Discworld Convention Report 2014
Aug. 12th, 2014 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcIt's rather disorienting to be writing this in a hotel which is neither of the ones I was at during the Con (we're currently in York). But I didn't have time to do it before I left, and I'm going to lose track of things completely if I leave it until I get home.
First things first; the hotel was beautiful and the staff were brilliant. But the building is not people-who-have-difficulty-with-stairs friendly. Not to mention how disorienting it is -- it was repeatedly compared to L-Space, but I felt it was more like the Cabinet of Curiosity, constantly unfolding in unexpected directions.
So did I mention the staff were briliant? All DiscCons have had hotel staff that make us feel welcome, but I think this was the first one that had Disc-themed cocktails in the main bar and a hot-dog vendor wearing an official Dibbler apron. They really seemed to be getting into the spirit of it.
We weren't staying in that hotel though, but the Holiday Inn across the street. This had its disadvantages, except at 4:30 on Saturday morning 8-).
Terry's absence was keenly felt, but he was very much there in spirit. The opening ceremony introduced The Hat, which sat on a cushion during this, the Bedtime Stories, and the GoH interview. This was an actual Sir Terry Hat, as taken from his head, and was subsequently raffled off to some lucky punter.
Friday
We arrived just in time to dump our bags at the Holiday Inn, race across the road, and get registered before the opening ceremony started ... Sorry, I mean before the opening ceremony was supposed to start. We were fortunate enough not to be in the Great Queue, because this year Mum decided to avail herself of a blue dot for "needs a bit of help", and I got one too as a person providing it. (I virtuously reversed my badge so it couldn't be seen when I was on my own, though.)
The ceremony started off as the three figures looking round the Ankh-Morpork Grand Exhibition (this year's theme) and being tramuatised by the exhibits. DrHicks Hix then welcomed us to the Con and, in the persona of Reginald Wilson, to the Exhibition. He also explained a few other things, like the Disoworld Convention Collectible Card Game, starter packs for which were in our tote bags. (Which were very generous this year; everyone got one of the new cloth-bound editions and another book. I got cloth-bound Jingo and the updated paperback of Science of Discworld, Mum got cloth-bound Interesting Times and the US paperback of A Hat Full of Sky.)
He then welcomed Rob Wilkins, who had The Words, but didn't have The Hat. After Rob had rummaged around in his bag for a while and found several other hats, The Hat eventually made its way to the stage with all due reverence and was placed on the cushion. We were introduced to the guests who made it, and the ones who hadn't, which as well as Terry included Stephen Baxter. His recorded message talked very quickly, but I think I got the impression a new Long Earth novel was in the formative stages.
Bedtime Stories was excellent. Rob read from Dragons At Crumbling Castle, Neil Gaiman's moving forward to A Slip of the Keyboard, the Folio (the very exclusive book that all conventioneers would be provided with later), and The Shepherd's Crown. What's The Shepherd's Crown? It's only the fifth Tiffany Aching book! Title exclusively revealed at this event, and it sounds brilliant.
And the final event of the Friday evening: Mitch Benn at the Dysk! (The Dysk-traction Club?) Mitch was as excellent as ever, doing stuff from his albums, this year and last year's Fringe shows, and a brilliant stream of geek comedy between songs, making it quite clear he was here as A Fan. (His new show is about scepticism. At one point he made a comment about religious people "And that includes followers of Om, if you're out there!") He finished off, of course, with Proud of the BBC, with a volunteer from the audience in a PotBBC T-shirt to remind him of the order. Brilliant stuff.
In what became a running theme, Mum and I made a tactical mistake concerning dinner. Specifically, we didn't have any. Because of the delays, the times were tight enough that we decided to have dinner after everything was over. After everything was over, we discovered the restaurant (All Jolson's) was shut. It was late, we were tired, we weren't sure where else to go, so we just headed back to the Holiday Inn.
Saturday
Checking Twitter over breakfast, I discovered the Palace had had a fire alarm overnight, because something like that always happens at Discworld Conventions.
