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jemck at 02:23pm on 01/03/2009
jemck at 02:23pm on 01/03/2009Me and the lads had a thoroughly enjoyable visit to London yesterday for Picocon where the Guests of Honour where Mike Marshall Smith, Pat Cadigan and Robert Rankin.
Yes, both sons came this year. Senior son couldn't resist the prospect of LAN gaming plus Picocon's unique way with liquid nitrogen and later, fish...
On arriving at Paddington, we did discover the Circle Line was closed for 'essential engineering work' (y'don't say!) so getting to South Kensington by a rather circuitous route meant I only heard the latter half of MMS's reading/Q&A. The story was 'The 17th Kind'. I shall have to a)try and find a copy of it or b)keep an eye on where/when he's doing readings, so as to enjoy the rest of it sometime. It was (unsurprisingly) one of those tales that's going to be well worth re/reading even when you know the pay-off. Funny, well-observed, that splinter of ice at its heart...
Pat Cadigan read from her story 'Truth and Bone' in the current Poe anthology, edited by Ellen Datlow. Happily I have a copy of that on the TBR shelf so can read on to discover how the intriguing and cheerfully ominous beginning resolves itself. Even more pleasing, this is going to be a novel, which I, for one, cannot wait to get hold of.
Robert Rankin's talk was discursive to say the least, taking in recent sucessful and less well-received sartorial choices, some of the interesting people he's met in his writing years, and concluding with his own (alleged) discovery of lost George Formby masterpieces, such as '(you should see the things I see) Writing Far-Fetched Fiction' and the song about Mr Wu joining the fire brigade 'I am Firestarter'. Complete with musical accompaniment. Anarchy on the Ukelele sums it up pretty well.
As you may imagine, anyone expecting the panel discussion on rayguns to be a serious exploration of particle and/or beam weapons was going to be disappointed. But I didn't get any hint of that from the substantial audience being entertained by this quick-witted trio. And as ever at a convention, there were established friends to chat to and interesting acquaintances to make and news and views exchanged. Excellent.
Thence back to Paddington on an insanely busy Underground, caught the train we wanted by the skin of our collective teeth, rang husband and thus he was just collecting a chinese takeaway as we arrived home.
Today has been a quieter day, naturally. I've been catching up on some overdue admin - not due to slackitude but coz various domestic and husbandly-work issues have needed to be resolved before I could make a firm decision about Eastercon and know my options on travel times for P-Con.
Happily all is now sorted, so younger son and I will be attending Eastercon, Friday to Monday, and I shall be flying into Dublin for the Friday afternoon and then flying back Sunday evening, with regard to P-Con. Both promise to be splendid events!
Yes, both sons came this year. Senior son couldn't resist the prospect of LAN gaming plus Picocon's unique way with liquid nitrogen and later, fish...
On arriving at Paddington, we did discover the Circle Line was closed for 'essential engineering work' (y'don't say!) so getting to South Kensington by a rather circuitous route meant I only heard the latter half of MMS's reading/Q&A. The story was 'The 17th Kind'. I shall have to a)try and find a copy of it or b)keep an eye on where/when he's doing readings, so as to enjoy the rest of it sometime. It was (unsurprisingly) one of those tales that's going to be well worth re/reading even when you know the pay-off. Funny, well-observed, that splinter of ice at its heart...
Pat Cadigan read from her story 'Truth and Bone' in the current Poe anthology, edited by Ellen Datlow. Happily I have a copy of that on the TBR shelf so can read on to discover how the intriguing and cheerfully ominous beginning resolves itself. Even more pleasing, this is going to be a novel, which I, for one, cannot wait to get hold of.
Robert Rankin's talk was discursive to say the least, taking in recent sucessful and less well-received sartorial choices, some of the interesting people he's met in his writing years, and concluding with his own (alleged) discovery of lost George Formby masterpieces, such as '(you should see the things I see) Writing Far-Fetched Fiction' and the song about Mr Wu joining the fire brigade 'I am Firestarter'. Complete with musical accompaniment. Anarchy on the Ukelele sums it up pretty well.
As you may imagine, anyone expecting the panel discussion on rayguns to be a serious exploration of particle and/or beam weapons was going to be disappointed. But I didn't get any hint of that from the substantial audience being entertained by this quick-witted trio. And as ever at a convention, there were established friends to chat to and interesting acquaintances to make and news and views exchanged. Excellent.
Thence back to Paddington on an insanely busy Underground, caught the train we wanted by the skin of our collective teeth, rang husband and thus he was just collecting a chinese takeaway as we arrived home.
Today has been a quieter day, naturally. I've been catching up on some overdue admin - not due to slackitude but coz various domestic and husbandly-work issues have needed to be resolved before I could make a firm decision about Eastercon and know my options on travel times for P-Con.
Happily all is now sorted, so younger son and I will be attending Eastercon, Friday to Monday, and I shall be flying into Dublin for the Friday afternoon and then flying back Sunday evening, with regard to P-Con. Both promise to be splendid events!
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