a weekend of sf

I had a fun weekend attending P-Con IV in Dublin. There were lots of amiable, interesting guests, good panels, and long discussions on matters pertaining to science fiction, fantasy and horror in literature and comics. Frank Darcy and his team did a bang-up job of putting together a friendly and accessible convention.

It’s always a treat to be in the company of people who want to discuss genre work, and are knowledgeable about the subject. Even for a small convention like P-Con it’s amazing how little time you get to catch up with everyone. I’ll have to squeeze in some extra time for that at Octocon (Alastair Reynolds has just been announced as Guest of Honour of this year’s convention). Apart from the people I’ll be seeing in Japan for WorldCon. I don’t know if I’ll be able to attend the Belfast convention, MeCon, in early August, even though Ian Banks is Guest of Honour, and there are a plethora of other cool guests attending too.

It’s great to see that the Irish sf conventions are managing well and are pulling good attendances. The three conventions will be creating a David Stewart Memorial Fan Award in the coming weeks, to celebrate the people who have made major (but perhaps unacknowledged) contributions to Irish fandom. It’s a lovely way to celebrate the fine work that Dave Stewart accomplished in sf circles throughout his life.