Meanwhile, in S-E-A-T-T-L-E

If you're coming to Norwescon 32 tomorrow (Thursday), stop by Cascade 5 at 11:00 PM for the Science Fiction Spelling Bee! This is VPXI alum Jeff Soesbe's crazy idea, and it should be a lot of fun:

Sure you know your science fiction words, but can you spell them? Straight from Putnam County, this game mixes difficult words, crazy definitions and off-the-wall sample sentences. Randomly chosen volunteers will have a chance at fun and prizes. Drop on in and see if you can win the Science Fiction Spelling Bee!

I'm currently reading James Maguire's American Bee, a great book with lots of bite-sized stories about various people involved with the annual competition. If you're into orthography, also check out the 2002 documentary Spellbound and the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. And, oh yeah, this Friday's 512 Words story, which is titled "Bad Boy of the Spelling Bee." You'll see why.