From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Capclave
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 19:17:24 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 2:42 PM
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Goodbye?

> You missed an excellent con.

Really?  By what standards?  I heard a lot of complaints.

They boiled down to two things:  That a decreasing number of
out-of-the-area fans showed up (especially contrasted with Capclave 1,
which drew a number of people from elsewhere), and that the GoHs were
neither significant nor a draw.  At one point on Saturday Madeleine and I
asked Sam how many people had registered.  He looked worried and said he
didn't know, but it was being bruted about that the number was somewhere at
or below the breakeven point.

Last year's GoH, Phil Klass, was an *excellent* choice -- a man who has
written some of the best SF of the last half-century.  This year's was
someone I'd never heard of, and after reading his story in the program
booklet I'll never again read anything else by him.  It was badly written
and would have been rejected by any professional editor.  I'm told he
himself recommended it for Capclave publication, which doesn't speak well
for him.  (Nor does the fact that it was *not copyrighted* speak well for
Capclave.)  Why honor a man who apparently writes hackwork under
housenames?   (And, I'm also told, has a history of not showing up for
scheduled appearances?)

And I know one fan who boycotted Capclave when he heard Dennis McCunney
would be a GoH.  I'm glad the artist GoH exhibited some nice sculptures in
the small but interesting art show; he at least did deserve the honor.

Next year's GoHs -- Howard Waldrop and the Nielsen-Haydens -- are far
better choices, and I hope that will help re-energize Capclave.  Otherwise,
I can see it fizzling into extinction.  And that would be a shame.

--Ted White