist. He has also received Hugo Award nominations for Best Professional Artist in 2005 though 2010 and he has received 5 World Fantasy Award nominations since 2002. Picacios work in the first volume will be followed by that of notable illustrator M. W. Kaluta, star of Gypsies by Robert Silverberg Bumper Crop by Joe R. Lansdale Ghosts of Columbia by L. E. Modesitt, Jr
9.
71st World Science Fiction Convention
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The convention committee was chaired by Randall Shepherd. The convention was organized by Alamo Literary Arts Maintenance Organization, Inc. which had previously organized LoneStarCon 2, the Guests of Honor were editor Ellen Datlow, author James Gunn, fan Willie Siros, author Norman Spinrad, and artist Darrell K. Sweet. Paul Cornell served as Toastmaster for the event, special guests were musician Leslie Fish and author Joe R. Lansdale. More than a dozen panels focused on Texas and its role in speculative fiction plus nearly as many on the life, committees who had announced bids to host the 2013 Worldcon included Zagreb in 2013, Texas in 2013, and a hoax bid for Minneapolis in 5773. Only Texas in 2013 qualified to be on the official ballot, as such, Texas bid to host the Worldcon was formally unopposed and won in balloting among members of Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Reno, Nevada, in August 2011. With 760 valid ballots cast, Texas received 694 votes beating out No Preference with 25, write-in candidates included Xerpes with 6, Minneapolis with 5, Denton with 5, Boston with 3, and a number of single-vote entries. The Hugo Awards, named after Hugo Gernsback, are presented every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works, results are based on the ballots submitted by members of the World Science Fiction Society. Other awards, including the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the Prometheus Award, the Hugo ceremony was hosted by toastmaster Paul Cornell in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Rivercenter in downtown San Antonio. Presentations included the Big Heart Award to Tom Veal by First Fandom, an in memoriam reel featuring music by Leslie Fish, the proceedings were broadcast in partnership with Ustream but technical issues on-site kept the entire ceremony from being broadcast live. R. Thomas, Catherynne M. Valente, and David McHone-Chase John W. Garey Sidewise Award for Alternate History, Long Form, the first contested Worldcon selection since the 2006 vote for the 2008 Worldcon site saw active campaigning and drew celebrity endorsements. Spokane won the selection contest on the third round of ballot counting in Australian-style preferential balloting. Spokane finished with 645 votes, gaining a majority over Helsinki with 610, orlando was dropped in the second round with 307 votes and none of the above had been eliminated in the first round. Detroits bid was certified as the winner with 231 votes over Phoenix with 210 votes, detroit needed at least 223 votes to win in the first round, based on the total of 453 valid votes cast. LoneStarCon 3 official website LoneStarCon 3 on Facebook Worldcon official website
10.
San Antonio
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San Antonio, officially the City of San Antonio, is the seventh-most populated city in the United States and the second-most populous city in the state of Texas, with a population of 1,409,019. It was the fastest growing of the top 10 largest cities in the United States from 2000 to 2010, the city straddles South Texas and Central Texas and is on the southwestern corner of an urban megaregion known as the Texas Triangle. San Antonio serves as the seat of Bexar County, recent annexations have extended the citys boundaries into Medina County and, though for only a very tiny area near the city of Garden Ridge, into Comal County. Due to its placement, the city has characteristics of other urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas. San Antonio is the center of the San Antonio–New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area, growth along the Interstate 35 and Interstate 10 corridors to the north, west and east make it likely that the metropolitan area will continue to expand. San Antonio was named for Saint Anthony of Padua, whose feast day is on June 13, the city contains five 18th-century Spanish frontier missions, including The Alamo and San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, which were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2015. Other notable attractions include the River Walk, the Tower of the Americas, the Alamo Bowl, the city is home to the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and hosts the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, one of the largest such events in the country. The U. S. Kelly Air Force Base operated out of San Antonio until 2001, the remaining portions of the base were developed as Port San Antonio, an industrial/business park and aerospace complex. San Antonio is home to six Fortune 500 companies and the South Texas Medical Center, at the time of European encounter, Payaya Indians lived near the San Antonio River Valley in the San Pedro Springs area, calling the vicinity Yanaguana, meaning refreshing waters. In 1691, a group of Spanish Catholic explorers and missionaries came upon the river and Payaya settlement on June 13 and they named the place and river San Antonio in his honor. It was years before any Spanish settlement