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Post by carolinec on Jan 28, 2008 23:07:17 GMT
Do any of you folks go to AltFiction? The next one's on Saturday 26th April at Derby Assembly Rooms. I went last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's like a slightly scaled down version of the BFS Fantasycon. Details from the Derby Council website at: www.derby.gov.uk/NR/exeres/0ACCA380-0FD4-4C06-B253-E0A06F19736B.htmAlt.Fiction enters its third year in 2008, and the event will be taking place on Saturday 26 April. Confirmed participants so far include Sarah Ash, Chaz Brenchley, Eric Brown, Mike Carey, Simon Clark, Peter Crowther, Christian Dunn John Jarrold, Graham Joyce, Kim Lakin-Smith, Tim Lebbon, Michael Marshall Smith, Mark Morris, Philip Palmer, Adam Roberts, Justina Robson, Brian Ruckley, Simon Spurrier, Charlie Stross, Darren Turpin and Conrad Williams, plus more to be confirmed!I think Michael Marshall Smith will be of interest to some of you!  It looks like tickets aren't on sale yet, but when they are, the website for Derby Assembly Rooms is the place to go for them. |
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Post by allysonbird on Jan 29, 2008 22:17:11 GMT
Yep - I'll be there. The day finishes at 8.45p.m. so my hubs will pick me up, with my 9 year old daughter. Derby isn't too far away and as Caroline says - it is a really good event! www.birdsnest.me.uk |
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Post by carolinec on Jan 29, 2008 23:22:52 GMT
Probably see you there as well then, Ally.
It's the intention of the Pantechnicon people to have a bit of a get-together there, so I hope to be meeting up with a few people I've either only met once, or only met virtually online.
Any other Vault bods going? It'd be nice to put some faces to names here too.
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Post by Steve on Jan 30, 2008 13:07:04 GMT
Any other Vault bods going? It'd be nice to put some faces to names here too. Not sure whether I'll make AltFiction, but there's a reasonable chance that I'll be in Derby as that's where I live. If there are plans to visit any of Derby's numerous haunted pubs either before or after the event, please let me know! |
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Post by carolinec on Jan 30, 2008 19:51:58 GMT
There was mention of the Pantechies hitting the town afterwards - perhaps you could be our guide, Steve? |
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Post by troo on Feb 6, 2008 10:50:26 GMT
Mwuhhaahaahaa!
Yes, I'm certainly going. I'll likely get a hotel for the night rather than do the looong drive home as we had to last year.
I'm intrigued by the Chris Teague Curry Challenge, actually...
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Post by carolinec on Mar 17, 2008 12:20:53 GMT
Just wanted to bump this one back up to the top again - see if anyone else here is interested in going? Finalised guest list is now as follows (with plenty of people to interest you lot I reckon): Sarah Ash Tony Ballantyne Chaz Brenchley Eric Brown Ramsey Campbell Mike Carey Simon Clark Peter Crowther Christian Dunn Stephen Gallagher Lee Harris Sarah Hodgson Stephen Hunt John Jarrold Graham Joyce Kim Lakin-Smith Tim Lebbon Brian Lumley George Mann Michael Marshall Smith Juliet McKenna Mark Morris Philip Palmer Sarah Pinborough Adam Roberts Justina Robson Brian Ruckley Simon Spurrier Charlie Stross Darren Turpin Conrad Williams Details at: www.derby.gov.uk/NR/exeres/0ACCA380-0FD4-4C06-B253-E0A06F19736B.htmI'm all booked and ready to go!  |
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Post by troo on Mar 25, 2008 16:15:14 GMT
Sarah Pinborough and Tim Lebbon were excellent guests last year. I heartily reccommend seeing them if you go this year, particularly Tim, who's a really lovely fella. As is, of course, Mark Morris, but we all know that |
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Post by dem bones on Apr 26, 2008 18:52:48 GMT
Good luck to all those of you who are attending alt.fiction tonight. Hope you enjoy yourselves! Let us know how you get on!
