Having experienced some issues with my route-map directions, I lost my trust in them and didn’t arrive at the Britannia Hotel until just after midday, so I missed a panel with Paul Finch and Clive Barker on it. Ah well.
I went to the dealer room straight from signing in and met up with Chris Teague at the Pendragon Press table. I realise that I’m a Pendragon writer but I am seriously impressed with what Chris is doing and his array of titles showed a good deal of diversity and some high quality publications. He also handed me “Audition” on DVD and my first royalty cheque - woo hoo! Grey Friar Press was the next table over and I got introduced to the two Gary’s - Fry and McMahon - and Mr McMahon and I had a good chat (wherein, amongst many other things, I discovered that reading about my block had inspired him to put together a collection, which he then asked me to contribute to!). He was a really nice bloke and I thoroughly enjoyed our chats (all through the afternoon). I also met up with Allyson Bird, who I’d been posting with at Shocklines and TTA Press. All good stuff.
I had a quick look around the dealer room (so many books, never enough money) and then headed through to the bar, where the first people I saw were Rob Rowntree & Lisa Negus, whom I’ve met and hung around with at every Con I’ve ever been to (apart from Wigan). They were doing well, which is good to see, with Rob concentrating more on novels now. Whilst Lisa & I were chatting, a bloke called Mike (that was all it said on his name-tag and - I now feel guilty about this - I didn’t ask what his surname was) came over to tell me how much he’d enjoyed “Strange Tales”. This sort of thing doesn’t happen to me - witness the fan letter from Jamie Turner a little while back - and I was astounded. I managed to garble out a thank-you and then he was gone (I did, eventually, meet up with him later and tell him how much I appreciated his kind words and also gave him a card so, if you’re reading this Mike, thank you!).
Rob went off for a meeting, so Lisa and I mingled and had a quick meet with Paul Kane (a handshake, hug and a quick catch-up before he was off to do more BFS business), then stood talking to Tim Lebbon for a while. Lisa then went off to a panel with Neil Gaiman (who’s not as tall as I thought he was going to be), so I headed back to the dealers room.
Gary Greenwood appeared at Chris’ table and it was great to finally meet him - we’ve been corresponding on boards for a year or more now and seem to have been at a lot of the same Cons, but had never connected. He was brilliant to talk to with an excellent sense of humour, very quick and intelligent and I thoroughly enjoyed his company.
We headed back to the bar, with Alison L R Davies in tow and I (almost literally) bumped into Mike Philbin. We stood in the corridor and had a quick chat and then he went towards the dealers room (and I read on his LJ that he didn’t enjoy the day which is a shame and, I have to agree with him, the bar was seriously understaffed).
We got a table in the bar - Alison, Chris, myself, Gary Mc and Gary G. Steve Lockley joined us a bit later and then Garry Charles came over and we got introduced - he loved “In The Rain With The Dead” and it was a pleasure to meet him (and then his wife and children later), he seemed like a nice bloke too. David Price then appeared and sat with us but, sadly, I didn’t get any pictures with him this time (in fact, I didn’t take any pictures at all!). After everyone had gone off for one panel or another, I sat talking with Steve for a while about his plans.
I went to drop some stuff off in the dealer room (I left my bag behind Chris’ table for the day) and met up with Paul Finch (another con stalwart for me) - we had a good chat, catching up with each others news and wondering what was happening with Andrew & Lisa Busby (late of the wonderful Sackcloth & Ashes). Unfortunately, I had to cut our chat short (sorry Paul) as it was time for the Clive Barker panel, which I really wanted to see - reading his “Books Of Blood” in the mid-80s was a real revelation to me and led pretty much directly to my original “Strange Tales”, which, of course, fed the later incarnation.
Paul Kane interviewed him in the main suite and I sat with Chris and David - the room was quite full, but not as much as I’d imagined. I’m not entirely sure what I expected, but it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, if that makes sense. Paul did a very commendable job, Clive gave some thorough, witty answers, but there was something… Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the interview and I’m really glad I finally got to see the man, but it actually sort of made me wish I’d known about the BFS back in the mid-80s when the Books Of Blood first came out.
On my way to the bar, I saw Mark & Adriana Samuels, Stuart Young and Katy and another chap. I went over for a chat with them, wished Stu good luck (he was up for best novella) and stood and had a smoke with Katy.
After this, it was back to the dealer room. As is my wont at Cons, I was smoking mini-cigars, so I went out onto the roof for a smoke and stood talking to a woman who was helping out on Anne Sudworth’s stall (I’d noticed a very gothic lady in the bar (it was hard not to notice her) and discovered that she was Ann, whose paintings are spectacular). The lady I was speaking to was a friend of Storm Constantine, who had the table next to the Gary’s and we talked for a while (she said she was interested in horror, I admitted that fantasy left me cold), I gave her a card and it was pleasant - I think one of the great things about Cons is the fact that you talk to people you perhaps wouldn’t normally, about things you perhaps wouldn’t normally talk about. It’s good.
