51st World Science Fiction Convention
Encyclopedia
The 51st World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon
Worldcon
Worldcon, or more formally The World Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention held each year since 1939 . It is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society...

), also known as ConFrancisco, was held September 2–6, 1993, at the ANA Hotel, Parc Fifty Five, and Nikko Hotels, and the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, USA.

The supporting organization was San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. The chairman was David W. Clark. The Guests of Honor (called "Honored Guests") were Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...

, Alicia Austin
Alicia Austin
Alicia Austin is a US fantasy and science fiction artist and illustrator. She works in print-making, Prismacolor, pastels and watercolors. B...

, Tom Digby, Jan Howard Finder
Jan Howard Finder
Jan Howard Finder is an American academic administrator, science fiction writer, filker, hostelling tour guide, costumer, and fan. He was a guest of honor at the 1993 ConFrancisco. He often spells his name in lower case, jan howard finder, and his last name is pronounced finn-der...

, and Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

 (Dead GoH). Mark Twain was "channeled" by Jon deCles. The toastmaster was Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid...

. Total attendance was 6,602, of 7,725 paid memberships.

ConFrancisco was the last Worldcon not to have its own official website.

The original plan of San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. was to hold the convention at the futuristic San Francisco Marriott Marquis, designed by the noted architect Anthony J. Lumsden, which is topped with a jukebox shaped glass tower that makes it look like a skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

 from a Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...

 comic strip by Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond
Alexander Gillespie "Alex" Raymond was an American cartoonist, best known for creating Flash Gordon for King Features in 1934...

. However, the hotel backed out of the contract when a more lucrative larger convention wanted to schedule there on the same weekend.

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

  • 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...

    :
    • A Fire Upon the Deep
      A Fire Upon the Deep
      A Fire Upon the Deep is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, a space opera involving superhuman intelligences, aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, and a conversation medium resembling Usenet...

      by Vernon Vinge
    • and Doomsday Book
      Doomsday Book (novel)
      Doomsday Book is a 1992 science fiction novel by American author Connie Willis. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and was shortlisted for other awards...

      by Connie Willis
      Connie Willis
      Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for Blackout/All Clear...

       (tie)
  • Best Novella
    Hugo Award for Best Novella
    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...

    : "Barnacle Bill the Spacer" by Lucius Shepard
    Lucius Shepard
    Lucius Shepard is an American writer. Classified as a science fiction and fantasy writer, he often leans into other genres, such as magical realism. His work is infused with a political and historical sensibility and an awareness of literary antecedents...

  • 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...

    : "The Nutcracker Coup" by Janet Kagan
    Janet Kagan
    Janet Kagan was an author of two science fiction novels and one science fiction collection, plus numerous science fiction and fantasy short stories that appeared in publications such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Asimov's Science Fiction...

  • 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...

    : "Even the Queen
    Even the Queen
    "Even the Queen" is a short story by Connie Willis. A humor story involving the future of gynecological science, it won the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Short Story...

    " by Connie Willis
    Connie Willis
    Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for Blackout/All Clear...

  • Best Non-Fiction Book: A Wealth of Fable: An informal history of science fiction in the 1950s by Harry Warner, Jr.
    Harry Warner, Jr.
    Harry Warner, Jr. was an American journalist. He spent 40 years working for the Hagerstown, Maryland, Herald-Mail....

  • Best Dramatic Presentation
    Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
    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 Inner Light
    The Inner Light (TNG episode)
    "The Inner Light" is the 25th episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The episode was written by freelance writer Morgan Gendel based on his original pitch; Gendel is credited as writer of the story and co-writer of the teleplay...

    " (Star Trek: The Next Generation
    Star Trek: The Next Generation
    Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...

    episode)
  • Best Professional Editor
    Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor
    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...

    : Gardner Dozois
    Gardner Dozois
    Gardner Raymond Dozois is an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004...

  • 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...

    : Don Maitz
    Don Maitz
    Don Maitz is an American science fiction, fantasy, and commercial artist. His most widely-known creation is the "Captain" character of the Captain Morgan brand of rum, although he is perhaps most notable for twice winning the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist, science fiction's highest honor...

  • Best Original Artwork: Dinotopia
    Dinotopia
    Dinotopia is a fictional utopia created by author and illustrator James Gurney. It is the setting for the book series with which it shares its name. Dinotopia is an isolated island inhabited by shipwrecked humans and sentient dinosaurs who have learned to coexist peacefully as a single symbiotic...

    by James Gurney
    James Gurney
    James Gurney is an artist and author best known for his illustrated book series Dinotopia, which is presented in the form of a 19th century explorer’s journal from an island utopia cohabited by humans and dinosaurs...

  • Best Semiprozine
    Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine
    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...

    : Science Fiction Chronicle, edited by Andrew I. Porter
    Andrew I. Porter
    Andrew Ian Porter, , is an American editor, publisher and active science fiction fan.- Background :Born Andrew Ian Silverberg on March 24, 1946 in Detroit, Michigan, he moved to New York City with his mother and brother in 1956 upon the death of his father the previous year...

  • 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...

    : Mimosa
    Mimosa (magazine)
    Mimosa was a science fiction fanzine edited by Richard Lynch and Nicki Lynch. It won six Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine and was nominated a total of 14 times ....

    , edited by Dick
    Dick Lynch
    Richard Dennis "Dick" Lynch was an American football defensive back in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants. He was a one-time Pro Bowler in 1963, when he led the NFL in interceptions...

     & Nicki Lynch
  • Best Fan Writer
    Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer
    The Hugo Awards are presented 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...

    : Dave Langford
  • Best Fan Artist
    Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist
    The Hugo Awards are presented 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...

    : Peggy Ranson

Other awards

  • Special Award: Takumi Shibano
    Takumi Shibano
    was a Japanese science-fiction translator and author. He was a major figure in fandom in Japan and contributed to establishing the Japanese science fiction genre....

  • John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Laura Resnick
    Laura Resnick
    Laura Resnick , is an award-winning fantasy writer. She was the winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction for 1993...


Notable events

At this convention, as one of the "Honored Guests", Larry Niven was carried around the convention in a sedan chair by his fans while wearing a crown
Crown (headgear)
A crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art, the crown may be shown being offered to...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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