Trains Out
Please note that trains from Glasgow to Carlisle won’t be back to normal service until next Wednesday, so travellers in that direction need to plan on a 2-hour bus journey.
Transport Wanted.
Liz Bear urgently needs a volunteer to drive her to Prestwick Airport at 11:00 on Sunday.
Petrol money and groats will be provided. If you can help, please inform Lesley Scott at the Gopher Hole.
Welcome Visitors
Here, in Glasgow, we are honoured to have the company of many fans from outside the UK. Your reporter has already met fans at Concussion from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Norway and Sweden. These same fans would welcome you at their conventions in their own countries. The Eurocon is in Copenhagen, Denmark next year. Here, at Concussion, you can meet fans who will be very happy to tell you about the conventions that will be held in nearby Europe this year. If you go to one or more of the following conventions you can be assured of a very warm and friendly welcome. British fans are usually offered free or very inexpensive accommodation at these conventions.
Norcon 20 3rd to 5th June in Oslo, Norway.
http://norcon.fandom.no
Ly-Con 2 (pronounced lou –con 2) 23rd June to 25th June in Lübeck, Germany.
http://members.aol.com/FanTimes/LyCon
Conversation 11th to 13th August in Stockholm, Sweden.
http://conversation.hopto.org
Finncon 2005 18th to 20th August in Helsinki, Finland
http://www.finncon.org
Conventus (Contreaty 2006) 24th to 26th November in Maastricht, Netherlands.
http://www.conventus.aanhet.net
Cheap Ryanair flights from Prestwick and Stansted.are available to most of these destinations. There is a direct train service from Eindhoven to Maastricht.
|
In some books you will see a page marked <This page intentionally left blank> This does not apply in this newsletter |
Parents Wanting Childcare
You must sign up
your child at Operations (on the Mezzanine) if you want to use the childcare.
There are limited
spaces.
Growing Old and Grey
I am obviously too
old. The YAFA (Young Adult Fan Activities) programme looks like it is great
fun. Just today I watched a gang of
teenagers (without hoodies) pour paint over someone being spun round in a
boiler suit. Jackson Pollock eat your heart out. Emma and Simone put various
things in a microwave which the manual tells you not to. The audience sat
behind a sheet of safety glass and wore safety goggles to highlight the
seriousness of the scientific demonstration. I'll be there later on fighting
the kids for access to the crate of Lego.
- Alex Mc
Young Voices
These children were asked what they liked about conventions.
Calum (11½) likes volunteering and Gophering. He likes making ships and he has been going to cons since Worldcon 1995, but he doesn’t remember much about it because he was only one at the time.
Fergus (8) is at his third con. “Don’t know. No complaints”.
Quillian (3½) likes other children and robots at the pirate party.
Danae (6) likes the Armadillo, Chaos Costuming and Ops where she gets her drinks.
Treasure Hunt
[For the younger fans]
Find the Pirate's Hoard
Treasure hunters should discover where one can find:
Andromeda
The Invisible Man
The Tenth Victim
Teh Shiny!
Hunters should tell Lashing Alex or Barnacle Bazooka in 'SCRAP' (Chaos Workshop) and they will then be given some chocolate.
There will be more to look for and more prizes in the next issue of Tweeting Birds.
Concussion Stats
There were 700 people preregistered for the con – with over 600 warm bodies attending. In addition we have 140 walk ins as full or day members.
Real Ale is selling well and the main hotel bar has been busy all day.
Foreign Cons:
Conventus (Holland) has 90 members and Ly-con (Germany) has over 60 members.
Lift Needed
South (Carlisle or Newcastle) on Monday. Contact Emma Chapman via the Green Room.
Art Show Trust
After years of the Eastercon artboards wandering around the country being looked after by whoever they were dumped on last, a group of concerned individuals have set up a trust to store and maintain the new artboards (as upgraded for last year’s Worldcon). More information is available from Tim Illingworth or any other trust member.
Get Well Card
This is the first Eastercon Tony Rodgers has missed in 40 years. He is being treated for cancer. Please sign his Get-Well-card at the “Sign of the Dragon” in the Dealers Room.
Philology Corner
In the interests of international understanding, the Campanile Hotel has labelled their toilets in a manner people of all countries will be welcomed into indigenous Scottish culture. They are labelled “Rest Rooms”. Please go to their information desk and point out their error.
Gopher Requirements
Department heads are asked to inform Lesley Scott of the tasks that will need to be done by gophers during Sunday so a rota can be prepared before the 10:30 gopher meeting.