We stayed around for the small press launch (I remember how that felt last year and I watched the faces of folk around me, sharing in their delight), which showed a healthy number of titles from a healthy number of publishers. David Howe gave a rousing speech which boiled down to what I believe - support the small press!
I’d decided to stay as late as possible and was looking forward to going for a curry, but in the end I went with Alison, her boyfriend Scott, Simon Morden, Chris, Gary G, Jonathan Oliver and his wife and the Howe’s to a little pub called “The Trip To Old Jerusalem” (apparently, it’s the oldest pub in England and is built into the rock under the castle). It was very nice, but it wasn’t a curry (which I discovered, on my return, that Lisa & Rob had had).
The dealer room was locked up by then, so Chris & I had to get some staff to let us in - he wanted some books for raffle prizes, I wanted my bag. They couldn’t open the door, so they led us through the kitchens. I’ve never been in a big, professional kitchen before and Chris & I were saying how cool it was that we were in there. He referenced “The Shining” but, as I admitted to him, I was thinking more of “Once Upon A Time In Mexico”!
We went back to the bar, to wait for the raffle to start and I was approached by Jay Eales, who knew me through his LJ. He’s local to me and it was good to meet him and we talked about something I’d discovered throughout the day, that LJ (and various blogs) do serve a purpose. People do read things, you’re not just shouting in the darkness. I found it odd from my end, talking to Tim and Gary G and already knowing about their lives, what they did, their wives names etc., and I’m sure they did too - I actually had people asking me how the garden was coming along! All very cool and Jay’s a good bloke.
We then headed into the main suite for the raffle which, over the years, I’ve heard a lot about, the main thing being that you never come away empty handed. As it was, I set myself a limit of 11pm to leave and by 10.50pm (by which time Rob & Lisa had deserted the table), I hadn’t won but they decided to give all of us losers a free prize anyway (not to be ungrateful, but I got book 1 of a new fantasy trilogy - why are all fantasies written as trilogies?).
At that point, I left but didn’t get a chance to say many goodbyes, though the Grey Friars folk were sitting in the smaller bar so I had a final chat with them, shook hands and then I was gone.
An excellent day, meeting old friends and new and finally getting to see Clive Barker in the flesh. I’m already looking forward to next year.
I went to the dealer room straight from signing in and met up with Chris Teague at the Pendragon Press table. I realise that I’m a Pendragon writer but I am seriously impressed with what Chris is doing and his array of titles showed a good deal of diversity and some high quality publications. He also handed me “Audition” on DVD and my first royalty cheque - woo hoo! Grey Friar Press was the next table over and I got introduced to the two Gary’s - Fry and McMahon - and Mr McMahon and I had a good chat (wherein, amongst many other things, I discovered that reading about my block had inspired him to put together a collection, which he then asked me to contribute to!). He was a really nice bloke and I thoroughly enjoyed our chats (all through the afternoon). I also met up with Allyson Bird, who I’d been posting with at Shocklines and TTA Press. All good stuff.
I had a quick look around the dealer room (so many books, never enough money) and then headed through to the bar, where the first people I saw were Rob Rowntree & Lisa Negus, whom I’ve met and hung around with at every Con I’ve ever been to (apart from Wigan). They were doing well, which is good to see, with Rob concentrating more on novels now. Whilst Lisa & I were chatting, a bloke called Mike (that was all it said on his name-tag and - I now feel guilty about this - I didn’t ask what his surname was) came over to tell me how much he’d enjoyed “Strange Tales”. This sort of thing doesn’t happen to me - witness the fan letter from Jamie Turner a little while back - and I was astounded. I managed to garble out a thank-you and then he was gone (I did, eventually, meet up with him later and tell him how much I appreciated his kind words and also gave him a card so, if you’re reading this Mike, thank you!).
Rob went off for a meeting, so Lisa and I mingled and had a quick meet with Paul Kane (a handshake, hug and a quick catch-up before he was off to do more BFS business), then stood talking to Tim Lebbon for a while. Lisa then went off to a panel with Neil Gaiman (who’s not as tall as I thought he was going to be), so I headed back to the dealers room.
Gary Greenwood appeared at Chris’ table and it was great to finally meet him - we’ve been corresponding on boards for a year or more now and seem to have been at a lot of the same Cons, but had never connected. He was brilliant to talk to with an excellent sense of humour, very quick and intelligent and I thoroughly enjoyed his company.
