If you've been reading this blog for more than a year or two, you will already know that I get all excited and flustered at Easter.  It's not due to chocolate overdose, but enthusiasm for Western Australia's annual Science Fiction convention, Swancon.

This year was no exception. I missed last year's event, which means I was doubly excited about this one! I sat on panels, listened to panels, looked at lovely artwork, bought a book or two and sold about the same number, and caught up with fellow writers and fans, spending a lot of time chatting with friends old and new. Writing buddy Keira McKenzie enjoyed deserved praise for her artwork. I bought a lovely card that I know I won't want to send to anyone because I like it too much!

The committee had invited a wide range of guest panellists. Jane Epsenson, an American television writer and producer, was the 'overseas' guest-of-honour. She has had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and she shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode 'Conversations with Dead People'. In 2010 she wrote an episode of HBO's Game of Thrones, and joined the writing staff for the fourth season of the British television program Torchwood. I only heard a couple of her panels, but they were enough to get me interested in Espenson's work, even though I am a reader rather than a watcher. (Although I must confess to a Game of Thrones addiction - I have the books, books about the books, and DVDs as well...)


I fell into conversation with the national guest-of-honour, Lian Hearn (a.k.a. Gillian Rubenstein). I had read and enjoyed her earlier trilogy, Tales of the Otori, so I was delighted to find that there are now two more books: a prequel and sequel to the trilogy. Lian (pronounced like 'Ian' with an 'l' in front) loves all things Japanese. She has lived there and speaks the language fluently, so she has been able to draw convincingly on Japanese history and culture. I've started reading my lovely signed copy of  Emperor of the Eight Islands and if it continues as it starts I can promise that it's an exciting read with an excellent setting; interesting characters, and lots of action. You can find Gillian/Lian's website at http://www.gillianrubinstein.com/

I sat on seven panels and enjoyed them all:
    Do I need a Website? with Amanda Bridgeman, Alecia Hancock, Jon Hayward and Rebecca Laffar-Smith. (We found in the affirmative. Who can do without at least a blog these days?)
    Not Writing Yourself, with Claire Boston, Lian Hearn, Louise Helfgott and Pete Kempshall, turned into a fascinating discussion of how authors draw on their own characteristics and experience, often quite unconsciously.
    Let me read to you three minutes of something I wrote, with Evan Beasley, Louisa Loder and Dave Luckett was just what it said. We each read from our own work to a small but appreciative audience.
    Elegant Prose In Novels, with Claire Boston and Louise Helfgott.
   Defying Doomsday, a preview reading and discussion of the forthcoming anthology, with Sue Ackermann, Stephanie Gunn and Anna Hepworth, under the guidance of publisher Alisa Krasnostein.
    How Writing Changes for Adult, YA and Children's Writing, with PRK, Lian Hearn, Rebecca Laffar-Smith and Susanna Rogers.
    Editors: a New Hope with Sally Beasley and Michael O'Brien. A couple of other editors joined us, so we had a lively debate about the good, the bad and the ugly bits of editing.

Two disappointments marred the event for me. Firstly,  my second novel, The Cloak of Challiver, was to have been launched at Swancon, but, sadly, stock did not arrive in time. The current plan is a launch at  Conflux, the Melbourne SF convention, in September. Things may move earlier - I'll keep you posted! More positively, there was plenty of socialising, and I do hope that I'll see some of my new friends at future cons - or at least on our blogs and social media!

The second disappointment was that a lot of friends I'd normally see at Swancon had gone to a competing event in Brisbane, the national SF convention (Natcon for short). How the organisers could have made such a blunder is beyond me. I hope it future they will do as such eventualities have been dealt with in the past - give Easter to the Natcon and hold Swancon at another time.

Gripes aside, I'd like to thank the organising committee for another enjoyable convention in Perth! May there be many more.

Wikipedia: Calyptorhynchus banksii

Perth Now: Barnaby's cockatoo