I’m getting ready to head off to Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention, and thanks to my boss, Craig Engler, I’m thinking back to Discon II, the 32nd World Science Fiction Convention—and my first. (As to the reason Craig caused my thoughts to wander that way, see below.)

I was 19 when I attended my first Worldcon, and I drove there from Brooklyn with a group that included the gang of idiots below. Recognize us all as we sit in front of the White House? Give the photo a look for a couple of moments before you read on to see who’s who.

That’s Carl Gafford, Paul Levitz, Steve Gilary, and me as See No Evil, Say No Evil, Hear No Evil, and … well, you get the idea.

There are only two things I bought at the 1974 Worldcon that I still own. The first volume of Donald H. Tuck‘s Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, published that year—

—and a two-handed broadsword—

—which might look familiar to some of you, because it ended up being part of my get-up the only time I wore a costume to a con.

I find it intriguing that the two purchases which remain in my possession after (gulp!) 38 years represent such opposing sectors of my science fiction and fantasy soul—the obsessive scholar and the fanciful romantic. But, hey—I am large, I contain multitudes.

Wonder what I’ll pick up in the dealers room this year?

[As for how exactly Craig sent me on a trip down memory lane, he was tweeting about getting swords for his upcoming wedding, which made me think of the couple of times I’d bought swords at cons, the broadsword being the first such instance. Why does the guy need swords to get married? I’m not really sure. I just hope the bride and groom both survive the ceremony!]