NASFiC
NASFiC, the North American Science Fiction Convention, was added to the WSFS Constitution in the mid 1970s. It was intended to legitimatize the inevitable major convention in North America when the Worldcon was held in other parts of the world, without encouraging the development of an American natcon, which would become a competitor to Worldcon.
The first NASFiC was held in Los Angeles in 1975 when Aussiecon was in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The second NASFiC (NorthAmericon '79) was in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1979 when Brighton, England, was selected for the Worldcon. Pemmi-con in 2023 was the first NASFiC held in Canada.
NASFiCs are usually not held directly opposite the overseas Worldcon, enabling ambitious (and prosperous) fen to attend both. Site selection is administered by WSFS at the Worldcon the preceding year or at a NASFiC if there happens to be one.
The idea of a US Natcon had been bubbling in fandom for a long time, and the Committee to Investigate the Idea of a National Convention established by Baycon seems to have played a significant role in establishing it, though in the process the idea of a US Natcon morphed into a North American convention. The initialism "NASFiC" was coined by Tony Lewis.
See also: Noncon.
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1975— |
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