Lunacon

Science Fiction Convention
Name:	Lunacon
Dates:	began in 1957
Frequency:	annual
Location:	New York
Type:	fan-run
Focus:	Science Fiction
Organization:	New York Science Fiction Society - the Lunarians (2) Inc.
Founder:
Founding Date:	1957
URL:	https://lunacon.org; fanac.org entry
cover of the twentieth con in 1977
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Lunacon is an annual science fiction/fantasy convention organized by the New York Science Fiction Society started in May 1957. The most recent Lunacon was held in 2017. The New York Science Fiction Society announced that Lunacon would not be held in 2018.

Further history can be found on the website's History Page.

1971

Lunacon 14 was held April 16–18, 1971, at the Hotel Commodore. According to Ragnarok #1, Al Schuster was the master of ceremonies and a guest of honor was Isaac Asimov.

1988: Con Reports

LunaCon was, in some ways, a disappointment. I got to talk to Harry Harrison (GoH) and I got to show off my new costume (Queen of Night, from "The Magic Flute")...but by the time I got to filk it was well after midnight, and neither my voice nor my corporeal being could take much more than an hour...so I had to pull a "Bob Aspirin", and take over, if I was going to sing at all.

I was just going to close up (after about 45 minutes) when someone asked about "The Fannish Orchestra". (For those of you unfamiliar with this, it’s the old "Orchestra Song", with lyrics about each type of Media fandom...it's in the first Rec-Room Rhymes Omnibus)

There were about 35-40 people crammed into the room...and I got everyone into the act! There were a couple of people taping the madness...and I made up a sign-up sheet of everyone who was involved...and if/when I ever get a Master Tape of the thing. I'll figure out a way to get a copy to all the participants.

The only good part of this nuttiness was that I was able to sell quite a few copies of GRIP #29, which has a working version of "Banned From Argo: The New Generation". Not everyone is a member of APA-Filk, after all!

1992: Con Reports

March 20-22 Mail in art by permission only. It cost me $32 for my 3x4. Originals only. No prints. I'm feeling a little intimidated by the art show rules and regs. New York is a good place to flash your art around to the publishers, so I thought it would be good to send there. They have been efficient and communicative. I've never shown at a Lunacon before, I'll let you know. Robin tells me that on the East Coast, having a unicorn on your panel is the kiss of death. The 'real' fans won't even look at your stuff if there's a unicorn on your panel. Money is often very good, but I always seem to have trouble registering due to various mix-ups. They pay quickly. Strictly originals, not ever hand colored prints.

1994: Con Reports

This was my first time in attending this show and I was very curious to take a look at the contents and how the show was run, as Lunacon has a good reputation. I arrived on Friday for set up and found an efficient and friendly staff. Their systems for hanging are similar to most of the art shows ever been at personally and in no time at all the art was hung. The panels themselves were a sturdy metal pole and pegboard set up that looked very professional. The print shop was over in one corner with three of the bays used as display area and the prints themselves available over at a table. I liked their paperwork for buying prints and since in was on NCR paper it would make bookkeeping after the fact very easy.

The content of the show was excellent. Lots of large pro paintings and very little fan work (not too surprising as this show does have panels fees on the rather high end of the scale). I enjoyed looking through the show and getting a good look at all the various techniques that other artists had used. I must admit though that the show was a tad daunting, I felt real tiny! In some ways this worked against sales. Most of those huge paintings, if they were for sale, were for large price tags. I only noticed one, a $600.00 one, that sold, though more might have gone at the last minute. Sales were down over all and compared to last year they were downright terrible. I guess the recession is still affecting this area. Another problem was that you needed a whopping seven bids to get to auction, a truly astronomical amount at a non-Worldcon show. This truth was borne out when only four pieces went to auction! The smallest auction I've ever been at in over ten years of art shows. Hopefully next year they will lower the bids to auction to a more reasonable amount.

Check out was as easy as check in and went quickly with no hassles. Another thing I noticed and liked was that outside the art show there was table with some of the staff on it. They had all kinds of packing material and you could go there and get your purchased art all packed for taking home. I'm not sure if they were charging for this service but it seemed like a wonderful idea and lots of folks were availing themselves of it. I discovered an ASFA meeting on Saturday (or was it Sunday) but didn't actually take part in it too much. I was too busy chatting shop with Denise Satter and Lubov (much more fun!). There was lots of talk in the meeting about the border for this year's Worldcon (everyone is very nervous and unsure of the con's system) and what can be done to vitalize ASFA. Very little art programming at this con and what there was was pretty much run of the mill stuff. I didn't go to any of it.

All in all an impressive show in the way things were run if not in money (this year). I was especially impressed with the staff were knew what they were doing and were friendly and courteous. I was told these folks will be running the Worldcon art show in LA and they will do a wonderful job I'm sure.