Alternate Poster

An alternate black and white version of the Laffcon1 poster with illustration by Anthony Ryan Rhodes.

Registration is now open for Laffcon1. See the Registration page on this website for more information. Doors open at 10:00 A.M. the morning of June 4th, 2016.

You need to be preregistered?

Well, no.

But please, pretty please, register as early as you can.

This is not a necessity. We will turn away no one at the door (unless we start breaking the fire code numbers; that would be incredible). If you're Neil Gaiman and want to keep it a surprise that you're attending LaffCon1, well, by all means, please do surprise us on the morning of June 4th. Everyone else, please register now if you think that you'll make it.

Pre-registration is encouraged! It is preferred.

From the original lovely poster found here: http://www.laffcon.org/p/laffcon1.html

"Registration is preferred and begins May 2, 2016. Participants must register online. Go to www.mcl.org, click on the "Program" tab at the top of the page. Click "Adult Programs" and register for LaffCon1."

Why is it preferred?

Quite simply, because it'll be nice to have a rough head count of how many are planning on attending so that we can provide a better experience by doing things right like ordering enough refreshments!

We've obviously opened up the registration earlier than May 2. If you go to the page today, change the month box to June and you'll have an easier time finding LaffCon. A big THANK YOU to all of you who register early!

Go to http://www.mcl.org. Click the Program tab near the top of the page. Click Adult Programs from the drop down menu. Change the month to June by using the month box near the top of the page. See LaffCon1? Click on that beautiful little "Register" button to reserve your space now. There are many spaces available. :-)

Who are we?

If you've found your way here, you are likely familiar with the work of R.A. Lafferty. You are just as likely to be unfamiliar with those of us who will be at LaffCon.

We love Lafferty. That is why we're throwing this party (disguised as a lit/sf con) in his honor.

But who are "we"? Who will be at this party that you are invited to join?

The LaffCon Planning Committee consists of:

Me. I am doing my best at pretending to be an expert con organizer.
John Owen comes home each evening to the golden cliché: the u.n.d; the p.h.; and l. and u.w.; and the s.c. (seven more would have been too many). Just to live is a happy riot. He is well known in the future for having barely succeeded in establishing the Northeast Lafferty League, which has grown to cover the Northeast quadrant of this galaxy. On all of the planets, his name has become a byword for any grand success achieved based on wild enthusiasm coupled with poor planning and lack of any applicable skill set. John blogs infrequently about R.A. Lafferty at http://failingevenbetter.blogspot.com

Robert Bee is our gracious host in New Jersey.
Robert Bee is a freelance writer living in New Jersey. For his day job he teaches computer classes at the Mercer County Library. He has published over 30 short stories, book reviews, and essays in magazines, e-zines, and anthologies such as The New York Review of Science Fiction, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, Outer Darkness, Parchment Symbols, Blue Murder, Parageography, Alienskin, Glyph, Cabal Asylum, Welcome to Nod, Nocturnal Ooze, Dark Krypt, and Kings of the Night.

Gregorio Montejo is our resident scholar.
Gregorio Montejo is a professor of Historical Theology at Boston College. His research interests include Thomas Aquinas, Christology, and Trinitarian Theology. Montejo is a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the Society of Biblical Literature. Most recently, he gave a presentation on “Re-imagining God’s Apophatic Form: Aquinas, De divinis nominibus, and the Pauline Corpus” at Villanova University’s Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference (PMR).

Anthony Ryan Rhodes is the face of LaffCon.
Fortunately for us, we've only ever seen him with his Lafferty mask on. A native Tulsan, Anthony is a dabbler in Lafferty illustration (http://arr-illustrator.blogspot.com/).

Our confirmed guests include:

Our Writer Guest of Honor is Michael Swanwick.
On his blog, Michael describes himself as a "Writer of fantasy and science fiction novels and short fiction. Dabbler in criticism and biography. Winner of various awards. Mad about writing."
If you don't know who Michael Swanwick is, then you haven't been paying attention to science fiction for the last 30 years. For our purposes, here is the to-the-point bio statement from FoL2: "Michael Swanwick is the multiple-award-winning author of such books as Stations of the Tide and Gravity's Angels. He has been a Lafferty admirer, fan, and supporter for longer than many of his readers have been alive." 
Please read his essay Despair and the Duck Lady.

