akirlu | My Worldcon Conundrum (Reply)

So, back about last October or so, Christian McGuire (L.A.con IV's titular chair -- Craig Miller appears to be the man who actually makes things happen) sent me an e-mail in which he, among other things, asked me if I would be interested in being head of the fanzine lounge. I said I very well might be, depending on the answers to a bunch of questions I had, which I sent back to him. While I waited for a reply, I sent off a few queries to the lights of fanzine fandom assembled, trying to get a gauge of what people's priorities were in the features of a good fanzine lounge. I got some interesting answers, and continued to wait for a reply from Christian. And wait. And wait. After a couple of months had gone by, I sent another message, asking when I was likely to get a response to my questions. When I got no response to *that* I started sending pings to Christian via various lists and other people trying to get some sort of idea of what was up.

Finally, I got an e-mail back from Christian. In which he claimed that when he had previously asked me if I would be interested he wasn't really asking me to be head, he was just, you know, asking if I was interested, out of oh, I dunno, idle curiosity or something. Oh, and in the interim Milt Stevens had volunteered to do the job so LAcon was probably going with him -- Christian couldn't really say, since he had to meet with his advising committee before making a decision.

Now, I have a pretty good guess as to what really happened there. One of the questions I had asked was how Christian envisioned handling my reporting relationship with

edgreen86, since I recognized that it was more than possible that such a relationship could be fraught. And Christian, bless his chicken-heart, decided to ignore the question and hope it would go away. The thing that makes me crazy about this is that I *gave* Christian an out. I said outright that my interest in the position depended on his answers to my questions, of which there were lots, and many of them would have been show stoppers if I didn't like the answer. He could have given answers I didn't like on any of them. Most directly, he could have just fessed up to what we both know --that he doesn't have the managerial skills to cope with interpersonal conflicts among his reports and wouldn't begin to know where to get them -- and I would have said, "Well, thanks but no thanks then," and that would have been the end of it. Instead he decided to pretend that asking someone if they're interested in a job isn't tantamount to offering it, which is not merely dishonest and cowardly, it's just offensively stupid.

So there's strike one.

And then there's Milt. Now, Milt is a nice enough guy. And he has at least nominal connections to fanzine fandom, if in the fairly insular, LASFS-centric way that is typical of LASFen. But I've never seen him run a green room, or a consuite, or a fan lounge. Hell, I've never known him to throw parties or help out when SCIFI is throwing parties. I am not aware of him having any track record with hospitality functions whatsoever. Not that lack of experience can't be overcome, but Milt is also not a young guy. And. And the first contact I've seen him make to the fanzine community is just this week. In the e-mail, among other things, Milt says he's going to "try selling some fanzines". This makes it sound like having fanzines available for sale in the fanzine lounge is some sort of startling innovation that is being tested for the first time. As if Geri Sullivan didn't, among other things, sell fanzines in the very same fanzine lounge location at the last LAcon. As if Milt had no awareness whatsoever of how even fanzine lounges in his own home area have worked in the past. So, no track record with hospitality, and no clue about even recent LA fanzine lounges. Did I mention yet that a well-run fanzine lounge tends to be crucial to my enjoyment of a Worldcon?

So there's strike two.

On the other hand, there are a number of people whom I don't see often enough who will be in LA and also at the Worldcon, to one degree or another. And I'm probably getting about due to visit old friends and old haunts --get some fried chicken and greens at Johnny Reb's and collect some shells at the Huntington Dog Beach --though August is not a month I would pick to visit Greater LA if given the choice. So I dunno. My current inclination is to wait and see what else gels, and how. It's not unimaginable that there will be a third and final strike. On the other hand, a couple different possibilities for hitching a ride down the coast , and I do like the idea of a road trip down and back, especially if Highway 1 south of Carmel is on the agenda. Whatever happens, if I do go down, I'm most likely to go down and hang out in the bar some rather than support LA with the purchase of a membership. If they wanted my support, they could act like it.