14th World Science Fiction Convention
Encyclopedia
The 14th World Science Fiction Convention, also known as NyCon II or NEWYORCON, was held August 31–September 3, 1956, at the Biltmore Hotel
Biltmore Hotel
Bowman-Biltmore Hotels was a chain created by hotel magnate John McEntee Bowman.The name evokes the Vanderbilt family's Biltmore Estate, whose buildings and gardens within are privately owned historical landmarks and tourist attractions in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. The name has...

 in New York, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, USA.

The chairman was David A. Kyle. The Guest of Honor was Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...

. The toastmaster was Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...

. Total attendance was approximately 850.

Awards

The Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...

s, named after Hugo Gernsback
Hugo Gernsback
Hugo Gernsback , born Hugo Gernsbacher, was a Luxembourgian American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best remembered for publications that included the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publisher were so significant that, along with H. G...

, are presented every year for the best science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 or fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 works and achievements of the previous year. Results are based on the ballots submitted by members of the World Science Fiction Society.
  • Best Novel
    Hugo Award for Best Novel
    The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...

    : Double Star
    Double Star
    Double Star is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first serialized in Astounding Science Fiction and published in hardcover the same year...

    by Robert A. Heinlein
    Robert A. Heinlein
    Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...

  • Best Novelette
    Hugo Award for Best Novelette
    The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...

    : "Exploration Team
    Exploration Team
    Exploration Team is a science fiction novelette by Murray Leinster. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1956.-Plot summary:On an extremely dangerous unsettled planet, an illegal colonist with his team of trained bears make a dangerous trek to rescue the few survivors of an abortive...

    " by Murray Leinster
    Murray Leinster
    Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history...

  • Best Short Story
    Hugo Award for Best Short Story
    The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...

    : "The Star
    The Star (short story)
    "The Star" is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. It appeared in the science fiction magazine Infinity Science Fiction in 1955 and won the Hugo award in 1956. The story was also published as "Star of Bethlehem"...

    " by Arthur C. Clarke
    Arthur C. Clarke
    Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...

  • Best Professional Artist
    Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist
    The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...

    : Frank Kelly Freas
    Frank Kelly Freas
    Frank Kelly Freas , called the "Dean of Science Fiction Artists", was a science fiction and fantasy artist with a career spanning more than 50 years.-Early life, education, and personal life:...

  • Best Professional Magazine
    Hugo Award for Best Professional Magazine
    The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...

    : Astounding
  • Best Fanzine
    Hugo Award for Best Fanzine
    The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...

    : (tie)
    • Inside edited by Ron Smith
    • Science Fiction Advertiser edited by Ron Smith
  • Best Feature Writer: Willy Ley
    Willy Ley
    Willy Ley was a German-American science writer and space advocate who helped popularize rocketry and spaceflight in both Germany and the United States. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor.-Life:...

  • Best Book Reviewer: Damon Knight
    Damon Knight
    Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...

  • Most Promising New Author: Robert Silverberg
    Robert Silverberg
    Robert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...


Fan politics

It was at this Worldcon that a group of fans (including Bob Tucker
Wilson Tucker
Arthur Wilson "Bob" Tucker was an American mystery, action adventure, and science fiction writer, who wrote professionally as Wilson Tucker....

, Boyd Raeburn
Boyd Raeburn
Albert Boyd Raeburn was an American jazz bandleader and bass saxophonist.Boyd Raeburn was born in Faith, South Dakota, and became one of the greatest and least-known of jazz bandleaders during the 1940s...

, Dick Eney, Ron Ellik and Ted White
Ted White (author)
Ted White is a Hugo Award-winning American writer, known as a science fiction author and editor and fan, as well as a music critic...

) who had not paid the $7 fee for the convention banquet chose to sit in the balcony and listen to the Guest of Honor speeches. Convention chair Kyle had a messenger tell the "Balcony Insurgents" that Kyle had said they could not sit there. Since almost every fan who wrote about the convention reported the incident, "Dave Kyle Says You Can't Sit Here" became a fannish catchphrase.

The primary bid for the 15th World Science Fiction Convention
15th World Science Fiction Convention
The 15th World Science Fiction Convention, also known as Loncon I, was held 6–9 September 1957 at the King's Court Hotel in London, England. It was the first Worldcon held outside North America....

 was for London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. This would be the first Worldcon outside North America, and there was a small but vocal jingoistic faction of Americans who argued for retaining the Worldcon in North America, claiming "If we let them have it they'll never give it back". Their campaign against the London proposal was opposed by other Americans, most audibly Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...

, and the London bid won by an ample margin, to loud cheers. There were reportedly petty efforts even after the vote was over to sabotage the London bid, but they failed to hinder it.

External links

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