Smuggling news
There used to be a tax on importing ginseng into Japan. To circumvent this, goats were used as mules.
Forked Up!
On Friday afternoon, the bar ran out of cutlery. Fans formed a fork queue. There are no expletives in Glaswegian.
- Peter Redfarn [150]
More Books
Beccon Publications ere happy to announce a New Book: Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol by Elizabeth Hand. More details available from Beccon Publications
Restaurant Reviews
There are many restaurants that offer “Eat as much as you like” menus. One, in Glasgow’s Charing Cross district offers this service at the highest quality level in the Indian style. Go to the Koh-i-noor Restaurant at 235 North Street to have a full filling evening.
KoolBa, Merchant Square, Candleriggs.
Glasgow G1 1RB, 0141 552 2777
A fine Persian restaurant in a strange location, Merchant Square. It’s like a sort of indoor piazza with restaurants around the edges and a dealers’ room in the middle! Dealers selling handmade jewellery, art work etc. from trestle tables throughout the evening.
Six of us ate there, including starters and main courses, plus a few beers, some soft drinks and a bottle of rioja for £150.
The menu swings between fine Greek/Turkish style meze and kebab to excellent Indian food, and the naan bread is stunning (so very light and cooked on the inside of a traditional big clay oven. And the peshwari naan is incredibly thin and has a delicate taste of aniseed.
Highly recommended (there is Movenpick ice-cream for dessert but no-one had room for that!)
A taxi for six people from the Crowne Plaza to the restaurant cost £5.
- Chris O’Shea
Cosmopolitan
and Street-wise?
At the bar, order your cosmopolitan in a tumbler, or they'll serve half
of it in a very stylish glass - and throw away the other half!
The Philip K. Dick Awards
These
are for distinguished science fiction books published for the first time in the
United States as paperback originals
2005 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees
Cowl by Neal Asher (Tor Books)
War Surf by M. M. Buckner (Ace Books)
Cagebird by Karin Lowachee (Warner Aspect)
Natural History by Justina Robson (Bantam
Spectra)
Silver Screen by Justina Robson (Pyr)
To Crush The Moon by Wil McCarthy (Bantam
Spectra)
The results will be announced on Friday, April 14, 2006 at Norwescon 29 in Seattle, Washington.
Concussion hopes to provide a live link-up, and wishes Justina the best of luck! We are awaiting these results at the time of going to press.
Pirate Ship Flotation Testing
Results of Experiment No. 1
Checking Hotel Water
Pressure
With both taps turned full on, the bath fills to the overflow in 90 seconds. If left running, the water overwhelms the overflow in 105 seconds.
Caution:
Beware when activating the shower.
Pirates attempt to take over the NewsLetter!
And not just the SMS sponsored pirates (see numerous articles) but COMPUTER PIRATES! During regular checking of the main newsletter laptop, the FLOOD.E (or similar) virus with “tskdbg.exe” was found. Be careful about sharing memory sticks!
Loosing IT in a Hay Lecture
Alice Jenkins, a self confessed Powerpoint virgin, was served by an emergency replacement laptop. Things went horribly wrong when said laptop's operator admitted that this was his first time with Powerpoint too. Helpful audience comments: 'Press the space bar' and ''Use the up arrow' added to an amusing and informative lecture.
Swordfighting workshop
This workshop (Monday 13.00 to 15.30) will be split into two parts:
13.00 to 14.15 Basic Introduction to swordplay – for anyone who hasn’t picked up a sword for a while or ever. We’ll teach you a couple of guards and attacks with a discussion of why they work.
14.15 to 15.30 More Advanced swordplay – for anyone who knows a few techniques. This session will expand on the guards and attacks learned previously and examine the science and the principles behind them.
Both sessions will offer the opportunity to practice under close supervision, and include demonstrations of ‘proper’ swordfights.
Please note, despite our efforts to make this activity as safe as possible it can be dangerous; you will be asked to sign a waiver of responsibility and both workshops are only open to those over 18. Even so, your opponent may hit you occasionally. Mistress Pain can be a good teacher… if you don’t like her, please don’t take part.
Spectators may be allowed depending on space. Please don’t be offended if we ask spectators to leave; it will be for safety reasons.
To take part in either workshop please sign up at Registration, or on the door. Places will be limited and allocated on a first come first taken basis.
Thought For The Day
“Perhaps a Kiwi Bird sitting in a blender will fly out before the switch is thrown.”
- Gospel of the Church of the
Flying Spaghetti Monster
