Edge-Lit 7, Derby, 14th July 2018

After the Sat-Nav seemed to find me yet another route into Derby (I swear, every time I go to Edge-Lit, the journey is subtly different each time), I pulled into the Assembly Rooms car park and thought it was shut.  Turns out they have a new entrance system that looks, at first glance, like the place has been boarded up - I was happy to discover as the day went on I wasn't the only one who'd been confused.

At the Crusty table - from left, Ross Warren, Steve Harris, John Travis, me, Blaize Harris (seated), Peter Mark May, Lisa Childs, Terry Grimwood, Dale Winton-Polak

Into the Quad, I joined the queue to sign in and immediately saw Phil Sloman and Ben Jones, caught up with them, got my goodie bag and lanyard, then bumped into John Travis.  Phil and Ben went to a panel, John & I got a drink then headed outside where The Crusty Exterior had secured a table overlooking the square.  Tony Cowin was sitting at the next table by himself, worrying about the launch of In Dog We Trust so we did what all true friends would do and just wound him up further, saying he’d have to do a speech and we couldn’t be guaranteed not to heckle - I’m not sure we helped.  On our table, I worked my way around saying hello to Ross Warren, Steve & Blaize Harris, Peter Mark May, Lisa Childs (with extra congratulations on her becoming a (very young, we thought) grandmother), Terry Grimwood and Dion Winton-Polak - we caught up, chatted and checked the programme, planning our day.

With Andrew David Barker (centre) and Kevin Redfern

People came and went, Andrew Freudenberg and Duncan Bradshaw joined the table, different conversations struck up.  Pixie joined the smokers section of Ben and Lisa and I finally got my Pixie hug, a mainstay of Edge-Lit.  As we'd decided to eat at the Quad rather than go out I went through to the bar and discovered they didn’t have their wonderful club sandwich on the menu, so opted for the Cob Burger option instead.  I met Paul Kane in the queue and James Everington came through, having just finished on his panel and introduced me to Dan Howarth.  CC Adams was at a table so I said hello to him and caught up with Kevin White, a redshirt on the front desk who I’d struck up an email conversation with after Sledge-Lit, Tracy Fahey breezed by with a quick hello and a nice hug and I didn’t see her again for the rest of day, Georgina Bruce and I got to catch up quickly and I complimented her on her fantastic hair, Andrew Hook walked by for a quick handshake - lots of great people all over the place.  As I headed back to our table, I saw Kevin Redfern and since we never seem to get to chat, I stopped for just that.  Within moments, Andrew David Barker turned up and we fell into a conversation about writing, films and filming that was hugely enjoyable.  My lunch turned up so I followed the waitress back to our table to claim it - the bucket of fries was lovely, the burger was very bland.

Phil Sloman (left) and me, some of the sexiest legs in horror whatever
Jim Mcleod might have to say...

As we ate and chatted, Simon Kurt Unsworth and Rosie Seymour wandered by in search of food and it was nice to see them again.  All too soon it was time for a still-worried-looking Tony to head up to the Black Shuck Books launch and I followed him.  Steve J. Shaw was launching four titles - More Monsters by Paul Kane, The Martledge Variations by Simon, Madame Morte edited by the wonderful Pixie and In Dog We Trust (which features my story Chihuahua, as I wrote about here) from Tony.  I sat on the front row - as that was the writers line - next to Phil and we compared our ‘best legs in horror fiction’, said hello to Ray Cluley & Jess Jordan before a late-coming Kit Power arrived and sat next to me (he’s not in any of the titles, but didn’t realise so we adopted him).  Tony had to do a speech and talked about fearsome dogs in fiction - for some reason, he name-checked Scrappy Doo so Phil & I got to heckle, which was good fun.  The launch over, I signed some books (Ray was doing a dog doodle as part of his signature, I doodled in one book Snoopy lying on top of his kennel) and then, with Ross, had a chat with Simon Bestwick & Cate Gardner that covered a whole range of subjects.  Priya Sharma appeared for hugs and promises to catch up later and I compared agency submission notes with Penny Jones (and her newly blue-tinged hair).  Ross went back to the bar and I called into the dealer’s room, bumped into Danie Ware on the way, had a quick chat and she gave me a sticker for her new book, which was being launched later.  Said hello to Adele Wearing who was manning the Fox Spirit stall and finally bought Tracy’s The Girl In The Fort, then found the Black Shuck stall which Yvonne Davies and her daughter Megan were looking after.  Chatted with them, bought Phil’s collection Broken On The Inside then Charlotte Bond came over for a chat and gave me a gingerbread mouse, which was lovely.  I ate it while I was in James’ 2pm panel, 'Creating Suspense and fear in your fiction', which included Paul Tremblay among its great line-up.  Also in the audience were my fine friends from Writers, Neil & Donna Bond and Kathy Boulton was sitting with them, so I got to say hello to her too (still didn't get a picture though).

At the Black Shuck launch with Phil Sloman, Jess Jordan and James Everington.  Jess had just recruited us willingly into the Stephen Bacon fan club...

Back to the bar and the Crusty table.  I chatted plays and acting with Terry, Andrew came over with Dan, Jay arrived - Selina had unfortunately already left, so I didn’t get to see her - as did Donna.  Hayley Orgill and Kevin joined us then Simon Clark, always good company, did and we chatted with Peter, talking as the sun warmed up our area of the patio until the 5pm Guest Of Honour interview, which Marie O’Regan conducted with Paul Tremblay.  I went with Andrew, Peter, Jay and Donna and there weren’t anywhere near as many people as I’d expected which was a shame because Paul is a great speaker and the hour whizzed by.  It whizzed by quicker for Peter, Jay and Donna, who all seemed to nod off at different times (to be fair, it was warm and they were very comfortable seats).

With Peter and Simon Clark

Joined by Ross and Lisa, we stayed on for the raffle, which is often enjoyable but the presenting duo tried to emulate Sarah Pinborough’s irreverence and fell somewhat short - and I didn't win anything (though, in a shocking turn-up for the books, neither did Ross).  As that finished, it marked the end of the Con for us and Andrew said goodbye and headed off.  Peter, Ross, Lisa & I made our way downstairs to find Tim Major already there waiting for us.  I shook his hand and caught up, Priya came over for a chat, we said goodbye to Pixie, grabbed John and Simon and made our way over to Ask Italian (James was with some people from Titan so came over later).  At the restaurant, the lady took in our “table for 8” request without blinking and put us downstairs where there was space for twice as many.  James turned up just after we’d ordered, with Ray & Jess in tow and we had a fine old time, chatting, eating and laughing, the perfect end to the day.  Peter left first, to catch his train, then Simon took off so we chatted for a while longer, got the bill then said our goodbyes outside, as Jess, Ray and John went back to the Quad, the rest of us to the car park.

In Ask Italian - from left, me, Ross, Jess, Ray Cluley, James, Tim Major, John, Simon, Peter (Lisa was out on a smoke break)

Another great Con (superb work by Alex Davis, Pixie and the whole redshirt team), another great day spent in the company of fine friends and writers and another burst of wonderful creative energy, soaking up the buzz.  Roll on FCon!