Welcome to my WorldCon Wrap-Up where I wax about what worked and didn’t work about the event and dump lots of photos on you. 😉

Last week was WorldCon, the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention, which was held in Seattle! I worked hard to help bring it to my town, so I took the risk to attend–heavily masked, of course. I had several panels, a reading, and other things (full schedule here), but I spent most of my time at the Books & Chains booth (709). My art was also in the Art Show, which was pretty awesome.

Before we even reached Tuesday, my car got a flat tire. I drove through an area with construction and some metal something-or-other punctured my tire. Les Schwabs was able to take care of it. Lucky for me, I was still under my tire warranty with them too so it cost me nothing more than a few hours’ time.

Tuesday was load in day, so of course my car was jam-packed with art and books.

Set up is always a pain when you’re disabled, but with all of Tuesday, we managed to get everything in place. WorldCon was set up in the Summit building of the Washington State Convention Center, which was built in 2022 during the pandemic.

COVID NOTE: If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I was a guest/vendor at the past two GeekGirlCons, which were held in the Seattle Convention Center (connected to the WSCC). Oddly enough, the inside of the SCC had much better air quality than this new building. The SCC hovered around 600 CO2 PPM on my Aranet 4, which measures CO2 concentration, e.g. how safe the air is to breathe. The Summit building hovered between 800-1000 and the number 1 complaint by all attendees was how hot it was in the building. Everyone was sweating and folks kept going outside for cooler air. Between the heat and the C02 measures, this tells me the air exchange was not working properly.

This is our booth from the front. We ended up rearranging a few things as the days passed. Sometimes you figure out what’s drawing folks’ attention and what isn’t. 😉 We also saw a few areas that looked a bit empty so moving things around helped.

This is our booth from the side. After setting up the booth, I had to go set up my art in the Art Show. The piece entitled World on Fire sold a few days before the convention. I showed it in the Art Show but it was not for sale. The other pieces sold, which was an awesome first WorldCon art show. <3

The Summit building is gorgeous. There were nice areas in the terrace where one could get some fresh air or eat and the glass walls allowed for a lot of sunshine. You can click on the images below to see them larger.

While the Summit building is gorgeous, it absolutely 100% FAILS at following Federal ADA guidelines for accommodations. For a building built in 2022 and thus, not waved from ADA due to its age or historical status, there is literally no reason for what happened at WorldCon.

Ways in which the building was full of fail:

• Parking: If you parked in the parking garage, the doors leading from the parking garage to the lobby and elevators had NO automatic buttons at all. They were heavy and if you were in a wheelchair or scooter, you had to either a) try and beat your way in or b) wait for someone to hold the door open for you. If you were otherwise disabled, good luck as opening the doors required serious muscle. I guess the builders assumed disabled people don’t drive?
• Bathrooms: It wasn’t just the parking doors. The bathroom doors… I’m not talking about the stall doors but the big, heavy doors between a person and the stalls. No automatic buttons at all. Nothing. If someone saw you struggling to get into the bathroom and held open the door, you then had the issue that you were trapped after using said toilet. You can to either wrestle the doors yourself or again, wait for someone to come into the bathroom and help you. Trapped. In the bathroom. O_o
• Panel Rooms: Doors to go into panels. Again. Nothing automated. At least most of the time these doors were propped open but sheesh.
• Elevators: The elevator doors closed WAY too fast. I watched disabled person after disabled person get slammed in the sides by the doors. Doors are supposed to have sensors on them that can detect if someone is standing in the elevator doorway, which signals to the elevator to NOT close the doors. Apparently these elevators didn’t have any sensors. I saw one elderly woman with a cane fall on her knees because the doors slammed into her so hard. My booth-buddy got bruises from the doors slamming on her. WTF? Who designed these elevators?

I ended up with bruises all up and down my arms from wrestling all these doors.

Another issue with the building was a lack of coffee. There was one, single lone coffee cart present for 8000 people needing coffee. Goodness forbid if you needed coffee before 10 AM or after 2 PM. One four hour window with 2 people running a single cart meant lines and lines and lines. This is Seattle folks. Coffee should be present.

Also, coffee and water didn’t appear in the Green Room until ¾ through the first day of the con. That’s not a good look for your guests…. We have needs.

