The Convention

By Robert Collins

David Chalmers is attending Mo-Kan 2, a science fiction convention in Kansas City. He’s there because a national Doctor Who group has big plans for the future. During the con he meets fellow fan Lila Woodson and the members of another fan group, the Space Rats.

Will this convention alter David’s future? Will Lila win the costume contest? Should we be afraid of Doctor Who: The Wrath of Kroll?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Collins
• Release date: Mar 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310601569

Robert Collins

Two people with different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities met at a European and Balkan music and dance ensemble named Koroyar and their lives became intertwined, combining their gifts to continue exploring life as an avenue of creative expression. Robert Collins has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, and has been an educator in the Los Angeles area for thirty years. He studied writing with Joan Oppenheimer in San Diego, with Cork Millner privately, and also in the Santa Barbara Writer's Conferences. Elizabeth Herrera Sabido, at the age of sixteen years, began working as a secretary at the Secretaria de Industria y Comercio in Mexico City where she was born, then she was an educator for twenty-six years, and a teacher of international dance for The Los Angeles Unified School District. She has also studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is a Reiki Master Teacher. Attracted by the Unknown, the Forces of the Universe, and the human psyche, during their lives they have studied several different philosophies. Elizabeth has been involved with various religions, Asian studies, and Gnosticism with SamaelAun Weor, and Robert has explored spiritual healing practices in Mexico, and studied with Carlos Castaneda's Cleargreen and Tensegrity. Elizabeth and Robert start their day at four-thirty in the morning. They enjoy playing volleyball and tennis, and in the afternoons play music, alternating between seven different instruments each. Their philosophy of Personal Evolution has led them to explore over 110 countries between the two of them such as Japan, Nepal, Egypt, Bosnia- Herzegovina, the Philippines, Turkey,Russia, etc.

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THE CONVENTION

by

Robert Collins

Ebook Edition

Copyright © 2014 by Robert Collins

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ONE

David Chalmers drove his car into the slowly filling parking lot of a suburban Kansas City hotel. He was there because the hotel was the location of Mo-Kan 2, a sci-fi convention. It promised to feature actors from a television series or two, a few other interesting guests, videos, and lots to buy. The main reason why David was there was for a Sunday meeting of delegates from a loose association of Doctor Who fan clubs to discuss organizing a new national club and holding a national convention.

David had driven the three hours from Wichita to Kansas City to represent the Gallifrey Cowboys. The group had changed somewhat in the last three years. A few members had left and new ones joined. Thanks to David, they were publishing fan magazines, or fanzines, about the various shows they liked. Over the previous year they’d become more well-known in fan circles for their fanzines. It was partly due to that that the club had been invited to send a delegate.

Anyone in the group would have been fine, but David had been chosen to go to Mo-Kan 2. He didn’t have much of a schedule to juggle, since he didn’t have to work that summer to pay for college. He knew more about the main activities of the Cowboys than the other members. He’d been to enough cons to not be overwhelmed, but had never been to one outside of Wichita. So David was the Gallifrey Cowboy who on that early Friday afternoon was taking his bags from his car to the hotel where the con was being held.

As he walked from his car to the hotel he glanced at the building. He noticed that, if it wasn’t for the signs, it would appear to be just another multistory suburban business structure. Its colors were shades of cream, gray, and black; the construction material, steel and concrete. It hadn’t been designed to fit any specific hotel chain, simply as a place to stay and to host gatherings. In those ways David thought it was fairly similar to the hotels around Wichita where cons had been held.

He found the interior to be just as unspecific as the exterior was. The furniture in the lobby and his room, the carpeting, and the walls were a mix of blandly tasteful color and decor schemes. Nothing appeared to be too ritzy or too cheap. The hotel appeared to be a pleasant if dull convention hotel with only the fans in sci-fi costumes or in regular clothes regaled with buttons providing any visual excitement.

David went up to the hotel registration desk, checked in, and got his room key. He thought about going to the long table a few paces away to get his registration packet for the con. Instead he decided to go to his room first and unpack. He had almost left his room before remembering a letter he’d packed with his things. It was a confirmation notice of his advance registration for the con, and on it written in pen was his registration number. He’d need both when he went to the registration table, proof that he’d paid in advance.

When he registered he was given a manilla envelope with his number on it. Inside the envelope was a button admitting him to the con’s rooms and events, a nicely-printed program of the scheduled events, a ticket for the Guest Party that night and the banquet on Saturday night, and a coupon for a discount on items purchased from one of the dealers in the Dealers Room. David put the button on his shirt, stepped away from the table, and looked over the program. He thought about wandering through the Dealers Room first, but decided instead to go to the smaller con rooms and check them out. He walked through the lobby and down a short corridor to begin his experience at Mo-Kan 2.

The first room he went into was marked Video Room 2. It was a fair-sized room with seating for around thirty people. At the far end of the room from the door was a table with a TV, a VCR, and a con staff member seated to one side. From his experience David knew this would be the room where episodes of less-popular sci-fi series would be shown. What he didn’t know until he looked at the program was that this would be where the parody videos of a group called the Space Rats would be shown. Part of the reason why he’d wanted to come was to meet them and see their latest epic.

However, at the time he’d stepped in, an episode of the British series Blake’s 7 was showing. It was an episode David had seen before. He checked the program to learn if anything was coming up soon that he hadn’t seen. Nothing fitting that appeared to be coming on for some hours yet. He got up, left the room, and went to the doorway of the room across the corridor.

That room was the Panel Room. On the schedule for this room were discussions on a few series and panels on aspects of sci-fi fandom such as writing and costuming. The one panel that David was looking forward to was the Space Rats’ Parody Panel, having heard about them from a couple other members of the Cowboys. But that wasn’t until Saturday. Going on at that moment was a talk about assembling sci-fi model kits. He went to the doorway of the room next to the Panel Room and went inside.

This was the Art Room, and was filled with paintings, a handful of sculptures, and a few models. All the art in the room was related to the genre in some way. There were paintings of series characters alongside more general sci-fi or fantasy art. From David’s perspective the quality ranged from professional to modestly-talented amateur.