The first item I'd marked on the agenda was Staging the Discworld at 11:00. Unfortunately, due to a dodgy GPS connection on my phone and an even dodgier sense of direction in my head, I was still making my way back from a quick 10:00 trip to Forbidden Planet at 11:45. I got some good comics, though.
The GoH interview was briliant. First Rob did some more readings, including the Neil Gaiman one again, then he introduced the actual interview.
It was recorded prior to the event, with a running gag (although it was also actually the case) that Sir Terry has just had a great idea for a new book, and would much rather be working on that than answering Rob's questions. But he did, and he seemed to be very animated and cheerful. The exact effects of the PCA seem to come and go, and a lot of times I've seen him at things recently it seems to be a bad day, so I was glad to see a good one. I don't remember the actual questions, except the last one was what new technology would be added to the Disc post-Raising Steam. Terry said maybe crystal radio, but he wouldn't take the tech level any further than that. Oh, and there was a question that didn't make it onto the video about what message Terry would want people to take from his books. Rob said that Terry asked him if he could guess the answer, and he correctly came up with "Buy the next one".
Then Rod Brown and Bernard Pearson came on stage and they just generally talked Terry. I'd been disappointed to scan the schedule and notice there wasn't a Narrativia event, but with Rob and Rod chatting away about their chats with Terry, we learned a lot about how the various projects were doing. [Disclaimer: If you are reading this and are a partner in a Discworld media project, I am certain we were told no more than Rod Brown and Narrativia Productions are currently at liberty to divulge.]
After that, I grabbed a sandwich and tea and took them to see Bernard again along with Ian talking about Mapps and Diaries. The most interesting things I learnt here were that there are 2016 and 2017 diaries planned after the We R Igorth one, that there is a large area in the Atlas - unlabelled in the previous edition - that Terry was extremely resistant to making an America counterpart, and which was eventually named The Great Outdoors, and that Mrs Georgina Bradshaw from Raising Steam and Mrs Bradshaw's Guide was based on Isobel Pearson. But mostly it was simply a joy to hear Bernard rambling on about things.
After that I saw Rob again at Rob Wilikins Speaks. This was supposed to be a typical day working with Terry. Rob explained there was no such thing, and then did some more general chat and readings, including the outtakes of Raising Steam that were in the Folio. But he wouldn't read the Neil Gaiman thing again, because it was too emotional.
The Science of Discworld talk with Jack'n'Ian is always interesting, and they explained how the books happened, why the first one has too much stuff in it (they didn't know there was going to be another one) and who came up with Cabinet of Curiosities first (Terry, but Ian forgot that's where he got it from). And then we went to see Jacqueline Simpson talking about folk tales and how the same stories crop up everywhere and it's not always clear how much people believed them. And this still happens today, only now they're called urban legends.
(I'm skipping all the "and we went down stairs and up other stairs and found ourselves in a corridor we'd never seen before that somehow connected two areas we thought were nowhere near each other". Just take all that as read.)
Since at this point there was only half an hour to go until the Maskerade, Mum suggested we wait until afterwards for dinner, and have it at the Drum, which served food late (remember that theme I mentioned?) So I went round Sator Square and bought some stuff, including stamps and a UU degree certificate for myself and some Discworld beer to take home to my sister. And Mum found some jewellery she thought my niece would like.
Then we went to the Maskerade, which was brilliant. The opening this year (they seem to be getting increasingly elaborate) involved Pat Harkin as the Ducktor, protecting us from the Duckleks (with three companions and a recorded message from Terry urging us "Don't blink!") and Davina in a How Not To Enter The Maskerade skit.
All the contestants were of a high standard, as ever, but![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ssirienna was a deserving winner. I also particularly liked Pam Gower, in her final Maskerade, as a reification of the line "Entire agricultural economies have been based on the lifting power of little old ladies in black dresses" (Lords and Ladies, I think). And the wee girl as Tears Of The Mushroom playing the harp was, as I believe the kids say, adorbz.
