From Aug. 23 to Aug. 25, the Albuquerque Marriott Uptown hosted the 55th annual Bubonicon, New Mexico’s longest-running sci-fi and fantasy convention.
The name is a play-on-words on the bubonic plague, and the convention’s mascot is a rat in various larger-than-life scenarios, like battling dragons and aliens.
The event featured an art gallery, a vendor’s hall where local makers showcased and sold their wares, panels featuring local authors and sci-fi juggernauts, and a mass autographing event with featured guests.
One such guest was author George R.R. Martin.
“(Bubonicon) is not as big as some other conventions, but it's a warm and friendly convention still oriented toward books that haven't been taken over by comics or television or some of the other things yet. And you know, I always like to go here when I can and see old friends, sometimes meet new friends, like maybe you,” Martin told the Daily Lobo.
Among the panels featured was one focused on the relationship between the writer, the editor and the reviewer in the literary publishing world.
Another panel featured was on the types of aliens across sci-fi stories — the differences between “good” and “bad” aliens. The panel also explored what different aliens could tell us about our society and zeitgeist. The panelists discussed the ways through which all alien stories are human stories.
Melinda Snodgrass, a self-described “reformed lawyer” turned science fiction novelist and screenwriter on projects such as “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” said that part of what she loves about science fiction is that it creates a safe space to explore human problems.
“You can discuss racism and bigotry and all of these various problems, but you can do it at an arm's length, because it's an alien or it's a different planet. It enables people to work out some of the issues that trouble us as a society — but in a safe space — and perhaps begin to think differently about how they perceive the world,” Snodgrass said.
Martin said he finds importance not just in science fiction and fantasy, but in any story.
“It's just stories. I love stories. You know, stories enrich our lives. I have a quote that I gave. I'm gonna get my own quote wrong; it’s been reproduced about a million times. We were poor, we lived in the projects, had no car, but I always felt (I was) seeing the world another way, because I had books. And I said, ‘I’ve lived 1,000 lives and loved 1,000 loves because I read, and the man who does not read lives only one life,’” Martin said.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
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