So, my first international convention turned out to be a lovely experience. The MC (Daphne) promised us at the beginning that they were going to deliver a different NZ Natcon. I can’t speak to whether they did, as I’ve not attended other NZ Natcons, but it seemed to go extremely smoothly, there was lots of intriguing things happening and it was all done with a con com of just five (which freaked me out – also inspired me, which is a worry…)
Unfortunately, my first day was hampered by the weird games my gut is playing with me (something about NZ doesn’t agree…) and I spent the day in bed. Got out for the opening ceremony, in which Daphne’s raw energy (and voice) were revealed – that woman could power a whole suburb herself. Then it was time for the disco.
I intended to only stay a few songs, but I reckoned without the power of Sean Williams at the mixing desk. Within moments of walking in, the extended mix of Neverending Story had started and I knew I was in trouble. The Kiwis thought Sean’s traditional ending of the disco with Vienna was a bit weird, but soon got into it. So I toddled off to bed after midnight, very happy.
Saturday started in Russell Kirkpatrick’s worldbuilding workshop. I had to leave after the first hour to chair the debate, but it was an interesting hour. Russell’s got some really thought-provoking ideas about worldbuilding and as I’m in the process of having to build a new world, it was valuable.
The debate was interesting in that it wasn’t pre-organised and there were only two speakers – DUFF delegate John Hertz and NZ fan icon Norman Cates (they actually chant his name – amazing). So we ended up with a formula where each gave their speech, then each rebutted the other, then the audience was allowed to comment and then they each spoke to the audience. Then there was voting. There were some people who took their debating very seriously and weren’t too impressed with my laissez-faire Aussie style, but all in all I think they enjoyed it. We debated the Conflux favourite ‘That the evil overlord is more interesting than the weapon-wielding hero’ and some interesting ideas came out.
Went to Russell’s reading (from his new book) and then a panel on cosplay, which I really enjoyed. These girls had some fabulous stuff, and really clever ideas on how to do things. I might see about putting a bit more thought into costuming myself. Sean’s GoH speech was as delightful, honest and frank as the man himself. I was at the launch of SpecFic NZ, the new writer’s association, and so got to meet Mary Victoria quickly. Hope to spend more time with her.
That night was the masquerade, where there were some fabulous costumes (including this magnificent steampunk dress that was three metres wide – doors had to be flung open) and this followed with a reading by Sean of a great steampunk/ghost story that he’s done for a new anthology. As I was listening to him read, I wondered how I would have gone reading the story on the page and I had a keen sense that I wouldn’t have liked it as much if I’d had to make the effort myself. Something to ponder.
Sunday – I was first on a panel about running a con and this is where I encountered this strange aspect of NZ cons (or maybe just this con) – there was a LOT of audience participation. In some cases, the panels were conducted in a circle, people in the audience spoke more than some of the panellists at times. Apparently Juliet Marillier became very school teachery in one of her panels and refused to let anyone speak until the panellists had their say, otherwise some would miss out. So I basically said very little and dashed out of there for my workshop.
The workshop, on characterisation, seemed to go really well. Lots of people got great insights into their characters, which I was really pleased with. Kylie said she had a breakthrough with her YA novel, which made me very happy. As much as I would love to have success myself, it really would give me just as much joy to be the catalyst for other people’s success. I would have liked to have more time on portraying the character on the page, once you’ve got that good understanding, but two hours wasn’t long enough. Sean was waiting outside for us to have lunch and he said everyone who walked out was speaking really positively, so that’s good.
After lunch (which went a bit longer than it should have because I apparently ordered the most difficult thing on the menu) we went back for the second half of Russell’s panel on Religion in SF. The audience as participants was well in swing and it seemed to me that it adversely affected some of the panellists. A shame, because I know panellists often spend hours preparing their panels.
Then down for the Jay Lake and Juliet Marrillier reading. I much preferred Jay’s first piece to the second, and Juliet’s was an interesting piece that was directly affected by her recent battle with cancer.
A nap, and then up for the cocktail party, Sir Julius Vogel Awards and closing ceremony. The cocktails took a long time to get – the hotel had gone to the effort of creating cocktails for the occasion, which was wonderful, but it meant the bar staff didn’t know them that well and so were initially slow in the preparation. Also, they didn’t have enough bar people on – needed another one. I had a Bespin Cloud Car which ended up too bitter for my tastes, but still nice.
The awards started well with Russell winning best novel for Beyond The Wall Of Time. That means he got the award for all three novels in that trilogy, which is a nice touch. There were lots of fun, and then came the awarding of best new talent. Ross Temple had already asked if Simon Petrie had organised for me to pick up any awards for him. ‘No,’ says I, ‘I guess he thought it wasn’t necessary, oh well, we’ll see’. Turns out it was very necessary. I got up, burbled some words on Simon’s behalf, then spent the next half an hour frantically trying to let him know that he’d won. Donna Hanson came through with a phone call to Simon, who I think still can’t quite believe it’s happened. Well deserved, I think. Simon’s becoming a short-story writing powerforce and is definitely a great new talent.
Unfortunately, the closing ceremony came along and it all ended much to quickly. After having a final chat with Sean and Jeremy Byrne, I joined Russell and Kylie for a drink to celebrate.
Overall thoughts – kudos to the con com for pulling off a well run, relaxed convention with just five members. Incredible. Venue was great – the staff seemed to work well with the con com and anything that you needed was quickly provided. It was a very fannish con, which is not necessarily something that I have a lot of connection to since I’ve come to conventions from the writer’s angle and it seemed a lot of the programming was focussed on the past rather than the future eg there was nothing about urban fantasy or paranormal romance, which are the biggest growing areas in the genre at the moment. However, you could always find something interesting to attend, and for a small con with just three streams, that’s saying a lot.