ALCON in Nugent's 2008 book "American Nerd"

[whitneybelle]

Needless to say, as one of the few people on this planet (of which there are many more reading this post) who has attended more than one ALCON, I was jolted out of my seat when on page 43, the author writes about "less famous cons" while initially discussing Comic-Con:

"Pohl later argued that the reason sci-fi fans, and not, say, poetry fans, started cons is that science fiction is about trading ideas. True, but what's the exchange of ideas at AlCon? Cons are about warmth. You go to a con to enter an alternate universe where status is expertise on a book or a movie or a TV show, where the nerd habits of collecting and cataloging and rating are normal and esteemed" (Nugent, 43).

--
whitneybelle, who hasn't been on this forum for years -- hope everyone's been well!