Smokecane!

So the reports are coming in from Sasquan 2015, aka Worldcon in Spokane. The biggest initial impression made by the location was the smoky skies due to the numerous wildfires in the area. I can categorically state that my corner of the state is in better condition. Yeah, we're getting smoke here, but it's not nearly as bad as what I'm seeing in those photos. Fortunately, most of the wildfires near here have been put out or are at least contained.

Anyway, because I'm not at the con, I'm relying on Twitter and blogs to keep me up-to-date with the events at Sasquan. Here's some of the fun stuff I've culled from the maddening crowd so far (most of it will be after the cut so people who don't want to read a whole ton of links can just skip this post).

We'll start with my favorite photo of the red sun so far, taken by Alan Boyle and posted to Twitter with the caption: "Super-spooky sun over Spokane in a smoky sky setting for #Sasquan".

To me it looks like the Eye of Sauron, Spokane-style.

There's a lot more red sun photos: The daystar is broken, not Armageddon, feeling weak, doom-filled skies, second day sunrise, blood-red sun, and another reference to Krypton.

Some folks had other thoughts about the smoke-filled sky.

The local media also talked up the convention:

Of course, the skies weren't the only things happening. There was apparently a live-action Angry Birds game put on by the Helsinki bid for 2017.

The local vistor's organization enjoyed the music at the park at Sasquan:

Even the hotels seem to be getting into the spirit of Worldcon!

Kevin Standlee, who does a lot of official-type stuff for conventions, posted about his first day and included a photo of this year's Hugo statue.

Jason Sanford posted a Hugo Drinking Game.

Best of all may be the Worldcon YouTube Channel, which started with a nice video walking folks around the convention (I wish there was a playable video game version of this), but also includes video of the business meeting.

Speaking of... The entire Thursday session was liveblogged at Rachael Acks site, which includes useful links to other sources of information. E Pluribus Hugo (which is, in my opinion, the most promising method of removing slates in the future), ran up against immediate opposition. Standlee reported on the meeting from his perspective, which was up on the stand, running it.

All-in-all, while I wish I could have gone, I'm kind of happy to be safe at home. I'm very grateful to everyone tweeting and blogging about it, though, and hope the flow of information continues.