> WHAT'S A RELAXACON?

A big science fiction convention has thousands of people, five tracks of panels, a dealers' room the size of a football field, autograph lines and a masquerade. It's great. It's also exhausting.

A relaxacon is the opposite. It's a small convention, a couple hundred people at most, in one hotel, where the main event is the conversation. There's a little bit of program, a con suite where you can sit down with a plate of food and talk about books for four hours, some games, and a lot of people you know and some you're about to. That's SignalCon. Last year we had 162 people, and we'd like to stay about that size, because we like being able to learn everybody's name.

The first SignalCon of the new millennium! (Or the last one of the old millennium, depending on which member you ask. We've had that argument. You're welcome to have it again in the con suite.)

> WHEN AND WHERE

Guest of Honor: to be announced. We have invited a science fiction author and we are waiting on an answer. Francine says it looks good. Francine has said that before. We'll post it here and in Lost Signal the day it's official, and not one minute sooner, because of what happened in 1997, which we don't talk about.

Fan Guest of Honor: Rudy Solari ("Uncle Rudy"), who has been reading science fiction since the pulps, has attended nineteen Worldcons including this year's in Australia, and has never once been our Fan Guest of Honor because he always said no. This year we didn't ask.

> THE PROGRAM (SUCH AS IT IS)

Planned so far. One track, never more than one thing at a time, and plenty of time in between.

> THE CON SUITE

The heart of any relaxacon. It's a hospitality room open from Friday afternoon until we fall over, with free food and drinks for members: soda, coffee, chips, a sandwich tray at lunch, and on Saturday night, the famous LoSiFS chili, made by Carolyn Tincher from a recipe she will not share with the committee, the fanzine or her own family. Most of the best conversations at SignalCon happen in the con suite at one in the morning. Come find out.

Volunteers keep it running in two-hour shifts. If you can take a shift, tell Francine, and you get our eternal gratitude and a SignalCon 7 T-shirt.

> THE DEAD DOG PARTY

When a convention is officially over, the people who are still there, mostly the committee and the volunteers and the out-of-towners with late flights, have one last party with whatever food is left. In fandom that's called the dead dog party, and nobody knows exactly why, though the Old Man has three different theories and will tell you all of them. Ours is Sunday afternoon in the con suite, and it usually ends with leftover chili and somebody asleep on the couch. Everybody's welcome. You'll be tired. It's worth it.

> MEMBERSHIPS

LoSiFS members get $5 off. Pay at any meeting, or e-mail us and we'll tell you where to send a check. (Yes, we know the price goes up on January 1. If the banks are all closed by Y2K, the committee will honor the old rate. Our treasurer says that's a safe bet.)

> PAST SIGNALCONS