Leicester Comic Con

We were at the first Leicester Comic Con on Saturday and it was a huge success. Traders took over the ground floor of the newly refurbed Silver Arcade while Alasdair Stuart hosted guest speakers on the top floor.

The team of Yellow Shirts (some of which were  incognito) did an amazing job of taking care of attendees and traders, from helping to unload first thing to ensuring water was available, doing mercy runs for coffee and food and generally making sure they were visible and available. I had the great pleasure of being in charge of recruiting and running the vols and I am very proud of them all. Really once things got going I was practically superfluous.

I had FS author and editor Kate Laity and kidnapped young person (who belongs to a friend) Charlie to assist me on the FS Stall, which looked fantastic with the gorgeous books and some extra treats in the form of prints and t shirts by FS illustrator Kieran Walsh.

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We sold Extricate to Catwoman which seemed fitting, hung out with a Storm Trooper, hugged lots of people we know, including passing FS writers Peter Allison, Ren Warom (with spawn), Alasdair Stuart and Hardeep Sangha and chatted to lots of new and lovely people. We sold plenty of books and other things, all the cake got eaten and the atmosphere was wonderful. Couldn’t have asked for a better day.

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Well done Nathan Leverton, Gen and team yellow shirt.

 

Out in the world

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Aunty Fox is going to be out and about a bit in the coming months.

First up this Saturday I will be resplendent in a yellow t shirt for Leicester Comic Con at Silver arcade.

There will be a Fox Spirit table which I have helpers for in case I have to run off and deal with volunteer things. Kate Laity will be in attendance and a few other skulk members will be dropping by and signing stuff so if you are in the area come and say hi and check out the first Leicester Comic Con in all its awesome.

In July I am at Harrogate, technically this is a holiday, I don’t work it, but I am always happy to see people so if you spot me come and say hello.

Next up is NineWorlds Geek Fest in August where I will be easily found behind the Indie books table. Small press and self pub folks can get more information about having their books on the table from allofthebooks@nineworlds.co.uk

We will only be displaying small numbers of books from each seller at any given time but are there for three days so stash extra stock in your room and come and replenish the table later. 10% of all sales will go to NineWorlds charity partner. Come by and see your Aunty Fox and peruse the small press offerings.

Finally I will be attending FantasyCon, I am on no panels this year and have not booked a table or a launch, I will be in the bar having a lovely time. come and hang out with the skulk.

There will no doubt be other small events and things I go to at short notice and I know lots of FS writers and artists are out and about at other things this year. Check out the events page for the ones I know about.

 

 

Futura & Edge

Saturday saw the first Futura event at the Lighthouse in Wolverhampton. The venue is housed within the old Chubb lock factory and is gorgeous. It’s a triangular shaped building with a bright, glass roofed courtyard. I should have taken pictures, but umm, didn’t.

As it’s both Futura’s first year and Alex Davis’ first West Mids event it was quiet, but the audience was more than happy to join in discussions leading to panels that were pretty interactive. I was invited as a speaker. Some of you may have seen me on panels in the past but always in the role of moderator, it was lovely to be an actual proper panelist for the first time. I had great fun chatting with my fellow panelists and other attendees about whether SF is main stream, the life of a small publisher and where SF ends as a genre.

The event was well run, although next year the venue might want to invest in extra staff at the coffee shop to keep things moving more briskly.

I hope I will be invited back next year as i’d certainly love to do it again, if not i’ll pop it in my diary for a visit anyway.

Next up for us is Edge.Lit in Derby, where Fox Spirit will be launching Noir Carnival with wine, cake and badges. We will have the editor and a couple of Noir Carnival writers in attendance as well as many of the other skulk members who will be happy to sign things. I will have a few copies of the various books with me and in partnership with CyberWitch we will be making the ebooks available on site, on the day too. The launch will take place at lunch time and there will be wine and cake provided so please drop in and see us!

 

Alt.Fiction does Everybody’s Reading

In 2013, provisionally the third weekend of May  Alt.Fiction will once again bring the proud purveyors and fans of genre fiction to Leicester. Under the supervision of Writing East Midlands the 2013 event will be run by Fox Spirit’s Adele Wearing and the omnipresent (at last years) Alasdair Stuart of Pseudopod and also ALL THE THINGS in geekdom. Having helped out so much on the weekend last year Al is now fully in place as co-cheese.

However if you really can’t wait for next year, or you’ve never done alt.fiction and want to test whether it’s for you before shelling out on tickets, we are having a small taster session as part of Leicester’s ‘Everybody’s Reading’ festival.

The event is on Saturday 6th October from 12:30 – 4pm at Leicester Central Library on Bishop Street. Nearest car park is probably the Newarke Street multi story and Bishop Street runs down one side of Town Hall Square so if you are new to Leicester it’s not too hard to find.

The event will feature a panel with Kim Lakin-Smith, Joseph D’Lacey, Nicola Valentine and Damien Seaman talking about publishing, their various experiences and taking questions. If there is time we may also discuss favourite and important titles in genre fiction, kicking off at 12:45 until 1:45.

After the panel Kim and Joe are offering 45 minute workshops, these are ideal for new writers honing their craft or people wanting to address particular concerns and are always very popular at our events. 2pm – 2:45pm

After the workshops, there will be some 10-15  minute readings and a chance to chat before we close. 3pm – 4pm

The authors have been invited to bring books to sell and sign so some time will be allowed for that, Damien’s novel ‘The Killing of Emma Gross’ is an ebook, so if you are a fan he can always sign your kindle.

This event is totally free and will be a really good friendly opportunity to get a feel for the sort of things that happen at our main weekender so do come along and bring your friends. There will even be free baked goods (a fine altfiction tradition is the baking table).

This was team Hagelrat at alt.fiction 2012 in March.