Br. Guy attended a science fiction convention over the weekend of Feb. 14-16 in Boston, where he met with friends, and autographed copies of his books. Br. Guy has been going to science fiction conventions longer than I’ve known him, in fact, a science fiction convention is where I met Br. Guy.
The convention Br. Guy attended was named Boskone, and their history page has an impressive list of former guests including: Frank Kelly Freas, L. Sprague de Camp, Larry Niven, Ben Bova, Frank Herbert, Robert Bloch, C. J. Cherryh, Greg Bear, Joe Haldeman, Lois McMaster Bujold, Alastair Reynolds, Frederik Pohl, David Gerrold, Jerry Pournelle, John Scalzi, and on and on! Why have I never attended to one of these?
Science fiction conventions (called: cons) like Boskone, WorldCons, NASFiC, etc., are organized and run by SF fans; staff and program participants do not get paid, but typically get free registration (some Guests of Honor get their hotel and transport paid-for). Similarly, there is no charge to get autographs, whereas the San Diego ComicCon, DragonCon, and other commercial ComicCons, Star Trek events, etc., are for-profit events, and charge for autographs and photos with big-name guests.
Speakers at SF cons talk about a vast range of topics, such as the science (or lack thereof) in recent movies, current space missions, science and technology, Halloween decorations and how to make them, fossils, particle physics and you, costuming, medieval dance and weaponry (not necessarily at the same time), paranormal, teckie build-it room, gaming rooms, writing and illustration workshops, telescope observing (points to self), and more!
Br. Guy was introduced to me by mutual friends at a WindyCon (an SF Con in Chicago) in the mid-90’s – he was curator of meteorites at the Vatican Observatory at the time, and he spoke about the science of meteoritics, and how he was studying meteorites from the VO’s impressive collection. He completely blew me away! I walked away with a entirely different view of the “cool rocks from space” I’d been collecting for a couple years. Br. Guy continues to WOW people with meteorites, as he did at the recent L.A. Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, California.
“One of the great and fascinating aspects of science fiction conventions is the long-time overlap and inclusion of scientists and engineers — not surprising, given how many are themselves fans, even sf authors — and/or professional technology journalists… Boskone explicitly has, each year, a Science Speaker”
Brother Guy for Boskone 62/2025
Click to view Daniel P. Dern’s con report (with pics) about Boskone at File770.com
