Good evening, I’ve survived day one of the con!
There are pictures! Mostly of food.
Breakfast was a definite improvement on tea last night! I was a normal hotel buffet. Today I tried the sausage, bacon and eggs, and the fruit with yogurt. Tomorrow I’m considering porridge with honey, with fruit and yogurt. I like to load up in the morning so I can get through to the evening with only a snack later in the day.
I visited IKON, a gallery not far from the hotel, and then their café, York Café. I met a lovely ADHDer who recognised that I was Autistic from the way I reacted to a change in the flooring in the Mit Jai Inn installation.
I really enjoyed that exhibition, but I didn’t enjoy the Woodrow Deacon exhibition. So of the pictures were good, some reminded me of geology, but most I wasn’t impressed by it. You can tell I was unimpressed because I didn’t take any pictures. I bought a couple of books from their shop, for my sister’s kids, because they’re artists. I had a chocolate and matcha brownie and chai latte as an afternoon treat. Definitely recommend the café for a treat.
I managed to find navigate to the registration room for the convention eventually. My anxiety was not happy with it all. I asked a pleasant looking older couple with lanyards for directions. I got a decent swag bag, with a book in it, about a vampire, and then bought several books from Luna Press, mostly books of essays from Tolkien Society conferences. I enjoy Tolkien academia. I bought a book of essays about gender in fantasy, and tomorrow I’m going to get their book on worldbuilding.
After Registration and my first spending spree, I returned to my room to decompress and read through the book of the con. It has the schedule and other stuff which I read thoroughly and noted all the spelling errors.
There was a panel called ‘New to FantasyCon’ that was an orientation session for newbies so that people could meet each other. This year attendance is about half the normal attendance, which I’m pleased about, because it’s busy enough as it is.
I went back to the dealers room after that, bought a book from one agent/publisher then went to have a chat to the gents from The Broken Binding, who are trying to break into the signed special editions market. They’re keeping some books for me, books that will be signed when I get them, so I’ve put £50 aside for that.
I attended two panels after that, one about ‘genre splicing’ and one about ‘representing women’. They were interesting, and I have a few new authors to add to my ‘look for their books’ list, as well as a podcast, ‘Breaking the Glass Slipper’ to listen to. Random episode linked below. Ada Hoffman is an Autistic writer.
As expected, I am probably going to spend an awful lot of my savings this weekend. And not just on books. I’m spending lots of money on my evening meals. This evening’s meal was lovely. I went to Zizzi on Brindley Place. I accept it’s a chain Italian restaurant, but it was lovely. Excellent service. I had cheesy garlic bread with caramelised onion as a started, and pork and wild boar meatballs with penne pasta in a spicy tomato sauce. It did have a proper name and was supposed to be with a different pasta, but I decided I wanted wholemeal penne instead of that one. I had to use the napkin as a bib; I threw food down myself, as expected for anything in a sauce.
Needed more cheese.
I got back for 8.20pm and slid into the ‘representing gender’ panel, where my extensive knowledge of Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness novels came in handy.
Originally, Roger of Conte and Thom of Trebond were a couple, but it was the 1970s and gay relationships in books for teenagers weren’t allowed. Thom and Duke Roger are quite important minor characters and villains. One of the panellists couldn’t remember Roger’s name. I don’t know about anyone else, but I always assumed something had gone on between those characters that wasn’t mentioned.
Currently, down in the main room, karaoke is being perpetrated, but I’m tired and still in a bit of pain so I’m having an ‘early’ night. I want to be up and about at a reasonable hour tomorrow for a panel about neurodiversity.
And possibly more book buying.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 