Journey Planet 15

The latest edition of the fanzine, Journey Planet, is online (issue 15). It’s edited by Hugo-Award-Winners Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon per usual, but half the issue is guest-edited by writer Lynda E. Rucker, and is termed ‘The Write Stuff’.

That section is devoted to conversations with writers about the ins and outs of their profession, and includes people like Mike Carey, Lauren Beukes, Gail Carriger, Robin Hobb, and Seanan McGuire answering questions about some of their high and low points.

I have a short piece in it called ‘From Fan to Con-runner to Writer – different experiences of conventions.’ Lynda asked me to write specifically on this subject, and it was an interesting exercise (for me at least!).

I still consider myself a fan at conventions in many ways, especially as I’m hardly a big-shot author. Conventions have always held a dear spot in my heart (as I describe in the article), so for me it’s still a lot about meeting friends and enjoying the conversation. Yet, other considerations come into play now, and that affects what I do and how I participate in conventions.

This does not make my experiences at conventions better now, merely different from what they used to be. I generally aim to be friendly and open to people, and after that everything usually falls into place.