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Canada's eclectic Ad Astra convention celebrated its 30th anniversary by inviting back a number
of previous Guests of Honour. I had been a Guest in 1995 and 2007 and had thoroughly enjoyed
myself on both occasions, so I readily agreed to return to Toronto—one of my favourite cities—to
celebrate with friends and colleagues, old and new.
Also returning as Guests were, amongst many others, Ben Bova, Kathryn Cramer, Ellen Datlow, Dave
Duncan, Scott Edelman, David G. Hartwell, Tanya Huff, Don Hutchison, Guy Gavriel Kay and Shawna
McCarthy. Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon were added as new Guests of Honour.
Having flown in on the Wednesday, Mandy Slater and I stayed for one night at the luxurious Renaissance
Toronto Downtown Hotel, which is attached to the Rogers Centre SkyDome (I witnessed my first baseball
game from the hotel's observation bar), and that evening we had dinner at a nearby restaurant with our
friend, author and editor Nancy Kilpatrick, who had taken the train in from Montreal.
The following morning we embarked on a quick shopping spree, popping in to World's Biggest Books (where
I was gratified to see that my titles took up an entire shelf) and the BMV next door, where I picked up
a couple of nice used books. Then it was back to an Irish pub for lunch with Rodger Turner—my
stalwart website designer—who had driven down from Ottawa to see us.
Photo © 2011 Mandy Slater
Rio Youers, Stephen Jones and Simon Strantzas in the bar.
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Photo © 2011 Mandy Slater
Ellen Datlow and Stephen Jones in the bar.
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After lunch, Rodger kindly transported us out to the suburbs. As usual, the convention was held at the
Toronto Don Valley Hotel and Suites, which had undergone something of a welcome make-over since I was
last there. We quickly checked in and then headed down to the hotel bar, where we found Rodger already
ensconced with editors Ellen Datlow and Shawna McCarthy. Although we had only recently eaten, the three
of us decided to accompany Ellen and Shawna out to a local steakhouse, which was located in a
beautifully-appointed historic house. While they ate, the rest of us sampled the very reasonably-priced
cocktails before getting a cab back to the hotel. The evening ended with a low-key party for Guests
and staff in the Con Suite.
Photo © 2011 Mandy Slater
Geeks at Heart, Ellen Datlow, Stephen Jones and friend in the Green Room.
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Photo © 2011 Mandy Slater
Scott Edelman and Stephen Jones in the Green Room.
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Not much was happening on Friday until the Opening Ceremonies at 7:00 p.m. So during the morning we hung
out in the hotel as more and more people gradually showed up. The only other Brit to fly over for the
convention, the cuddly Rob Shearman, turned up with his usual harem in tow and, as always, immediately
began to charm everybody he met. For lunch, Mandy, Rodger and I went out to a greasy-spoon diner with
book collector/historian par excellence Bob Knowlton and Mary Canning from the Merril Collection. After
looking around a number of antique and reclamation stores in the neighbourhood, we all headed back to
the hotel to get ready for the Opening Ceremonies.
Photo © 2011 Mandy Slater
Stephen Jones and Robert Knowlton at the Autograph Session.
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The Convention was officially started by The Honourable David C. Onley, a one-time TV newscaster and
now Ontario's 28th Lieutenant Governor. A past GoH at Ad Astra himself (1984), he was a witty and
entertaining speaker despite sometimes muddling his facts. Then it was off to my first programme
item: "Zombies: Rise to Popularity" was a panel discussion moderated by Mandy which also featured
Scott Edelman and Karina Sumner-Smith. As it happened, Scott and Karina have the opening and closing
stories, respectively, in this year's The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror—and both are zombie
stories! It was a fun panel and an appreciative audience. The rest of the evening was spent in the
superb Green Room—always a high point at Ad Astra—where I partied with many old friends until 2:00 a.m.
