Zombies are out to steal the supernatural limelight this year at the 41st Bubonicon Convention.
The literary science fiction convention — whose mascot is a bubonic plague–infected rat — starts tomorrow at the Albuquerque Grand Airport Hotel.
Craig Chrissinger, co-chair of the Bubonicon planning committee, said this year’s theme is zombies because “Everything is better with zombies.”
There will be zombie games, crafts and even a talk concerning the evolution of zombies from shuffling morons to crazed eaters of flesh. The talk, titled “Fall of the Undead, Zombies in Cinema,” starts at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Kristen Dorland, co-chair of the event, said more published authors than ever are attending this year.
“We have 48 guests who are participating in all of our paneling,” Dorland said. “We had to shove paneling in, anyway possible, because we had so many ideas and so much participation. That’s the most guests we ever had involved with Bubonicon.”
The event, which is sponsored by the Albuquerque Science Fiction Society, is considered small compared to events like Comic-Con or WorldCon. But the size adds charm, said screenwriter Michael Cassutt, who is the guest of honor this year.
“The thing about a smaller convention is you can meet everyone who is there,” Cassutt said. “You can go to every panel. You can go to most of the movies. You can go to the parties, as opposed to just wandering through this cornucopia of opportunities and not being able to do more than sample.”
Cassutt said he’s excited to participate in Bubonicon because he’d heard of its reputation years ago.
“I was always aware that there was a cool S.F. convention in Albuquerque,” he said. “It wasn’t a case of me being enticed to be guest of honor, they asked me and I jumped at it. I never actually thought I would be the guest of honor.”
Cassutt will be taking part in many panels, and as the guest of honor will give a speech about his science fiction works, which include “Stargate SG-1.”
Dorland said the convention attracts about 500 participants each year, and she hopes it will attract more people each year.
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“A lot of people that come the first time don’t realize how easy it is to walk up to the author and just start talking with them,” she said. “We are very accessible that way because we are such a small convention, and our authors are more than happy to talk to their fans.”
In addition to the panels, guests have access to sci-fi vendors, free art shows, live readings, a zombie flick, live music and even nerdy events, Dorland said.
“My favorite event is always the costume contest,” she said. “We have a lot of people who bring extraordinary costumes and little acts.”
Newcomers should not fear feeling out of place in the science fiction community, Dorland said.
“People still think we are a little bit on the strange side,” she said, “We are friendly, and they get sucked right in, and then they wonder why they waited so long.”
