Noreascon Four

October Committee Meeting

A summary of the October committee meeting is available on our new Meeting Reports weblog.

Hugo Base Designers Announced

The 2004 Hugo Award bases will be designed and crafted by Boston-area fan and engineer Scott Lefton. The Retrospective Hugo Awards for 1953 will be designed and crafted by Chicagoans Patrick J. and Leah O'Connor. The specific designs will not be released until the awards are actually presented at the convention.

Hal Clement, 1922-2003

We are deeply grieved to report the passing today of Hal Clement: writer, teacher, fan, and much-loved friend of Noreascon Four.

Born Harry Clement Stubbs, Hal saw his first story published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1942. He is regarded as the exemplar par excellence of what is now termed hard science fiction. His works include Iceworld (with an alien protagonist who is a chemistry teacher), Close to Critical, and Mission of Gravity.

He adopted the pseudonym "Hal Clement" because he thought his involvement in science fiction might reflect badly upon him during his undergraduate work in astronomy at Harvard. (He didn't know that his advisor, Prof. Donald H. Menzel, was a friend of Hugo Gernsback, who published the first science fiction magazine in 1926.)

Hal served in the Army Air Corps Reserve during World War II, and he was recalled to active duty during the Korean War.

He earned two masters degrees (in education, in 1946, and in chemistry in 1963) and taught science at Milton Academy, Milton, Massachusetts for 38 years, until his retirement in 1987. He continued to instill a sense of wonder in young (and not-so-young) adults at science fiction conventions with his delightful presentations and slide shows.

We will miss him.

Hal working Registration at Noreascon I. (Photo by Jay Kay Klein)

Addendum:At their business meeting on November 2, the New England Science Fiction Society voted to honor Harry by creating the position of Hal Clement Science Speaker to bring a hard science speaker to each Boskone. At the upcoming Boskone, there will be an exhibit of his written and pictorial work in the Art Show, and a charity auction to benefit the Joslin Diabetes Center will be held in his name on Saturday evening.

An M.A. in Worldcon?

Not a whole degree, but it will be possible to earn graduate course credit from Suffolk University in Boston for attending a two-day pre-Worldcon conference, going to academic panels at the 62 World Science Fiction Convention, and then joining the post-Worldcon wrap-up.

This three-credit graduate course will be jointly offered by Suffolk University's Departments of Education and Communication in 2004.

Doc Smith Exhibit at Noreascon 4

Edward E. 'Doc' Smith, Ph.D. was the founder of Space Opera. His Skylark of Space took the SF world by storm in 1928, and was followed by his monumental Lensman series, which may be one of the best SF series ever written. Boston has always had close ties to Doc Smith, with two of our local conventions, Boskone and Arisia, named after empires in the Lensman series, and with Boskone's annual Skylark Award inspired by his Doc Smith's character and good works.

Now Stephen Lucchetti, with help from Al Cromika, are working hard on what they hope will be the definitive E. E. 'Doc' Smith exhibit for Noreascon 4. They are planning to assemble as comprehensive collection of works by Doc Smith (or in the worlds he created) as they can manage to scrape together. Doc Smith's estate has promised the loan of treasured memorabilia. If you have anything you could loan to the exhibit, please contact Stephen or Al. In particular, we are on the hunt for a set of the original leather bound Fantasy Press 'History of Civilization'.

Help us make this one Noreascon 4 exhibit you won't want to miss!

Current rates extended to Sunday, Oct. 5

The Noreascon 4 membership rate increase which had been scheduled for October 1 has been deferred until midnight on Sunday, Oct. 5. So if you or any of your friends haven't joined yet, you can still join at the the $160 rate until Sunday. The new rate after Sunday will be $180 for an attending membership. A child's admission remains $105, and supporting memberships remain $35.

Memberships may be purchased online through our web site's secure transaction page using Visa or MasterCard. Memberships may also be bought on the installment plan.