Albacon is the Albany
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
convention, held each year in the
Albany,
New York area, also called the
Capital District.
Albacon is the largest "Con" in
upstate New York, United States. It is hosted by LASTSFA, or Latham-Albany-Schenectady-Troy Science Fiction Association, a local science fiction
fandom group. The Albacon website lists itself as:
Past Albacons
The con has hosted many special guests. In 2006, the Guest of Honor (GoH) was
Peter David, a
novelist most famous for his
short stories,
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
shows and ''The Incredible Hulk''
comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
; the
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...
Guest of Honor was
Omar Rayyan. Additional guests in 2006 included online cartoonist
Jeph Jacques,
Nick Sagan (son of
Carl Sagan and a science fiction writer in his own right), and
Klingon linguist and psychologist
Lawrence M. Schoen.
Other guests at recent Albacons have included
filker
Erwin S. Strauss (Filthy Pierre),
humorist-novelist
Esther Friesner,
Shannara creator
Terry Brooks,
Lois McMaster Bujold, novelist
Don Sakers, and science fiction researcher and fan
Jan Howard Finder ("The Wombat").
Albacon was not held in 2007, because LASTSFA co-hosted the
World Fantasy Convention in
Saratoga Springs, New York, with Guests of Honor
Carol Emshwiller,
Kim Newman,
Lisa Tuttle and artist
Jean Giraud (Moebius).
Guests of Honor & Special Guests
Scottish Albacons
The Albacon name was also used by a series of science fiction conventions held in
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
from 1980 to 1998.
Scottish Albacon Fancyclopedia Entry
The name was created from both Alba, the Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
name for Scotland, and because the first convention in 1980 was held in the then-named Albany Hotel in Glasgow.
References
External sources
Albacon
LASTSFA
Fancyclopedia entry
Science fiction conventions in the United States
Capital District (New York)
Conventions in New York (state)
1996 establishments in New York (state)
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