Whew.
The past weekend saw Mrs Church and I attending our first big convention is six years - we've done Edge-Lit last year and the year before, which is a brilliant time, but only a one-day event. Fantasycon, the annual convention of the BFS, is a three-day affair, and on an even bigger scale.
Between COVID, health and cash-flow issues, we haven't been able to attend FCon since 2018 - which as coincidence would have it, was held at the same venue as this year's: the Queen's Hotel in Chester.
For various reasons we'd hemmed and hawed about attending, and by the time we did commit to going the deadline to register for panels and other events had passed by, but as it turned out I ended up doing a few anyway!
First was 'Stories in the Dark' on Friday night, where we each read a 10-minute piece, lit only by the glow of our mobile phones - a brilliant modern twist on the old 'tales round the campfire/by candlelight' idea. The most excellent Mr CC Adams was in charge (and led with an excerpt from his werewolf novella Downwind, Alice, which featured some worryingly realistic growls,) followed up by Stephen Kozeniewski, the wonderful Kayleigh Dobbs, the one and only Kit Power and me. All went well.
On Saturday, I took part in the panel on Horror and Mental Health, and on Sunday on Horror in Space. On Monday, I slept in until midday, and didn't do a great deal else. :)
One of my favourite reviews of The Hollows came from Lezlie Smith at The Nerdy Narrative, so I will admit I was on tenterhooks waiting to see what she thought of The Ravening. Her review finally dropped yesterday... and she loved it. :) You can listen to what she thought here. Huge thanks, Lezlie!
(You can also see the thumbnail of Lezlie's YouTube review accompanying this post, partly because all the pictures of me from Fantasycon look horrifying.)
Finally, I got invited to do an interview on the Creative Principles podcast with Brock Swinson, talking about The Hollows, The Ravening and writing in general. It's up now, so you can hear me rattle on to your heart's content here. :) Thanks for having me on, Brock!
I've been typing all this between coughs and sneezes, as I appear to have picked up a cold at FCon - an occupational hazard with conventions! So now I'm off for a lie down...
See you next time,
Daniel :)
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