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Important Information Regarding Programs and Autographs at WonderCon
Celebrity appearances and program schedule are subject to change.
All event and program rooms have limited capacity as set by the Fire Marshal. Even though your badge
is needed to get into all events, it does not guarantee you access to any event if it has reached its
capacity. We do not clear rooms between events. Most autograph signings are of a limited nature.
Your badge does not guarantee autographs at any event.
Please...absolutely no recording of the video footage or images presented by the studios on the screens.
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WonderCon hosts the
Robert A. Heinlein
Memorial Blood Drive
WonderCon is proud to host the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood
Drive, sponsored by the Heinlein Society. Blood Centers of the Pacific will be
at Moscone South to collect blood donations. Details will be announced as we get closer to the show.
We hope you will take a brief break from your other convention activities to
help save lives by giving blood, and have some cookies and juice while you're at
it. Each donor will receive a cloisonné pin designed by Heinlein for the first
WorldCon blood drive in Kansas City in 1976, as our way of saying, "Thank you
for helping." Donors will also receive a gift as an additional thank you for
supporting this most worthy cause.
About
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907–May 8, 1988) was one of the
most popular and respected science fiction authors of the 20th century. By
setting a high standard for science and engineering plausibility, he helped
raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was the first writer to
break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the
late 1940s with unvarnished science fiction. He was also among the first authors
of bestselling novel-length science fiction in the modern mass-market era.
Four of Heinlein's novels (Double Star, Starship Troopers,
Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress) won
Hugo Awards in the years they were published. In 2001, another novel (Farmer
in the Sky) and a novella (The Man Who Sold the Moon) received
"Retro Hugos" for the year 1951, and the movie Destination
Moon, which was based on a Heinlein story, received the "Retro Hugo" for
best dramatic presentation. He was the first writer to be named a Grand Master
by the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement.
Heinlein was known as the "Dean of Science Fiction Writers," but he was much
more. He was a philanthropist who helped many charitable causes and individuals.
When asked how he could be repaid for his help, he would reply, "You can't pay
me back, you have to pay it forward."
One cause that was of great importance to him was blood donation. Having a
rare blood type himself (AB+), he was a frequent donor and a supporter of the
National Rare Blood Club, which was an integral part of his novel I Will Fear
No Evil. In 1976, at the 34th World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas
City, he helped organize the first of many science fiction convention blood
drives. In 1977, he did the same at the San Diego Comic-Con, and 2009 marks the
32nd anniversary of the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drive as an integral
part of that event.
The Heinlein Society was formed in 2000 to preserve the legacy of Robert
Heinlein by "paying it forward." One of the ways the society ia doing this is by
promoting blood donation around the world. The group began this effort with an
Internet blood drive, encouraging fans to donate at their local blood banks and
send their names to the society to be entered into its honor roll, presented to
the late Mrs. Virginia Heinlein. That drive continues annually in her
absence.
In 2001, at the 59th World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia, the society
sponsored its first onsite blood drive, with the Red Cross collecting 60 units of blood.
In the 10 years since then the organization has sponsored more than 100 drives,
generating more than 10,000 units of blood and saving potentially thousands of lives.
Last year at WonderCon, 87 pints of blood were donated during the two-day drive.
You can learn more about Robert Heinlein, the Heinlein Society and the Blood
Centers of the Pacific at
www.heinleinsociety.org and
www.bloodcenters.org.
Please join us in "paying it forward" by donating blood at WonderCon this
weekend.
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