Author: Jan@HSFCon

Sandy Butchers is an author/artist, known for her elaborate dystopian/sci-fi worlds and creature designs. Her life has been like a giant cake but instead of ingredients like sugar, spice, and everything nice, her cake was layered with travel, exploration, myth, and folklore. In a time span of only 5 years, she visited Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, and Scotland, and decided to live 350km above the arctic circle in Finland for a year. There, in the company of the Northern Lights, the magic happened: Sandy started her first full-length novel, inspired by the myths and folklore she found herself surrounded by in real-world situations. 

She was, however, no stranger to all things fantasy/Sci-Fi. At the age of 14, she had already written her own novella which was picked up by a local publisher and kickstarted her career as the Youngest Author in the Country at the time. Today, she has won several awards in best-selling anthologies (‘Forgotten Ones’ and ‘Dark Magic’ by Canadian Publishers Eerie River Publishing, and ‘Pride’ & ‘Lust’ by Australian Publisher Black Hare Press)  and runs her own sci-fi/fantasy project that combines stories and art in the form of monthly novellas and a selection of collector’s items on Patreon. To top things off with a cherry, Sandy now teaches graphic design and art, and gives lectures about contemporary platforms for writers to explore. For more information on her work, go to www.TheSingularian.net

Dear HSFCon visitor,

We had it all sorted out: HSFCon was going to happen on 2 and 3 April 2022. But unfortunately it turns out that a large military exercise is planned in Friesland in exactly that weekend, which means that pretty much every hotel room in and around Sneek is booked for the Lads and Lasses in Green. At the time when we made our arrangements with the hotel, this exercise would be taking place several weeks earlier and we would not be in each other’s way. But then they decided to move to ‘our’ weekend.

After some consideration we have decided that an HSFCon cannot be called a hotel con if our visitors can’t actually stay at the hotel. So, to give everyone the chance to have a lovely weekend out, we have had to move the convention forward again. Our As Far As We Can Tell Really Ultimate, Final Dates are 14 and 15 May 2022. Sigh 😉
Tickets that have been bought will remain valid for the new date.
It is now possible to book your hotel rooms through the website of Van Der Valk Hotel Sneek. If you wish to take your lunches and dinners at the hotel, you can let the people of the hotel know beforehand by sending them an email.
The convention dates have been changed on our website and on those social media platforms where we are present. Should you have any other questions, please let us know at info@hsfcon.nl.

We hope to see you on 14 and 15 May!

Dear HSFCon visitor,

As you no doubt have heard or read, we have decided not to go ahead with HSFCon this year. We were greatly looking forward to meeting you this weekend, but the current situation surrounding the corona virus made it impossible to do so in a safe way. We had everything prepared, a great programme to look forward to and a lot of people who were ready to help out, so it obviously hurt to make this decision. But the alternative, a stunted convention where people might not feel safe, would hurt even more in the end.

Over the past few days we have been working hard and now we are happy to tell you that we have found an alternative date that will suit us just fine: HSFCon will be held in the weekend of 2 and 3 April 2022. The location will be exactly the same: Van der Valk Hotel in Sneek. We hope we can still count on you to be there, and to help us turn it into a warm and wonderful convention. Save the date!

The ticket you bought for November 2021 will remain valid for April 2022!

Should it happen that you can’t or do not wish to join us on 2 and 3 April, we would of course be sorry to hear that. In that case you can have the ticket price refunded by sending us an email on info@hsfcon.nl before 1 January 2022. Use the subject line ‘HSFCon Refund’ and make sure you state the following:

IBAN:
Name:
Place of residence:

(We will delete your bank details one week after completing the refund.)

We’re all ready to start again and we hope to see you on 2 and 3 April!

The HSFCon team,

André, Tanja, Paul, Jan, Alice, Heidi

Dear HSF fans,

after last Friday’s government announcement, we have been in talks with everyone involved to see how we can let HSFCon go forward in a safe way. In the meantime we have received so many cancellations that the answer is very clear: we can’t. Safety must come first. This means that we have decided to move the convention to early next year, when we can eat together again, play games and prop up the bar. The new date and other information will be announced later this week.

The HSF team, Paul, André, Tanja, Heidi, Alice, Jan

Dear HSF fan, the new corona restrictions imposed by the Dutch government will – regretfully – have an impact on our convention. We are discussing our options and will let you know as soon as we can how we will deal with the situation.

