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I was fortunate to be invited as a Guest to this year's Alt.Fiction—Derby's Festival
of Horror, Fantasy and Sci-fi [sic] sponsored by Writing East Midlands.
After skipping last year, the one-day event had moved to a new venue, Derby's purpose-built
arts centre, the QUAD. Located in the city's central Market Place and within easy reach of
the numerous bars and restaurants in the immediate area, it was therefore unfortunate that the
convention coincided with not only England's first World Cup game, but also the annual
Download Festival being held at nearby Donington Park.
Still, there was no denying the calibre of the professionals Alt.Fiction attracted: the other
Guests included Britain's finest living horror writer, Ramsey Campbell, author and comics
writer Mike Carey, Doctor Who scriptwriters and authors Paul Cornell and Robert
Shearman, with publisher/writer Peter Crowther as Master of Ceremonies. Other attendees
included fellow Gollancz authors Mark Chadbourn, Graham Joyce and Sarah Pinborough,
plus Chaz Brenchley, Tim Lebbon, Steven Erikson, Joel Lane, Juliet E. McKenna, Gary
McMahon, Mark Morris, Nicholas Royle, Stephen Volk, Ian Watson, Ian Whates and Conrad
Williams, amongst others.
You can always judge a convention by the quality of its delegate bag. In this case, it was
a handy shoulder bag containing a couple of free paperbacks, various flyers and samplers,
and an attractive programme book (although it was a shame that some of the pages were
printed in the wrong order).
There was a brief opening ceremony presented by Peter Crowther, then things kicked off
early for me, as Ramsey and I were scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. podcast, to be broadcast later
on the Alt.Fiction site. We had quite an audience for our informal chat, which was ostensibly
based around The Mammoth Book of the Best of Best New Horror but was actually far
more wide-ranging. It probably doesn't come as a shock to anybody who knows us that we could
have gone on much longer than our allotted hour—but they were recording a number of
other podcasts throughout the day to be archived, so we eventually had to stop talking!
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Listen to the podcast:
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Photo © 2010 Jenny Campbell
Steve Jones and Ramsey Campbell: Two Peas in a Podcast
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It was probably a good thing, really, as for the next hour I was on a panel entitled 'How to
Get Published' moderated by Pete, with genre agents John Jarrold and John Berlyne, Solaris
Books/Abaddon Books editor Jenni Hill and Gollancz's own publicity manager Jon Weir (who
later admitted he was a panel virgin, but acquitted himself extremely well). Like all the
panels held during the day, it was very well attended, and the attentive audience asked
some interesting and pertinent questions.
Photo © 2010 Peter Coleborn
Jenni Hill, Peter Crowther, Jon Weir and Steve Jones on the "How to Get Published" panel
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No sooner had we finished dispensing advice to the attentive attendees than I was off
to the dealers' room to participate in a 'Horror Signing' with Ramsey Campbell and
Conrad Williams. Although not huge, the room featured the British Fantasy Society,
Black Static/Interzone magazines and small press imprint Murky Depths, along with
a convention table groaning under the weight of books by most of the attending authors.
I signed steadily for the next hour—a mix of titles, including copies of the latest
printing of Necronomicon—while chatting to fans and friends. In fact, I continued
talking in the bar until 2:00 p.m., when I had to leave to take part in a panel
entitled 'Creating Fear—The Art of Horror Writing', moderated by a nervous Gary McMahon
and featuring some old pals—Tim Lebbon, Sarah Pinborough and Conrad Williams. Suffice
to say, given that line-up, it was a bit of a knockabout discussion, although I think we
managed to get our various points across (disagreeing with your fellow panellist always
helps!), although the audience seemed rather bemused by the bickering.
For the rest of the afternoon I was free! Although there were a number of interesting panels
scheduled, including 'Genre Books You Must Read', 'How Does Today's SF Compare to the
Classics', 'Dark Fantasy vs Horror—What's the Difference?', 'Writing for BBC Books', 'Writing
for Comics', 'Hack & Slash vs "Sparkly Vampires"', 'What is Alternative Fiction?'
and 'TV Writing—The Trials and Tribulations', along with various readings, signings and
creative writing workshops, I elected to join the throng now filling the bar and, later, get
some much needed food inside me.
I was back at 7:00 p.m. for the Auction, hosted by Ramsey Campbell and Peter Crowther. It was
a shame that more people did not attend (they were either still in the bar, having dinner,
watching the football or, even more pathetically, watching the new episode of Doctor Who
live on TV), as some excellent items went for very reasonable prices. These included numerous
signed books and proof copies, Stephen Volk's original script for the BBC's Ghostwatch signed
by him and the director, a copy of my own Brighton Shock! signed by an incredible
thirty-three(!) contributors, and a fabulously scarce and expensive limited edition Christmas story by Ramsey.
By now most of those who were staying were firmly entrenched in the bar, so there was a
disappointingly small audience for the rare 35mm screening of Roger Corman's The Haunted
Palace and The Raven in the QUAD's state-of-the-art cinema, which I
introduced. Those who did stay (including me) were treated to an entertaining 1960s double-bill
starring those titans of terror Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney, Jr.
I finally made my bleary-eyed way back to my hotel around 1:00 a.m., only to discover that the
Alt.Fiction crowd and the Download music fans had formed a fellowship dedicated to drinking the
bar dry. I decided it had been a long enough day and headed up to my room for a nice cup of tea and a soft bed.
Given the grey faces and hangovers that greeted me, imagine how smug I felt the following morning at breakfast . . .
I enjoyed this year's FantasyCon even more than last year's—and I was a Guest of Honour
then! From the various panels to the Awards Banquet, through the Raffle to the liveliest
British Fantasy Society AGM for years, this was a convention that had a genuine energy to
it. I even did business. The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror signing quickly
sold out, and the number of writers, artists and publishers attending ensured that
there was always plenty to talk about. Added to that, I won an award. And I've
finally started to work out where the good restaurants are in
Nottingham! Marie O'Regan, Paul Kane, Vicky Cook and their dedicated team of helpers
are to be congratulated for bringing the convention up to a level where those who
follow them will undoubtedly be able to build upon their success. Thank you to
everyone who helped make my weekend such a terrific experience.
—Stephen Jones
September, 2008
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