THE 82nd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) has fair claim to being considered the speculative writing event of this year, and in 2024 it took place in Scotland, under the guise of Glasgow 2024, A Worldcon For Our Futures, held at the Scottish Events Campus (SEC) from August 8-12.
Organised as always primarily by the local science fiction and fantasy fan community, this Worldcon took place against a background of controversies, but in the eyes of many, succeeded in surmounting them, and bringing Scotland and the world’s speculative fiction readers and writers together – to the benefit of both cultures.
This wasn’t the first Glasgow Worldcon by any means – previous editions were held in 1995 and 2005 – but there was a strong feeling among many that it was the most important.
For one thing, there were the raw numbers. According to the organisers’ last badge count on the Monday morning, almost 8100 badges had been sold and more than 7240 issued, with at least 1310 people attending Worldcon for the first time. That’s around double the attendance at the previous Glasgow Worldcons, according to the available data.
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At least 2800 participants were from the US, with at least another 1300 from England, and at least 1000 from Scotland. Obviously the convention brought a lot of business to Glasgow and Scotland – at least an estimated £6 million – but more to the point, it demonstrated that the event itself, and Scotland’s literary and creative tradition, had the clout to bring the cream of global SF and fantasy writing and fandom to Glasgow.
Perhaps that isn’t a surprise in the wake of Iain Banks (below). He practically created a sub-genre of transhumanist SF single-handedly, and there were plenty of authors and critics at the convention ready to argue that his novels of contemporary Scottish life were fantastic-realist enough to be practically a continuation of his science fiction. Ken MacLeod was just one of his many worthy contemporaries and successors participating at the con.
Two new collections of modern Scottish science fiction, Nova Scotia 2 and Gallus, were launched during the collection, as well as a collection of MacLeod’s shorter stories.
Neil Williamson, Glaswegian science fiction author and co-editor of the Gallus anthology, remarked that it “feels like the Glasgow 2024, A Worldcon For Our Futures, is something we’ve all been working towards for forever – some much harder and more diligently than the rest of us. And I’m so happy it paid off so spectacularly.”
“It’s been amazing seeing people from around the world converge on Glasgow,” said Professor Esther MacCallum-Stewart, chair of Glasgow 2024. “We’ve seen every aspect of science fiction and fantasy fandom represented, from books and film to comics, gaming and television.
“We’ve had author readings, panel discussions, science talks, musical performances and costume events. We’ve even had a full-scale opera, an actual astronaut, two Batmobiles and, of course, the annual Hugo Awards.”
Many readers won’t need reminding that what brought Glasgow 2024 Worldcon to wider public attention was the attempts to suborn the voting process for the Hugo Awards by enrolling fake names as voters.
At considerable cost, 377 votes were cast by memberships that failed to meet the criteria of natural persons, many of them on behalf of a single, still unidentified finalist who was apparently unaware of the attempted fraud. However, the organisers took steps not only to remedy the voting hitches, but also to make the facts available as openly and transpar-ently as possible, in order to avoid any further speculation or rumour mongering.
As they stated during the awards ceremony, “we have committed to administering them with transparency and integrity,” and this was pretty well demonstrated in the outcome.
Voting figures for the awards were shared in great detail during the ceremony and elsewhere, with 3436 valid votes cast, the third highest total ever, according to the organisers, and four out of the 20 award categories decided by a margin of just one vote.
One might almost take the fraud attempts as a backhanded compliment to the significance of the awards and Worldcon itself in the global science fiction community. Glasgow 2024 certainly wrapped up with a sense of importance – and impetus as a boost for Scottish writing in general.
“Worldcon was a great experience to make new friends and proved to us that Scottish science fiction has a firm place in the world. I see a bright future for our new science fiction writers who have emerged in the last 10 years,” said Noel Chidwick, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Shoreline Of Infinity, Scotland’s only SF magazine, and founder of SF Caledonia – an online showcase of Scottish SF, fantasy and speculative fiction.
Chidwick was involved in several panels, as well as helming a stand in the buzzing trade hall; and just after the end of the convention, Shoreline Of Infinity was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award for Best Magazine, which tends to prove his point about the importance of Scottish science fiction.
Glasgow 2024 was also a testament to the ability of the local organisers – most of them volunteers – and the SEC to manage and accommodate such a large and complex event.
As if the scrupulous management of the awards voting wasn’t enough evidence, trade stallholders, panel participants and Worldcon regulars praised repeatedly the capacity of the venue and the smooth organisation.
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A total of 957 events and programme items, delivering more than 1000 hours in total, filled the official programme, as well as other ancillary and spinoff local events.
One of the few complaints I heard about Glasgow 2024 was the sheer embarrassment of riches available to choose between for every slot during the five days of the official convention programme.
Lastly, there was the contribution of Glasgow itself, just by being what it is. “We’re so proud to have been in Glasgow, and we couldn’t have asked for a better host city,” added MacCallum-Stewart. “It’s known around the world for its warmth, humour and hospitality, and that’s been very evident to everyone who came along.”
Scotland’s position at the heart of imaginative writing has surely been reinforced by the Glasgow Worldcon – it certainly won its place in the hearts of those who attended.
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