Creatures from throughout the galaxy descended on the Holiday Inn-Tanglewood last weekend for the 18th annual “SheVaCon.” That stands for Shenandoah Valley Convention–three days filled with activities like Sci-Fi writing workshops, panel discussions, a costume contest and art auction.
Captain Scott Gibson from High Point, North Carolina and Ensign Eric Bowman from Randleman, North Carolina manned a booth promoting the USS Bonaventure, which is part of STARFLEET International, an international Star Trek fan group and one of more than 200 chapters worldwide. Both were wearing costumes from the movies Star Trek II through VI.
According to Gibson, “They’re called the ‘monster maroons’ because they’re basically maroon in color. They’re the dress costume for our organization, for important events like conventions or conferences or social events.” The group does a lot of community service work and Gibson says sometimes members will dress in costume just to cheer someone up.
When asked which version of Star Trek is the best, Bowman replied, “Which is your favorite child?” He sighed before continuing. “Original series–I saw it first [when it came out in syndication]. I’ve enjoyed most all the series and most of the movies, not so much Voyager.” Bowman liked “The Next Generation,” which he was able to see in its first run; he was too young to see the original series when it first aired. He also enjoyed the last couple of seasons of “Enterprise” and is sorry it received a limited run.
Gibson says the original series is also his favorite because that was the first science fiction series he saw as a youngster. “My mother got me involved with science fiction when I was four years old, and I’ve been a Star Trek fan ever since.” While the original series is his favorite, he says “The Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine” are close seconds.
Melanie Schwartz acted as a guide for her husband, Andrew, as he prepared for the costume contest. Andrew had limited vision in his costume, Dr. Satan’s Robot, which dates to a 1940’s serial. It was also seen in some of the holo-deck scenes in Star Trek: Voyager. The Reston, Virginia resident was encased in a gray “sonotube.” Melanie says googly eyes from a craft store outlined the costume. On Andrew’s head was something that resembled a trash can lid.
Asked why he decided to dress up as this character, Andrew said, “I don’t think anybody else has ever done it.” Building robots is his hobby; he has also built an R2D2, a B9, a K9 and he wanted to build a costume “that a kind of large guy like myself could fit into, and this one seemed to fit the bill.” Building robots keeps him out of bars at night, he added with a chuckle.
Gail Z. Martin, an author from Charlotte, was one of the writing workshop panelists. She writes fantasy adventure novels and is the author of the “The Chronicles of the Necromancer” series.
“I think women have made a very significant imprint over the years in science fiction, especially in fantasy, so I think we’re extremely well represented in fantasy.” She just turned in the manuscript for the fifth book that will be volume one in the “Fallen King Cycle–The Sworn,” to come out in print next year.
By Beverly Amsler [email protected]