CONTINUITY 7 REVIEW
Randy B. Cleary
review is of a informal conversational tone. I am not a professional (or even
amatur) writer. :)
"A Review of Continuity 1994" by Randy B. Cleary
Continuity 1994 was held February 4-6, 1994 at the Unversity Inn in
Birmingham, Alabama. The guest of honor was Michael Bishop. The Artist
Guest of Honor was L.A. Williams. The Toastmaster was Gerald W. Page.
Other guests included Ruth Thompson, June Drexler Robertson, Shawn Ryan,
Frank Turner, and Lee Cummings. A personal estimate of about 300 people
attended this year during a fairly wet but unseasonably warm weekend.
This convention is produced by The Greater Birmingham Science Fiction and
Fantasy Society, Inc.
GUESTS
As always it was a pleasure to talk with Ruth Thompson who is very nice
and outgoing. L.A. Williams was quite the cut up and was very nice to
talk to also. Both of these fine artists encouraged me in my own artistic
efforts. Gerald Page was his witty self during the masquerade. Michael
Bishop seemed nice during his reading. Frank Turner was quiet but very
nice when you actually talked to him. I did not get to see much of the
other quests.
GAMING
Continuity has a big gaming component. Unfortunately, the $1,000 cash
prize tournament was not well publicized and the turnout for it was less
than desired according to Steve Kiser. Vampire roleplayers traveled the
breezeways at all hours during the convention.
DEALERS ROOM
The dealers room was small and I was a bit disappointed about the lack of
comic dealers. The White Wolf people made a good showing with lots of
freebies--magazines, posters, and plastic vampire teeth.
VIDEO ROOM
The video room was hosted by the local British SF/Media club and ran such
faire as Dr. Who, Blakes 7, Black Adder, Monty Pyton, and the like. On
late Saturday night (really Sunday morning), it was open request and Ruth
Thompson and some other artists insisted on Black Adder. We had a good
time watching and laughing to unwind after a long art auction and short
masquerade.
CONSUITE
The consuite was excellent with separate rooms for smokers and non-
smokers. It was always well stocked and had several goodies at various
times. The North Alabama Science Fiction Association donated some room
party left overs (which would have gone bad otherwise) to the consuite.
ART SHOW
The art show was pretty good for such a small convention. One thing that
I really liked was that they had tables for any artists to sit behind
during the convention to draw on or whatever. This was the only time and
place that I got to see the comic book artist Frank Turner. They had no
print shop which was a minor disappointment. However, only one bid on a
piece made the piece go to auction. So, 135 pieces went to auction which
was fairly well attended. Thus five of my pieces went to auction and one
was bought out right. The auction lasted about two and a half hours. I
helped out as a runner and since the lighting (even with improvised lights
stolen from the artshow) was poor, many people kept the runners busy to
get a close up of the piece. I bid on several things but was always
outbid. Some fervor errupted when I started bidding on a piece I was the
runner for as they seem to think this was a conflict of interest. Being
naive, the thought to take advantage of my position somehow did not occur
to me. But I quickly sat down and gave the piece to another runner while
I bid on it. I still did not get it.
PROGRAMMING
Programming was barely one track and was a major disappointment. I would
have really like to see more use of the guests in panels. There were no
active artists panels at all. I was a bit irked to see in the program
book a panel of "Meet the Guests" which was only for staff, dealers, and
media. There was no similar panel for the public. I thought it was a bit
crass to publicize an exclusionary event. I understand the desire and
need for such an event but such events should be by invitation (by voice
or written). I did attend the Michael Bishop Reading and enjoyed hearing
about his latest work involving a famous classic monster set during World
War II America. One unique thing that I really appreciated was the
Heritage Pipes and Drums Wandering Bagpipers which played at various
locations at various times during the convention. I participated in the
Meet the Artists Panel where basically some of the artists in the art
show sat behind tables provided for them while people could come up and
talk to them. I took the opportunity to talk to the artist guests and
was asked for my autograph by a total stranger even after I explained that
I was a nobody. I also attended the advanced costuming seminar by Kristin
Ladnier who is really into costuming and who I have seen at a lot of cons.
It was interesting to learn of some of the techniques and level of effort
involved in some costumes.
MASQUERADE
They were really desperate for judges and asked me during the Meet the
Artists panel to help out. I said sure. As it turn out the judges
almost outnumbered the contestents (5 to 6). So the masquerade was short
and sweet with some singing and a really good Starro (Justice League of
America Comic Book Villian) costume. Everyone won a $25 Books-A-Million
gift certificate for their prize.
ROOM PARTIES
The North Alabama Science Fiction Association put on a room party to
promote Constellation '94. It was the best stocked and best decorated and
simply the best one in my opinion. Though I may be biased as it was in my
room and I gave some help (just a little) to NASFA President Nancy Adams
who should be commended for such a fine effort. Thanks go also to Sam
Smith who helped out. The DragonCon people also were at the con and held
a room party right next door to us which seemed nice also. The new
convention in Birmingham, Transdimensional Con, also held a room party the
next night which seem boistrious but that may have been to its first
floor by the pool/courtyard location more than anything.
SUMMARY
Since University Inn is a non-smoking facility and rooms are accessed by
breezeways, smoke was not much of an annoyance. Extended check out times
for con goers had already been arranged with the hotel, which was nice.
This con has some very good points such as dedication to prizes for
events, art show effort, and gaming but is somewhat lacking in actual
onsite organization and programming. For instance, closing ceremonies
were pretty much cancelled as some of the guests had already checked out
of the hotel and left. Of course, the very relaxed nature of this con is
what appeals to some people. I liked it and had a good if not too
exciting time. I am already registered for next year.