To sum up, I enjoyed Eastercon and am looking forward to Redemption. I don’t know whether I’ll make another Eastercon, though, because usually they’ll clash with passover.

Friday

I got up at 7am, which was hard work, and woke hhertzof up and we proceeded to pack and make our way to selenay936’s. Leaving took slightly longer than expected, but the roads were lovely and empty. We just then spent a while chatting at selenay936’s, so by the time we got to the hotel, checked in, unpacked and registered, we were just in time to go to the 12 o’clock panel.

There was nothing I particularly wanted to go to for a while, so I went along with selenay936 and hhertzof to So You Want to be an SF Writer (which I don’t), but it was interesting. I’d heard that the hotel was freezing, so packed plenty of warm clothes and then found the Royal Suite that this panel was in was boiling. Outside the room was the con noticeboard, where I offered my copy of Arthur C Clarke’s obituary from The Guardian, since they didn’t have one from that.

Then we attempted to go back to the room for some lunch and hoped to find a back way there, but only found a dead end. And the real ale bar where luckykaa, redbrown and some other ZZ9ers and other people I’ve shot at with supersoakers at Winspit were.

After lunch there was The Hovercraft of Disbelief where people talked about things that threw them out of stories – ie lack of research. It doesn’t help when you have a lot of specialist knowledge in a subject because it means there’s almost bound to be something wrong.

After that I went along to the Card Making Workshop, but since it was all about stamping, mostly, and my card making will involve sticking things on bits of paper it wasn’t that useful. I did end up with multicoloured fingers, though. I left early to go to Be Careful What You Wish For – The New Dr Who. However, since all I wished for was the BBC to show some Doctor Who so I could see it, I’m happy.

I did the first and last fifteen minutes of Star Trek: Is There Anyone Still to Explore? (I had dinner in the middle) and didn’t entirely feel like I’d missed much. After that I had to find a new room on a different floor that seemed like miles away down corridors that all looked the same. It was worth it for the panel on Are TV Novelisations and Tie-ins Proper Books? The consensus was ‘yes’ straight away, so the discussion was about various novelisations and tie-ins and how good they were. Afterwards I accidentally fangirled altariel, whoops.

The opening ceremony was in the biggest room which was really freezing. Afterwards we ended up talking and wandered down to the Real Ale bar. We got distracted by Electic 21’s quiz and managed to get quite a few answers between the three of us, although as we did it various other people came by and offered answers.

Then we found some ZZ9ers hanging around, so spent time chatting, although no one fell in the pond. I meant to go to the ceilidh, but never quite made it. So instead went to the last panel of the night on It’s Crap but we Like It, where I realised I watch crap cop shows & murder mysteries but not crap anything else. selenay936 and I agreed that Midsomer Murders is on crack.

Saturday
Friday night selenay936 and I argued over how late we could get up and still be ready in time for the things we wanted to do, and then both ended up waking up ages before the alarm anyway. I was tempted to go to the first half of Living in a Networked World, but went to the Morning Bellydance Class early. It was, of course, in the hot room, but was good fun. I am crap at it, though.

It finished early so I went to the last half of Ashes to Ashes – Manchester to the Met which had some interesting theories on Ashes to Ashes’ secret (which no one is allowed to spoil in these comments). The Doctor – Saviour or Trickster God told me that there was religious imagery in New Who, which I had completely missed.

After a leisurely lunch I went to A Way of Life or Just a Hobby? where the panel decided the question wasn’t the right question anyway. And did point out how similar fan cons are, no matter what it is you’re a fan of. And that normal people live very boring, tiny lives. I now feel quite sorry for my neighbours who do nothing every night except watch TV and play a console game with driving very loud.

There was nothing I particularly wanted to go to, so wondered round the dealers room, bought Stardust and then got it signed by Neil Gaiman. I hope I like it now. What’s the point of fannish awards was mostly about fanzines, but interesting nonetheless.

Dinner next, and it was handy I had my pot noodles (or pot potatoes, as dad calls them, since they are potatoey, not noodley and very nice). Out of Space and Time: Perils and Pitfalls of Book Collecting told me there are very crazy people out there. Books are things to read not to sit on a shelf and collect dust, no matter how pretty they look.

The Masquerade and Cabaret was very good, although I couldn’t feel my feet by the end of it. It finished too late to do the Blakes 7 Wobblevision, so I think we just sat around and chatted and tried to warm up. And I didn’t quite make the disco that I had planned to go to. But I did bump into someone I knew from uni, bizarrely (Nelis, for the benefit of Fuzz, Andrew and anyone else who might be reading this). Technically, I did bump into him in the morning but I completely failed to recognise him.

Sunday
Sunday I could have gone to panels from 10am to midnight, but you can’t go to that many. Certainly my back can’t. It started, though, with breakfast and snow. I was very glad I didn’t have to go out because some of the flakes got quite big. None of it settled, though, thankfully.