took place, father Antonio de Olivares visited the site in 1709, and he was determined to found a mission and civilian settlement there. He directed Martin de Alarcón, the governor of Coahuila and Texas, differences between Alarcón and Olivares resulted in delays, and construction did not start until 1718. The families who clustered around the presidio and mission formed the beginnings of Villa de Béjar, on May 1, the governor transferred ownership of the Mission San Antonio de Valero to Fray Antonio de Olivares. On May 5,1718 he commissioned the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar on the west side of the San Antonio River, one-fourth league from the mission. On February 14,1719, the Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo proposed to the king of Spain that 400 families be transported from the Canary Islands, Galicia, or Havana to populate the province of Texas. By June 1730,25 families had reached Cuba, and 10 families had sent to Veracruz before orders from Spain came to stop the re-settlement. Under the leadership of Juan Leal Goraz, the group marched overland from Veracruz to the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, due to marriages along the way, the party now included 15 families, a total of 56 persons. They joined the community established in 1718
11.
Convention (meeting)
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A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, professional conventions focus on issues of concern to the profession and advancements in the profession. Such conventions are organized by societies or communities dedicated to promotion of the topic of interest. Fan conventions usually feature displays, shows, and sales based on pop culture, science fiction conventions traditionally partake of the nature of both professional conventions and fan conventions, with the balance varying from one to another. Conventions also exist for various hobbies, such as gaming or model railroads, Conventions are often planned and coordinated, often in exacting detail, by professional meeting and convention planners, either by staff of the conventions hosting company or by outside specialists. Most large cities will have a center dedicated to hosting such events. The term MICE—meetings Incentives Conventions and Exhibitions—is widely used in Asia as a description of the industry, the Convention is one of the most dynamic elements in the M. I. C. E. The industry is regulated under the tourism sector. In the technical sense, a convention is a meeting of delegates or representatives, the 1947 Newfoundland National Convention is a classic example of a state-sponsored political convention. This also applies to a convention, though in modern times the common issues are limited to selecting a party candidate or party chairman. In this technical sense, a congress, when it consists of representatives, is a convention, the British House of Commons is a convention, as are most other houses of a modern representative legislature. The National Convention or just Convention in France comprised the constitutional, the governing bodies of religious groups may also be called conventions, such as the General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA and the Southern Baptist Convention. Many sovereign states have provisions for conventions besides their permanent legislature and this process has never occurred, save for the original drafting of the constitution, although it almost happened in several cases. The US Constitution also has provisions for amendments to be approved by state conventions of the people. This occurred to ratify the constitution and to adopt the twenty-first amendment. Con is an abbreviation for convention, and some conventions use it in their names. When two or more conventions are held at the place and time they are co-located. Co-located conventions are usually in related industries, academic conference Annual general meeting Business travel Caucus Convention center Delegate Event planning Forum Summit Symposium Seminar Workshop Event Convention Congress
12.
Speculative Fiction
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Speculative fiction as a category ranges from ancient works to both cutting edge, paradigm-changing and neotraditional works of the 21st century. In historiography, what is now called speculative fiction has previously been termed historical invention, historical fiction, such supernatural, alternate history and sexuality themes continue in works produced within the modern speculative fiction genre. In its English language usage in arts and literature since 20th century, a variation on this term is speculative literature. It fell into disuse around the mid-1970s, the Internet Speculative Fiction Database contains a broad list of different subtypes. In the 2000s, the term came into use as a convenient collective term for a set of genres. However, some writers, such as Margaret Atwood, continue to maintain a distinction between speculative fiction as a no Martians type of fiction, about things that really could happen. Academic journals which publish essays on speculative fiction include Extrapolation, according to publisher statistics, men outnumber women about two to one among English-language speculative fiction writers aiming for professional publication. However, the percentages vary considerably by genre, with women outnumbering men in the fields of urban fantasy, paranormal romance and young adult fiction
13.