(It is entirely possible the kids don't say that at all, how would I know? I just googled it and it's in Urban Dictionary, as if that proves anything. Anyway, much like Dr Harkin when the red light is on, I digress.)
Dr Hix mentioned that the Journeyman Maskerade contestants are held to a high standard, which is exactly why I haven't entered since Definitely Not The Nac Mac Feegle put me in that category. (Although, having said that, I do have an idea for next time. And yes, I know I said that in 2012, but this time I wrote it down! It's not quite as clever as DNTNMF, but I'm quite pleased with it.)
As far as dinner went, what we'd forgotten was that a) there was still only half an hour between the Maskerade and the Maskerade results, and b) that this was taken up with the Guild Entertainment. So we didn't go down to the Drum (and it really did look like the Drum) around 11:30, because it was going to stop serving food at midnight, and once we'd had dinner (I had French bread pizza, she had a burger) we'd missed the Maskerade photoshoot.
(I hadn't taken photos during the Maskerade itself because my camera was playing up, and I was worried the flash was resetting - obviously you can't use flash photography when someone's eyes are trying to adjust to stage lights. So no Maskerade photos.)
Given all this, it's unsurprising that I continued my longstanding tradition of wanting to go to the Hedgehog Party but being completely shattered. And then it was bucketing down as we made our way back across the road, which just put the lid on it.
Sunday
I again missed the first thing I'd marked on the schedule (Colin Smythe talking about book covers). This time it was because I slept in and was still at breakfast. (Incidentally, how were breakfasts at the Palace - besides Pat Harkin's "not a plate of bacon but a flat-pack pig"? I got used to the Hilton's hash browns and veggy sausages and three kinds of eggs, so it was a shock to realise a vegetarian wanting a cooked breakfast at the Holiday Inn could have scrambled eggs and beans.)
So I got to the Palace a bit late for the talk on GURPS Discworld. This was in a room I hadn't been in before (the Oblong Office) and it turned out to be more of a conference-table set up than a lecture theatre, leading to more of a discussion feel. I surreptitiously pulled up a chair that was next to the door in order to reduce how much I was disturbing anything, and three seconds later I heard the door shut behind me...
Five minutes later we realised it had also locked, when someone else arrived late...
Once that was sorted out, and I'd apologised a few times, the talk was quite interesting. Phil Masters explained a bit about how GURPS worked, and how it worked with Discworld. One interesting bit was that the 4th edition customisable magic system enabled him to create a more improvisational take on Discworld magic than he'd had in 3rd ed, including a mechanic that means witches get magic bonuses if they cast their spells in a witchlike manner. (The example he gave was that "the spell affects a circle with a 500 yard radius" would be less effective as a witch spell than "the spell affects the whole village!") I am very tempted to go to one of his games at the 2016 con.
In fact, I might have gone to the game he was running straight after the discussion, but I reluctantly skipped that; the Magic and Physics talk with Ian Stewart, Diane Duane and Ben Aaronovitch; and Bernard Pearson On, Well, Everything Really in order to go to the Charity Auction. Most of the really cool stuff got out of my price range very quickly, but I got a set of bookmarks and a Nation pen. I wasn't tempted to bid on Terry's firewood, but I'm sure Springboard is very grateful to the people who did. (I also maintained another of my personal DiscCon traditions by accidentally holding my paddle the wrong way at least once. At least this time Pat didn't notice)
Left the auction to meet up with Mum for the Ben Aaronovitch lecture. (If you've read Ben's stuff and didn't know he was a Discworld fan, you might want to reread The Also People.) He talked about Rivers of London and the way the series developed, although for the benefit of those, like me, who still haven't read Broken Homes, he was rather circumspect about what those developments were. In any case, Mum is now finally interested after years of me saying "Magic and crime, I can't imagine you not liking them."
Popped back to the auction just as the Clarecraft stuff was coming up. Managed to resist draining my bank account for them, even when the Librarian stamp came up. I did acquire a cuddly Librarian in this year's convention T-shirt though. I then met up with Mum again at Jacqueline's talk on Urban Folklore on the Disc, where I arrived just in time for the RW origins of Hunting the Megapode. Apparently when Jacqueline told Terry the words of The Mallard Song he interrupted to ask which King Edward? And why? And when she replied that no-one knows he said "Hah! Then it's proper folklore!"
