Chattanooga Pulse

Written by Kelly Lockhart
Wednesday, 27 August 2008 21:22
Chattanooga science fiction fans head south for Atlanta’s Dragon*Con

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away small groups of science fiction fans would gather at hotels to meet their favorite writers. The gatherings were mostly male, mostly white, and all geeky. Today, the world of science fiction conventions is a far cry from those early days. Not only are they much larger than in the past, but the demographics have changed radically. Someone attending one of the seven annual gatherings in Chattanooga might be surprised at the number of women, minorities, age range and reasons for attending.
The days of geeky kids wearing ill-fitting Star Trek uniforms and mock-fighting one another with plastic lightsabers while trying to outdo each other with their memorization of every single line from Monty Python & The Holy Grail have long been relegated to the level of stereotype.