Maggie Stiefvater
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Maggie Stiefvater is an American writer of Young Adult fiction. Stiefvater was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia and she described herself as an anxious child with many phobias. As a child, she wanted to be a fighter pilot, by age 16, she was submitting manuscripts to publishers. After being home-schooled from sixth grade on, Stiefvater attended Mary Washington College, at 16, she legally changed her first name from Heidi to Margaret. After graduating, she worked as a portrait artist, specializing in equestrian art, Stiefvater published her first novel, Lament, in 2008. Before Lament had been released, she sold the rights to Ballad, the sequel to Lament, and to Shiver, Shiver spent more than 40 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. In 2010, Linger debuted at the one spot on the New York Times Bestseller List. There are over 1.7 million copies of The Wolves of Mercy Falls series in print, in 2011, Stiefvater published The Scorpio Races, which received 5 starred reviews and was named a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book. Stiefvater is also known for her music and she played the highland bagpipes competitively while in college, and began a Celtic band, Ballynoola, that toured on the eastern seaboard. She plays multiple instruments as well. With her sister, Kate Hummel, she writes and records a piece of music for each novel she releases and these are released to the public in the form of animated book trailers. Stiefvater is also known for drawing on guitars with Sharpies and giving away to fans at major events. Before turning to writing full-time, Stiefvater was a portrait artist. Stiefvater also animates the book trailers for each of her books, Stiefvater is married and has two children. Optioned Shivers film rights shortly after the book was released, a screenplay was written by Nick Pustay. Warner Bros. optioned the rights to The Scorpio Races shortly after that book was released. David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith’s KatzSmith Productions will produce the film, New Line Cinema, in conjunction with Weed Road, optioned the film rights for The Raven Boys shortly before the books release in September 2012. No screenplay has been written, casting has not begun
14.
Michigan Radio
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Michigan Radio is a network of three public radio stations operated by the University of Michigan through its broadcasting arm, Michigan Public Media. The station is a member of National Public Radio and an affiliate of Public Radio International. Its main studio is located in Ann Arbor, with studios in Flint. The stations are known as Michigan Radio, Your NPR News Station, the network currently airs NPR news and talk, which it has since July 1,1996. All three stations broadcast in HD Radio, although there are currently no HD subchannels, combined, the three stations of Michigan Radio cover most of the southern two-thirds of the Lower Peninsula. Before the university had applied for its own station, the University of Michigan Extension Service Bureau of Broadcasting produced programs for other stations starting the 1920s. For instance, in November 1944, the Bureau of Broadcasting produced Stump the Professor for WJR in Detroit and The Balkan States, Places, in the early 1940s, the University of Michigan applied for an AM radio station. The Federal Communications Commission turned down the application there were not any available frequencies at the time. Around this time the university began working on plans for a network of four FM stations to be located in Ann Arbor, Mount Pleasant, Manistique. The university applied to the FCC on September 11,1944 for a station at 43.1 FM with a power of 50,000 watts, by 1947, the new station was given the call letters WATX and was assigned to 42.1 FM. The FCC granted a license for WUOM at 91.7 in the brand new FM band, in 1949 the station moved across the street to newly completed studios on the fifth floor of the Administration Building, now known as the Literature, Science & Arts Building. Michigan Radio remained in those studios until August 23,2003 and its signal covers most of the southeastern and central Lower Peninsula, from Lansing to Detroit. The station provides 24-hour NPR news service to the capital for listeners without HD Radio sets. Lansings main NPR news member, WKAR-AM, must sign off at sundown, while an NPR news and talk station is available on WKAR-FMs HD subcarrier, this still leaves conventional radio listeners out in the cold. WFUM has been on the air at its current 91.1 frequency since August 23,1985 when it first signed on as WFUM-FM, the original WFUM operated at 107.1 MHz during the 1950s and was also a simulcast of WUOM. WFUM was shut down after WUOM increased its power to 115,000 watts, giving it coverage of Flint and meaning that WFUM. WUOM has since reduced its power to 93,000 watts, WFUM today operates with 17,500 watts of power. Its signal reaches the area around Flint primarily but also can be heard in far northern parts of the Detroit metro area on selective radios
15.
