EasterCon - Day One

Friday started early, in order that we could get to EasterCon at Heathrow at a reasonable time. The journey went well - not too much traffic (One of the advanages if you leave early, on a Bank Holiday Friday) and no navigational problems, apart from a minor glitch at the end when the SatNav tried to lead us astray (fortunately,Heathrow airport is pretty well signed, so we weren't fooled for long!)

We are not staying at the con hotel itself, but at the Ibis, which is about 10 minutes walk away and about 1/2 the price - AND we were able to check in early, so very satisfactory!

I spent the morning listening to a talk about timetravel, thena fascinating presentation by Juliet McKenna about Homer's Odyssey, and whether it was the wqorlds first fantasy novel (Answer, no, given that it is a dramatic poem ment to be performed, not a novel!) Juliet's enthusiasm was infectious; I really enjoyed it, and left wanting to re-read the Odyssey with her comments about the female characters, guest friendship and Odysseus's failings in mind.

After a pause for coffee and food, I then headed down to the Room Which Is Nowhere Near Anything Else (aka room 12) for a panel abuout "The English in the Marvelverse" with Mike Carey and Paul Cornell, moderated by Roz Kaveney - lots of fun, although it has to be said in wandred a little, at times, from the original brief... I rather liked the idea, floated by Paul cornell, of a comic in which Blade shows his English roots: "He should stake a couple of vamps, then have a cup of tea, and scones" which in turn led to a suggestion for a time-travelling 'Blade and Jane Austen' storyline . . . (I'd read that one!)

I had planned to stay for the next panel about whether one should censor what children read, but almopst without any conscious volition found myself instead, in the bar, where I bumped into Cheryl & Jetse de Vries, briefly met Ian Watson, and met (and got my shiny new book signed by)Mark Charan Newton and, after a very long wait, managed to acquire a very expensive pint of beer! The bar is a nice room, with comfy chairs, but very expensive, and considering how empty it was, astonishingly slow service..

However, refreshed and invigorated I moved on to a presentation by Dr Kari Maund (Kari Sperring) 'Arthur & Merlin - Where do the legends originate' which was fascinating - a whistle-stop tour of Gildas, Geoffrey of Monmouth etc which was very entertaining as well as informative - Gildas compared to the Daily Mail - a little later, I saw the first part of a panel about modern interpretsations of the Merlin legends, moderated by Kari, but unfortuntely couldn't stay to the end, as that sounded fun, too!

I then spent the evening volunteering in the Green Room, which mostly involed repeated runs to the bar, interspersed with the occasional delivery run, and then I finished the day with "Dr Horribles Sing-along-Blog", complete with proper singing along.

Lots of fun.