<plokta.con> Release 3.0, May 1-3 2004, NewburyUpdate: 30 April 2004One final programme update. Unfortunately, Dr Zaltash from British Robotics is unable to attend, so the Mars item has been moved from Sunday to Saturday, and Saturday afternoon/early evening has been rearranged. Update: 23 April 2004 The programme has been revised. We've put a new panel on intellectual property rights into Saturday, moved the fanzine panel to Monday, and retimed a couple of other items to accommodate these changes. This is still subject to change at the last minute. The membership list has also been updated. We're told that the Bacon Arms is full on Saturday night. That just leaves the Queen's (details below). Update: 20 April 2004 The draft convention programme is here. The programme may change before, or indeed during, the con; check with us before making firm travel plans that are dependent on the programme. We're pleased to report that Cory Doctorow will be attending the con on Saturday as a special guest, and interviewing our GoH Charles Stross. The membership list has been updated. The hotel is full on Saturday night, and nearly full on Sunday night. The overflows are the Bacon Arms next door (tel. 01635 31822) or the Queen's Hotel down the road (tel. 01635 47447) -- see the map for locations. Day membership will be £15 for Saturday or Sunday, and £10 for Monday. It can be purchased in advance by Paypal -- see below for joining instructions. We will be capping membership at 125 people per day. We currently have about 80 members, so this shouldn't be a problem. Update: 15 April 2004 Membership is now £30, whether you join now or pay on the door. A membership list can be found here. Sunday night at <plokta.con> is Pirate Night; appropriate dress is encouraged. Arrrr! At the time of writing, we have had recent reports of people successfully booking rooms in the Chequers hotel, so there is some room left at the inn. A PDF map (220KB) of Newbury can be found here. We're delighted to report that our GoH, Charles Stross, has received two 2004 Hugo nominations -- Singularity Sky for Best Novel and "Nightfall" for Best Novelette. End update. From here on down is the original text of this web page. We've just about recovered from <plokta.con> Release 2.0 and it's time to do it again. This time we're happening on the early May bank holiday, 2004. So we don't clash with either Wiscon or Convivial, and all their members can join us too. <plokta.con> Release 3.0 will once more be a small relaxed fannish convention. We plan to run a light programme from late morning Saturday to early evening Monday. Our Guest of Honour is Charles Stross, part-time Evil Overlord (Planetary) and author of The Atrocity Archive (serialised in Spectrum SF), Singularity Sky and the short story collection Toast and Other Rusted Futures, as well as several forthcoming novels. He was nominated for the Hugo award for Best Novellette in 2002 (for "Lobsters") and in 2003 (for "Halo"). "Lobsters" was also nominated for the Nebula and Sturgeon awards. After a mere sixteen years as a professional SF writer he has become an overnight success, and is one of the UK's hottest authors. You can find his website, and samples of his work, at http://www.antipope.org/Charlie/index.html. We searched high and low for an appropriately fannish hotel, with the right sort of conference space, plenty of room for lounging about, a nice garden, and access to a historic town centre full of shops and restaurants. So we're going for the Chequers Hotel, Newbury, the venue for many small fannish cons in the 80s. Rooms are £37 per person for single, double or twin, but there are very few singles. Once we run out (and we will), you'll be able to buy a room next door at the Bacon Arms (a twin or double) for £55. The Chequers is also short of twins -- again, once we run out there are twins next door at the Bacon Arms at £55, or down the road at the Queens for £65. To book a room in the Chequers at the con rate, email meetings.thechequers@corushotels.com. No deposit is required, but they may want a credit card number to confirm the booking.
Membership is £30 We do not expect to be sending out any publications between now and the con. Keep an eye this web page. If you give us your email address, we will also send occasional updates by email. You can see the pages for the previous cons here and here.
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