The Detroit News
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The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U. S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Detroit Free Presss building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1,1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21,1922, and on November 7,1960, it bought and closed the faltering Detroit Times. However, it retained the Times building, which it used as a plant until 1967, when a new facility opened in Sterling Heights. The street in downtown Detroit where the Times building once stood is still called Times Square, the Evening News Association, owner of The News, merged with Gannett in 1985. The News claims to have been the first newspaper in the world to operate a station, station 8MK. In 1947, it established Michigans first television station, WWJ-TV, in 1989, the paper entered into a 100-year joint operating agreement with the rival Free Press, combining business operations while keeping separate editorial staffs. The combined company is called the Detroit Media Partnership, the Free Press moved into The News building in 1998 and until May 7,2006, the two published a single joint weekend edition. Today The News, which has won three Pulitzer Prizes, is published Monday–Saturday, and has a page in the Sunday Free Press. The Detroit News was founded by James E. Scripps, who, in turn, was the older half-brother, the papers eventual success, however, is largely credited to Scripps son-in-law, George Gough Booth, who came aboard at the request of his wifes father. Booth went on to construct Michigans largest newspaper empire, founding the independent Booth Newspapers chain with his two brothers, the Detroit News building was erected in 1917. It was designed by architect Albert Kahn, who included a concrete building with large street level arches to admit light. The arches along the east and south side of the building were bricked-in for protection after the 12th Street Riot in 1967, the bricked-in arches on the east and south ends of the building were reopened during renovations required when the Free Press relocated its offices there 20 years later. In 1931, The Detroit News made history when it bought a three place Pitcairn PCA-2 auto-gyro as an aircraft which could take off and land in restricted places. It was the ancestor of todays well known news helicopter, in 1935 a single Lockheed Model 9 Orion was purchased and modified by Lockheed as a news camera plane for The Detroit News. To work in that role, a pod was built into the leading edge of the right wing about eight feet out from the fuselage. This pod had a dome on the front and a mounted camera. To aim the camera the pilot was provided with a primitive grid-like gun sight on his windshield
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Tom Smith (filker)
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Tom Smith is a singer-songwriter from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who got his start in the filk music community. Smith has written songs in many moods and styles, from dramatic to silly to romantic. In performance, he tends towards comedy folk-rock, usually with many references to films, literature, popular culture and politics and his nickname, The Worlds Fastest Filker, comes from numerous instances of instafilk, i. e. quickly-written or improvised songs. In May 2006, he released the album The Last Hero on Earth, in August 2006, emulating Jonathan Coultons Thing a Week, he began iTom, a project where he released a new song every week for a year, and continued sporadically after that. So far, he has collected four albums of those songs and he has parodied Christine Lavin songs with her blessing. He authored the official song for Talk Like a Pirate Day and he wrote Enterprising Man for the animated parody video Babylon Park, Grudgematch, as well as the official Transylvania Polygnostic University theme song for the comic Girl Genius by Studio Foglio. His song Rock Me Amidala was used in the independent movie Saving Star Wars, Smith performs frequently at conventions across the United States, and has also performed in Canada and England. He has been featured frequently on Dr. Demento, Public Radio Internationals Sound & Spirit, in 2007, he joined with comedy musicians such as Rob Balder, The Great Luke Ski, Sudden Death, Worm Quartet, and others in The FuMP. Smith has appeared in concert with Dr. Demento and on the bill as Chick Corea. In 2005, A Boy and His Frog was the subject of a mini-arc in the Something Positive webcomic. On June 7,2008, Smith tore his quadriceps while attempting to take the stage at a Christine Lavin concert, landing him in the hospital and preventing him from performing for the next few months. Mr. Smith Goes to the Hospital,2008 Songs of The FuMP, Vol.1,2008 iTom 4.0, Smith and Legend,2007 iTom 3.0, True Love Waits,2007 iTom 2.0, Transitions,2007 iTom 1
17.