Our Artist Guest of Honor is Lissanne Lake.
Lissanne is a full-time freelance illustrator, and has been one for over 25 years. She has done over 100 book covers, plus magazine covers, gaming card illustrations, and an entire Tarot deck (Buckland Romani Tarot) plus outdoor murals and figurine designs, and many other things. (Artists are a versatile lot!) She lives in North Bergen, NJ with her partner Alan and a small bossy dog. You can check out her paintings on her Facebook page, the Fantastic Art of Lissanne Lake, and you can find many Lafferty illustrations in the albums there. 
https://www.facebook.com/LissanneLakeart/

Our Lafferty Ghost of Honor is Mary Mondo.
(In the room also was a spirit named Mary Mondo. She was seldom apparent, even as a spirit. But she did show up on the spirit-anagnostes, a sophisticated instrument.)
[The LaffCon planning committee is working furiously on obtaining a spirit-anagnostes. If anyone has a lead in this regard, please contact us as soon as possible.]

And other worthy guests!
We are especially pleased to have two guests who have contributed greatly in documenting the life and works of Lafferty.

Andrew Mass is currently working on the world's first feature length documentary about R.A. Lafferty. A clip of his interview with Harlan Ellison can be found at the film's blog:
 http://laffertydoc.blogspot.com/

Rich Persaud is the creator of the important website, ralafferty.org. He is also a member of the Ktistec Press editorial board. Please get lost for a while at http://www.ralafferty.org/

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Last but not least, none of this would be happening if it hadn't been for David Cruces creating the Facebook group East of Laughter: An Appreciation of R.A. Lafferty. David's getting a big ol' hug from me when I get to meet him face-to-face for the first time.

Invitation to LaffCon1

Dear Science Fiction Fans, Do you love science fiction? Do you love R.A. Lafferty? We do and we are throwing a party. Please join us at LaffCon1. When? June 4th, 2016. 10am-5pm. Where? Mercer County Library, 2751 Brunswick Pike, Lawrenceville, NJ. Cost? Free. Even if you’ve never heard of Lafferty, there is a good chance that one of your favorite authors has praised him. Neil Gaiman, Terry Bisson, Gene Wolfe, Poul Anderson, Theodore Sturgeon, Roger Zelazny, Alan Dean Foster: all have praised Lafferty. In the past few years there has been a renewed interest in R.A. Lafferty. This renewal includes a new journal/”bookzine” (http://feastoflaughter.org), an active Internet community (http://www.facebook.com/groups/eastoflaughter), and now a conference/celebration (http://www.laffcon.org). The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has obtained the rights to the Lafferty estate and is working to make all of Lafferty’s work widely available. It is an exciting time to be a Lafferty fan. The idea for LaffCon was born when several of us in the Facebook group recognized that we were within driving distance of one another on the East Coast. After much talk, our simple desire of getting together for a drink became a full day party filled with Lafferty talk. We think that we’ve got a good line-up and we hope that it will be of interest to both the longtime Lafferty fan and the neophyte. “There is, among those familiar with Lafferty’s oeuvre, no doubt that it contains some of the best fiction of our times. All agree that it deserves to be read and loved by generations of readers to come. But will it be?” -Michael Swanwick, http://www.michaelswanwick.com/nonfic/duck.html
Michael Swanwick has generously agreed to be a guest at the conference. The wondrously kind Lissanne Lake, an artist that some of you may recognize (most notably for our concerns, she is the artist of the beautiful Lafferty in Orbit cover), will also be there. Andrew Mass, a filmmaker based in NY, is working on a Lafferty documentary (see footage, including an Harlan Ellison interview, here: http://laffertydoc.blogspot.com/). Also, you’ll get to interact with a handful of the worst case Lafferty nuts, a few of those involved with Feast of Laughter. Panel discussions, which will hopefully include active audience participation, will include topics such as Lafferty’s relation to the New Wave, Lafferty’s relation to the fine arts, and an exploration of Lafferty’s biography. We hope to see you there. Stay tuned to http://www.laffcon.org for continued updates. Thank you for your time and consideration. John Owen, On behalf of the Northeast Lafferty League and the LaffCon1 planning committee.

Patience

Please be patient with us. We've gone "live" but there is still much work to be done. This site will be updated and content will be added regularly. Just stick around and you'll see!

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It's alive!

(Signs of life to follow)