Location - Glasgow SEC

Dates - 8th to 12th August

Late Thursday afternoon I arrived in Glasgow a little jet-lagged after a holiday a few days earlier for Glasgow Worldcon. My second ever Worldcon after Dublin several years ago. They are a unique experience where over seven thousand attendees visit over five days where an extensive pack of panels, interviews, talks and events are interspersed with awards, dealer rooms and even two batmobiles! It’s a chance to see old friends, meet online ones for the first time and immerse yourself into the genres. I have to say I really enjoyed the experience and the Glasgow team have to be commended for showing the best of the city and the genre with a lot of joy, positively and also a well organised convention.

The con setting was the Glasgow SEC a huge complex with a greenhouse-style main entrance that leads into huge warehouse sized spaces for the dealers rooms and food trucks. Then Halls with extensive seating and off that series of meeting rooms of various sizes. I found Dublin being primarily in one multi-layered building a little enclosed and you could often have one queue running very close to another for something else. There was little room to sit and relax. This location however was much more expansive. For very good reasons in the UK security at such events requires bag checks but the staff were very polite and efficient. It felt a very approachable location and well served by many hotels in the area. The con had brought in additional food trucks which overall were good – but I start the campaign now for a salad bar at cons by day 3 the need for vegetables and fruit is unusually real!

Thursday

A 5am start and jet lag means you’re in an interesting headspace after several hours travel so I mainly used my afternoon to see some friends I’ve not seen in ages in rapid succession; check in the hotel and well as they were there but some books (these all happened a lot during the con) but before the desire for an early night descended I really enjoyed Cut From The Whole Cloth (with EC Ambrose, Farah Mendelssohn as mod, Heather Valentine, Juliet E McKenna, Mary Robinette Kowal) which explored fashion and how stories approached material which was a great mix of history, social politics and had some gorgeous examples

Friday

I had slept and a better grasp on reality was had! Therefore decided to gently ease myself back into conventions

A great time was had with

Predicting The Shape of Things to Come - this panel (with Allen Stroud, Emma Johanna Puranen, PR Ellis, Stew Hotston as mod and Tess Tanenbaum) explores the tricky side of science fiction - is it really there to guess the future and if so how accurate is it. The power of SF to inspire was discussed as well as so many predictions that didn’t come to pass. A really good flowing discussion that touched on AI, representation, economics and what may be coming next.

Book Launch - Track Changes by Abigail Nussbaum - as a keen fan of this blogger could not resist the opportunity to pick up a collection of review but also an interview conducted by Niall Harrison about how Nussbaum got into reviewing, how reviews have developed and approach. A reminder that blogs are still out there doing great stuff.

Luna Press Launch Day - a huge fan of this independent press in their home country for a change getting a chance to launch Four books. Lovely to attend and get some physical copies plus meet the authors. Nova Scotia Vol 2 is a particular highlight and apt for the occasion.

Gallus An Anthology by the Glasgow SF Writer’s Circle - it was nice then to meet an even more local book event and a huge host of authors to hear about this new anthology’s creation. Plus a rather shiny tote bag had to be obtained.

There were then some nice events by Titan and Orbit around. It was an overall relaxing day.

Saturday

Shout out to the Subjective Chaos Awards being announced! I took a year off from judging but annoyingly the judges did a great job without me as you can see by the choices here https://subjectivechaoskindofawards.wordpress.com/2024-2/

I was really impressed by African Cultural Influences In Fantasy ( with Ehigbor Okosun, MH Ayinde, Marve Michael Anson, RSA Garcia, Rogba Payne and TL Huchu as mod) a very good look at how a range of Black authors from the Caribbean, UK and Africa had been introduced to the concepts of magic and gods as part of their culture and how this moved into their own work. Different spins on tales have evolved and different cultures see different entities in new lights. When you come away wanting all the panel’s books is always a good sign the panel was helpful.

The Allure of Genre - Literary Authors Writing SFF - this panel (with Caroline Hardaker, Edgard Wentz as mod, Joanne Harris, Sultana Rafa and Yume Kitasei )had an always an interesting borderline discussion as you have to define what Literary means. Which is way harder than it sounds. How some knowledge of the genre helps, the snobbery in some aspects of publishing (both literary and SF circles) and a good discussion of the idea of getting something more out of a book. Definitely not as clear cut as some think.

The Nommo Awards - a very good showcase of talent on display in both works and hosts delivered an engaging swift ceremony with readings and interviews. Also an extremely classy moment when Wole Talabi announced having won in each of the writing categories they were permanently excluding themselves to make way for other authors. A selfless move and while I suspect Talabi will have many more other awards to win something the genre should have a look at itself for too

Book Launch - Flame Tree Press another independent press doing great work and one to encourage. A couple of readings and speeches plus a chance to mingle!

Sunday

My last day - work was sadly calling after two weeks away from it all.

But with aching feet I managed to get to

Unpacking Chinese Female SF - a really interesting set of discussions (with Dr Yen Ooi, Emily Xueni Jin, Gu Shi, Regina Kanye Wang and Xueting C Ni) about how Chinese women have entered SF writing (from the start) but now taking a bigger presence and exploring the female approach on gender into SF from familial relationships and gender dynamics. Fascinating to hear how 20th century China’s approach was encouraging women in traditionally masculine fields very early on and how this has cascaded down the generations while sexism in SF circles also raised its familiar head. The differences and parallels with Western SF this century were fascinating and again a panel that encouraged me to read more.

What are Reviews For? Balancing Critique, Recommendation, Promotion and the Art of Criticism in the written review (with Graham Sleight as mod, John-Henri Holmberg, Liz Bourke, Paul Kincaid and Roseanna Pendlebury) not too many reviewing panels across the weekend (was it something we said?) but this was a really great discussion with reviewers across a range of mediums and periods of reviewing. The evolution of the review in different formats short and long and the approach to discussing what a book is was a good decision but I also really enjoyed the disagreements on spoilers and how reviews have multiple purposes and audiences. Lots to think about and a useful recharge of my own batteries as to why I do what I do in my hobby that is probably more than a hobby these days.

I did lots of other things and people and books but key lesson - don’t do a very busy holiday then try to do a Worldcon after! But I had a lot of fun and my batteries for reading and talking about genre got a huge lift. I suspect after a very long 8 months in work my brain was telling me to relax and just enjoy the communal side of things - plus Booktempting! The discussions at tables and in corridors are just as useful as interviews, panels and table talks. Also Glasgow has a huge host of online panels available until the end of the year. I know I’ll be soon making use of.

Worldcons are an experience you should definitely give a go to. They’re big, noisy, crowded but also fun filled, joyous and intelligent with an overall empowering effect on why we love these stories. I loved my break and congratulate the Worldcon team for their effort. For me after a few days rest and sadly a lot of work emails I suddenly get blogging thoughts and reading urges and that for me is a very good sign this was a great con.