FunCon Two Committee
I joined science fiction fandom when I was still at school, and met some great people and had some fantastic times as a result. My parents mightily disapproved as they thought I'd joined a cult, but I think I turned out okay in the end. I have excellent cat-herding skills due to being a fosterer of stray and unwanted kittens, and will show you All The Photos if you don't run away fast enough. I am apparently in charge of this convention and expected to solve any problems, but you will all be so well behaved that there won't be any, and I can spend my time sitting in the bar... right?
A long, long time ago at a Worldcon far away I joined a group called Octarine. I enjoyed their humorous magazine full of anarchic humour, and one day I fell prey to their desire to run a convention of their own. I believed that I was signing on to provide help on the day, as a gopher perhaps. It seemed odd that they wanted me to attend so many meetings in the two year run-up, and by the end of the first meeting I became aware that I was actually on the committee of Inconsequential. We had a ton of fun. Friendships were forged and broken. Hotels went into receivership, and hid our members in a room whilst they showed wedding parties around. The hotel midnight chip butty was born. And Simon the interim hotel manager was found to be a god. Three amazing conventions later I took a backwards step at just the right moment, fell off the juggernaut that had become Incons I, II and III, and became a dim shadowy background figure occasionally appearing in fannish musicals, or sitting outside the dealer room demanding drinks with menaces. Many years passed. The world moved on and I was forgotten, a mere footnote from a mythical time of inconceivable fun. Some inconsistent fossickers unearthed me, blew the sand out of my ears and reanimated me, making me better, faster, stronger than a thousand angry wasps. I have yet to learn what that means, but I suspect there’ll be quite a buzz about it.
Emma is a long-time Hitchhikers' fan, having joined ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha when she was 15 years old (which she says is now far too long ago!). She has attended, and occasionally blown stuff up at, various convention over the years, and was on the committee for Lazlar Lyricon 3. She recently took up aerial fitness and likes to spend as much of her free time upside down in the air as possible, and encouraging others to join her.
Jim's past jobs may include goat herding in Nepal, giving swimming lessons to a Monacan princess, and testing elastic in a bra factory. Or we may have made this up.
My name is Alice Lawson and I am a conrunner. I have been trying to break the habit but nothing seems to work. So here I am again. However this is a different kind of convention for me, my first relaxacon committee and I am looking forward to it and hope to see you all there.
James has been involved in fandom and conventions since the early 1990s. He has helped organise many conventions in Ireland and abroad, including Octocon, Eurocon, Eastercons, Worldcons, and the first Funcon. He has been involved in fanzines, fan clubs and fan funds, and is a massive space nerd with a particular fascination about zero gravity toilets. A huge fan of LEGO, James will attempt to include it in convention programmes at every opportunity.