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Post by carolinec on Apr 30, 2008 14:50:11 GMT
Well, I'm back in civilisation today! I loved every minute of AltFiction (apart from the hotel on Saturday night - I'll tell you all about that if you ask!) Lovely to see Troo and Ally again - though the meeting with the latter was all too brief. I believe Ally was hiding in the bar for most of the event! Also, lovely to meet Steve for the first time. Now I know you're a real person and not a figment of my imagination! Favourite bits of the event for me? The Pete Crowther and Ramsey Campbell readings - superb! As I love live readings, I went to quite a few of these. I was also pretty impressed with Graham Joyce (about whom I know very little, but feel I ought to seek out some of his work now), Mike Carey (he's created a wonderful cast of characters in his Felix Castor series) and Mike Marshall Smith (who seemed a bit reluctant to read, as if he would have preferred a Q & A - which is a shame as his reading's excellent). On the readings side, I also tried a panel of readers who were primarily fantasy and "space opera" (what ever the heck that is?!). Well, I ought to try these things some time, but I must say I didn't particularly enjoy them. Best panel discussion in my opinion was the Horror Panel (Sarah Pinborough, Mark Morris, Simon Clark, Tim Lebbon and Conrad Williams - with Ramsey Campbell joining in from the sidelines), which was absolutely hilarious! What is it about horror writers which makes them so humorous in addition to their "dark side"? Also, the "building a career" panel confirmed to me that I never want to be a professional writer. I simply couldn't write novels to order, to deadlines and word counts - it would just destroy the fun and creativity for me. On that panel, I thought the best advice (for me, anyway) was from MMS, which was something like "Be true to yourself - write what you enjoy writing". In my case, that isn't anything which "sells" or reaches required word counts. They did finish the panel by saying "Remember the small presses, though you'll have to keep the day job". As I also really enjoy my day job, I say "More power to the small presses"! And, of course, I tried to spread the word about "Filthy Creations" as best I could, as mentioned on the FC#4 thread. All in all, a great event. I hope there is another one next year. I overheard a conversation in the loo about funding cuts which led me to believe there may be potential problems there, so I hope that isn't the last AltFiction we see ... |
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Post by Calenture on Apr 30, 2008 15:16:35 GMT
On the readings side, I also tried a panel of readers who were primarily fantasy and "space opera" (what ever the heck that is?!). Well, I ought to try these things some time, but I must say I didn't particularly enjoy them. You don't know what a Space Opera is? Tsk! It's basically a Western set in space, with red Indians and bad guys replaced by alien invaders and BEM's (Bug Eyed Monsters, before you ask ). Prime exponent of this was 'Doc' E E Smith, with his Lensman series. This sort of thing more-or-less died out in the Sixties and Seventies... apart from writers like Ted Tubb, Ken Bulmer, etc. Oh, and George Lucas and Alt Fictioners, apparently. |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Apr 30, 2008 15:23:00 GMT
Love the old space operas. Good guys are good bad guys are bad, zap guns and green monsters everywhere,
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Post by Johnlprobert on Apr 30, 2008 16:04:26 GMT
I would have loved to have come to this but unfortunately I was working.
I quite like the idea of deadlines, word counts, and even to some extent being given a subject to write about. I see it more as a challenge than as a restriction. I always set deadlines for myself as a self-imposed boot up the backside to help get stuff finished.
Hope it happens next year as I should be able to go
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coral
New Face In Hell
Posts: 3 
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Post by coral on Apr 30, 2008 21:33:06 GMT
Sily me, how observant I am!
Sounds like it was great fun, perhaps I should try one of these convention things to see if I like them.
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Post by dem bones on May 2, 2008 14:17:12 GMT
Thanks for the report, Caroline. Glad to hear that the fabulously moribund MMS was on top form yet again. Sounds like a proper horror convention, too - I don't know why but it seems the most interesting conversations and all the best stuff generally takes place in the toilets, so you should always take a camera with you.
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