What we were all doing at the 1974 Worldcon

Posted by: Scott Tags: science fiction, Worldcon Posted date: December 6, 2015 | 8 Comments

If you attended Sasquan—the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention—in Spokane earlier this year, deciding how to best spend your time was probably tough, for inside the 148-page program book each attendee received were listed 241 panels alone, plus multiple readings, presentations, kaffeeklatsches, and more.

Things were quite different in 1974, however, the year 19-year-old me attended his first Worldcon—Discon II, the 32nd World Science Fiction Convention.

I’d hoped my first Worldcon was going to be a year earlier, and still don’t understand why it wasn’t, but in any case, when I arrived at Discon II, I was given a program agenda far shorter than those to which we’ve become accustomed in recent decades. Programming, rather than filling a book, consisted of a single sheet of 8-1/2″ x 11″ paper folded in half.

Here’s what you’d have been able to witness had you been there with me in Washington, D.C.

So which of these programming items did I choose to attend?

Well, there was no way I was going to miss Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison hurling insults at each other across a crowded ballroom, or the screening of a rough cut of A Boy and His Dog, or Roger Zelazny’s Guest of Honor speech, or the Hugo banquet and ceremony. Or endless wandering through the dealers room, where I picked up several items I still own to this day.

Sadly, of many panels I remember little. A women in science fiction panel featuring Susan Wood, Katherine Kurtz, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro? A panel on the problems facing today’s (well, 1974’s) science fiction magazines, with Jim Baen, Ben Bova, Ed Ferman, and Ted White? How I wish there was audio or video of those for us to relive those presentations today! If you wonder why I try to record every convention panel or reading I attend and share them on YouTube, that’s why. Such wisdom shouldn’t vanish.

And if you’re wondering what younger me looked lack back them, well …

By the way—Discon II wasn’t just my first Worldcon. It was also the first Worldcon for Brett Cox and Bruce Sterling. If it was your first Worldcon, too, give a shout!

8 Comments for What we were all doing at the 1974 Worldcon

Mark T Collins

We wuz there!

Andrew Porter

My first worldcon was the 1963 DC one, that was held a week after the March on Washington, so no one knew whether or not DC would still be there. Discon 2 was memorable for my winning a fanzine Hugo (tied with Dick Geis) and for meeting lots of people who I still know to this day. Oh, and I’ve got that original pocket program, and the actual program, too!

David Dyer-Bennet

My third Worldcon; but the first I travelled to with a group of fans (I’d managed to make enough local connections to know who to ask, at least).

Here’s what a various people were doing at a few particular moments at Discon II: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/1974/08300-Discon-II/

Michael J. Walsh

My first Worldcon also!

Had a blast!

The Asimov-Ellison “dialogue” was amusing. Pretty much everyone knew that it was all in fun, except for a reporter from the Washington Post who apparently was aghast that the convention would allow these enemies the place to hurl insults at each other.

And the hotel, the wonderfully rather Gormenghastian Sheraton Park. Back in those hotel windows opened All The Way!! And the closets could sleep two or three fen.

Mike Glyer

There’s a lot in that program I don’t remember — although like you I certainly attended the Asimov/Ellison insult-off and the movie — and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s because I was doing something else.

For one, I recall hanging out with Meade Frierson III, the Birmingham AL attorney, and several friends, and witnessing him phone a liquor store that delivered and order up $150 of booze and snacks for a room party that night — it was our room, his party. (I wouldn’t want to spend that much on a room party NOW, using inflated 2015 currency.)

As the party continued into the wee hours, Meade hit his limit and fell asleep on the floor — not far from where R.A. Lafferty had already done the same. But Lafferty eventually woke and left. In the morning when Meade inquired how things went after he crashed he was told, “You were so drunk Ray Lafferty had to crawl over you to get out of the party!”

Tom Whitmore

I was there — had my pants stolen when someone broke into my room. They also took a cloth bag with a Tim Kirk drawing embroidered on it which had a copy of SANDALWOOD by Clark Ashton Smith — those both probably ended up in the garbage, though the book was worth more than anything else the thief probably got that night. It was quite a fun convention, though, despite all that. I worked on the Masquerade, met lots of good people — it was my 5th Worldcon, though, not my first.

=Tamar

My first Worldcon was LACon II in 1972. Discon II was my third con, and it was a wonderful party con. Panels all day, parties all night, filking until breakfast opened, then start over. Too bad the hotel management was too cheap to hire more people for the coffeeshop – they were working 24-5 and dead on their feet.

Martin Wooster

My memory of my first Worldcon (I was 16) was that while I certainly attended the Asimov-Ellison debate, I asked where it was by saying, “Where is Dr. Asimov speaking?” And someone said, “You mean Isaac. EVERYONE calls him Isaac.” I didn’t realize this at the time.