Daily Kos
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Daily Kos /ˈkoʊs/ is an outlet for American political blogging. Additionally, the features a participatory political encyclopedia, glossaries. Daily Kos was founded by Markos Moulitsas in 2002, in 2007, its parent company, Kos Media, LLC, began a fellowship program to help fund a new generation of progressive activists. About a dozen contributing editors provide content for the site, with three to four new editors being chosen from the Daily Kos community every year, as of September 2014, Daily Kos had an average weekday traffic of hundreds of thousands of visits. It is financially sustained by advertising, with Google AdSense and Blogads, the ads focus mostly on activist causes, media, and political candidates. The site also offers a subscription to members. In 2008, Time magazine readers named Daily Kos the second best blog, the website ran on the Scoop content management system until 2011 when it moved to its own custom content management system referred to as DK4.0. The other major source of content is the comments posted in response to front page entries and diaries, comments for popular or controversial diaries or front page articles can run into the thousands. Front page entries and diaries often take the form of a story from an outside source interspersed with commentary from the author of the diary or post. Some front page entries are called open threads, which people to post comments on any issue. One of the versions of these open threads is live threads of commentary on important events happening in real time, administrators may delete diaries, though this is done very rarely. Trusted users have the ability to recommend or hide responses posted by members whose comments they deem solely disruptive. Less than 0. 01% of comments are hidden, Daily Kos had previously partnered with Research 2000 to produce nonpartisan polling for presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races across the country. In June 2010, Daily Kos terminated the relationship after finding their data showed statistical anomalies consistent with deliberate falsification, in May 2011, the Huffington Post reported that the lawsuit had been settled with Research 2000 pollster Del Ali making payments to Daily Kos. Beginning in 2003, as his blog expanded to a community, Kos appointed four or five guest bloggers who are selected from the community and tasked with regular contributions on the front page. 2009, Steve Singiser Additionally, while on the tour for Crashing the Gate. Emeritus guest bloggers have frequently retained some privileges depending on circumstances, a front-page diarist known as Armando took a prominent role during Moulitsas book hiatus in 2005 and was well known for his foreign policy and legal analysis. After his identity and details of his career were made widely known, he announced his departure from Daily Kos in June 2006
18.
Steven H Silver
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Steven H Silver is an American science fiction fan and bibliographer, publisher, and editor. He has been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer twelve times, Silver is a longtime contributing editor to SF Site and has written that sites news page since its inception. From 2004 through 2012 he was the publisher and editor of ISFiC Press, Silver published his first short story, Les Lettres de Paston, in the final issue of Helix SF. Silver had earlier written a column on history for the magazine. In 2009 and 2010, he edited the two volume Selected Stories of Lester del Rey for NESFA Press, the first volume is entitled War and Space and appeared in August,2009. The second volume, Robots and Magic was published in February 2010, in 1995, he founded the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and has served as a judge ever since. He was on the short story jury for the Nebula Award in 2002, and on the jury for the Nebula Award in 2003,2006. In 2005, Silver was one of the co-ordinators of the Nebula weekend in Chicago, in 2008, he was appointed SFWA Event Coordinator and has helped run the Nebula Award Weekends in that capacity since 2009. In addition to his writing and editing activities, Silver is involved in running science fiction conventions and he has chaired Windycon twice, founded Midfan and chaired the first Midwest Construction, and ran programming for Chicon 2000, the Worldcon. From 1998 through 2006 and again from 2008, he sat on the board of directors for ISFiC and he served as a vice chair for Chicon 7 in 2012. In 2000, Silver appeared on Jeopardy, winning two days and coming in second on his third day. Official website Steven H Silver at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Steven H Silver at Library of Congress Authorities, with 4 catalog records
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Facebook
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Facebook is an American for-profit corporation and an online social media and social networking service based in Menlo Park, California. Facebook gradually added support for students at other universities. Since 2006, anyone age 13 and older has been allowed to become a user of Facebook, though variations exist in the minimum age requirement. The Facebook name comes from the face book directories often given to United States university students, Facebook may be accessed by a large range of desktops, laptops, tablet computers, and smartphones over the Internet and mobile networks. After registering to use the site, users can create a user profile indicating their name, occupation, schools attended and so on. