I'll be honest. I'm a newbie at Comicon type events.
Only recently did I discover that the Western Australian Swancon event is the longest-running SciFi and Fantasy convention in the southern hemisphere; and then to learn that it is rising like a phoenix.
After the 2021 Swancon event was cancelled due to Covid and travel restrictions, the organisers managed to collect the coals that remained. In 2022 they managed to fan and cajole things into an event that they called "Not-a-con". This name was adopted since it could only be a shadow of its former self.
Speaking to several of the attendees I gained a sense of reminiscence. It was as if not-a-con was a nostalgic reminder of the early days before it grew and then contracted.
For a recently published Author, it was the perfect event to gently ease into the scene.
There was a warm welcome and "Of course, you can place your posters around. And, let's see. Yes, there's a slot at 7:30. Will that be OK?"
I spent the day joining in. There was a soft-launch of Fanexus, a clever social network for fans that applies a sort of semantic ontology for hashtags. There were vigorous debates about publishing, a panel on the writing heroes that seem to pop up in Perth, and another panel on Armageddon as a plot device. There were discussions on the enigma of Greg Egan, and I attended a book launch for "The Eternal Machine" by Carol Ryles, who managed to catch the not-a-con bus well before I did.
I was so grateful for the posters and marketing material provided by Austin Macauley. It provided the perfect Guerrila marketing material I needed for the day
When 7:30 came around I did a reading, sold several books and got some great advice from this great and resurgent community.
I will be back there in 2023.
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