Wearing my other hat

What do you mean, it looks like my normal hat?

It seems like months ago, but it was only last week that I attended FantasyCon 2014 in York. It's a much more book-focused affair than Nine Worlds, and I was there under my Other Name as a writer of horror stories (though there were more erotica writers there than most people realise. We are everywhere, lurking, taking notes and waiting for the moment we rise up and conquer the world....)

My latest short appears in Terror Tales of Yorkshire (edited by Paul Finch) pictured above - and so hot off the presses they haven't even got the cover up on Amazon yet.

I had a terrific time (ho ho!) and met lots of friends old and new, even if the hotel bar prices gave me the shock of my goddamn life. There was a superb panel on the professional editing process which gave me a whole new appreciation for the role of my editors - they are not just there to make authors cry and correct spelling: they are advocates and cheerleaders for your books within the publishing company so you really need as happy a relationship with your editor as you can possibly manage.

Fran Terminiello - 15th Century rapier and buckler

There was also an exceptionally good panel on the realities of swordplay and how to make it more convincing in a novel - with demonstrations from the panelists who are all keen martial artists in various disciplines.

Juliet E McKenna - Aikido

Interestingly, the two panelists who expressed an opinion both said that if they were facing a swordsman in a life-or-death fantasy situation ... they'd rather be armed with a staff or spear!
(Personally I'd go for a crossbow.)

And here below is the only (albeit slim) evidence in the whole world that I am prepared to get down and boogie at a disco, given it is Eighties enough. I blame the Gollancz Free Bar. For everything.

Photo by Annie Catling. I'm just glad it wasn't taken during "Jump Around".