The Fantastic in Florida

Last week I attended the annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (held by the International Association for the Fantastic on the Arts) in Orlando. Small and friendly, it combines the best features of academic and fan conventions (except without costumes). In addition to scholars of horror, fantasy, and SF, lots of editors and fiction authors take part. Ellen Datlow, David Hartwell of Tor, Brian Aldiss, and Peter Straub, along with many others, are among the regulars. Since I missed 2008, this was my first year of attendance since the con moved from our old location in Fort Lauderdale.

The new hotel has many desirable features, although spread out—I tried to think of the randomized layout as an opportunity for exercise—including a full-service Starbuck's. There’s a small lake behind the hotel, where I spotted a couple of long-beaked waterfowl. I wanted to see one of the alligators the lakeside signs warned about, but I never found one. I arrived in plenty of time for the opening remarks and panel, followed by my author reading from WINDWALKER’S MATE in the late Wednesday afternoon slot. Later in the weekend I heard Jean Lorrah read from a movie script about teleporting teenagers and Suzy McKee Charnas read from a fantasy novel in progress about an elderly female magic-user facing a prophesied cataclysm.

I chaired a panel on Vampires and Other Immortals and Recent Dracula Research. (Two topics had to be combined because of scheduling constraints.) We discussed vampires and corporeal immortality in reference to creativity, procreation, and the soul. Elizabeth Miller, a premier Dracula authority, participated in this session and later spoke about passages Stoker deleted from the novel on the final revision before publication. This year’s con featured several provocative sessions on fandom and fan fiction, including a paper titled “Blessed Mary Sue,” framing certain medieval devotional books as fanfic on the Gospels!

This being the thirtieth anniversary of the conference, Thursday night spotlighted an interview with the founder of the organization and a panel discussion by people who’ve had “almost perfect attendance” over the three decades. Jean Lorrah was present, not having missed a single year. Panelists talked about the wild frontier period when funding and conference venues were uncertain from one year to the next. In 1979 the field of speculative fiction was considered too frivolous for academic study, so this conference filled a serious gap. They expected a few dozen paper proposals in the inaugural year and received about 600. How lucky we are that attitudes toward popular culture have broadened! This gathering is one of the annual high points of my year, when I briefly transform from a mild-mannered legislative editor and minor novelist into “Vampire Scholar.” It’s always a wrench to fly home to the March chill and turn back into a pumpkin.

Margaret L. Carter (www.margaretlcarter.com)