Con-Season Part 1
It's that cherry blossom time of year when we suddenly start feeling more energized and inspired and for us creative types this sensation of dynamism can only be augmented by a recent con-experience. Once you've got over the hangovers and con-crud, that is.
The season began for me with a trip to North Wales where Hafan y Mor gave us welcome once again for the Sci-Fi Weekender. The journey to the sea was long and, in parts, perilous, affording us views of sheer drops down into sheep-filled valleys from the narrow roads, and little detours into the Snowdonia National Park.
Myself and a couple of friends, Jess and Cris, arrived in time for the Thursday pre-party, at which I managed to meet a brand new face from my own hometown. A nice, chilled way to start the weekend.
On Friday morning, an early start was required to go and watch the eclipse. We trundled down to the shoreline with our makeshift pinhole camera (a large piece of white card and a Strongbow box), having been unable to acquire the de rigeur black glasses as worn by Professor Brian Cox on the cover of Radio Times. Other people were there with various combinations of attempted pin holes, made from colanders and torn granola boxes. Hey, ours looked pretty good in comparison. The sky was fairly clear, and already turning a violet-grey, the gulls floating subdued on the placid sea. Our camera revealed the moon had already taken a nibble from the sun, and we observed the mica in the air, the stillness, the chill descending. Nearby a small girl we had been trying to encourage to look at our nibbled sun found a rotting stick which she found much more interesting, we had to laugh. Her mother meanwhile was taking photos of the starlight speckles of sunlight on the water as the sun's reflection paled and retreated.
Just as the eclipse was nearing its peak, the birds flew off and the sea went crazy, roaring and splashing over the few visible sticks of the jetty. Another woman appeared and let us look through her glasses for a few seconds, and I was shocked to begin with because I'd forgotten ours would be an upside-down image. The sea calmed for a few minutes before going mad again. I saw one of the gardeners drive by with a palm tree in the back of his truck - what a shame to miss this! And yet... a palm tree in North Wales is probably odd enough.
Later in the day, we were joined by more friends and my husband, brother and nephew who had travelled up together after school. My nephew Ash is six - it was his first convention - aw! He mainly spent it playing crazy golf and kickabout football, though.
My Friday highlights included a very interesting publishing panel, featuring David J Howe, Terry Martin and Theresa Derwin, Charles Ross's brilliant One Man Star Wars, and interviews with Game of Thrones stars Julian Glover and James Cosmo. We missed most of the Imaginarium, but Darth Elvis and and the Imperials were brilliant and funny. Didn't all go to plan for them though - a staged interruption to their set from their friend dressed as Jar Jar Binks was misinterpreted by a security guard and the hapless fellow was dragged off stage. We also managed to watch a film called Hungerford, written, filmed and acted in by a plucky 19 year old Drew Casson - very promising, especially for someone so young, but all the shaky camerawork was motion-sickness inducing and there were some big old plot issues.
On Saturday, I took part in a couple of panels: Writing Horror with Terry Martin and Alison Kershaw, and I moderated Writing Alternative Worlds with Kim Lakin-Smith and Gareth L. Powell. We had some great audience questions, and the time flew by. For my second panel, Gareth had only just finished taking part in Just a Minute with Bryony Pearce, Sophie Aldred and Sylvester McCoy, and when we concluded he'd done 5 and a half hours of talking on panels. What a trooper!
Other Saturday highlights for me - seeing my friends' children winning the Cosplay competition and going to watch Festival of the Spoken Nerd - I've known Helen Arney for ages from the comedy circuit, and she's brilliantly funny and has a gorgeous voice. Go see her and the Nerds if you can!
It was a lovely weekend full of cheesy dancing to cheesier music, cosplay, comedy and mild sunshine.
Nothing to do on the Sunday, so a trip to Portmeirion Village on the way home was in order. A beautiful day, the flowers were in bloom. Shame I had to leave, really.
Did I? You will find out in the continued adventures of this con-goer!
The season began for me with a trip to North Wales where Hafan y Mor gave us welcome once again for the Sci-Fi Weekender. The journey to the sea was long and, in parts, perilous, affording us views of sheer drops down into sheep-filled valleys from the narrow roads, and little detours into the Snowdonia National Park.
Myself and a couple of friends, Jess and Cris, arrived in time for the Thursday pre-party, at which I managed to meet a brand new face from my own hometown. A nice, chilled way to start the weekend.
On Friday morning, an early start was required to go and watch the eclipse. We trundled down to the shoreline with our makeshift pinhole camera (a large piece of white card and a Strongbow box), having been unable to acquire the de rigeur black glasses as worn by Professor Brian Cox on the cover of Radio Times. Other people were there with various combinations of attempted pin holes, made from colanders and torn granola boxes. Hey, ours looked pretty good in comparison. The sky was fairly clear, and already turning a violet-grey, the gulls floating subdued on the placid sea. Our camera revealed the moon had already taken a nibble from the sun, and we observed the mica in the air, the stillness, the chill descending. Nearby a small girl we had been trying to encourage to look at our nibbled sun found a rotting stick which she found much more interesting, we had to laugh. Her mother meanwhile was taking photos of the starlight speckles of sunlight on the water as the sun's reflection paled and retreated.
Just as the eclipse was nearing its peak, the birds flew off and the sea went crazy, roaring and splashing over the few visible sticks of the jetty. Another woman appeared and let us look through her glasses for a few seconds, and I was shocked to begin with because I'd forgotten ours would be an upside-down image. The sea calmed for a few minutes before going mad again. I saw one of the gardeners drive by with a palm tree in the back of his truck - what a shame to miss this! And yet... a palm tree in North Wales is probably odd enough.
Later in the day, we were joined by more friends and my husband, brother and nephew who had travelled up together after school. My nephew Ash is six - it was his first convention - aw! He mainly spent it playing crazy golf and kickabout football, though.
My Friday highlights included a very interesting publishing panel, featuring David J Howe, Terry Martin and Theresa Derwin, Charles Ross's brilliant One Man Star Wars, and interviews with Game of Thrones stars Julian Glover and James Cosmo. We missed most of the Imaginarium, but Darth Elvis and and the Imperials were brilliant and funny. Didn't all go to plan for them though - a staged interruption to their set from their friend dressed as Jar Jar Binks was misinterpreted by a security guard and the hapless fellow was dragged off stage. We also managed to watch a film called Hungerford, written, filmed and acted in by a plucky 19 year old Drew Casson - very promising, especially for someone so young, but all the shaky camerawork was motion-sickness inducing and there were some big old plot issues.
On Saturday, I took part in a couple of panels: Writing Horror with Terry Martin and Alison Kershaw, and I moderated Writing Alternative Worlds with Kim Lakin-Smith and Gareth L. Powell. We had some great audience questions, and the time flew by. For my second panel, Gareth had only just finished taking part in Just a Minute with Bryony Pearce, Sophie Aldred and Sylvester McCoy, and when we concluded he'd done 5 and a half hours of talking on panels. What a trooper!
Other Saturday highlights for me - seeing my friends' children winning the Cosplay competition and going to watch Festival of the Spoken Nerd - I've known Helen Arney for ages from the comedy circuit, and she's brilliantly funny and has a gorgeous voice. Go see her and the Nerds if you can!
It was a lovely weekend full of cheesy dancing to cheesier music, cosplay, comedy and mild sunshine.
Nothing to do on the Sunday, so a trip to Portmeirion Village on the way home was in order. A beautiful day, the flowers were in bloom. Shame I had to leave, really.
Did I? You will find out in the continued adventures of this con-goer!