The Kansas City Worldcon is fast receding in the rearview mirror, but one more backward-looking post is called for before we let it all go, I think, especially because it concerns not only 2016—but 1992. As I was packing last month for MidAmeriCon II, where Pat Cadigan was scheduled to be our Hugo Awards ceremony Toastmaster, I remembered an artifact from long ago and far away which I thought would amuse her.

Luckily, I was able to find it deep within the Edelman Vault, and so some of you on site might have seen me wearing this.

What’s it all about? Why was Pat a Woman of Destiny at MagicCon, the 1992 Worldcon? What was ClariNet? What was the Library of Tomorrow? And why was there a button about all that? Ah, come closer, padawan, and I shall tell you … (more…)