After that was the Troll Bridge test screening. Even with only some of the CGI and backgrounds in place, it's clear this is going to be epic. Mica the troll is brilliant, looking somewhere between a Kidby troll and a Kirby troll, and the actor playing Cohen got the attitude just right. I would have liked to stick around for the Q&A, but I wanted to see the Art Gallery and we had Folios to collect.
The Gallery was brilliant. It was really hard to pick a favourite but I went for the Caroc cards because there was so much detail into them in multiple ways - they were recognisably the characters, they were recognisably specific actors playing the characters, and my limited knowledge of the tarot suggested they accurately represented the card they were on. But I also liked Granny's cottage, which was also full of little details. And the wire mesh railway car containing brick kennels - the Dragon Wagon. Basically, everything there was excellent.
A long wait for the Folios, because Bernard had to leave early due to injury (he's going to be okay) and Rob had to organise that. It was enlivened by representatives of the Pat Harkin Appreciation Society offering little ducks. (The purpose of the Pat Harkin Appreciation Society being, of course, to encourage things that annoy Pat Harkin.) And it was worth the wait.
No danger of missing dinner on Sunday - for the first time since 1998, we'd splashed out on Gala Dinner tickets. And the dinner was certainly worth buying a three piece suit for. (Unfortunately it was bucketing down again, so we were also wearing anoraks to get across the road.) The food was superb, the conversation was excellent, and the only slight criticism I'd make was that since we were right at the back and behind a pillar, we missed some of the entertainment. I mean, I saw Dr Hix attempt to make his after-dinner speech with a custard pie on his head, but I didn't get to see it happen.
We stuck around the Night Circus for a bit, but we were tired and had packing to do, so we headed back.
Monday
Another personal tradition - I went to Buckle A Swash but didn't have time to stick around afterwards. (I got to speak to a number of afpers at various times, if only to say "Hi!" in passing, including Gideon and Marco, but not Orjan. So hi, Orjan!)
And then we were away, which was disappointing, but I probably agreed to it last year without really grasping what the times were, so I can't complain now. I'm sure the closing ceremony and the radio play were excellent and I hope everybody enjoyed them. See you all in 2016!
First things first; the hotel was beautiful and the staff were brilliant. But the building is not people-who-have-difficulty-with-stairs friendly. Not to mention how disorienting it is -- it was repeatedly compared to L-Space, but I felt it was more like the Cabinet of Curiosity, constantly unfolding in unexpected directions.
So did I mention the staff were briliant? All DiscCons have had hotel staff that make us feel welcome, but I think this was the first one that had Disc-themed cocktails in the main bar and a hot-dog vendor wearing an official Dibbler apron. They really seemed to be getting into the spirit of it.
We weren't staying in that hotel though, but the Holiday Inn across the street. This had its disadvantages, except at 4:30 on Saturday morning 8-).
Terry's absence was keenly felt, but he was very much there in spirit. The opening ceremony introduced The Hat, which sat on a cushion during this, the Bedtime Stories, and the GoH interview. This was an actual Sir Terry Hat, as taken from his head, and was subsequently raffled off to some lucky punter.
Friday
We arrived just in time to dump our bags at the Holiday Inn, race across the road, and get registered before the opening ceremony started ... Sorry, I mean before the opening ceremony was supposed to start. We were fortunate enough not to be in the Great Queue, because this year Mum decided to avail herself of a blue dot for "needs a bit of help", and I got one too as a person providing it. (I virtuously reversed my badge so it couldn't be seen when I was on my own, though.)
The ceremony started off as the three figures looking round the Ankh-Morpork Grand Exhibition (this year's theme) and being tramuatised by the exhibits. Dr
He then welcomed Rob Wilkins, who had The Words, but didn't have The Hat. After Rob had rummaged around in his bag for a while and found several other hats, The Hat eventually made its way to the stage with all due reverence and was placed on the cushion. We were introduced to the guests who made it, and the ones who hadn't, which as well as Terry included Stephen Baxter. His recorded message talked very quickly, but I think I got the impression a new Long Earth novel was in the formative stages.
