May 15, 2020 update: Due to the “uncertain health situation” regarding the ongoing pandemic and the unreliable travel restrictions, the Columbus 2020 NASFiC organizers have announced with a “heavy heart” that the long-awaited Columbus event has been canceled.
As of May, the organizers are exploring the possibility of planning and presenting a virtual event with various speakers and panels during that same Aug. 20-23, 2020 weekend – including programming and perhaps an online version of the annual Prometheus Awards ceremony.
The organizers also are planning to publish an online souvenir book for all attending and supporting members.
The LFS will post additional updates as we learn more and plans are solidified.
The North American Science Fiction Convention will be held Aug. 20-23, 2020 in Columbus, Ohio – and guess who will be among the guests of honor and speaker-panelists?
The Columbus 2020 NASFiC has announced on its Facebook page that bestselling sf/fantasy/horror novelist F. Paul Wilson – the first Prometheus Award winner and a Special Prometheus Lifetime Achievement award recipient – will attend the Columbus NASFiC as the Prometheus Awards Guest of Honor.
Wilson’s appearances, talks, panel discussions and author signings will be a centerpiece of the Libertarian Futurist Society’s third LFScon (dubbed LFScon III), which will run as an informal “mini-con” within the larger North American Science Fiction Convention. Several main-program-track panel discussions are being planned, devoted to themes of broad interest to freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans, libertarian futurists and general attendees.
The LFS also will present our 2020 Prometheus Awards ceremony during the NASFiC’s biggest single event: it’s Saturday-night Masquerade.
Wilson, well-known for his bestselling Repairman Jack series (including Nightworld, The Dark at the End and many others in his Adversary Cycle) will be presenting the 2020 Prometheus Award in the Best Novel category, with other awards presenters to be announced. 
Note: The LFS often presents its annual Prometheus Awards ceremony at the Worldcon, but occasionally has presented its awards at a NASFiC or major regional sf con, especially when the Worldcon takes place on the other side of the globe. This year’s Worldcon will be in New Zealand.
Besides winning the very first Prometheus Award for Best Novel in 1979 for Wheels within Wheels, part of his LaNague Federation trilogy, Wilson also won in the Best Novel category for Sims in 2004 while his other LaNague trilogy novels Healer and An Enemy of the State were inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction respectively in 1990 and 1991. Wilson was the second author to receive a Special Prometheus Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2016, following Poul Anderson in 2001.
In addition, one of Wilson’s stories, “Lipidleggin’” (first published 1978 in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine), recently was selected as one of five 2020 finalists for the Prometheus Hall of Fame, which also will be presented by the LFS during the NASFiC ceremony. Wilson’s story takes a humorous look at a future United States where saturated fats have become controlled substances.
The other 2020 Hall of Fame finalists include “Sam Hall,” a 1953 short story by Poul Anderson; “As Easy as A.B.C.,” a 1912 story by Rudyard Kipling; “The Trees,” a 1978 song by Rush; and A Time of Changes, a 1971 novel by Robert Silverberg. LFS members will be voting on the Prometheus Awards starting in May, and after the Best Novel finalists are announced in March.
Other NASFiC guests of honor announced so far include Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (as Author Guests of Honor), Stephanie Law (Artist Guest of Honor), Christopher J. Garcia (Editor Guest of Honor), Sue and Steve Francis (Fan Guests of Honor) and Eric Flint as the Ring of Fire Minicon Guest. (Herbert and Flint have been nominated for the Prometheus Awards over the years in the Best Novel category.)
This will be the third LFScon held in the 21st century, all in Columbus.
Why return to central Ohio? Well, many NASFiC organizers also have been involved over the years presenting Columbus’ annual Marcon, Ohio’s oldest and largest multimedia sf/fantasy convention. Marion forged closer ties with local sf fans and LFS members by hosting the very successful first LFScon in 2001, which boosted Marcon attendance noticeably because several well-known and Prometheus Award-winning novelists attended as Marcon speakers. A second LFScon in 2015, based on the same format and collaboration forged in 2001, also went well. Both conventions included a Prometheus Awards ceremony witnessed by several hundred people during the Saturday-night Masquerade, so we’re following a format with a proven track record.
To register to attend the Columbus 2020 NASFiC, or for a link to room reservations at the Sheraton Columbus Hotel at Capitol Square ($129/night, with discounted rooms available from Aug. 16 through the 27th), visit columbus2020nasfic.org
Questions? Suggestions? LFS members interested in attending the LFScon convention, and/or who are interested in speaking on panel discussions, should contact bestnovel@lfs.org
Visit Facebook to read the full announcement by the Columbus NASFiC 2020 about Wilson as the NASFiC’s Prometheus Award guest of honor.
Read our Appreciation of Wheels within Wheels, Wilson’s 1979 Prometheus Award-winner for Best Novel.
