WorldCon 75: my first con

I’m still gathering my thoughts on the events of WorldCon 75 and what it means for myself as a writer and my current position as an author of science-fiction. But I will say that now having returned from Finland, my first con ever was an absolute blast. Both my panels went incredibly well – the latter of which (the one on editing) received very, very nice tweets and even some fanmail.

It was tiring and draining and intense, but also incredibly fun and invigorating and an incredible space to be in. To illustrate, this conversation happened with every person I met:

Me: This my first con!

Them: Wait. Your first con ever!?

Me: Yep. Came all the way from Australia.

Them: Wow. You sure jumped in the deep end.

Deep end is putting it lightly. But maybe for the first time I actually felt like a writer that’s part of the writing community. It’s impossible to get that same level of fandom tangible-ness in somewhere like Australia, but having dozens of people tell me they enjoy my work and name stories they loved is very flattering indeed. Again, more on what all this means for me later. But just know I had a blast. In a few days I’d: shared three bottles of wine with Ian McDonald, talked cinema with Daryl Gregory and Thomas Olde Heuvelt, had coffee with Walter John Williams, got offered a tour of LucasFilms next year in LA, and had my surname pronounced as “Sazzle” by George R. R. Martin, and have witnesses to prove it.

Thank you to everyone who made my first con one of the most memorable events in the past few years. I can’t name everyone, and I’m sure I’m forgetting many many people, but here’s the list of people I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with over the course of the con. After years of seeing you all through social media, Years Best anthologies and YouTube interviews, it was a pleasure to finally shake your hands. Each of you are amazing and awesome and I cannot wait to see you next year.

S. B. Divya
Effie Sieberg
Elizabeth Bear
Navah Wolfe
Ian McDonald
Ian Sales
Daryl Gregory
Gregory Bossert
Cat Sparks
Theodorida Dyer
Ellen Datlow
Mel Melcer
Aidan Doyle
William Ledbetter
T. Jane Berry
Anatoly Belilovsky
Sandy Parsons
Eugenia Triantafyllou
Natalia Theodoridou
Benjamin C. Kinney
Arley Song
Ken Liu
Ted Chiang
Cixin Liu
Alex Li
Neil Williamson
Amal El-Mohtar
DongWon Song
Aliette de Bodard
Walter Jon Williams
Ian Watson
Ian Whates
Bo Balder
Chris Cornell
Adam Jackson
Jakob Drud
Debra Jess
Katherine Carter
Jeremy Carter
Chloe Yates
Paddy Kelly
Jane Johnson
Natashsa Bradon
George R. R. Martin
Robin Hobb
Julie Novakova
Taiyo Fuji
Joe Abercrombie
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Charlie Jane Anders
Alisdar Stuart
Erin Roberts
Chris Beckkett
Leo Vladimirsky
Tade Thomspon
Lee Harris
Mary Robinette Kowal
Natasha Barron
Lawrence M. Schoen
KB Rylander
Noah Beit-Aharon
Jason Stevan Hill
Jonathan Strahan
Santiago Belluco
Emma Maree
Jack Nicholls
Laura Pearlman
Katrina Archer

 

I’m sure there’s a meat-grinder’s worth of people I’m forgetting. But again, it was a pleasure to hang with you all in Finland.
Here’s to San Jose.