Other things being equal, I wold have been looking forward to Eastercon at the end of this week - a welcome return to the Birmingham Hilton where I have had various good times over the years. The last few times I attended Eastercon I got (not very reluctantly) roped into counting the votes for the BSFA Awards; the voting deadline this year has now ( Read more... )

This is the ninth year that I have blogged about my BSFA votes, though I haven't consistently noted my choices in this category (I did so for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016). This year we have one monograph, two essays and two series of blog posts, leading to the usual problems of comparing apples, oranges and mangoes. I think I have to take ( Read more... )

We look at the Doctor, awkward and impossible in a given place and time, old-fashioned, beset by lace cuffs and red-lined capes and jingoism, and we reverse him. We reverse his polarity until he works the way he's supposed to, over and over and over, and makes us better so that we, in turn, can make him better - bravely, courageously, with ( Read more... )

Well, I had a tremendous time at Eastercon. The unprecedented fact that it had sold all available memberships beforehand boded well; and the hard work put in by the team paid off in almost every way.

( panels )

26) Northern Storm, by jemck

The second in Juliet E. McKenna's Aldabreshin Compass series. Here we have Kheda, central character of the previous book, struggling to balance the interests of his new realm, his new wife, and the woman he loves (it's a polygamous society, so the love-life issues are somewhat different from those faced by Jane Austen's ( Read more... )

14) Southern Fire, by Juliet McKenna

The first of the second series of fantasy novels by jemck, set in the same world as the first series but in a different part of it, among the lascivious island race visited briefly in a previous book. I said in a previous review that I would have liked to have heard more about these people; well, you should be ( Read more... )

7) Doctor Who Short Trips [2]: Companions, ed. Jacqueline Rayner
8) Doctor Who Short Trips [3]: A Universe of Terrors, ed. John Binns ( Read more... )

7) The Discontinuity Guide: The Definitive Guide to the Worlds and Times of Doctor Who, by Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping ( Read more... )

I seem to be on a number of panels at P-Con this weekend:

Saturday

10:15 Just a Minute Quiz with Paul Cornell, autopope, Leah Moore (moderated by Frank Darcy)
Panellists must speak on a given topic for 60 seconds without hesitation, deviation, or repetition

13:00 Fantastic! The Doctor Who Panel, with Paul Cornell and Colin Greenland, with me moderating ( Read more... )

It's all a bit of a blur, so far. Arrived Thursday, regstered; went (with hfnuala) to the panel on how to enjoy Worldcon; did panel on "The Digital Divide" which was efficiently and academically chaired by Renee Sieber, the other two panellists being brisingamen and surliminal; several people asked where I'd got my livejournal badge (answer: from an idea[ by thette); spent money in ( Read more... )