Bristol-Con 2015 wrap-up

Well, I’ve had a couple of days to get over this year’s Bristol-Con (and a trip to Bath the following day) and I can say without doubt that this is my favourite convention of the year. The organisers, the other participants, the guests and the hotel staff are all so friendly and helpful, you can’t help but relax and enjoy it.

I brought a larger range of books with me this time and have developed a slightly improved sales patter, so numbers sold were up. At the same time I had the opportunity to chat to lots of lovely guests, and find out what the other dealers had been doing since I saw them last. Oh, and there was free tea and coffee again, which is always a bonus!

And I was on my first ever panel this year: “Censorship in the global village”. I was on the panel with Joanne Hall (the organiser of the event, who also had a book launch that day), Juliet E McKenna, Dev Agarwal with Ian Millsted moderating. It was an interesting discussion, during which I learned a lot myself and I think I managed to contribute something to it despite my nerves. Hopefully I will like the look of one of next year’s panels and slowly become more accustomed to public speaking.

A big hello also to some friends I met up with:

JG Cressey was a guest last year and we chatted when he and his wife came to my table. This year they had the table next to us! If you like space-opera and Firefly then you’ll love his book Star Splinter, the prequel to which is out soon.

Met up again with Sophie Sparham selling her novel Snow In Hell and Will MacMillan Jones with his Banned Underground series. I’m sure I’ll see them next year too.

Already looking forward to the 2016 event, which is back to its regular October timeslot, and hope to see you there.

Tony.