I'm back at my desk after a month spent mostly away from it, catching up with friends and family. It's been a great thing to take some time off for travelling, thinking and reading, and I hope to post more about this in due course. But meanwhile, from the 9th to the 11th of August I found the time to stop off at Nine Worlds Geekfest. Although it's a bit late to write a full report on the event, and others have done a better job of that than me, I thought I'd share a few of my impressions of what turned out to be a fantastic, inclusive and inspiring celebration of all things science fiction.
I have to confess that I hadn't attended a science fiction convention before and didn't even really understand what one was. I was asked to speak at Nine Worlds back in March and agreed, without knowing much about what it would involve. The whole event took place in two hotels at London Heathrow, and when I arrived the entrance was already surrounded by people in various costumes, some armed, including a life-sized alien - as well as a crowd of confused Thai air hostesses.
Consulting my programme, I found that the convention was really several different conventions, because it was organised into tracks on diverse topics, from Game of Thrones to Steampunk to Film. The experienced convention attendees, I noticed, even had neat little lists planned out in advance with all the events they wanted to attend across all the different tracks. I arrived early, so decided to investigate some of these other tracks, and was so glad I had. Among other things, I heard serious academic discussions of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, saw a game of Muggle Quidditch, and met the alien mentioned above. I also stopped off at the vendors' hall to sign every copy of my books. What struck me most about the event was the atmosphere between events, though, when attendees crossed and encountered each other as they roamed the corridors of the hotel. The striking thing was how inclusive and kind-spirited it was. I began to conclude that there must be something that links science fiction fandom with being a decent, kind and intelligent person. I don't know what it is, but maybe it needs to be distilled for the rest of the world's benefit...
On the Saturday evening, I was on a panel called Teenage Kicks: Writing for Young Adult Audiences with Laure Eve, Liz de Jager, Tom Pollock and Cory Doctorow (a good match for me, since strictly speaking I'm not really a science-fiction writer). The four of them are not only very interesting writers but fantastic people who I really enjoyed meeting and will, I hope, see again at some future point. We had a particularly good debate about the darker themes in young adult writing and how far young people need to be protected from these, or not, and then moved on to discussing what young adult writing actually is, as a genre - something on which we all thought slightly differently. I also read from Voices in the Dark at a New Voices Slam Session, expertly hosted by Paul Cornell - and again, for me, the best thing about this was meeting seven new and inspiring authors and getting a window into the worlds of their books. I know I went back to my room that evening feeling inspired and challenged to go back to my own writing with fresh perspectives, the best thing to take away from meeting other writers and readers. In fact, what I particularly enjoyed about the event was the focus on bringing people together to talk about passions - books or films or games or art - without any divisions or formality: it was easy to talk to readers, other writers, booksellers and publishers, and several people approached me directly to talk about my books, something that doesn't always happen.
On a personal note, this event was an important one to me because it is actually the first publicity I have done in several years. After the rather intense media attention surrounding The Eyes of a King, I took the decision to avoid all publicity for a while in order to focus on the writing itself. That while became several years while I studied at university, got engaged, pursued other part-time jobs. Overall, I'd turned into a bit of a hermit. It was only this year, with the step to become a full-time writer, that I decided to change that. I am so glad I did. Nine Worlds was a thoroughly positive experience, and I couldn't have asked for a more welcoming or inspiring return.
Consulting my programme, I found that the convention was really several different conventions, because it was organised into tracks on diverse topics, from Game of Thrones to Steampunk to Film. The experienced convention attendees, I noticed, even had neat little lists planned out in advance with all the events they wanted to attend across all the different tracks. I arrived early, so decided to investigate some of these other tracks, and was so glad I had. Among other things, I heard serious academic discussions of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, saw a game of Muggle Quidditch, and met the alien mentioned above. I also stopped off at the vendors' hall to sign every copy of my books. What struck me most about the event was the atmosphere between events, though, when attendees crossed and encountered each other as they roamed the corridors of the hotel. The striking thing was how inclusive and kind-spirited it was. I began to conclude that there must be something that links science fiction fandom with being a decent, kind and intelligent person. I don't know what it is, but maybe it needs to be distilled for the rest of the world's benefit...
On the Saturday evening, I was on a panel called Teenage Kicks: Writing for Young Adult Audiences with Laure Eve, Liz de Jager, Tom Pollock and Cory Doctorow (a good match for me, since strictly speaking I'm not really a science-fiction writer). The four of them are not only very interesting writers but fantastic people who I really enjoyed meeting and will, I hope, see again at some future point. We had a particularly good debate about the darker themes in young adult writing and how far young people need to be protected from these, or not, and then moved on to discussing what young adult writing actually is, as a genre - something on which we all thought slightly differently. I also read from Voices in the Dark at a New Voices Slam Session, expertly hosted by Paul Cornell - and again, for me, the best thing about this was meeting seven new and inspiring authors and getting a window into the worlds of their books. I know I went back to my room that evening feeling inspired and challenged to go back to my own writing with fresh perspectives, the best thing to take away from meeting other writers and readers. In fact, what I particularly enjoyed about the event was the focus on bringing people together to talk about passions - books or films or games or art - without any divisions or formality: it was easy to talk to readers, other writers, booksellers and publishers, and several people approached me directly to talk about my books, something that doesn't always happen.
On a personal note, this event was an important one to me because it is actually the first publicity I have done in several years. After the rather intense media attention surrounding The Eyes of a King, I took the decision to avoid all publicity for a while in order to focus on the writing itself. That while became several years while I studied at university, got engaged, pursued other part-time jobs. Overall, I'd turned into a bit of a hermit. It was only this year, with the step to become a full-time writer, that I decided to change that. I am so glad I did. Nine Worlds was a thoroughly positive experience, and I couldn't have asked for a more welcoming or inspiring return.
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