Maplecon 4 & 5 SF Conventions

Maplecon was a science fiction & comic book convention held in Ottawa during my teenage years. A friend of mine who attended 1981's Maplecon 4 first told me about it. Although I didn't attend Maplecon 4 I did save a clipping from our local newspaper.


Two years later Maplecon 5 was held. I believe this was the first convention I attended, at the tender age of 14.



The following pictures are from the Maplecon 5 program.


Here are some of my plans for the con.


Maplecade was a fanzine associated with the convention that was given out as part of the welcome package.


I had three authors sign books for me at the con:

Hal Clement signed Needle

Local author Charles R. Saunders signed Imaro

And C.J. Cherryh signed her Hugo-award-winning Downbelow Station

My experience is summed up in my diary entry of 17 July 1983: "Today was the last day of Maplecon 5 convention but I didn't attend. I did, however enjoy both Friday and Saturday. I went to panels and the costume ball and, of course, the dealers room where I bought many items including: August '83 issue of Starlog magazine, the Spring '79 issue of Asimov's SF Adventure zine which completes my collection, 2 autographed books -- Hugo-award winner Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh and Imaro by Charles Saunders (I also got Hal Clement to sign a copy of Needle which I already had), packages of Star Trek -- The Motion Picture bubble gum cards, a Spock button from STTMP, a Maplecon 5 button and the complete set (18 volumes) of Star Trek comic books which appeared after STTMP came out. I've read 7 of these and they are all right though not astoundingly superb. I also obtained issue no. 41 of the original Gold Key comic series, the particular issue being November 1976. The sf authors I saw at the convention were C.J. Cherryh, Jack Chalker, Hal Clement, Charles Saunders, and Donald Kingsbury."

Again the local paper had some coverage of the con.

SF Shops

Much of my SF book collection was purchased from a handful of used book stores across Ontario. New books were usually purchased from retailers like W.H. Smith and Coles. However, on occasion I did drop by specialized SF shops.

Our Grade 12 geography class journeyed to the Big Apple for a few days back in 1985. I'm sure we learned a few "educational" things while we were there, but what I most remember was a late night jaunt to Dangerfield's comedy club, the deportation of two of my roommates mid-trip back to Ottawa, and my solo visit to the The Science Fiction Shop, from which I'd previously ordered several books via mail order.


I also dropped into Bakka bookstore in Toronto one time with my Uncle, and there found a treasure trove of books and old SF pulps.


Back in Ottawa we also had a few shops selling books, comics, and trading cards and showing genre films which I patronized: