Swancon 2017 was just as enjoyable as previous years. I was only on two panels - the focus was not, for the most part, on writers and writing, but that meant there were many enjoyable talks and panels on topics as diverse as Wayfinding by the Stars and Should Women be Freemasons? My favourite, I think, was a talk by Guest-of-Honour Sean Williams on his time in Antarctica!

My two panels were  Writing: from Idea to Page (with Glenda Larke, Luke Kendall and Meg Caddy) and Publishing: Where to Begin? (with Amanda Bridgeman, Glenda Larke, Luke Kendall and Heidi Kneale). All my fellow panelists are practised and published authors, several having many works under their belts.

The incredibly gifted Cat Sparks took a great many photos, as did several other camera enthusiasts. Most of the ones below are Cat's work. Cat also launched her first novel, Lotus Blue - but it sold out before I could grab a copy! I did buy lots of other books, though, including Meg Caddy's Waer and Luke Kendal's Wild Thing.

Two awards were on the program - the nation-wide Aurealis Awards and Perth's 'Tin Ducks'.  In the pic below you will see Glenda Larke with her award, which is definitely a Swan, not a Duck! She won it for 'Best Long Written Work'. I was invited to present two of the Aurealis awards - Best Fantasy Novella and Best Fantasy Short Story. You can find a full list of Aurealis winners at https://aurealisawards.org/

Glenda's  lovely Tin Duck!

Luke Kendall, Glenda Larke, Satima Flavell and Meg Caddy

Me trying to look glam, Juliet Marillier succeeding!

Three elegant ladies: Juliet Marillier and Glenda Larke with Guest-of-Honour, long-standing fan Davina Watson

Terri Sellen shares a joke with Yours Truly. (No, I don't think that's a  real sword...) Hurrah - fellow fan  Grant Watson has put the Tin Duck winners up on Facebook, so I've copied them and here they are! Best WA Long Written Work: Fall of the Dagger, Glenda Larke (See pic above) Best WA Short Written Work: To Take Into the Air my Quiet Breath, Stephanie Gunn Best WA Production: Australian SF Snapshot project   Best WA Artwork: A Matter of Scale, Alicia Smith Marg Hughes Award: Samara Morgan All over until next year! Now I'm starting to feel post-con blue-ish!