Talking of Worldcon, SMOFcon is taking place this next weekend, and one of the things it features is the Fannish Inquisition, at which forthcoming Worldcons and Worldcon bids get grilled on their plans and facilities. You may remember Kevin and I doing live reporting on this in the past. Often much of the time is wasted with simple questions like “what is the weather like?”, “how far is the airport from the facilities?” and “do you speak English?” (because, you know, Ella California, she is very far from the East Coast…). This year SMOFcon has decided to get all of those out of the way in advance so that the live questioning can be more penetrating. And they have posted the responses on their website. You can find them all here, including, of course, details of the venue for the Helsinki in 2015 bid. Well done SMOFcon, an excellent innovation.

And for those wondering, yes of course I’ll be asking for a tour of the Helsinki facilities when I am over there for Finncon in July. (Or maybe even Ã…con in May if that’s more convenient.)