I had the pleasure of being a guest of honour at Conflux, Canberra’s annual convention dedicated to speculative fiction, which ran 3-6 October.
Other GOHs were Kirstyn McDermott, James Bradley, Freya Marske, and Elise Miller, with the event chaired by Cat Sparks and emceed by Nicole Murphy. A fabulous line-up that I was thrilled and a little surprised to be a part of!
If you are interested in science fiction, fantasy, horror or any other reality-tweaking genre, in any form, then this convention is worth consideration.
Over the course of the event, I was a participant in five panels, held a kaffeeklatsch (basically, an arranged but relaxed gathering where we drink coffee and chat about writing, the business, anything at all*), and gave a talk, some of the latter of which I will reproduce here. I also provided a reading from Cruel Nights and a short interview with the Narrative Library** (my second outing with them): I’m under N! [listen here]
My talk included a PowerPoint, and that included some recommended texts in the vampire and climate fiction areas, as well as some advice for writers (some of which I suspect could be applied more broadly).
In case anyone was looking, here are the slides, with the caveat: it’s only the stuff that could fit, and I tried not to stress too much about the other favourites and notables that I had to leave out. Also mentioned/alluded to: Narrelle Harris’s Vampires of Melbourne, Mudrooroo’s Master of the Ghost Dreaming, Keri Arthur’s Riley Jenson Guardian, and Bill Congreve’s Epiphanies of Blood. Also movies Daybreakers, Thirst, Outback Vampires, and Bloodlust.
The Conflux program carried song titles for its programming titles, so I weighed in with my own soundtrack!
As to the promise mentioned in the page title: as part of the chinwag, I mentioned that I’d been beavering away, on and off, for five years on a new novel set in my flooded Brisbane world, and that it was almost done. The ridiculously talented and accomplished Kaaron Warren, who emceed my talk, made me – made me, I tells ya! – promise n front of everyone to have a draft sent to my agent within a fortnight. Well, it’s going out tomorrow, once I’ve settled on the working title, which is driving me crazy. Nothing like a little public accountability!
My thanks to the organisers of Conflux for inviting me along and making me feel welcome, as well as all the attendees who extended the hand of friendship – and good book and movie recommendations!
Major speculative fiction get-togethers are announced for Brisbane and Perth next year, with Conflux dates to be confirmed once they’ve taken a well-earned nap.
* In fairness, a convention is kind of a large, random kaffeeklatsch
** Psst: is that a preview of Kirstyn’s new novel? (She’s under M!)
