ValhallaCon draws sci-fi authors, foam war demonstration

JARED PABEN - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Two armies charge each other on Saturday, clashing in a melee of flying foam weapons. Then, Thomas Lenentine, holding a ranseur (a type of spear meant for attacking cavalry) sneaks around the enemy's flank.

"Hey guys, watch your back," a woman yells. "I said watch your back."

Too late. Lenentine had already taken out two troops by poking them in the back. It's called backstabbing, but it's only frowned upon if you do it all the time, he explains, and he's know as a skirmisher instead. Yet his team is called the "Clan Dark Side," and they're considered by many as the enemy because they like to split up and backstab.

DANIEL JOHNSON | THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Welcome to the world of boffing, or fighting with foam weapons.

The games were played at the ValhallaCon, a three-day science fiction/fantasy/gaming convention held Friday through Sunday at the Bellingham Hampton Inn. About 80 people attended the convention, said Jim Kling, who helped organize the event. That's not bad, considering it's the first year of the event and the economy is in a recession, he said.

And what that meant was an intimate atmosphere with nearly as many authors and experts as fans. In fact, in many places, they would categorize it as a "relaxiCon," he said.

Nancy Kress, author of 16 science fiction novels, three fantasy novels, four short story collections and three books about writing, was the author guest of honor. Sitting on a table on Saturday in a small room with about 15 people, she read one of her older stories, "Casey's Empire," part of the story-story collection "Trinity and other stories" published in 1985.

People chuckled after comical sentences like: "He was born in the 1950s in Montana, but he didn't let it bother him." They were silent during intense drama (main character Jerry Casey hits his girlfriend, and a couple day later she calls for a serious talk - he never sees her again). In the story, Casey considers boarding an alien spaceship, he recalls talking with his friends as a child about whether they would board a spaceship, with some worrying about never coming back. Casey declares that he would. But, given the choice, he declines.

Kress had those conversations with friends when she was younger.

"Would you go?" a woman in the audience asks Kress after the reading.

"Yes," the author replied immediately. Then, after further consideration, "I would have then. Would I now? I have two kids. Things are different."