Eastercon 2013
I’m a bit later with this report than intended, mostly because I had so much fun at Eastercon I was too exhausted to process it! This was my third Eastercon, and whilst last year’s was memorable for very personal reasons, this year was pretty good too. I’d been a bit doubtful about the location, as the convention venue was mainly a conference centre and had few bedrooms, meaning most people had to stay in city centre hotels about two miles away, but a constant flow of free minibuses meant that this was only a minor inconvenience. A bigger problem, as with Birmingham, was the lack of good places to eat within easy walking distance; the conference centre provided a relatively inexpensive buffet at lunchtime and in the evening, but the food was...
Read MoreEastercon programme
I now have my programme for EightSquared, the 64th Eastercon, so I hope I’ll see some of you at the following events: Friday, 7pm: Genre Get-Together – Fantasy (seems to be a big informal signing event) Friday, 9pm: Panel – Underground London Sunday, 2pm: Panel – The Changing Portrayal of Gender and Sexuality in SF & Fantasy Monday, 11am: Panel – Selling Space I have no idea what I’m going to say on that last one, as I know little about the space industry – I think I got involved because I do know a bit about “big science and the commercial sector” You can see the whole schedule online at 8squared2013.sched.org (there’s also a web app you can use on an iPhone, Android or...
Read MoreConvention update
I had planned to do a proper report on PicoCon, which I attended last weekend, but since I was unable to go on Saturday it felt a bit unfair to judge the whole event by the second day. So instead I’m going to give an entirely subjective and informal account of my day there, followed by a bit of news about EightSquared aka EasterCon 2013. PicoCon 2013 PicoCon is a small but long-standing SFF convention based at Imperial College, London. Traditionally it’s been a one-day event, but this year the organisers decided to extend it to two days. As with most such arrangements, the second day tends to be the quieter of the two, and since that was the day I attended, there wasn’t a lot happening that I wanted to go to. In fact, to be honest the main...
Read More2013 Schedule
2013 is going to be a little quieter for me than 2012, but I still have a fair few events lined up so I thought I’d look ahead to the rest of the year. You know, in case you fancy catching up with me, getting a book signed or whatever! 16-17 February: PicoCon, London PicoCon is a small convention, formerly only one day, that’s held at Imperial College in south-west London. I shall definitely be there on the Sunday in time for guest Richard Morgan’s talk, and will no doubt hang around for a good chunk of the day. I don’t have any programme events lined up, however – I’ll just be there to hang out with my SFF buddies (and get my copy of The Steel Remains signed!). 29 March – 1 April: Eastercon, Bradford As far as I know the...
Read MoreBristolCon 2012
Last Saturday saw the return of BristolCon, the small but perfectly formed SF convention based in the city of the same name. It was my second year of attending, and though it’s a long way to go for a one-day convention, it’s well worth a visit. The programming is always excellent, managing to avoid the usual tired topics that get recycled every year at the larger conventions in favour of such delights as “Toilets in Outer Space – practicalities for a fantastic world” and “Women in Sensible Armour”. I attended the latter, which of course started off with general ridiculing of chain-mail bikinis but soon diverged into related topics such as women in the military and women passing as men. Of course it covered some of the...
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