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups organized by workplace, school, hobbies or other topics, in groups, editors can pin posts to top. Additionally, users can complain about or block unpleasant people, because of the large volume of data that users submit to the service, Facebook has come under scrutiny for its privacy policies. Facebook makes most of its revenue from advertisements which appear onscreen, Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering in February 2012, and began selling stock to the public three months later, reaching an original peak market capitalization of $104 billion. On July 13,2015, Facebook became the fastest company in the Standard & Poors 500 Index to reach a market cap of $250 billion, Facebook has more than 1.86 billion monthly active users as of December 31,2016. As of April 2016, Facebook was the most popular social networking site in the world, Facebook classifies users from the ages of 13 to 18 as minors and therefore sets their profiles to share content with friends only. Zuckerberg wrote a program called Facemash on October 28,2003 while attending Harvard University as a sophomore, to accomplish this, Zuckerberg hacked into protected areas of Harvards computer network and copied private dormitory ID images. Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours online, the site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but was shut down a few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg faced expulsion and was charged by the administration with breach of security, violating copyrights, Zuckerberg expanded on this initial project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an art history final exam. He uploaded 500 Augustan images to a website, each of which was featured with a corresponding comments section and he shared the site with his classmates, and people started sharing notes. The following semester, Zuckerberg began writing code for a new website in January 2004 and he said that he was inspired by an editorial about the Facemash incident in The Harvard Crimson. On February 4,2004, Zuckerberg launched Thefacebook, originally located at thefacebook. com. com and they claimed that he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product. The three complained to The Harvard Crimson and the newspaper began an investigation and they later filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, subsequently settling in 2008 for 1.2 million shares. Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College, within the first month, eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Zuckerberg to help promote the website
20.
ReConStruction
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ReConStruction was the tenth occasional North American Science Fiction Convention. It was held in Raleigh, North Carolina, on August 5–8,2010, at the Raleigh Convention Center, Marriott City Center, and this NASFiC was held because Melbourne, Australia, was selected as the location for the 2010 Worldcon. Guest of honor, Eric Flint Artist guest of honor, Brad W. Raleighs bid was certified as the winner with 241 votes out of 276 cast and 3 invalid submissions. Although formally unopposed, the Raleigh bid was not the location to receive the attention of the voters. Pasadena, California, received 19 votes, Durham, North Carolina, and Ridgecrest, California, each received 1 vote, and joke votes were cast for Peggy Raes House, world Science Fiction Society ReConStruction official website NASFiC official website
21.
Raleigh, North Carolina
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Raleigh is the capital of the state of North Carolina, the seat of Wake County in the United States. Raleigh is known as the City of Oaks for its oak trees. The city covers a area of 142.8 square miles. The U. S. Census Bureau estimated the population as 451,066 as of July 1,2015. It is also one of the cities in the country. The city of Raleigh is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who established the lost Roanoke Colony in present-day Dare County, Raleigh is home to North Carolina State University and is part of the Research Triangle area, together with Durham and Chapel Hill. The Triangle nickname originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located in Durham and Wake Counties, partway between the three cities and their universities. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U. S. Census Bureaus Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Combined Statistical Area, the Raleigh Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated population of 1,214,516 in 2013. Most of Raleigh is located within Wake County, with a small portion extending into Durham County. Raleigh is an example in the United States of a planned city. It was chosen as the site of the capital in 1788. The city was laid out in a grid pattern with the North Carolina State Capitol in Union Square at the center. Raleigh is home to cultural, educational, and historic sites. The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Raleigh features three venues and serves as the home for the North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Ballet. Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek is a large music amphitheater located in southeast Raleigh, one U. S. president, Andrew Johnson, was born in Raleigh. Bath, the oldest town in North Carolina, was the first nominal capital from 1705 until 1722, the colony had no permanent institutions of government until the establishment at the new capital New Bern in 1743. In December 1770, Joel Lane successfully petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly to create a new county, on January 5,1771, the bill creating Wake County was passed in the General Assembly. The county was formed from portions of Cumberland, Orange, the county gets its name from Margaret Wake Tryon, the wife of Governor William Tryon
22.
