So off we went to Eastercon, or Concussion as it may be more properly known, the 57th British National Science Fiction Convention held at The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow on the SECC campus.
I say “we” and use the term loosely: we initialy being 2 guys from the Iain Banks Forum ; Armchair Anarchist and myself. We went there in anticipation of meeting some of the other guys from the forum/ message board but not really knowing who or how many other than DaveH who is known as a hard core Sci-Fi fan and Banksie expert as on a quarterly basis he produces The Banksonian (http://www.banksoniain.netfirms.com/).
AA had travelled from Portsmouth on Thursday 13th April to attend the Con, and was spending a few days chez mois. He calls Portsmouth “Velcro City:” go figure or ask him yourself why that town is so named (http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/).
Only twice before have I met people from the internet whom I thought/believed I knew “relatively” well, and those experiences, though enjoyable , were always odd to start off with. This guy was coming to stay with me for a few days! I don’t think he’ll mind if I say there was the inevitable initial awkwardness since we both discussed this very point, but undoubtedly copious amounts off alcohol helped to relax us both. I think we got on well.
Anyway, we arrived at the Con, registered , and dived right in to the bustle and the fun, wandering around checking out the books, the schedule, the exhibits but mostly (for me anyway) the people. I have to say there was such a welcoming and happy atmosphere and loads of hilarity was evident.
Shotly after arriving we both nipped outside for a ciggie (smoking indoors in Scotland in public places being illegal since the end of March) and availed ourselves of the hotels extensive smoking facilities….10 plastic chairs and no bins nor ashtray other than the ground, which quickly filled up. We sat there on our own enjoying the first few puffs of our ciggies when we were joined by a bloke dressed mostly in denim. Being friendly type guys we both said “Hi ” to him and inevitably checked out his (obligatory) name badge as he sat down. It was Ken McLeod! The Scottish sci-fi author!
Now, as he sat down, I followed his eyes: he could not not see our name badges (and wasn’t really interested anyway as he was complaining about the lack of civilised smoking facilities which he had apparently been promised before committing to attending) and as he sat down he proclaimed to my buddy, “Are you Armchair Anarchist?”
Shit, was I gobsmacked. A famous Scottish author knew my English buddy!
As it turned out, AA had previously reviewed one of Ken’s novels: Ken had followed through on the contact and was able to ID AA from his web-site pic. It was a momentous moment for sure.
A short time later we met up with DaveH (who wasn’t wearing his “Song of Stone” T-shirt as promised…but apparently that was only scheduled for 7pm when the “official forum meet” was due to happen) and Dave introduced us to Conscious Bob, another forum member. We confirmed our intentions to regroup at the real ale bar at 7pm, in the hope that “numbers” (198505) would also have made the event.
At that point, sneaky DaveH slyly told us that he had invited Banksie to join us at the bar , but was unable to confirm TMH’s attendance at the Con. A fond hope was born in the breasts of beasts.
And so the day wore on, well not exactly wore: we went to some talks and discussions and wandered around checking out the books and the artwork after attending the rather funny opening ceremony…honest! It was fun.
Just before 7pm we all congregated in or near the “Real Ale Bar” which was situated in the main foyer. We all grabbed some hot food to eat with a pint or half of real ale and sat down to tuck in. Blow me ! But no sooner had we done so than Banksie showed up at the bar, within 20 feet of us. IT WAS RATHER EXCITING. After he was obviously well settled in with his first pint DaveH approached him for a word : TMH joined us at our table and after introductions seated himself and began to have fun.
He told us several stories about his childhood, his writing, his stories, future works and quizzed us about who we were and what the Forum (www.iainbanks.net) was. He was completely relaxed and seemed to be enjoying himself, even to the extent that he bought all five of us a pint. Managed to get a pic of his writing on the drinks order, but a waitress nicked his empty glass…grr, however, I was only holding it for a while…would have been just too obsessive and geeky to take it away.
During the course of his hour long visit to our table several other folks came up to meet him too, take pics and got him to play with a stuffed C’Thulla. At one point whilst he was still there both Ken McLeod and Charles Stross joined him briefly for a chat. Buzz, buzz, buzz !
I had a great time here, and managed to only embarras myself twice: once with Banksie and once with Charles Stross, but nuff said bout that, it was just the excitement of the moment. Banksie left, bidding us pleasant farewells; the evening concluded with a paper aeroplane fight of titanic proportions in the hotel foyer, but Banksie forumers were sadly outnumbered and roundly pounded to dust. We may return.
