This weekend was Eastercon – and the Voyager team was there in full force! It was one of the biggest Eastercons to date, with over 1400 people in attendance! Two of our authors were there as Guests of Honour: George R.R. Martin and Cory Doctorow.
For those who have never attended a convention or are curious about them, Eastercon is a great place to start. As was well documented in this Guardian article [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/09/eastercon-sf-fantasy-convention?INTCMP=SRCH], Eastercon feels like one of the most inclusive genre events – and it is one of the biggest too, as the UK’s annual national SF convention.
This year, there was a noticeable shift of focus onto fantasy fiction as the UK’s biggest selling author of second half of 2011 (that’s the entirety of the UK book market, not just genre!), George R.R. Martin, took to the stage. He thrilled audiences by reading the first two chapters of The Winds of Winter (currently the viewpoint characters Victarion and Tyrion, but that is certainly subject to change) and answering some questions from the audience. He was also on several panels, including ‘How Pseudo do you like your Medieval?’ and ‘Nature of Heroism’. Even a few of the cast members from Game of Thrones turned up at Eastercon to enjoy the festivities, including Gethin Anthony (Renly Baratheon), John Bradley West (Samwell Tarly), and Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio Forel).
Our very own Cory Doctorow was also on hand as a guest of honour – he had a fabulous interview with his US editor Patrick Nielsen-Hayden and continued to blow everyone’s minds on panels like ‘Death of the Internet’, ‘Dystopian YA’ and ‘The Future of Ebooks’. Other Voyager authors in attendance included Stephen Hunt and Janet Edwards – great to have such a stronger Voyager contingent out in force!
The best thing about Eastercon is the chance to meet and chat in person with all the authors that you admire. You could probably miss out all of the panels and just sit at the bar, and still have a fabulous time (OK, we admit it; there was quite a lot of bar sitting time for the Voyager team too!)
If you were sad to miss out, a few of the panels and interviews were recorded online. Check the videos out here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2012—olympus