My panels mostly went well. I had one panel with someone hoarding some serious racism. We tried to call him out on it but he was fairly oblivious to it. Of course we was an old, white dude. *insert eye roll here*

No one signed up for my Table Talk, which is okay. That happens. 😉 I had a fair number of folks at my reading and folks showed up for my autographing slot, including folks I didn’t know who had books I hadn’t expected to sign. Because I had a booth in the dealer’s hall, most people had my books already signed, so people having anthologies and other books I’m in is always cool.

Unfortunately, while I met some really cool people, I also picked up another stalker. I recognize that some of us are more neurospicy than others and that my autism means I don’t always read people well but this man’s behavior was concerning everyone around me too. When other authors–including those you don’t know very well, but are much bigger names than you–are asking if you’re okay and if you need security, there’s an issue. It put a blip in my WorldCon to be sure. :/

Meeting K. Tempest Bradford in person was a nice part of my day, as well as discussing the HUGO winner speeches (which were on fire!) and the need for more diversity. I also got to talk Rude Litterbox with Mary Robinette Kowal, though I didn’t get to meet Elsie. I wish my friend Jennifer Brozek had won her Hugo but Neil Clarke is a solid competitor and worthy of the win.

I really wish the con committee had done better with regards to pronunciation guides for the Hugo Presenters. There’s no excuse for that mess in 2025. :/

Another blip was seeing the Dalek above without her builder. This Dalek’s name is Clara and she was built by the late Shaylee Bell. My friend, Shaylee, was a wonderful person who attended many cons with her Daleks. Seeing Clara without her definitely caused some tears. I miss my friend dearly.

Where there’s a Dalek, so must be the TARDIS. <3 As I was looking through my photos, I realized I could see the evolution of fatigue as it sets in across the five days, so I created a collage for you all about that. Some of the tired is present on Friday, and I can tell that on Saturday, I was trying to fake it so hard. By Sunday, there was no faking it anymore.

Jokes aside, this convention was hard. While I loved it and had a blast talking to readers and other writers, meeting new folks, and chatting with friends, some of whom I haven’t seen in ages, it takes a ton out of me. Being “on” and masking is exhausting, and that’s before you get into the million diseases I have that cause everything to have a cost. Then there’s the long COVID and its complications that cause Post-Exertion Malaise or PEM. Basically, I’ll be paying for WorldCon for several weeks with exhaustion and flu-like symptoms, assuming I don’t actually catch the flu.

As I’m typing this, it’s been 5 days since WorldCon ended and so far, I’m testing negative for everything so yay on that front. Lots of folks I know who spent time at our booth or on panels with me came down with COVID so I’m incredibly lucky. I attribute some of that luck to my mask and my sip valve, but also to the fact that I didn’t unmask around others. I didn’t go out to eat or drink with folks either.

Some folks were asking about the mask and so on so here goes:

• MASK: ReadiMask (N95). Able to fit ANY face shape. Does not cause a reaction on my skin, despite my being allergic to all adhesives. https://alliantbiotech.com/product/readimask-strapless-n95-niosh-approved
• SIP-VALVE: An airtight drinking valve that can fit on most N95 masks and is reusable and transferable. I used 1 sip-valve repeatedly throughout the 5 day convention. https://sipmask.com/
• PERSONAL AIR FILTERS: We had five personal air filters inside of our booth to help filter viruses and bacteria out of our immediate air space. We used: Westinghouse Smart Air Purifier 4-Stage Medical-Grade Filter (WH50P) x1, Westinghouse Portable Air Purifier (NCCO1804) x1, Pure Enrichment PureZone Mini Portable Air Purifier (PEPERSAP-B) x2.

While I don’t typically react to these ReadiMasks, if I wear one for 8+ hours a day for 6 days straight (+1 day on Tuesday during load-in and booth set-up), I will eventually get some redness on my face, which you can see in the photo above. It passes quickly though and is worth it to stay COVID-free.

Elise and I both did very well at the booth. Sci-Fi was definitely selling better than fantasy book and art wise, which I expected.

My last panel at the convention occurred at the same time as the closing ceremonies, yet we had a pretty full room. The Q&A ran long and by the time I made it back to the closed Dealer’s Hall to pack up the booth, it was 6 pm. (The Dealer’s Hall closed at 4 PM on Sunday.) I took a picture of my speedometer because I always do since I need the numbers for tax purposes, but I felt like it was a good last photo for this wrap-up.

‘Til next time!

P.S. If you’re part of the WorldCon discord group, there’s a thread for reporting if you came down with con-crud, the flu, COVID, etc. It helps track spread and all that.