So we’re a week away from that time of year again, where I go to London for a long weekend of rampant and thoroughly unashamed geekery. Buckle up, dear reader, as we prepare for
Although like last year, this year’s Nine Worlds weekend doesn’t actually start with Nine Worlds for me. Instead it starts with
Fantasy In The Court takes place in (and just outside) Goldsboro Books, just off Leicester Square. You pay a fiver to get in, which can be redeemed against the purchase of a book, and then you can eat cakes and drink wine (or orange juice in my case) and just hang around and chat with a bunch of authors who’ll be knocking around wearing name tags. It’s super-chilled and relaxed, although possibly not recommended if you get nervous in crowds as there’s not a great deal of space! Come and say hi if you’re there, I should be fairly easy to find.
And then, from Friday to Sunday, it’s Nine Worlds.
Nine Worlds is the London Geekfest, a celebration of, if not all, certainly very many things geeky. Fantasy and Science Fiction novels and authors, Doctor Who, various Whedon creations, comics, games (video, board, card and RPG), even down to stuff like how to braid your hair like Danaerys Targaryen or geeky knitting patterns and stuff. I’ll be there from Friday morning until whenever I decide to go home on the Sunday, but here is where you can *definitely* find me:
FRIDAY
5pm – ‘Interpretations Of An Interstellar Humanity’
This is MY PANEL, one that I came up with myself and am running. We’ll be discussing various aspects of HUMANS IN SPAAAAACE, more specifically with authors who’ve created interstellar civilisations for their work and why they made the decisions they did for that, how realistic they think their own creations are, what they particularly like (or possibly dislike) about other famous depictions, that sort of thing. I think it’s going to be fascinating 🙂
(on Friday evening I’ll be leaving the hotel and heading just up the road to see Pennywise in Shepherd’s Bush! Stealth punk ahoy!)
SATURDAY
3.15 – ‘Redemption in Scifi’
I’ll be on this panel discussing the redemption arcs of various prominent SFF characters, what we think of the trope and whether it’s been overdone, and so forth. I’m on this with a couple of other authors including the Arthur C. Clarke award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky (I hear he likes spiders).
4.15 – Signing
I’ll be at the Big Green Bookshop’s stall doing a signing! This was only confirmed today, so that’s really cool and exciting. So come and say hi and get me to scribble in the books I’ll have been subtly referencing over the two panels.
10pm(ish) – BIFROST DISCO
So after last year’s hilarity, they’ve got me back again! I’ll be sharing DJing duties with Elaine, whom I did it with last year, and also DJ Lum, joining us on the Saturday for the first time. Expect a variety of music, with my contribution (predictably) coming down pretty firmly in the rock, punk and metal genres.
SUNDAY
11.45 – Nine Worlds Podcast Live
Jeanette Ng and I will be guesting on the official Nine Worlds podcast, hosted by Misha (who also organises Bifrost) and Matt (who organises… a lot of stuff?). I’ve no idea what we’ll be talking about. It’s entirely possible that by this point I’ll be running on a combination of caffeine and chocolate-topped waffles and making very little sense at all.
If you’re on the fence at all about coming to Nine Worlds, I’d definitely recommend it. Tickets are certainly pricey by this point, but there are still people popping up on Twitter offering cheap early bird ones that they now can’t use, and if you’re at all a fan of the sort of stuff that gets discussed there then I really think it’d be worth your while. It’s a brilliant atmosphere too: incredibly relaxed, really respectful and welcoming. There are quiet rooms for people to go and chill out away from people, I think most of the hotel has actually been booked out by attendees this year so there won’t be many randomers wandering around wondering who all these weird people are, you can get badges to write your pronoun of choice on, and special lanyards that mean you absolutely positively don’t want to be in any photographs at all, not even in the background, thank you. Cosplay is welcomed but not required, and nor is it “judged”: you can give out tokens to people whose costumes you like, and if they get a certain amount they can claim a prize, but there’s no competitions or anything like that. People just go to activities and panels and stuff dressed as Batman, or a TARDIS, or Hellboy, or what have you.
I think it’s going to be brilliant. Again.