photo courtesy Marcia Wilson
Bringing together the worlds of science fiction with scientific fact, Jackson College joins with several community partners to present the fun & exciting Concatenation Convention community series over the next several months.
Over the coming months, a series of community events are planned to lead up to an October Convention. There will be science fiction gaming, a robotics convention, a sci fi/fact movie series with a scientist/professor, a potential alien script art show, a potential sci fi movie showing at the Hurst Planetarium, a communitywide reading of Futureland and 47, and an alien biology art contest.
Events will culminate Oct. 15, 2016, at the Concatenation Convention, a place where Science Fact and Fiction Meet. Headlining the convention will be mystery and science fiction writer Walter Mosley, who will deliver a free keynote and book signing the day of the event. While this event will be free, tickets will be issued to ensure seating. While Mosley is known most widely for his detective Easy Rawlins (Devil in the Blue Dress), he has penned a number of science fiction books such as Blue Light, The Wave, Futureland, Silver Box and 47, a youth novel, which deal with several themes. The Jackson District Library is partnering with the Con Con to bring the author to the Jackson area, to help make classroom sets of 47 available to local schools, and to provide copies of Futureland in greater quantities in their branches to accommodate communitywide book discussions.
The convention will include a Mosley panel, sci fi artist and scientist panels (including comic artists, sci fi writers, comic writers, and others), a big gaming demonstration, a sci fi film screening, a virtual reality booth, a Jackson Makerspace demonstration and booth, an artists’ alley, a robotics challenge, and a vendor area, all followed up by a closing after party with a to be determined sci fi themed band at Jackson College’s Hangar. More events will be added soon. Concessions will be available on site the entire day.
The series is the brainchild of Professors Steven Albee-Scott and Steven Tuckey of Jackson College and Jon Hart of Thunderhouse Productions and is a community partnership with the Jackson District Library, local school robotics teams, Nostalgia Ink, Meggacon, the Jackson Makerspace, and more.
More details are to come and will be available shortly at the Concatenation Convention Facebook page. Or, for more information, contact Thunderhouse Productions at 517.392.2942.