Our national science fiction and fantasy convention was held last weekend in Taupō. Here is my list of convention highlights:
A road trip! Bags crammed to the roof.
A stop off at the licorice shoppe. Free samples.
A room of her own overlooking the lake.
An exciting book project idea, percolating.
Writers meet ups in the bar.
A 100 year old church purchase ‒ not mine, but still a highlight.
Jean Gilbert hearing me say ‘deaf’ delegate instead of ‘DUFF’ delegate and immediately switching to American Sign Language, flummoxing poor Paul Weimer. Horror queen Kaaron Warren gets the giggles.
Ninety baby writers.
A teen writer pitching Finding Nemo as a horror thriller.
Multi-writer meet up in the bar.
Breakfast with gamer/writer and all-round crafty person, Jenni Sands. Snoopy gifts from Japan.
Meeting up with mentees and hearing about their plans.
Panels, panels, panels, speeches.
The word ‘conlanging’.
Free lunches (Yes, it’s a thing).
Friends. Too many to list.
Can-do attitudes.
Books!
Another multi-writer meet up in the bar.
Mount Tauhara at dawn.
The fluffy blue feather on Norman Cates’ hat.
Picking up a spare script of Paul Mannering’s radio play Word of the Things, so I could enjoy the jokes a second time in private.
Cheesy selfies.
Three pointy SJV trophies and wishes and kisses from friends.
Winning the book raffle (Angela Slatter gift-wrapped).
After parties.
Road trip! 7am. Bags squeezed in, hatch slammed shut. Thank goodness, Gerry Huntman is driving.
Brown Sugar Café, Taihape.
Getting home to my darlings.
Overhearing Kaaron Warren in the next room with my son, both chortling over Maxwell Smart. “No, not the Craw, the Craw!”
Making plans to meet again, and no one missing their flights.
Early night.
Secretly popping all the bubble-wrap that my pointy trophies came wrapped in.
The 38th national science fiction and fantasy conference, LexiCon, was held from June 3-6, 2017 at the Suncourt Hotel in Taupō.
Photo credit: Paul Mannering.