Started jotting down stuff for this a few days after the event, but kept forgetting to finish it.  I’m having a burst of efficiency tonight (you may have noticed), so here it is at last…



Well, that’s my first Fantasycon in years over with, and (more or less) recovered from.  Physically, anyway.  My wallet’s still making little whimpering sounds and screaming ‘no, you bastard!’ every time I open it.  Makes getting out my bus pass an adventure…



Seriously, I had a great time.  There were people I hadn’t seen in ages, such as Stuart Young, John Travis, (two of the nicest, most modest guys in the small press- Stuart’s total astonished speechlessness when he won Best Novella a couple years back is already legendary) Des Lewis, Paul Finch (Wigan’s finest, who won a well-deserved Best Novella Award), Tim Lebbon, Gary Greenwood, Simon Clark, Gary Couzens, Alison Davies, Paul Kane, Marie O’Regan, Steve Savile and David ‘Diamond Dai’ Price.  Mark Samuels was also there, and I got to meet his wife, Adriana, for the first time.  Mark’s report (and photographic record) of the Con may be found here.  He even says something nice about me… :)



Also people I’ve seen more recently (but it’s still good to see ‘em again) like Joel Lane, John Llewellyn Probert, Conrad Williams, Steve Lockley, Paul Lewis, Chris Teague…



And then there were the ones I was meeting for the first time: Guy Adams of Humdrumming, Gary Fry of Gray Friar Press, David A. Sutton, Paigan Stone, Sarah Pinborough, Rosanne Rabinowitz, and, best of all, Gary McMahon, who I’ve corresponded with a lot (I helped stop him writng for two years, and kept him going too… a long story) but never actually met.  A few pints were sank.  More than a few, in fact.  We’re still trying to decide if we were separated at birth- two horror writers in the same house?  It’d’ve been too much for mortal man to bear.



Saturday night, there was curry (being a wimp I stuck to lamb korma) and ended up at a table with Gary Couzens and two other new acquaintances- Jetse De Vries (a seriously nice guy) and Marion Arnott- a brilliant writer and a great lady to talk to.  We discovered a mutual fascination with World War One (see last but one post) and that was pretty much that…



I had a few of Dark Smile’s CDs with me and managed to shift a couple- I held off giving out freebies but our Artistic Director later told me I should’ve passed out a few more- anything to spread the word.  Oh well, next time…



I think what’s really stuck with me is what an incredibly nice bunch of people you find at such events.  If you write in the horror genre, you can usually expect people to assume you’re not the full shilling and possibly an incipient serial killer, but the reality is the opposite- horror writers are generally the best-balanced of the lot, as they let all the demons out on paper. 



Most importantly, they acknowledge that they’re there.  A great quote, from Lord Herbert of Cherbury: He sees enough who doth his darkness see.



Very wise words.



The Fantasycon’s great because it’s inspirational.  You make friends at these days.  You get people interested in your work, become aware of projects.  But most of all, you realise you’re not alone.  Being a writer often makes you feel like you’re pissing in the wind.  It’s a bit like being a socialist.  I’ve been on anti-war and anti-fascist demos, and one thing you do realise on such occasions is that you aren’t pissing in the wind.  Other people feel the way you do.  Passionately.  And suddenly you don’t feel quite so helpless, or quite so alone.



All in all, a brilliant weekend.  Walks away with an armful of books and all- John Probert’s The Faculty Of Terror, The Extremist by the mighty Paul Finch, the two books in Guy Adams’ Deadbeat series (Makes You Stronger and Dogs Of Waugh)- all of which seriously rock, folks.



So now I just have to save for next year.  Maybe if I sold someone a kidney…