Minicon is an annual gathering of science fiction and fantasy fans sponsored by the Minnesota Science Fiction Society (Minn-StF). These days the convention is held each year in or near Minneapolis, Minnesota over Easter weekend. Minicon is Minnesota's longest-running science fiction convention, the first Minicon was held in 1968.
Minicon 44
will be held April 10 - 12, 2009 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor will be Karl Schroeder, Stephan Martiniere, and probably another guest or two to be named later.
For further information follow the link to the website for the next Minicon (listed above) or contact us at:
Minicon
P.O. Box 8297
Lake Street Station
Minneapolis, MN 55408
There is also a semi-official Minicon Livejournal Community which is a good place to discuss Minicon, though if you need an answer to a question it's usually best to contact the convention directly.
If you post pictures taken at Minicon to Flickr or another photo hosting/sharing website, please tag the photos with the tag "minicon" as well as with a tag for whichever Minicon it is ("minicon43" for example).
Websites for Past Minicons
Minicon 43
was held March 21 - 23, 2008 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Alastair Reynolds, Nate Bucklin, Shawna McCarthy, and Wayne Barlowe (who unfortunately could not make it to the convention).
Minicon 42
was April 6 - 8, 2007 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Charles de Lint and Charles Vess.
Minicon 41
was April 14 - 16, 2006 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Harlan Ellison, John Picacio, and Doug Friauf.
Minicon 40
was March 25 - 27, 2005 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel (formerly known as the Radisson South) in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Terry Pratchett, Fastner and Larson, and James Young.
Minicon 39
was April 9 - 11, 2004 at the Millennium Hotel Minneapolis in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Walter Jon Williams, Sharyn November, and Deb Geisler.
Minicon 38
was April 18 - 20, 2003 at the Millennium Hotel Minneapolis in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Robert J. Sawyer, Carolyn Clink, Sue Mason, and Steve Macdonald.
Minicon 37
was March 29 - 31, 2002 at the Hilton Minneapolis in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Arthur Hlavaty, and Rick Berry.
Minicon 36
was April 13 - 15, 2001 at the Hilton Minneapolis & Towers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Ken MacLeod, Jo Walton, and Leslie Fish.
Minicon 35
was April 21 - 23, 2000 at the Hilton Minneapolis & Towers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Maureen F. McHugh, Lenny Bailes, and John Berkey.
Minicon 34
was April 2 - 4, 1999 at the Minneapolis Hilton & Towers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Octavia E. Butler, Mark & Priscilla Olson, and David Nee.
Minicon 33
was April 10 - 12, 1998 at the Radisson South in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Gardner Dozois, Dave Langford, Phil Proctor, and John M. Ford.
Minicon 32
was March 28 - 30, 1997 at the Radisson South in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Algis Budrys, C.J. Cherryh, Tom Doherty, Tom Lopez, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, and Michael Swanwick.
Minicon 31
was April 5 - 7, 1996 at the Radisson South in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Suzette Haden Elgin, Joe Siclari & Edie Stern, David Ossman, and Ed Emshwiller (posthumous).
Minicon 30
was April 14 - 16, 1995 at the Radisson South in Bloomington, Minnesota. Our Guests of Honor were Vernor Vinge, Robert Forward, Jody Lee, Glen Cook, and the residents of the Bhigg House.
Minicons 1 - 29
We didn't have websites for Minicons prior to Minicon 30 or at least we can't seem to find the archives right now.
More Historical Data
Photos of Minicon 8 by David Dyer-Bennet.
A photo from Minicon 9 by David Dyer-Bennet.
Photos of Minicon 10 by David Dyer-Bennet.
Photos of Minicon 11 by David Dyer-Bennet.
Photos of Minicon 18 by David Dyer-Bennet.
Photos of Minicon 25 by David E Romm.
Photos & Audio from Minicon 33 Opening Ceremonies
Audio from some radio plays from various Minicon Opening Ceremonies over the years.
There are also tapes/CDs available which include audio plays from Minicons past.
Links to lists of past Minicons:
List @ the Wikipedia page for Minicon
"Brief History of Minicon" by Fred A Levy Haskell
"Our Family Album" (by Tom Juntunen for the Minicon 30 program book).
We Need Your Help!
If you have program books, pocket programs, photos, progress reports, or other stuff from or relating to past Minicons we're interested in putting that sort of thing online. We want your photos and audio or video recordings too. Did you write up a convention report? We'd love to link to it or post a copy here.
If you have items in digital format or are willing to put things in digital format, you can send that stuff to us at webmaster@mnstf.org though please check with us before sending any large files as email attachments. If you know where we can find stuff about Minicon or Minn-StF online that we haven't yet linked to, please pass those links along to us.
If you don't have the time or means to put things online but have items you think might be of interest to us, please write to us and tell us what you have. If it's something we don't have in our own archives, we might be interested in borrowing items from you or making other arrangements to scan stuff for use on the website.
This page was last updated by Laurel Krahn on March 29th, 2008.