Like the previous one, this gathering was co-organised by Sue Philips and Anna Franklin and held at the same venue (now it's called Decadence, which is a bit more of an accurate description). Rather than sit in an ante-room like before, we had the run of the upstairs which was great - door in the ceiling, low lighting, creaking floorboards (2 out of 3 posed their own problems later on!).
I stayed over on this occasion (as I didn't want to miss any more curry house stories) and met up with Alison Davies (yes, I can see the Kylie thing) and Jonathon Oliver at the train station. We got booked in, met David Price and Paul Kane at the Ibis and made our way to the venue.
I stayed over on this occasion (as I didn't want to miss any more curry house stories) and met up with Alison Davies (yes, I can see the Kylie thing) and Jonathon Oliver at the train station. We got booked in, met David Price and Paul Kane at the Ibis and made our way to the venue.
Paul Kane, David Price, me, Alison Davies, Jonathan OliverThere was an initial period of meeting up with old friends and putting names to faces (I finally met Mark Samuels, Joe Rattigan and Mike Philbin) and catching up on gossip, before the raffle (in aid of UNICEF, which raised over £60). There was a quiz and I was on the winning team - with Rob Rowntree, Lisa Negus, Derek Fox and Jonathon - and we handed back our prize money.
It was then time for the readings, which took place at the end of room, closest to the squeaking floorboards (and Cardinal Cox tried to slither around on his belly to minimise the noise but it didn't work!). Graham Joyce, Guest of Honour, started, reading from "Smoking Poppy", his latest novel and it went down very well. Then there was Derek Fox, Alison Davies (who, staggeringly, read from memory and didn't falter once), Mike Philbin (very theatrical performance, reading a quality Hertzan Chimera tale from The Urbanite), Joe Rattigan and myself (I read "The Thief Of Road Signs" which seemed to go down very well).
After some more chatting, we made our way towards the Curry House (where it quickly became clear that Alison had made it her nights mission to get Paul Kane plastered). We took over a large table (Sue Philips, her husband and son, Rob Morgan (of Sarob Press), Alison, Paul, David, Fiona (Joe's partner), Joe, Mark S, me and Jonathon) and had a great time - especially the fantasy partner section where Buffy took a bit of a slating (though I, obviously, voted for Kylie and presented, as my evidence, her sheet in the "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" video).
We got back to the hotel just before midnight and sat in the bar, smoking and drinking and chatting.
We all left pretty much the same time on Sunday and Mark and I shared a table on the "high-speed" train bound for Kettering and London. First off, it went backwards and then proceeded to go all around the houses, arriving in Kettering nearly 90 minutes later (it's only a 32 minute journey normally). But I did find out that he owned a copy of "The Carnival Of Souls" (which I have always wanted to see) and offered to post it up to me.
Terrific company all round - this was the best gathering I've been to so far and I can't wait for the next one!
It was then time for the readings, which took place at the end of room, closest to the squeaking floorboards (and Cardinal Cox tried to slither around on his belly to minimise the noise but it didn't work!). Graham Joyce, Guest of Honour, started, reading from "Smoking Poppy", his latest novel and it went down very well. Then there was Derek Fox, Alison Davies (who, staggeringly, read from memory and didn't falter once), Mike Philbin (very theatrical performance, reading a quality Hertzan Chimera tale from The Urbanite), Joe Rattigan and myself (I read "The Thief Of Road Signs" which seemed to go down very well).
After some more chatting, we made our way towards the Curry House (where it quickly became clear that Alison had made it her nights mission to get Paul Kane plastered). We took over a large table (Sue Philips, her husband and son, Rob Morgan (of Sarob Press), Alison, Paul, David, Fiona (Joe's partner), Joe, Mark S, me and Jonathon) and had a great time - especially the fantasy partner section where Buffy took a bit of a slating (though I, obviously, voted for Kylie and presented, as my evidence, her sheet in the "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" video).
We got back to the hotel just before midnight and sat in the bar, smoking and drinking and chatting.
We all left pretty much the same time on Sunday and Mark and I shared a table on the "high-speed" train bound for Kettering and London. First off, it went backwards and then proceeded to go all around the houses, arriving in Kettering nearly 90 minutes later (it's only a 32 minute journey normally). But I did find out that he owned a copy of "The Carnival Of Souls" (which I have always wanted to see) and offered to post it up to me.
Terrific company all round - this was the best gathering I've been to so far and I can't wait for the next one!
Rob Rowntree, me, Lisa Negus, Joe Rattigan, David Price
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