Books in the Web was the first panel I went to, and it was really interesting to hear the opinions of putting books on the web for free from publishers and writers. As they pointed out, a lot of people borrow books from libraries and other people and it doesn’t stop them from buying books. And if you’re being asked to shell out £7 ish for one, you want to be sure you’ll like it.

I wasn’t sure about going to the Was Sam Tyler really the Master? panel because it sounded silly. But I was glad I did because the topic was exhausted pretty quickly and it just turned to crack. Subjects discussed included the TARDIS sewage system, how you never saw a loo on the TARDIS and therefore how the Doctor and his companions must be fitted with a crap teleporter. Also, somehow, Eastenders makes more sense when crossed with Doctor Who…

Star Trek: The Ethical Implications of Terraforming reached a conclusion fairly quickly and ended up being two people from the audience arguing and not letting anyone else speak. So I went back to the room for lunch and instead went to all of Politics in Young Adult Fiction, which turned out to be the right decision. It was mostly about the definition of Young Adult and what you’re allowed to put in it.

Neil Gaiman’s guest of honour talk was very good. He read a short story that I enjoyed and the first part of The Graveyard Book which I quite liked. He told stories of previous Eastercons he’s been to, as a fan, and he generally came across really well. I do like his blog, but I really ought to get round to read his books.

I must have done something for the hour and a half after that, but I’m buggered if I know what it was. But just before dinner there was Why is Blake’s 7 Still Popular? which was a really nice panel talking about how great Blakes 7 was. So no arguing there. Also, jmswallow told us the exciting news that BBC7 have commissioned a second audio series and four anniversary specials set before the series starts. And there might soon be an announcement of a TV re-imagining ala Battlestar Galatica. Fingers crossed. I want to say it’s a bit like the Hitchhiker’s Film, being talked about for ages, but then I remembered that film did happen.

Fan History: Why Bother? turned out to be a particularly contentious panel, which after such a pleasant one, I couldn’t be bothered with, so had dinner instead and was in time for Spaceship in a Decaying Orbit – A Balloon Debate which turned out to be really funny. Partly because Marvin was one of the occupants (I didn’t vote him off because it was too amusing not too) and nickeyb was great as Rodney McKay. Best bit was when McKay was going on, as he does, and Spock, who had been voted off, went and gave him the Vulcan nerve pinch.

The Death of UK Physics basically concluded it wasn’t doing well due to lack of money and the only solution was to write to your MP. Although that raises the question of whether I write to the MP I voted for or the one where I live. I’m inclined to the former due to the party they’re in.

I tried to go to Don’t Cross the Streams, talking about SF and fantasy, but seriously needed some sleep. I’d been there fifteen minutes and had no idea what they’d said, so I went for a lie down with my eyes closed. In anyone else it would be a nap but I never have got the hang of napping. I got up in time for Where Does Slash End and Porn Start? which was quite amusing.

Martha Jones – Most Heroic Companion I hadn’t originally planned on going to, but went to support selenay936 who was on it. I was glad I did because it was the funniest panel of the night. The vote between Ace, Steven, Barbara and Martha went to Martha, but the debate did include who had the best arse out of Zoe and Martha (Zoe won, probably due to the catsuit) and whether more heroic acts involved taking off more clothes.

That woke me up a bit, so more chatting followed, until I had to go to bed in order to be awake enough to drive home.

Monday
More arguing about what time to get up and again we woke up before the alarm. I discovered at breakfast that there was soya milk out and tomatoes, but it was too late, and I was happy with my hash browns and beans, followed by coco pops. This morning the soya milk came in a teapot…

We eventually managed to pack and check out, then sat around in reception chatting before I walked hhertzof to the bus stop. Or rather, to one bus stop before finding it went in the wrong direction. The one that went in the right direction was in the other way past the hotel, of course.

I got back in time for Is there a Future for Trek with no TV Series? which quickly concluded the answer was yes and then went on to discuss the various forms of media it came in. Hitchhiker’s: How a Radio 4 Comedy Took Over the World was a great discussion on how great Hitchhiker’s is and all the different forms it came in. Neil Gaiman was a big fan, which was quite cool to find – he’s as normal as the rest of us despite being a famous writer!

Time for lunch and then home. I asked Reception how to get out of the hotel, which was handy, and then found John Cleese even handier because the signposting was crap. I managed not to panic on the M25, but did spend some time on a hill in Wycombe in neutral as I tried for every gear when it looked like I was going to have to stop on a steep hill…

I got home well before it got dark and found my pink daleks weren’t going to come off my t-shirts quite as well as I hoped – bits of them are coming off. I’ll be finding bits of pink daleks on my carpet for quite a while I think…

2 Responses to “Eastercon report”

Fuzz Says:
Thursday 27th March 2008 at 8:10 am

I thought it would be Nelis you met. I was originally going to go too (haven’t con’d yet), but I double booked myself with a family holiday. Maybe next year.

Nic Says:
Thursday 27th March 2008 at 5:19 pm

I had no idea anyone I knew from uni was going to be there. There’s also Redemption next February in Cov which is smaller, so I like it better.