Bubonicon is New Mexico’s best and longest-running Sci-Fi & Fantasy literary and arts convention. Join us in Albuquerque for a great weekend of fun! We have panels and presentations (featuring top authors, artists, and scientists), a costume contest, art show, dealer’s room, Green Slime Awards, charity auctions, fan programming, and much more!

2024 Con Theme was: FANTASY WILDLIFE & ANIMAL COMPANIONS (Dragons and Unicorns and Griffins, Oh My)…

It’s not just Beastmaster who has furry friends. And talk about the popularity of dragons…  Some fantasy species are the creation of individual authors, but a great number come from longstanding folklore and may have appeared in fantasy stories for generations!  Here are examples:
BOOKS:  Smaug in The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, The Ice Dragon by George RR Martin, Beastmaster by Andre Norton, The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle, To Ride Pegasus by Anne McCaffrey, The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham, “Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon, and more…
MOVIES/TV SHOWS:  Dragonheart, The Last Unicorn, Pete’s Dragon, Dragonslayer, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Chupacabra vs. the Alamo, Clash of the Titans, Stardust, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Charlie the Unicorn, and more…
MUSIC:  “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult, “Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon, “Bark at the Moon” by Ozzy Osbourne, “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)” by David Bowie, “The Battle of Evermore” by Led Zeppelin, “The Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley, “Banshee Under My Bed” by The Fenians, “Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary, “Pet Semetary” by The Ramones, and probably more…

Announcements

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who attended and/or participated at Bubonicon 55!  It seems to have been a successful convention, and we couldn’t have done it without all of you!
     There were a total of 751 people at the August 2024 convention, and we are giving away $3,175 to non-profits/charities (plus $403 already went to the Roadrunner Food Bank in the Sasquatch fundraiser on Facebook).

FUTURE B’CON DATES:  Bubonicon 56 will be August 22-24, 2025, as Seattle, WA, officially will host Worldcon 83 August 13-17.  Voting took place at the 2023 China Worldcon.  Confirmed Special Guests are co-GoHs Joe Haldeman & Delilah S. Dawson, Toastmaster Jeffe Kennedy, and Guest Artist John Sumrow!
         Bubonicon 57 will be August 21-23, 2026 (a week early), as Los Angeles, CA, is hosting Worldcon August 27-31 – our usual weekend.

2024 COSTUME CONTEST WINNERS included Best of Show to the Goddess Bastet (Karen Lopez), Best Use of Theme to Master of Dragons (Ryan Holton), Master 1st Place to Wei Wuxian (Jennifer Senn), Intermediate 1st Place to Fallout Vault Dweller Companion (Susanne Caro), and Beginner 1st Place to Rune the Satyr (Axel Lewis). Congratulations to everyone who entered!

2024 ART SHOW WINNERS:  Professional – Elizabeth Leggett, Amateur – Asa Rodriquez, Student – Lucy Steffen, and Beast of Show (Theme) – “Perry and Terri” by Jeremy Montoya & Jon Sanchez.

AT THE GUILD CINEMA:  We encourage everyone to support our local independent cinema by attending (masks welcome)!
    — Coming Up At The Guild Cinema:  Exorcist II: The Heretic November 1, Memoir of a Snail Nov 7-11,  Daughter of the Sun Nov 12-14, This is Spinal Tap Nov 15, My Name is Alfred Hitchcock Nov 16-18,Thirteen Ghosts Nov 16, The Substance Nov 19-21, Zardoz Nov 22-23, and A Nightmare on Elm Street Nov 30…

THE 2nd MORGUE & KRYPT HORROR FEST is done!  Thank you to everyone who attended this fan-run convention Sept 27-29, 2024, at Isleta Resort & Casino.  It seems to have gone very well, there were some great horror guests and vendors, and everyone was friendly.  Congratulations to M&K2’s co-chairs, staff, volunteers, guests, vendors and attendees!
      The first M&K, held July 7-9, 2023, was done very well with friendly vendors and horror celebrities at the ABQ Convention Center.  Bubonicon supports the M&K Horror Fest, and hopes everyone had fun this year.  www.MorgueandKryptABQ.com.

HAVE YOU WATCHED OUR VIDEO Conversation with TJ Klune and Mur Lafferty yet?  Recorded & edited by Mandy Self, it was a nice way to get to know our 2024 Writer Guests of Honor!  You can watch it on YOUTUBE! (Or check out our Facebook page.)

ALBUQUERQUE SF SOCIETY was featured in a May 5, 2021, UNM Daily Lobo article.  You can read it here: www.dailylobo.com/article/2021/05/abq.

AWARDS NEWS:  CONGRATS!
+ Congrats to 2024 Hugo Award Winners with connections to New Mexico and/or Bubonicon:  Novella: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon).  Winners were announced Sunday, August 11, in a ceremony in Glasgow, Scotland.
+ Congrats to 2024 Locus Award Winners with connections to New Mexico and/or Bubonicon: Science Fiction Novel: System Collapse by Martha Wells; Fantasy Novel: Witch King by Martha Wells; Horror Novel: A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher; Novella: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher; and Artist: John Picacio.  Winners were announced Saturday, June 22, in a ceremony in Oakland, CA.

OUR CONDOLENCES to the friends & family — of actor James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars, villain Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian, Dr Strangelove, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, Field of Dreams, The Lion King, Coming to America, Roots, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Big Bang Theory), who died September 9 at the age of 93 years old;  of actor Donald Sutherland (President Snow in the Hunger Games films, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Puppet Masters, Space Cowboys, Moonfall, The Dirty Dozen, Hammer Horror films, M*A*S*H, TV’s The Saint, TV’s The Avengers, TV’s Salem’s Lot), who died June 20 at the age of 88 years old;  of artist & musician MaryAnn Harris (wife of Charles DeLint, co-author of “Humphrey’s Christmas” and “A Crow Girls Christmas”) who died June 3 in Ottawa, Ontario at the age of 71 years old, after a long struggle with rare tick-borne illness, the Powassan virus. She participated at Bubonicon 35 in 2003 when DeLint was Guest of Honor. Together they did a small concert at that year’s convention, and she was a total joy.  Harris was DeLint’s frequent collaborator as manager, editor, and illustrator; she sang and played mandolin, guitar, and bodhran;  of NM author John Maddox Roberts (SPQR series, Conan novels, the Cingulum series, the Space Angel duology, the Stormlands series, Dragonlance: Murder in Tarsis, Total Recall 2070: Machine Dreams, The Enigma Variations, Legacy of Prometheus), who died suddenly May 23 at the age of 76 years old – he was a frequent Bubonicon participant.  They all will be missed.