I had a few days, now, to recover from the whirlwind that was Dublin 2019 Worldcon. We came away full of enthusiasm, ideas and the sense of well-being you feel after meeting your friends, old and new, and the members of the Luna family.
As for Tolkien 2019, we were delighted to meet up with our family members, so here is our week in Dublin, through our family meetings!
After picking up my badge (illustrated by the marvellous Sana Takeda, on a panel with me and Paul Cornell last Saturday), I went to set up in the dealers' room.
It was seriously big! Erwin and the dealers' team were amazing and very helpful. This is a very important part in our family life, as it is on the dealers' table, that our authors' voice can be found.
At times it was manic, but we managed to hold the forth with flare, gobbling food under the table...
Two of our authors are also dealers and founders of two great small presses, Francesco Verso (Future Fiction) and Ian Whates (Newcon Press). We launched Wourism and Other Stories by Ian Whates at the event, and I was very proud of this moment, as Ian has been a mentor to me when Luna was still in its infancy.
For the first time I also met Dominic Riemenschneider, who came into the family through our latest CfP A Shadow Within: Evil in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Steph P Bianchini (also with an article in Shadow), Juliet McKenna and Cheryl Morgan (both of their articles are in our award winning CfP, Gender Identity and Sexuality in Current Fantasy and Science Fiction) came to see us at the table as well.
Irish writer Nina Oram came to sign a huge stack of books! Her debut YA novel, The Joining, is packed with Irish mythology. It was only fitting that it should be launched in Dublin!
It was great to see again Marian Womack, shortlisted twice for this year's British Fantasy Awards with Lost Objects. And always a pleasure to see Allen Stroud (The Forever Man) and Tim Major. Tim's book, And the House Lights Dim, will be launched officially at this year's Fantasycon - come along to celebrate with us if you are in Glasgow!
It wasn't just work work work, we also had a great time in the evening, discovering restaurants, sampling the local beverages and attending parties. Here are some picture from the Titan parties on Friday night. Luna authors Tim Major, Nick Wood, and Robert S Malan and - all present and accounted for at the end of the night! And they better be! Nick Wood has a new collection coming out with us, Learning Monkey and Crocodile, entering pre-order soon; Robert S Malan has a graphic novel shortlisted for this year's BFS Awards, alongside Luna artist John Cockshaw, and Tim has the Harvester's launch to attend at Fantasycon, this October!
We also had some work/fun meeting, like when me and Luna author Gareth L Powell did a panel on Social Media at 8PM on Saturday night, alongside Georgina Kamsica - needless to say everyone brought along a local beverage... it was really fun for all involved. Gareth's About Writing was one of our summer releases and a very popular one among the writers.
Another great con has come to an end. I reckon I'll need an actual holiday at some point.
So long Dublin 2019! We will carry the memories forever! (I'm the little one to the right, below)...
Next stop, Fantasycon 2019!
