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 …<\/p>\n To make a long story short, back in 1989, Brad Templeton<\/a> (who would go on to become Chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation from 2000 through 2010), founded an electronic news publishing company called ClariNet<\/a>. In 1992, he also launched the Library of Tomorrow<\/a>, a buffet-style, all-you-can-read fiction site which would cost users $5.00 per month. And to promote that at MagicCon<\/a>, the 50th World Science Fiction Convention (in Orlando, Florida), he threw parties which included a make-your-own button machine as part of the fun.<\/p>\n (To make a short story longer, click on any of the links in the paragraph above,)<\/p>\n By the time the convention was over, I’d printed three different buttons tied to the weekend’s events and catchphrases.<\/p>\n I’d forgotten exactly why I’d made that first button, which gave a shout-out to Pat, all those years ago until she saw me wearing it in Kansas City, laughed, and refreshed my memory.<\/p>\n It turns out that one of the jokes of the con was that people were mocking the figure of speech some use to indicate they’re on a first-name basis with the famous. Something like:<\/p>\n “I was having breakfast with Bob … ” — and then they’d lean in conspiratorially and add — ” … you know, Silverberg<\/em> … ”<\/p>\n And someone thought that after saying “Pat,” one should do more than merely add, “you know, Cadigan<\/em>” … and she became PAT CADIGAN, WOMAN OF DESTINY!<\/p>\n I have no idea how many others printed similar buttons that year, but there were a number of us.<\/p>\n The next two buttons were based on things which occurred during the MagicCon Hugo Awards ceremony.<\/p>\n The first of those was born out of something said by Nancy Kress as she accepted her Best Novella award for “Beggars in Spain.” She harkened back to something said by George R. R. Martin (if I’m remembering correctly) the night he won two Hugos in 1980, for “Sandkings” and “The Way of Cross and Dragon.” She’d been sitting in the back row that earlier night, was encouraged to keep at it by whatever it was he said in his speech, and wanted those of us in a similar situation to do the same.<\/p>\n And so some of us wore the following button to say we’d heard her<\/em>.<\/p>\n![\"Worldcon1992ButtonPatCadigan\"](\"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Worldcon1992ButtonPatCadigan.jpg\")
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