Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Back from Conflux

Wow! What a great time I had in Canberra!

When I first arrived on Friday night for the opening, and the launch of Kaaron Warren's excellent The Grinding House the hotel conference rooms were packed. I'm not a great one for socialising in crowds, I'm more of a one-on-one conversation guy, and it was all very overwhelming at first. There were so many people chatting and laughing, and I knew none of them! Well, that's not true, I did know quite a few of them, but only through the internet. I had never met any of them in person. Nevertheless, I became a wallflower, retreating to the darkest corner and trying to become invisible to all.

Luckily my psychic-invisibility spell did not work and the wonderful Donna Hanson (Chair of Conflux 2005, editor, and owner of the Australian Speculative Fiction website) found me and starting introducing me to those I knew but had never met.

Ella, Mel, Mirren and Emma all looked after me from the start, and I owe them lots of thanks for making me feel so welcome. I had lots of time to talk with Richard Harland, Keith Stevenson and Cat Sparks (all of whom I have worked with for Aurealis magazine) and had a good chat with Zara Baxter of the Andromeda Spaceways Co-Op.

But mainly I hung out with the Purple Zone (www.voyageronline.com.au) crowd - Ella, Mel, Mirren, Emma, Jenny Fallon, Trudi Canavan, and Russell Kirkpatrick. I've been a member of the Voyager Online message board for the past 4years and it is a wonderful online community. It was really good to put faces to the names of people I have been chatting with for so long.

From that point on, I had a blast! The discussion panels were great, and most of them topically interesting and useful for up-and-coming authors. The Trade Room was a great place to hang out and chat with just about anyone who's anyone in Australian speculative fiction.

One night I found myself standing at the bar (as you do at Cons) waiting, and waiting, and waiting to be served. The guy beside me seemed to be getting just as annoyed as I was and so, a conversation on the lack of service ensued. We made our introductions only to discover I was talking to author and editor Shane Jiraiya Cummings, whose story "Sobek's Tears" I had illustrated for Aurealis #33-35. I think it was a bit strange for both of us, but we seemed to get on really well. I had some great conversations with Shane and Angela Challis, who both edit the excellent Shadowed Realms (http://www.shadowedrealms.com.au/) online Flash fiction magazine.

Angela was even able to use her persuasive powers to coax me out onto the Dancefloor, an event unheard of for almost a decade! Me! Dancing! Shane attempted to take some photos to immortalise the moment but, alas, the light was dim, it was an unfamilar camera, and the results all show me in horribly distorted poses that are rumoured to resemble Dancing only according to some previously unknown definition of the word. Hence, you will not be seeing those photos anytime soon!

All-in-all, I discovered that Australia has a very talented and extremely friendly Speculative Fiction community that I am really happy to be a part of. Although this was my first Con I have a feeling that it definitely won't be my last.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Off to Conflux!

Well, the family and I are off to Conflux 2 in Canberra. My first Con! Should be lots of fun! :)