NorthAmeriCon '79
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NorthAmeriCon 79 was the second North American Science Fiction Convention, held in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 30-September 3,1979, at the Galt House Hotel. This NASFiC was held because Brighton, England, was selected as the location for the 1979 Worldcon, Louisville ran unopposed and was chosen by acclamation during the business meeting. NorthAmeriCon 79 was put together, in part, by the organizers of RiverCon, the Lynches produced the award-winning fanzine Mimosa from 1982 to 2003. Best in Show at the Masquerade was won by a skit titled The Avengers of Space organized by Carol Resnick and including her husband. Steve Jackson, later of Steve Jackson Games, was in attendance, in Space Gamer #29, he noted, Labor Day,1979, I was at North Americon in Louisville, trying to relax. In my spare moments, I would occasionally gaze at my briefcase and it contained a completely typeset copy of TFT, ITL. World Science Fiction Society NASFiC Official Site NorthAmeriCon 1979
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Dragon Con
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Dragon Con is a North America multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place once each year in Atlanta, Georgia. It is operated by a private corporation, with the help of a 1. Dragon Con has hosted the 1990 Origins Game Fair and the 1995 North American Science Fiction Convention, Dragon Con was launched in 1987, as a project of a local science fiction and gaming group, the Dragon Alliance of Gamers and Role-Players. It was founded by a board of directors including John Bunnell, David Cody, Robert Dennis, Mike Helba, Pat Henry, and Ed Kramer. The name Dragon for the club was derived from Kramers Dragon Computer, the inaugural Dragon*Con flyers debuted at the 1986 Atlanta Worldcon, ConFederation. Within a year, Dragon*Con had been selected to be the host of the 1990 Origins convention, thomas E. Fullers Atlanta Radio Theatre Company performed H. P. Lovecrafts Call of Cthulhu, which was broadcast via radio live from onsite. The 1988 convention included guests Alan Dean Foster, Fred Saberhagen, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Gary Gygax, in 1989, it drew 2,400 fans, and the event had moved to the Omni Hotel and Convention Center. In 1990, the convention had doubled again, added a Comics Expo, hosted the Origins convention, this time with Guest of Honor Tom Clancy, and expanded to include the Atlanta Sheraton hotel. In 1991 the first Robot Battles robotic competition event was added to the list of Dragon*Con events, in 1993, Dragon*Con was the home of the Wizard Fan Awards. By 1995, when Dragon*Con hosted the North American Science Fiction Convention, attendance had grown to over 14,000 fans, in 1999, Dragon*Cons TrekTrak introduced the first Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant, an annual event that has since garnered national media attention. Kramers relationship with the convention was ended in July 2013 in a merger, at which point the name of the convention. In 2002, Dragon*Con began hosting a parade through downtown Atlanta, which ran from Centennial Olympic Park to the Marriott Marquis, in 2005, Dragon*Con raised USD $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation. R. R. The Bloodhound Gang, Spocks Beard, and Mindless Self Indulgence, in 1998, Dragon Con established the Julie Award, in honor of Julius Schwartz, bestowed for universal achievement spanning multiple genres, selected each year by a panel of industry professionals. The inaugural recipient was science fiction and fantasy Grandmaster Ray Bradbury, the award process consists of a nomination step, where each voter can nominate one work of choice in every category, and a voting step where the nominated works are voted for to receive the award. The nominations and votes are collected electronically, participation is freely available to everyone, without any pay or requirement of membership. The finalist shortlist for the first edition of the awards was announced on August 11,2016, voting lasted until August 31,2016, with the winners announced on September 4. According to statistics provided by Georgia State University, Robinson College of Business, Dragon Con brought in over $21 million
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