Bedtime Stories was excellent. Rob read from Dragons At Crumbling Castle, Neil Gaiman's moving forward to A Slip of the Keyboard, the Folio (the very exclusive book that all conventioneers would be provided with later), and The Shepherd's Crown. What's The Shepherd's Crown? It's only the fifth Tiffany Aching book! Title exclusively revealed at this event, and it sounds brilliant.
And the final event of the Friday evening: Mitch Benn at the Dysk! (The Dysk-traction Club?) Mitch was as excellent as ever, doing stuff from his albums, this year and last year's Fringe shows, and a brilliant stream of geek comedy between songs, making it quite clear he was here as A Fan. (His new show is about scepticism. At one point he made a comment about religious people "And that includes followers of Om, if you're out there!") He finished off, of course, with Proud of the BBC, with a volunteer from the audience in a PotBBC T-shirt to remind him of the order. Brilliant stuff.
In what became a running theme, Mum and I made a tactical mistake concerning dinner. Specifically, we didn't have any. Because of the delays, the times were tight enough that we decided to have dinner after everything was over. After everything was over, we discovered the restaurant (All Jolson's) was shut. It was late, we were tired, we weren't sure where else to go, so we just headed back to the Holiday Inn.
Saturday
Checking Twitter over breakfast, I discovered the Palace had had a fire alarm overnight, because something like that always happens at Discworld Conventions.
The first item I'd marked on the agenda was Staging the Discworld at 11:00. Unfortunately, due to a dodgy GPS connection on my phone and an even dodgier sense of direction in my head, I was still making my way back from a quick 10:00 trip to Forbidden Planet at 11:45. I got some good comics, though.
The GoH interview was briliant. First Rob did some more readings, including the Neil Gaiman one again, then he introduced the actual interview.
It was recorded prior to the event, with a running gag (although it was also actually the case) that Sir Terry has just had a great idea for a new book, and would much rather be working on that than answering Rob's questions. But he did, and he seemed to be very animated and cheerful. The exact effects of the PCA seem to come and go, and a lot of times I've seen him at things recently it seems to be a bad day, so I was glad to see a good one. I don't remember the actual questions, except the last one was what new technology would be added to the Disc post-Raising Steam. Terry said maybe crystal radio, but he wouldn't take the tech level any further than that. Oh, and there was a question that didn't make it onto the video about what message Terry would want people to take from his books. Rob said that Terry asked him if he could guess the answer, and he correctly came up with "Buy the next one".
Then Rod Brown and Bernard Pearson came on stage and they just generally talked Terry. I'd been disappointed to scan the schedule and notice there wasn't a Narrativia event, but with Rob and Rod chatting away about their chats with Terry, we learned a lot about how the various projects were doing. [Disclaimer: If you are reading this and are a partner in a Discworld media project, I am certain we were told no more than Rod Brown and Narrativia Productions are currently at liberty to divulge.]
After that, I grabbed a sandwich and tea and took them to see Bernard again along with Ian talking about Mapps and Diaries. The most interesting things I learnt here were that there are 2016 and 2017 diaries planned after the We R Igorth one, that there is a large area in the Atlas - unlabelled in the previous edition - that Terry was extremely resistant to making an America counterpart, and which was eventually named The Great Outdoors, and that Mrs Georgina Bradshaw from Raising Steam and Mrs Bradshaw's Guide was based on Isobel Pearson. But mostly it was simply a joy to hear Bernard rambling on about things.
After that I saw Rob again at Rob Wilikins Speaks. This was supposed to be a typical day working with Terry. Rob explained there was no such thing, and then did some more general chat and readings, including the outtakes of Raising Steam that were in the Folio. But he wouldn't read the Neil Gaiman thing again, because it was too emotional.