Photo © 2011 Mandy Slater
Scott Edelman, Stephen Jones and Karina Sumner-Smith at the Zombie panel.
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I was a little bleary-eyed on my first panel on the Saturday: "What is Horror". So no pressure
there then! Luckily my fellow panellists were old friends Ellen Datlow, Don Hutchison and Rio
Youers, while the moderator was Canada's "maestro of the macabre", Michael Kelly, who was launching
his new anthology series Chilling Tales at the convention. I have no idea if we nailed the
definition of horror, but the hour flew by. Then it was on to the "Editing Anthologies" panel
with Ellen and Don again. We were joined this time by Caro Soles and moderator Kathryn Cramer,
who did a great job despite being handed the role at the very last minute.
Photo © 2011 Mandy Slater
What is Horror Panel: Stephen Jones, Ellen Datlow, Michael Kelly, Don Hutchison and Rio Youers.
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The afternoon Autograph Session was surprisingly well-attended. I signed a lot more books that I
expected, as well as getting a pile of old Famous Fantastic Mysteries signed by Don Hutchison, who
had had letters published in the pulp magazine when he was still a teenager. It also helped that
I was on a table with Ellen, Shawna and Rob Shearman, so we all had a lot of fun.
Photo © 2011 Mandy Slater
Stephen Jones gets Don Hutchison to sign his copies of FAMOUS FANTASTIC MYSTERIES.
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A huge amount of fun was also had that evening when Mandy, Rodger and I went out to a cavernous
Pickle Barrel restaurant with Rob, Scott Edelman and Toronto's Young Turks of Terror: Simon
Strantzas, Richard Gavin and Ian Rogers. The horror genre is definitely undergoing a huge
resurgence in Canada at the moment, and these guys—along with others—are at the
forefront of this exciting new movement. Back at the hotel, I popped into the ChiZine publisher's
party, which was already in full-swing. I spent an hour or so chatting with Nancy Kilpatrick
and Rio Youers before collapsing into bed.
Photo © 2011 Mandy Slater
Stephen Jones and Simon Strantzas.
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Photo © 2011 Scott Edelman
Nancy Kilpatrick, Stephen Jones and Rio Youers at the ChiZine Party.
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Sunday was a lot more relaxed. Ellen Datlow, Don Hutchison and I held a three-way "Guest of Honour
Hour", in which we talked about how our careers started out and answered questions from a small but
receptive audience. Then I went straight to my final panel of the convention, "It's the Best/Worst
Time to Be a Writer". This could have been an interesting topic, but despite getting the opportunity
to hang out with my old friend Doug Smith, I didn't think it was a successful or particularly
useful discussion, not helped by one panellist who dominated the entire proceedings with his bombastic opinions.
With programming over, Mandy and I hosted a private party in our room. There was a lot of
excitement about the just-released news that the World Fantasy Convention was coming to the UK
in 2013, and I expect to see a big Canadian contingent attending. The twenty or so people who
came along certainly seemed to enjoy the single malts, bottles of wine and strangely flavoured
British snacks, and the gathering lasted long into the evening. It also gave us an opportunity
to say our goodbyes to everybody.
Photo © 2011 Michael Kelly
Stephen Jones, Michael Kelly and their good friend Single Malt.
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Following breakfast with Rodger on the Monday, Mandy and I packed, had a quiet lunch in the
hotel and headed off to the airport to catch our flight home.
It was a great convention—helped by the large number horror people who were in attendance
for the first time. I would especially like to thank Mary-Ellen, Doug and Amy for inviting me back
and for making me feel so welcome; Carolyn and François for hosting the always-inviting Green
Room, and Roxane and her team of GoH Liaisons (especially Paula) for looking after us so
magnificently (including the marvellous goody-bag for Guests).
I definitely hope to go back to Ad Astra again, and I don't think that I can wait another thirty years!
—Stephen Jones
April, 2011
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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
Stephen 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 Stephen 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 . . .
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