We headed back to the bar, with Alison L R Davies in tow and I (almost literally) bumped into Mike Philbin. We stood in the corridor and had a quick chat and then he went towards the dealers room (and I read on his LJ that he didn’t enjoy the day which is a shame and, I have to agree with him, the bar was seriously understaffed).
We got a table in the bar - Alison, Chris, myself, Gary Mc and Gary G. Steve Lockley joined us a bit later and then Garry Charles came over and we got introduced - he loved “In The Rain With The Dead” and it was a pleasure to meet him (and then his wife and children later), he seemed like a nice bloke too. David Price then appeared and sat with us but, sadly, I didn’t get any pictures with him this time (in fact, I didn’t take any pictures at all!). After everyone had gone off for one panel or another, I sat talking with Steve for a while about his plans.
I went to drop some stuff off in the dealer room (I left my bag behind Chris’ table for the day) and met up with Paul Finch (another con stalwart for me) - we had a good chat, catching up with each others news and wondering what was happening with Andrew & Lisa Busby (late of the wonderful Sackcloth & Ashes). Unfortunately, I had to cut our chat short (sorry Paul) as it was time for the Clive Barker panel, which I really wanted to see - reading his “Books Of Blood” in the mid-80s was a real revelation to me and led pretty much directly to my original “Strange Tales”, which, of course, fed the later incarnation.
Paul Kane interviewed him in the main suite and I sat with Chris and David - the room was quite full, but not as much as I’d imagined. I’m not entirely sure what I expected, but it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, if that makes sense. Paul did a very commendable job, Clive gave some thorough, witty answers, but there was something… Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the interview and I’m really glad I finally got to see the man, but it actually sort of made me wish I’d known about the BFS back in the mid-80s when the Books Of Blood first came out.
On my way to the bar, I saw Mark & Adriana Samuels, Stuart Young and Katy and another chap. I went over for a chat with them, wished Stu good luck (he was up for best novella) and stood and had a smoke with Katy.
After this, it was back to the dealer room. As is my wont at Cons, I was smoking mini-cigars, so I went out onto the roof for a smoke and stood talking to a woman who was helping out on Anne Sudworth’s stall (I’d noticed a very gothic lady in the bar (it was hard not to notice her) and discovered that she was Ann, whose paintings are spectacular). The lady I was speaking to was a friend of Storm Constantine, who had the table next to the Gary’s and we talked for a while (she said she was interested in horror, I admitted that fantasy left me cold), I gave her a card and it was pleasant - I think one of the great things about Cons is the fact that you talk to people you perhaps wouldn’t normally, about things you perhaps wouldn’t normally talk about. It’s good.
We stayed around for the small press launch (I remember how that felt last year and I watched the faces of folk around me, sharing in their delight), which showed a healthy number of titles from a healthy number of publishers. David Howe gave a rousing speech which boiled down to what I believe - support the small press!
I’d decided to stay as late as possible and was looking forward to going for a curry, but in the end I went with Alison, her boyfriend Scott, Simon Morden, Chris, Gary G, Jonathan Oliver and his wife and the Howe’s to a little pub called “The Trip To Old Jerusalem” (apparently, it’s the oldest pub in England and is built into the rock under the castle). It was very nice, but it wasn’t a curry (which I discovered, on my return, that Lisa & Rob had had).
The dealer room was locked up by then, so Chris & I had to get some staff to let us in - he wanted some books for raffle prizes, I wanted my bag. They couldn’t open the door, so they led us through the kitchens. I’ve never been in a big, professional kitchen before and Chris & I were saying how cool it was that we were in there. He referenced “The Shining” but, as I admitted to him, I was thinking more of “Once Upon A Time In Mexico”!
We went back to the bar, to wait for the raffle to start and I was approached by Jay Eales, who knew me through his LJ. He’s local to me and it was good to meet him and we talked about something I’d discovered throughout the day, that LJ (and various blogs) do serve a purpose. People do read things, you’re not just shouting in the darkness. I found it odd from my end, talking to Tim and Gary G and already knowing about their lives, what they did, their wives names etc., and I’m sure they did too - I actually had people asking me how the garden was coming along! All very cool and Jay’s a good bloke.
We then headed into the main suite for the raffle which, over the years, I’ve heard a lot about, the main thing being that you never come away empty handed. As it was, I set myself a limit of 11pm to leave and by 10.50pm (by which time Rob & Lisa had deserted the table), I hadn’t won but they decided to give all of us losers a free prize anyway (not to be ungrateful, but I got book 1 of a new fantasy trilogy - why are all fantasies written as trilogies?).
At that point, I left but didn’t get a chance to say many goodbyes, though the Grey Friars folk were sitting in the smaller bar so I had a final chat with them, shook hands and then I was gone.
An excellent day, meeting old friends and new and finally getting to see Clive Barker in the flesh. I’m already looking forward to next year.
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