Foolscap

Whew! What a great time we had at the Redmond Marriott Town Center last weekend! Our guests of honor, Ted Chiang and Jim Woodring, were just terrific, and we want to thank them for their generosity and enthusiasm. We were delighted to host them for the weekend.

To demonstrate Mr. Woodring's coolness, I wanted to share just one anecdote from the weekend. One of our convention committee members reported the following:

I had this conversation with our friend John this evening:

John: Hey look, I found a brand-new Jim book in the Magic Book Box! Not sure what it is, though.

Me: [Takes the book to look at it] Hmm...[flip flip] It looks like an edition of Congress of the Animals from Norway! Huh! Did you get Jim to sign it for you?

John: No . . .

Me: Because here's a signed full-scale drawing of Frank in pen on the title page, so if you didn't ask him to do that, I have a feeling I know who left it on the table for someone to find. Sneaky! :->

That's Foolscap magic for you!

We also want to thank all of our members for their great discussions, excellent company, and ongoing support. Foolscap is the sum of its community, and we couldn't ask for better.

If you missed the convention, some members have already posted great con reports. See them here:
-- Author Nate Crowder had a great time.
-- Folly Blaine also had a great time.

If you had a good time at Foolscap, please remember to tweet, blog, Facebook, and otherwise spread the word about what you did last weekend! Let us know if you do - we'd love to link back to you.

Foolscap is just a week away, and there are a number of developments we want to let everyone know about.

Hotel
Our hotel block closes today! If you were thinking about staying onsite for the convention, now's the time to make your reservation. You can find all our hotel information on the Web site, including a link to the hotel reservations page.

520 Closures
The State Route 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington is slated to be closed the Saturday and Sunday of the convention. Weekend closures typically begin late Friday night and end early Monday morning. Check the WSDOT’s State Route 520 website for details. King County's Metro Transit Trip Planner can help those who take the bus find alternate routes to get to the hotel.

Writers Workshop
Our writers workshop is filling up fast. Free with your Foolscap membership, it's a great way to spend a Friday: several sessions in which you'll get to discuss different elements of writers with pros in the field, generating material and, we hope, learning ways to advance your craft. Learn more.

Magic Book Box
This year, as every year, the Magic Book Box returns to Foolscap. Don't forget to bring books to share with your fellow Foolscap attendees, and be sure to check the box throughout the weekend to find those unexpected treasures. We'd recommend bringing only gently used books you'd honestly recommend to friends.

Craft Swap
Taking the Magic Book Box concept one step further, we're having a craft materials swap this year. Have some yarn that no longer inspires you but might excite someone else? Some beads that some other beader might weave into something beautiful? Bring it along! Let's encourage each other's creativity.

NanobytesBite of Foolscap
We've changed the name of our annual brunch, and this year we're doing a couple of new and different things as well. First, every banquet ticket gets you $5 Fool Dollars* good at the Live Auction on Sunday afternoon. Second, there will be a Trivia Contest where three $10 coupons toward a Foolscap membership will be part of the prizes. What’s staying the same: It’s still in the restaurant (newly re–designed) at noon and there’s still a fabulous omelet station, smoked salmon and desserts made just for us, on top of the regular menu. It’s just $30 and more information can be found at our membership page.

Volunteers
We're still looking for volunteers. If you have the time and the inclination, we've definitely got the work. Please check out our volunteer page for contact information.

We're so looking forward to seeing everyone next weekend. Hope you can make it!

Check out our Kickstarter opportunity - from Funny Hats to Memberships to getting to name your own item in Hospitality and More, there's all kinds of ways to help support your local con!

Find the Foolscap Kickstarter project here!

Foolscap is all about participation. Our panels are designed to be staffed by YOU. To that end, we have a Panel Survey ready for you! This is how we build the panels, so we want you to tell us which panels you'd like to be on and what panels you'd like to see.

You can find the survey here. The more of you that let us know what you want to see, the more Foolscap will be the con you want it to be!

