View source for MidAmeriCon Reminiscence (Sheridan)

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Flash Sheridan’s MidAmeriCon Reminiscence}}

I don’t recall the problems with hotels and food in [[MidAmeriCon_Reminiscence_(Pohl) |Fred Pohl's MidAmeriCon Reminiscence]], and I’m delighted to have been an exception to “[[Bob Heinlein]] was the [[GoH]], though most attendees didn't see much of him. The [[con committee]] considered him both fragile and a national resource, and they kept him protected from the unruly mob of the rest of us.”  (Patterson’s biography says something similar.)

== Heinleins and Blood Donors ==
The Heinleins had widely publicized (including a full page ad on page ten of the program) that blood donors ''would'' get to meet them, in either a social reception or an autograph session.  (I chose, not without effort, the reception over autographs.)  Mr Heinlein began the reception by pointing out that this was not the autograph reception.  Later he asked to recognize those under 18, who were not legally allowed to donate blood, but were invited to the reception if they provided evidence of being denied.  I (an attention-grabbing adolescent) asked how those of us who were underage but had managed to donate anyway should be classified.  Mr Heinlein graciously launched an anecdote about underage volunteers in World War I.

== Busy Signing Books ==
 <blockquote>“The truth of the matter is,” Ginny wrote after it was over, “aside from the official events, Robert and I saw very little of the convention. Whenever Robert was in public he was busy signing books until his hand could practically no longer write.”</blockquote>
Excerpt From ''Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century,'' William H. Patterson, Jr.

Guilty as charged.  While working on a task as a volunteer [[gopher]], I came across Mr Heinlein seated in a comfortable chair with a small circle of fans, which I shamelessly abandoned my duty to join.  A fan had asked about a character renaming (Mary Rhysling to Sperling IIRC, in ''Methuselah’s Children''), and Mr Heinlein was slow to respond.  Someone (perhaps me) gave an explanation.  I also got autographs for the paperbacks of ''Have Spacesuit: Will Travel'' and ''Citizen of the Galaxy'' which I had carried everywhere.


I came away thinking the Mr Heinlein was still suffering from what I then thought of as his ''I Will Fear No Evil'' brain blood clot.  Given his {{link | website=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoSnjYLw2A0|text=GoH speech}}, in which he mentioned his stammer, and Patterson’s biography, I realize it was more complicated than that.


== Star Wars ==
There was a [[Star Wars]] display in room 364 (program p. 25), where I had a chance to chat alone with [[Mark Hamill]] for quite a while, and to get his autograph on a poster.  (Unlike [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmhjvkj8_aw&lc=Ugy72ufzwkAhNkUJvDB4AaABAg Marx007100], I have not sold my poster for $1500, though I haven’t found it yet either.)  The novelization had been circulated to what we would now call influencers; the late [[Baird Searles]] (co-founder of [[The Science Fiction Shop]], to whom I am grateful for many things) had lent me his copy, knowing my interest in [[Doc Smith]].  So I was excited about the release of the film next year, unlike the less fortunate fen who had not yet attended:

=== The StarWars Session ===
There’s a lot of information in both the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmhjvkj8_aw video] of the session with “producer [[Gary Kurtz]], star [[Mark Hamill]] and marketing director [[Charles Lippincott]],” and its comments section.  I’ll add that I hereby claim to be the obnoxious teenager who responds “It’s space opera!” at 1:57, and perhaps the one who asked about the explanation of faster-than-light travel at 7:14.  Mr Kurtz gave an excellent answer:  “We don’t explain it.”  He mentions [[Doc Smith]] at 13:17, along with [[Flash Gordon]] and [[John Carter]].  

{{fanhistory | year=1976}}
[[Category:US]]