The 57th World Science Fiction Convention (

Worldcon Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...

), also known as Aussiecon Three, was held on 2–6 September 1999 at the

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), colloquially referred to as Jeff's Shed, is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues ar ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia. The convention was chaired by Perry Middlemiss.

Participants

Guests of Honour

Gregory Benford Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is professor emeritus at the department of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is a contributing editor of ''Reason ...

, author * George Turner, author * Bruce Gillespie, fan

Special guest

J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski, known as J. Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is known as the creator of the science fiction televi ...

, media

Noteworthy program participants

Awards

1999 Hugo Awards

The Hugo Award ceremony was directed and hosted by Michael Jordan and Executive assistant Paula McGrath. * Best Novel: '' To Say Nothing of the Dog'' by

Connie Willis Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (born December 31, 1945), commonly known as Connie Willis, is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than ...

* Best Novella: "

Oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places * Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...

" by

Greg Egan Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australian science fiction writer and mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, and the Lo ...

(''

Asimov's ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac A ...

'', August 1998) * Best Novelette: "Taklamakan" by

Bruce Sterling Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre. Sterling's first ...

(''

'', October/November 1998) * Best Short Story: " The Very Pulse of the Machine" by

Michael Swanwick Michael Swanwick (born November 18, 1950) is an American list of fantasy authors, fantasy and List of science-fiction authors, science fiction author who began publishing in the early 1980s. Writing career Swanwick's fiction writing began w ...

(''

'' February 1998) * Best Related Book: ''The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of'' by

Thomas M. Disch Thomas Michael Disch (February 2, 1940 – July 4, 2008) was an American science fiction writer and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book—previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book"—in 1999. He had two other Hugo nominations and n ...

* Best Dramatic Presentation: ''

The Truman Show ''The Truman Show'' is a 1998 American Psychological film, psychological comedy-drama film written and co-produced by Andrew Niccol, and directed by Peter Weir. The film depicts the story of Truman Burbank (played by Jim Carrey), a man who is un ...

'' * Best Professional Editor:

Gardner Dozois Gardner Raymond Dozois ( ; July 23, 1947 – May 27, 2018) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the founding editor of '' The Year's Best Science Fiction'' anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of '' Asimov's Science Fict ...

* Best Professional Artist:

Bob Eggleton Bob Eggleton (born September 13, 1960) is an American science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction, horror artist. Eggleton is a nine-time Hugo Award–winner for Best Pro Artist in science fiction and fantasy, first winning in 1994. He won the Hu ...

* Best Semiprozine: '' Locus'', edited by

Charles N. Brown Charles Nikki Brown (June 24, 1937 – July 12, 2009) was an American publishing editor, the co-founder and editor of '' Locus'', the long-running news and reviews magazine covering the genres of science fiction and fantasy literature. Brown was ...

* Best Fanzine:

Ansible The term ''ansible'' refers to a category of fictional technological devices capable of superluminal Faster-than-light (superluminal or supercausal) travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than ...

, edited by

Dave Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science-fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'' and holds the all-time record for most Hug ...

* Best Fan Writer:

* Best Fan Artist: Ian Gunn

Other awards

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

Nalo Hopkinson Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels – ''Brown Girl in the Ring (novel), Brown Girl in the Ring'' (1998), ''Midnight Robber'' (2000), ''The Salt Roads'' (2003), ' ...

Future site selection

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

won the vote for the

62nd World Science Fiction Convention The 62nd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Noreascon 4, was held on 2–6 September 2004 at the Hynes Convention Center, Sheraton Boston Hotel and Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Th ...

in 2005 by a large majority. A hoax bid for

Roswell, New Mexico Roswell () is a city in and the county seat of Chaves County, New Mexico, Chaves County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 48,422 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fi ...

was the only other bid filed.

Committee

Chair

* Perry Middlemiss

Division heads

* Finance: Rose Mitchell * Administration: Julian Warner * Publicity: Alan Stewart * Major Events: Perry Middlemiss * Publications: Mark Loney * Program Operations: Janice Gelb * Programming: Donna Heenan * Fixed Functions: Nick Price, Jason Sharples * Facilities: Stephen Boucher * WSFS: Stephen Boucher * InterDivisional Liaison: Michael AJ Jordan

Directors

* Stephen Boucher * Christine Dziadosz * Donna Heenan * Michael Jordan * Mark Linneman * Perry Middlemiss * Alan Stewart

Bid

* Bid chair: Alan Stewart

References

External links

Official website (as archived 20 September 2010)
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Science Fiction Convention 057 1990s in Melbourne 1999 conferences 1999 in Australia 20th-century Australian literature Science and technology in Melbourne Science fiction conventions in Australia Worldcon