2023 A Lazy Year?

When I look at my blog I have an impression it was a lazy year. But was it really? I don’t think so. At least I don’t feel like I got a lot of rest and time to be lazy. Yet what I see is that certain things did not go as efficiently as I would love them to. One of them being the blog itself.

Data Crunch

Let’s start with the blog. Last year I posted only eighteen times. And some of those were announcements related to EFF. So it is lower than in some of the previous years. The truth is that it is directly related to the number of cons I visited – fourteen. As most of my posts are convention reports it makes sense.

A man in purple t-shirt sits behind a table. There are art prints and posters on the table.
2023 memories: Sitting at Liz Danforth’s table during Lure of Middle Earth.

I have a feeling that fourteen conventions is few. Which of course is not true. It means that in average I am participating in over one convention every month. My highest number ever was twenty one cons in 2021 (and those were all online events). Fourteen is above my average since I started to go but below average from the last decade. We will see how it will go this year.

I participated remotely only in three conventions (Boskone, Eastercon, and Octocon). All the rest I attended in person. Two cons I visited were manga&anime events organized by a for profit companies so not fannish endeavours (Magnificon and Ryucon). From the remaining nine cons three were abroad: Lure of Middle-Earth in Germany, Corflu in Belfast and Eurocon in Sweden. Each of those was an important and interesting experience. Lure was my first card game convention and occasion to meet Liz Danforth in person for the second time. For years I wanted to attend Corflu and I am very happy that I did so! Some of the fanzines I got are still waiting on my TBR pile. And Eurocon was me coming back to Sweden and meeting Swedish fandom which I so immensely enjoyed in 2016. Among remaining six Polish conventions there were some “usual ones” (Lajconik, KONgres, Polcon, Imladris, and Nordcon) and one “fresh” for me – Stalowolskie Spotkania z Fantastyką.

Fanzines lying on the table.
2023 memories: Fanzines to take at Corflu Craic.

When I sum all of the days it seems that I spent almost 1.5 month at the cons – this is a lot!

Fanzines

In previous years I was making an average of fanzine every four months. 2023 was not that good though. I published two issues. The first was a special English issue of “A~Zyn”. I brought it to Corflu and later to Eurocon. I didn’t receive too much feedback but at least what I got was positive (Yay!). At the end of 2023 next issue of “A~Zyn” was mostly ready but it still required some work before publishing. Yet for sure it will come out in 2024. Another zine I published was “DOJI”. I mentioned before that it was the fanzine with which I started my fannish adventure. The previous – 41st issue was done by my friend in 2011 so it was a long break. Once printed I took “DOJI” 42 to Magnificon to give it away.

A black and white drawing of a cyber pigeon. The pigeon wears traditional Krakow's hat with a peacock feather. Behind the pigeon there is a monument of Adam Mickiewicz and Saint Mary Church. Pigeon's eye is red and is the only coloured element of the picture.
2023 memories: Cover of English issue of A~Zyn.

I managed to read over 20 fanzines. This number was largely boosted by short (2 pages long) issues of “Vanamonde”. I can say that fanzine reading will stay with me for 2024. There are plenty waiting for my attention now. (I already read nine!)

Glasgow 2024

Glasgow 2024 A Worldcon for Our Futures was eating up a lot of my time! As I am currently on DDH level (in Promotions Division) I need to attend a lot of meetings and read through innumerable e-mails. Also taking care of our presence at multiple cons is also a lot! Don’t understand me wrong – I am not complaining. Receiving the opportunity to join the team was great and I am learning a lot. Seeing how much time it takes on my level I must admit that I am now even more then before impressed with others. People who manage to take care of more than one Worldcon/Bid must be extremely well organized!

Two people posing for a picture behind a table with convention merchandise on it. Both are wearing purple t-shirts with Glasgow 2024 logo. Next to them there are two more people.
2023 memories: sitting at the Glasgow 2024 table during Eurocon.

This year will be challenging too. We are only a few months away from the con and I expect more work to land on my plate. I am already looking forward to the con and am v

History

2023 was a year when fanhistory was a bit around me. At Corflu I obtained “1957 The First UK Worldcon” publication edited by Rob Hansen. It was a lot of data to process! Close to the end of the year I bought two more books from the series which I hopefully will read in 2024. Those are “Generation Femizine” and “British SF Conventions Volume 1: 1937-1951”.

Later I continued to work on two somehow connected projects I started the year before. The easier one was a map of conventions in Kraków. Still it was a lot of work and a lot is still in front of me! What we managed to achieve so far was obtaining a list of (hopefully) most of the cons that took place in Kraków. For almost all of them I managed to find a venue where it was held. And then (with members of KSF – local SFF club) we travelled around the city to take a current picture of the venues. I am aware we need to add some events from 2023 and we need to take pictures of some missing buildings. All the work would be impossible if not for Internet Archive and if not for help from some of my friends.

People looking at displays. One person takes a picture with her phone.
2023 memories: Fandom Exhibition at Arteteka.

The other project was the fandom exhibition we prepared. We held it to celebrate the tenth anniversary of KSF’s official registration. It took place in Arteteka Regional Public Library in Kraków. In order to make it I had to contact owners of the rights to each of the items. It required going through some details, checking who prepared the graphics and so on. At the same time I had to look for some historical data to be able to provide a context to the exhibition. It was helluva of work – way more than I expected. I am both very proud of what I managed to do and ashamed/angry at myself for not making it perfect. Yet the fact is that at least I learned a lot! What surprised me is that from the creators of some items I wanted to display I received additional fannish memorabilia. Thank you again!

Lastly I continued the #blastfromtheoast series of posts on my Instagram profile. In those posts I am showing some historical items from my collection. Picture is accompanied with a short description of what it is and sometimes a bit of additional context. Number of posts is not huge but I like doing that.

A bottle of Correction Fluid placed in the frame. There is a plaque below that reads 'The Spirit of Corflu'.
2023 memories: A bottle of corflu at Corflu.

Not so Lazy Year

So in the end 2023 was not such a lazy year for me. I didn’t spend enough time on my blog but did a lot of other things. Some of them I mentioned above. One more that I need to cover is chairing the KSF club and organizing regular meetings. It is a lot of work but also something that brings me tons of satisfaction and joy. After a few years I have a feeling that we almost get to the point I imagined in the beginning. This month I will run to become a chair again but I think it is the last time it will be required for me to take this position. I believe that in two years there will be others, younger members who will be able and willing to take over the club. Then I will be able to devote myself to a few selected of KSF’s initiatives.

This year will be busy for me with Glasgow 2024 and (should I be elected) KSF. Yet I am quite positively looking at it!

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