Eastercon

[white_hart]

Setting off for Eastercon on Friday I felt roughly equal parts terrified and excited, but I had a fantastic time and ended up feeling rather sorry that Easter being so late meant that this week is week 0 of term so I couldn't stay until today and take Tuesday off to recover (though by the time I left yesterday afternoon I was feeling tired enough that I was probably ready to come home).

I went to lots of interesting panels, and really liked how much of the content was focused on books, rather than the more media-centred content at Nine Worlds. Particular favourites included the art of reviewing, #ownvoices, maps and landscapes in fantasy, decolonising SFF and the Moomins; I only went to one panel that I really wasn't impressed with, on romance in SFF, which suffered from poor moderation and an unwillingness to explore the topic more widely, but I wasn't too sorry to leave it early given that romance in literature is something I have a fairly hit-and-miss relationship with anyway (and I had an excellent conversation about romance in SFF with the people I was sitting with before the panel started).

It was also really good to spend time socialising: with people I already knew but don't see in person nearly often enough; with people I hadn't met before; and, best of all, with people I have known online for a very long time but had never managed to meet in person before (in once case, someone who is almost my oldest internet acquaintance who I was absolutely thrilled to finally meet). The membership skews much older than Nine Worlds, so rather than feeling like one of the oldies I was firmly in the middle, age-wise, and in a lot of ways I felt much more like I belonged than I have done at Nine Worlds. I think there's a strong probability that I will be going again next year. If I do, I think I would probably stay in the con hotel; I'd picked the Ibis over the road this time on the grounds that it was close enough to get to easily but might give me a bit of space if I needed it, but I didn't really take advantage of the space and it did strike me that if I'd been in the con hotel I could have nipped upstairs to make tea between panels rather than paying £3 for a teabag and some hot water in the hotel bar...

Comments

[alithea]

I think I'd go again too, and also stay in the con hotel, or at least certainly closer than I did this time. I'm interested in your comparison to Nineworlds given that is the one I'd thought about going to until it was cancelled for this year.

It was really lovely to get so much time together and I very much appreciated you introducing me to so many lovely people.

[white_hart]

I was glad my hotel was as close as it was (for Nine Worlds I've always stayed farther away, but with T there too so it felt much more as though I was only at the con part-time), but as I didn't really end up taking advantage of the things I thought would be good about being off-ste (particularly the possibility of going back and eating quietly in the hotel) and it was too far away to nip back and boil the kettle between panels I think the con hotel might be better next time.

I have really enjoyed Nine Worlds in the past, and would probably go again, but Eastercon felt much more like "my people", as I realised when both of the first two panels I went to made references to Le Guin, where at Nine Worlds it would probably be MCU or something else that I'm not really familiar with.

It was lovely to see you too!

[alithea]

The Queerbaiting panel was much more MCU heavy but then it was also listed as a mass media panel, but yes, everything else I went to was very much book focused too.

[white_hart]

Yes, that was specifically billed as a film panel, but there was a lot of both specific and general book content which is what I felt Nine Worlds was missing.