Levitation 2024 aka My First Eastercon Experience

Location – Telford International Centre

Dates 29-1st April

Its always been difficult for me to get to Eastercon. Hard sometimes to justify using up the bank holiday weekend for a con than family events. But finally, the stars aligned ad it mean I could go for a day down the road (hour and fortyish in reality) to Telford to experience my first Eastercon and while a flying visit a lot of fun was had.

It feels bigger than Fanatsycon and the Telford International Centre is very big – most of the events took place o the first floor. There was a lovely Dealer’s Room (and Books On the Hill were true Booktempters every time I walked past them). There was a really interesting art exhibit with some fine prints on offer too. Long corridor made it a bit like a lot of pacing up and own but there is a large café area.

As tight on time  for the day trip I focused on panels but kept abreast of the BSFA Awards online!

Among the panels I enjoyed were

Choosing Character Voice – Moderated by Julie E McKenna with Chris Behrsin, FD Lee, MV Melcer and Michelle Sagara

Technically quite an interesting panel as to how the different character perspectives come about. Several noted that First person Present is a growing voice as that has established itself in YA while for older readers (like me!) Third Person Past was the default growing up. Then there was discussion about how you make a character’s voice tell you about their world and can use it for exposition and telling you about their state of mind. There was no single best way and Sagara did comment that it often is led by the book itself first. Really interesting and something I’ll look at in future reading!

Locked Room Mysteries in Space – Moderated by Mat, Arthur Chappell, Aliette de Bodard, MV Melcer and Allen Stroud

A really interesting discussion that flowed well over how SF and murder mysteries have gelled over time. From discussions on murder locations – the abandoned train is now the spaceship far from everything; the mechanics of murder – trying blunt force trauma in zero gravity; creating extremely difficult crimes and then realising you don’t know yet the solution and avoiding raising the dead to make it too easy. A neat mix of light hearted discussion; exploring the history and craft of the genre that was entertaining and informative.

Resistance is Useless! Or is it? – moderated by Brian Nisbet, Helen Gould, Karen Furlong, SJ Groenewegen and Stew Hotston

Another good flowing panel with interesting questions exploring both the realities and fictional versions of resistance. Ranging from Blake’s Seven to Andor and 1984 to the way Harry Pptter fandom outgrew its author’s extreme prejudices this was a reminder that fiction can be both simple but correct – oppression of anyone should be resisted to the more difficult questions of how do you live life a life after winning and how do groups stay focus on the goals without splitting up.

Book Launch - The Dark Feather by Anna Stephen – Book 3 of The Drowned – interviewed by Stew Hotson

I really have enjoyed this trilogy so a lovely chance to both pick up the final book and hear how Stephens created the trilogy from a single image in a dream. The way the magic system developed and most of all the extreme care and research performed to do something linked to Meso-american culture but do its own things to avoid any offence. Such a great thing to see authors think about what stories they can tell and which they should not. Also Stephens has a fascinating drafting process that made authors in the audience wince in pain! Expect a review soon!

Guest of Honour Interview – Tade Thompson interviewed by Aliette de Bodard

I’m a huge fan of Thompson’s work and this was a great autobiographical approach covering Thompson growing up in Nigeria and Britain. Their medical career and their love of comics circling back to how these impacted their writing. Also refreshing to see a male author asked how they handle writing with being a father.

I left with a much heavier backpack but I had a lot of fun and working how what I could do around Belfast in 2025 is already food for thought! Well worth looking out for as a convention.