Thanks for your time!

Foolscap Team

This year, Foolscap is making a more concerted effort to be available online, and to keep in touch in person.

We've got a lively and eclectic Twitter stream at @flatstuff. We keep an eye out for author readings in the Puget Sound area, science, science fiction, and fantasy-related news, contests, give-aways, and more. This Twitter stream is connected to our Facebook page, and can be followed there (on Facebook, search for "foolscap convention") if you prefer. We have a second Twitter stream, @foolscapcon, that's lower traffic, providing basic convention news, for those seeking a little less contact but just the right amount of Foolscap-related information.

Foolscap has also been doing a little in-person socializing. We were recently pleased to be able to host a party to honor critically acclaimed author and Clarion West Writers Workshop instructor Minister Faust.

We'll also be sponsoring a couple of the Movies @ Marymoor. We had great fun doing this last year, and look forward to doing it again. We'll post more about those events as the dates draw nigh.

Keep an eye here for news about where we'll be going and what we're doing.

 At the concom meeting tonight we brainstormed ways to relaunch the Sunday brunch at Foolscap. It will still be a lavish buffet including salmon and fancy desserts. But this year we're adding some fun and games and prizes. You'll need to bring your wits as well as your appetite!

When you sign up for the convention (we now have easy-to-use PayPal buttons on our signup page) be sure to get your Bite of Foolscap tickets at the same time.

Although our Live Journal has been quiet, there's a lot going on behind the scenes with the Foolscap con committee. Here's a quick overview of the cool things we've got in the works, and the cool things happening with our Guests of Honor Ted Chiang and Jim Woodring.

Our Guests of Honor

Ted Chiang has been sweeping up the awards lately. Just this weekend, his "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" won the Locus Award for Best Novella. If you haven't read it yet, don't wait another minute--you can read it online or, better yet, purchase a copy! Congratulations, Ted!

Jim Woodring will be appearing at Elliott Bay Book Company on June 30, promoting his new book, Congress of Animals. Get all the information about the event you need at the Elliott Bay site. Congratulations on the new book, Jim!

Programming and Memberships

Everyone who is a member of Foolscap is a potential program participant, and we've put together a great list of possible panels for this year's convention. We're preparing our programming survey now, but the survey will only go to registered members of Foolscap. If you haven't done it already, now's a great time to purchase your membership to ensure you get a chance to have your say. Besides, prices go up at the door; why not do it now and save money?

This Summer

This summer, you'll find Foolscap popping up in some great places. We'll be updating our LJ, our Twitter stream (@flatstuff, where you'll find all sorts of news: local events of fannish interest, science news, book and comics news, media matters, and more), and our Facebook page regularly. Keep an eye out for events and news.

Foolscap Garage Sale
Organizers of Foolscap hold their annual yard sale as part of the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Saturday, May 14, 9 - 3.
We are sale #202 on the map, also known as Margaret and Bruce's house, 5931 47th Ave. SW. Lots of science fiction books and collectibles, games, cool books, household goods, large file cabinets, and some cool steampunk items.

Last year we had some surprise items as well - come down, say hey and find yourself a real treasure!

The updating has begun! Foolscap is delighted to introduce this year’s Guests of Honor, author Ted Chiang and artist Jim Woodring.

We're filling the Dealer's Room and the Art Show, so if you're interested in either, please contact us ASAP!

After some discussion with the other admins of the Foolscap community, we've enabled moderation on posts to the community. Everyone can still post, but a moderator will have to approve the post before it shows up. We're hoping this will eliminate the spam problem we've had these last few weeks - and with luck, once the current crop of spammers gets bored with us, we'll be able to go back to our previous state of free and open posting.

Till then, we're sorry that a few bad folks have made us be a slightly less open place, but we think this is a better option than randomly exposing people to some of the objectionable material the spammers have posted.

None of this should affect comments, of course - discussion on posts once they're made should be unchanged, and comments should show up immediately.