The Science of Discworld talk with Jack'n'Ian is always interesting, and they explained how the books happened, why the first one has too much stuff in it (they didn't know there was going to be another one) and who came up with Cabinet of Curiosities first (Terry, but Ian forgot that's where he got it from). And then we went to see Jacqueline Simpson talking about folk tales and how the same stories crop up everywhere and it's not always clear how much people believed them. And this still happens today, only now they're called urban legends.
(I'm skipping all the "and we went down stairs and up other stairs and found ourselves in a corridor we'd never seen before that somehow connected two areas we thought were nowhere near each other". Just take all that as read.)
Since at this point there was only half an hour to go until the Maskerade, Mum suggested we wait until afterwards for dinner, and have it at the Drum, which served food late (remember that theme I mentioned?) So I went round Sator Square and bought some stuff, including stamps and a UU degree certificate for myself and some Discworld beer to take home to my sister. And Mum found some jewellery she thought my niece would like.
Then we went to the Maskerade, which was brilliant. The opening this year (they seem to be getting increasingly elaborate) involved Pat Harkin as the Ducktor, protecting us from the Duckleks (with three companions and a recorded message from Terry urging us "Don't blink!") and Davina in a How Not To Enter The Maskerade skit.
All the contestants were of a high standard, as ever, but
ssirienna was a deserving winner. I also particularly liked Pam Gower, in her final Maskerade, as a reification of the line "Entire agricultural economies have been based on the lifting power of little old ladies in black dresses" (Lords and Ladies, I think). And the wee girl as Tears Of The Mushroom playing the harp was, as I believe the kids say, adorbz.(It is entirely possible the kids don't say that at all, how would I know? I just googled it and it's in Urban Dictionary, as if that proves anything. Anyway, much like Dr Harkin when the red light is on, I digress.)
Dr Hix mentioned that the Journeyman Maskerade contestants are held to a high standard, which is exactly why I haven't entered since Definitely Not The Nac Mac Feegle put me in that category. (Although, having said that, I do have an idea for next time. And yes, I know I said that in 2012, but this time I wrote it down! It's not quite as clever as DNTNMF, but I'm quite pleased with it.)
As far as dinner went, what we'd forgotten was that a) there was still only half an hour between the Maskerade and the Maskerade results, and b) that this was taken up with the Guild Entertainment. So we didn't go down to the Drum (and it really did look like the Drum) around 11:30, because it was going to stop serving food at midnight, and once we'd had dinner (I had French bread pizza, she had a burger) we'd missed the Maskerade photoshoot.
(I hadn't taken photos during the Maskerade itself because my camera was playing up, and I was worried the flash was resetting - obviously you can't use flash photography when someone's eyes are trying to adjust to stage lights. So no Maskerade photos.)
Given all this, it's unsurprising that I continued my longstanding tradition of wanting to go to the Hedgehog Party but being completely shattered. And then it was bucketing down as we made our way back across the road, which just put the lid on it.
Sunday
I again missed the first thing I'd marked on the schedule (Colin Smythe talking about book covers). This time it was because I slept in and was still at breakfast. (Incidentally, how were breakfasts at the Palace - besides Pat Harkin's "not a plate of bacon but a flat-pack pig"? I got used to the Hilton's hash browns and veggy sausages and three kinds of eggs, so it was a shock to realise a vegetarian wanting a cooked breakfast at the Holiday Inn could have scrambled eggs and beans.)
So I got to the Palace a bit late for the talk on GURPS Discworld. This was in a room I hadn't been in before (the Oblong Office) and it turned out to be more of a conference-table set up than a lecture theatre, leading to more of a discussion feel. I surreptitiously pulled up a chair that was next to the door in order to reduce how much I was disturbing anything, and three seconds later I heard the door shut behind me...
Five minutes later we realised it had also locked, when someone else arrived late...