The very first HSFCon is almost upon us. We’re counting the hours and days until it starts.
On Saturday and Sunday the doors open at 9 am and the programme starts at 10 am. On
Saturday the programme ends at 9 pm. After that time you can still hang out in the hotel
lobby. On Sunday the programme ends at 5 pm.

Dear HSFCon member,

Due to the large number of participants we expect at HSFCon, we recommend that you book your packed lunch and/or your dinner beforehand. You are not permitted to bring your own food and drink for use inside the hotel.

This is why we offer you this early opportunity to arrange your meals directly with the hotel. Payment is possible during the con itself by means of tokens that you can buy at the hotel reception (a packed lunch will cost 4 tokens and a hot meal will cost 7 tokens). The packed lunch is a standard selection, but for your hot dinner we offer you a choice of meat, fish or a vegetarian meal. You can
make your choice on the day.

You can make your reservation by sending an email to sales@sneek.valk.com stating the following:
Name:
Number of persons:
Lunch Saturday – Yes/No
Hot dinner Saturday – Yes/No
Lunch Sunday – Yes/No
Hot dinner Sunday – Yes/No
Comments:

Please note: if you do not book your meals beforehand, it is possible that you have to wait longer for you lunch or dinner due to the pressure of demand on the day itself.

Reservations for lunches and dinners can be made until 16 November 2021.
We thank you for your co-operation.

Staff and management Van der Valk Hotel Sneek

Note: a token costs € 3,00.

Want to be a dealer at HSFCon?
You can rent half a table in the dealers’ room from € 25!
Dealers come in three categories:

1. Commercial dealers
2. Established artists and authors
3. Artists and authors who wish to sell their own work

1 – Commercial dealers are dealers who own a shop or frequently sell their goods on markets. As a commercial dealer you can book a maximum of 4 tables at € 50.00 per table. Furthermore, each stallholder is required to buy a convention ticket, which grants you access to the entire convention.

2- Established artists and authors who bring enough merchandise to justify the use of a whole table. People who fall in this category can book a maximum of one table at € 50.00. Half a table costs € 25.00. Furthermore, each stallholder is required to buy a convention ticket, which grants you access to the entire convention.

3- Authors, artists and others who wish to sell their own work. No charge for a table. You tell us what you wish to put on sale and whether or not you can fill a whole table with it. You buy your own convention ticket, which grants you access to the entire convention. As a dealer in this category you pay half of the first € 100.00 you make (or € 50.00 if you are sharing a table) to HSFCon by way of table rent.

Anyone who falls in category 3 is free to switch to category 2, in other words to rent a table or half a table, so it doesn’t matter how much you sell. Category 3 is primarily meant for dealers who don’t expect to sell very much.

You can send your application to info@hsfcon.nl.

Sad but true, covid is still among us. We are aiming to have a convention that is as safe as possible. That means we comply to all the then-valid restrictions imposed by the hotel and by the government. Despite the fact that many restrictions have been lifted recently, some others are still in place. You can read more about the current restrictions on the hotel and government websites.

https://www.hotelsneek.nl/corona-en-veiligheid/

https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/tackling-new-coronavirus-in-the-netherlands

Should the restrictions change again before HSFCon, we will change with them. Whatever comes, we will turn the weekend into a fantastic one.

Edwin Mathlener read Astronomy at the University of Utrecht from 1982 until 1986. Apart from working for a publishing house specialising in scientific publications, he has always busied himself with organising activities related to astronomy and aimed at popularising this science. Among other groups, he has been involved with the Dutch national society for meteorology and astronomy, Foundation ‘De Koepel’, Universum Foundation and Sonnenborgh Museum & Observatory. From 2009 he worked full-time for ‘De Koepel’ in Utrecht, but only until 2013 when this organisation sadly had to close down. Edwin was a member of the editorial team at the Zenit periodical for astronomy for 25 years, during which time he served as chief editor twice. For several years he was also the editor of the astronomical yearbook De Sterrengids and he is still involved today with the yearbook Sterren & Planeten. He is a volunteer at Sonnenborgh and gives courses and lectures at public observatories and for clubs. For a day job he’s gone back to working full-time for the publishing house mentioned above.