World Fantasy Con
Absolutely fantastic time at World Fantasy Con on Saturday, set against the backdrop of a perfect, sunlit Brighton (always glorious in the Winter, and we lucked out, as it was a particularly fabulous day).
Since Covid, my Con-going has been pretty sparse, partly because of the change in job (don’t go to trade any more and work a lot of weekends) and partly just due to the shifting of the Con landscape. I did see a great many wonderful people, though, in the Dealers’ Room (including my old trading neighbours, Genki Gear), in the bar, and across the hotel. Caught up with some excellent panels, firstly the Write for the Fight panel, featuring Juliet McKenna, Steve McHugh, Miles Cameron, C J Clark (have had the Ambessa book on face-out for the last couple of months, so it was great to put a face to the name), expertly modded by Anna Smith Spark (whose Judge Anderson novel is next on my TBR). It’s the one I’m usually on, hence always of high interest, and it provided some excellent insights. Definitely worth another newsletter, hopefully next week.
The Wizard’s Tower launch was excellent (was able to grab a copy of Ruthanna Emrys’/Andrew Knighton’s Wiz Duo novellas), as was the panel on older people in fiction, later in the day, featuring Jenny Hannaford, Jacqui Greaves, Juliet Mariller and Ramsey Campbell, equally expertly modded by Sara Townsend (who shares the D&D game). The age thing is another subject very dear to my heart (Augusta being in her forties, Lugan in his fifties, etc), and the whole Con brought me round to a bit of a realisation:
At work, the fantasy book demographic is quite clear cut. It’s mostly younger women, in their twenties, buying endless TikTok-featured romantasy. The same books, the same titles, the same tropes, over and over again. And it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, as we know. That’s what sells, so that’s what the publishers produce, likewise over and over again (and how many Limited Editions can we get out of the same title?)
At the Con, the people were older (almost no younger faces at all), with very little interest in the fantasy publishing super-trend. Indeed, many comments and eyerolls were made, hearkening back to marketing budgets, the reluctance of publishers to produce anything that wasn’t immediately hitting the big sales, and hence the death of both originality and our trusty mid-list. The subject isn’t new, but seeing the difference in the two types of fantasy readers – and in the industry - was quite sobering.
It makes small presses like Wizard’s Tower absolutely critical to the future of genre fiction, as that’s where the ideas are. I’m a big believer in ‘no snobbery’ (read what you like, read what makes you happy), but the slow homogenisation of popular culture does make my teeth ache.
In better news, though, the event was great. I still feel faintly rootless, going to a Con and not trading, but everyone was as welcoming as ever. People are inclusive, included and welcome, and it still feels like family. I was only there for the day, which meant I didn’t quite manage to see everyone that I wanted to see, and those I did see, I didn’t manage to see for as long as I wanted to see them (if you catch my meaning), but just the reminder that it’s all still there, and as warm as ever, was a truly lovely thing.
Reading: Somewhere Beyond the Sea. Not quite as good as the first one (though not far off), but a warm and wonderful story of love and inclusion, and standing up for your family. Deliberately politically relevant (love Klune describing himself as the anti-JKR), and packs a sharp but necessary punch in a warmly comforting velvet glove. Definitely worth the read.
Watching: the end of Attack on Titan, and hoooo boy. I started watching the DVDs ten years ago, and finally seeing the end of the story is absolutely riveting. It’s not the same as the end of the Manga (unlike most adaptations, which usually remains true to the source material), but it’s massive and incredibly powerful. I did talk about a bit in my previous newsletter, but the death scene of <redacted> when they go up against <redacted> had both Isaac and I in tears.
Playing: In anticipation of the Legacy of Kain GN (backed on Kickstarter), I returned to the game on the PS5. Twenty-five-something years ago, when it was first released, it absolutely blew me away (and the GN still looks awesome, tbf), but it was a sad reminder that sometimes, you can’t go back.
And that it’s better to leave some memories where they were, rather than try and recapture the moment.