My Fantasycon Experience

What better way to spend a weekend that in a hotel in Brighton with a load of fantasy fans, authors and publishers. So Cathy and I did, by attending Fantasycon 2011 in the blazing heat of last weekend.

This was only our 2nd Con, and the first one away from home. Our first, Eastercon this year, was held within travelling distance of home, although that did mean us leaving at about 8 each evening to make sure we got home. This time, we hoped to engage in that age old Con tradition of staying up late drinking in the bar!



Whatever you might want to say about the suitability of the hotel as a convention venue, you couldn't beat its location. The hotel lounge looked out over Brighton pier, and it was only a short walk out onto the beach. An early morning walk along the beach between breakfast and the start of morning events certainly helped wake me up each day.

At Eastercon, the emphasis seems to be on a lot more panels, and as a result that's what we also attended at Fantasycon. Really enjoyed all the panels we attended, and picked up some more books to watch out for. Was very interested in the talk about the YA "genre", especially given I work in a library, and I'm sure I'll continue the discussion with Cathy and colleagues in the future. The comics panel also covered the current hot topic in comics, and it was interested to hear some professionals take on it.

That being said, I think we missed out on more than we realised by not attending some of the launches and readings. I'll be honest, I didn't do any research into the events before hand, and now wish I had. The chance to hear authors read from their books, or to pick up a book on the release day and actually have a decent talk with those involved with is something you don't often get outside of a Con. So, next time, more research before attending will take place!

While we weren't in panels, we were hanging around the bar area trying to be sociable. Unfortunately, neither Cathy or I are particularly forward, and some time was spent trying not to look awkward. I didn't help my confidence by managing to put my foot in it while talking to a publisher after we'd not long been in the hotel. I'm sure they don't even remember it, but I was trying to be complimentary, I just forgot some of the specifics surrounding that particular book. Oh well, best not to dwell on that.
Anyway, when we did lose the social awkwardness, we met some great people, and had some very enjoyable, if sometimes odd, conversations.

For a bunch of book geeks, we've really embraced social media as a tool for meeting people. In some ways I'm a bit behind this, Cathy had a list of people she wanted to speak to who she'd talked to on Twitter, while I just tagged along and tried to not look too pathetic. Something to work on before the next convention I feel!

I think the worst thing of the entire weekend was the travelling. Yep, even having air conditioning units outside the hotel bedroom window was not really a problem. However the journey up and down was massively draining, especially the train from Brighton to London on the way home. Sardines in a can would have had more room that we had on that train. Still, all our connections went smoothly, and the trains were on time, so that's something.

I'm sure I'd thought of more to write, but Portal 2 has just finished downloading! For another view point (or a similar one, just better written) have a read of Cathy's Fantasycon post: http://catherinetjhill.blogspot.com/2011/10/fantasycon-2011.html