Once that was sorted out, and I'd apologised a few times, the talk was quite interesting. Phil Masters explained a bit about how GURPS worked, and how it worked with Discworld. One interesting bit was that the 4th edition customisable magic system enabled him to create a more improvisational take on Discworld magic than he'd had in 3rd ed, including a mechanic that means witches get magic bonuses if they cast their spells in a witchlike manner. (The example he gave was that "the spell affects a circle with a 500 yard radius" would be less effective as a witch spell than "the spell affects the whole village!") I am very tempted to go to one of his games at the 2016 con.
In fact, I might have gone to the game he was running straight after the discussion, but I reluctantly skipped that; the Magic and Physics talk with Ian Stewart, Diane Duane and Ben Aaronovitch; and Bernard Pearson On, Well, Everything Really in order to go to the Charity Auction. Most of the really cool stuff got out of my price range very quickly, but I got a set of bookmarks and a Nation pen. I wasn't tempted to bid on Terry's firewood, but I'm sure Springboard is very grateful to the people who did. (I also maintained another of my personal DiscCon traditions by accidentally holding my paddle the wrong way at least once. At least this time Pat didn't notice)
Left the auction to meet up with Mum for the Ben Aaronovitch lecture. (If you've read Ben's stuff and didn't know he was a Discworld fan, you might want to reread The Also People.) He talked about Rivers of London and the way the series developed, although for the benefit of those, like me, who still haven't read Broken Homes, he was rather circumspect about what those developments were. In any case, Mum is now finally interested after years of me saying "Magic and crime, I can't imagine you not liking them."
Popped back to the auction just as the Clarecraft stuff was coming up. Managed to resist draining my bank account for them, even when the Librarian stamp came up. I did acquire a cuddly Librarian in this year's convention T-shirt though. I then met up with Mum again at Jacqueline's talk on Urban Folklore on the Disc, where I arrived just in time for the RW origins of Hunting the Megapode. Apparently when Jacqueline told Terry the words of The Mallard Song he interrupted to ask which King Edward? And why? And when she replied that no-one knows he said "Hah! Then it's proper folklore!"
After that was the Troll Bridge test screening. Even with only some of the CGI and backgrounds in place, it's clear this is going to be epic. Mica the troll is brilliant, looking somewhere between a Kidby troll and a Kirby troll, and the actor playing Cohen got the attitude just right. I would have liked to stick around for the Q&A, but I wanted to see the Art Gallery and we had Folios to collect.
The Gallery was brilliant. It was really hard to pick a favourite but I went for the Caroc cards because there was so much detail into them in multiple ways - they were recognisably the characters, they were recognisably specific actors playing the characters, and my limited knowledge of the tarot suggested they accurately represented the card they were on. But I also liked Granny's cottage, which was also full of little details. And the wire mesh railway car containing brick kennels - the Dragon Wagon. Basically, everything there was excellent.
A long wait for the Folios, because Bernard had to leave early due to injury (he's going to be okay) and Rob had to organise that. It was enlivened by representatives of the Pat Harkin Appreciation Society offering little ducks. (The purpose of the Pat Harkin Appreciation Society being, of course, to encourage things that annoy Pat Harkin.) And it was worth the wait.
No danger of missing dinner on Sunday - for the first time since 1998, we'd splashed out on Gala Dinner tickets. And the dinner was certainly worth buying a three piece suit for. (Unfortunately it was bucketing down again, so we were also wearing anoraks to get across the road.) The food was superb, the conversation was excellent, and the only slight criticism I'd make was that since we were right at the back and behind a pillar, we missed some of the entertainment. I mean, I saw Dr Hix attempt to make his after-dinner speech with a custard pie on his head, but I didn't get to see it happen.
We stuck around the Night Circus for a bit, but we were tired and had packing to do, so we headed back.
Monday
Another personal tradition - I went to Buckle A Swash but didn't have time to stick around afterwards. (I got to speak to a number of afpers at various times, if only to say "Hi!" in passing, including Gideon and Marco, but not Orjan. So hi, Orjan!)
And then we were away, which was disappointing, but I probably agreed to it last year without really grasping what the times were, so I can't complain now. I'm sure the closing ceremony and the radio play were excellent and I hope everybody enjoyed them. See you all in 2016!
