The good people at Balticon 50 (May 27-30, 2016) have come up with a fantastic, not to say crazy, idea. Here is the Balticon 50 website.

They hope to bring back all Guests of Honor from the 49 previous Balticons who are willing and able to attend. The usual terms: Airfare for two and a room paid for. This is an astonishing undertaking. Please take a minute to visit the Balticon entry on Wiki. There you will find a list of the previous guests.

Whoa! Some of the biggest names in science fiction. Plus me! I was the guest at Balticon 15, and I recall having a wonderful time. It was my first (and so far only) experience eating soft-shell crabs. You just eat the whole damn thing, shell and all. I’m still not sure how I feel about that, but I’d be willing to try it again …

You will quickly note that except for my friends Kate Wilhelm and Samuel R. “Chip” Delany, all GoHs (Gs of H?) before me are dead. Kate and Chip have said they won’t be going, so if I can make it, I will be the Grand Old Man. I’m not sure how I feel about that, either …

This will not be inexpensive. To make it happen they are planning all sorts of fund-raising activities, and this being the age of the Internet and crowd-sourcing, they have created a page titled, smartly enough, MAKING IT HAPPEN.

Here you can sponsor a writer for a whole ride, or any part of it, or donate to the general fund. Twenty or twenty-one former Guests have said they will attend … IF.

Please understand, I am NOT soliciting donations in my name. The con asked me to include a link on this site, and this is it. It is completely up to you, but if you should be so moved, anything you might see fit to contribute to me or to the general fund would move them a step closer to bringing this off. And if you are already planning to attend, this would be a way to get your favorite writer pinned down in a situation where he or she would autograph your collection, something I haven’t done for many years now but would be happy to do …