Meet Our Fantasycon 2026 Guests of Honour: Peter F Hamilton

With Fantasycon getting ever-closer, our online content editor Lauren McMenemy caught up with this year’s Guests of Honour for a very different sort of interview. No spoilers for their chats at the con proper; hear more about their Fantasycon experiences, and, importantly, what they’d like to wear to mark them out as Fantasycon Royalty.

We’re excited that British SFF royalty Peter F. Hamilton joins us in Glasgow as one of our Guests of Honour. Watch the interview on our YouTube channel, here, or read the transcript below.

Who is Peter F Hamilton?

Born in Rutland in 1960, Peter began writing in 1987, and sold his first short story to FEAR Magazine in 1988. His first novel, a near-future thriller set in Rutland, Mindstar Rising, featuring the psychic detective Greg Mandel was published in 1993.  He published another two Mandel novels, before writing the rather large Night’s Dawn trilogy.  In total he’s written over thirty novels, the majority of which are firmly in the space opera genre.  Although the three Queen Of Dreams books are a children’s magical fantasy series, and the new Arkship trilogy probably falls under the YA label.  In 2019 his short story Sonnie’s Edge was adapted for the Love Death + Robots series on Netflix.  Most recently he was a consultant for the Exodus video game, due for release in early 2027.  As well as contributing to the game’s worldbuilding, he wrote two novels ,The Archimedes Engine and The Helium Sea, set in the Exodus universe. He’s currently writing Heavy Light, a standalone SF spy thriller.

He is known for expansive and intricate worldbuilding, as well as merging advanced technology with politics to create plots that carry the reader breathlessly through the book. The British Fantasy Society is thrilled to welcome Peter as a Guest of Honour for Fantasycon 2026.

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Interview transcript

Peter: I found out I think about 18 months ago. It was all done very diplomatically. I think my editor might have got in touch to say, if they were to ask you, would you be interested? So it’s kind of done like that. I said, yes, of course I’d be interested. I haven’t been to Fantasycon for—I was there last year, obviously. But apart from that, there was sort of quite a gap while I was bringing up children. So yeah, it’s going to be good to be back.

Lauren: Awesome. Do you actually remember your first Fantasycon then?

Peter: I do. Don’t ask me the year, but it was in the early 90s, and it was always in Birmingham, in the center of Birmingham. That was my first introduction to it. I always remember there used to be the the very long raffle in the evenings. It was good, but it was—gosh, it went on a lot. So that was that was the first introduction I had to it, and I’ve been dipping in and out for years. But I’m a first-time guest of honour.

Lauren: Absolutely. So we’ll talk a little bit about what got you to be guest of honour in a sec. But the guest of honour, I kind of think of them as like the prom kings and queens, which is a very American way to look at these things. But if we were to bestow upon you some token, so that people go, oh, that that’s Peter, he’s a guest of honour—a visible sign, like a crown or a sash or something—what would what would you like to have?

Peter: You know, Iron Man suit! Haha. Probably just a badge would do me fine. Years ago, I went to Portmeirion where they filmed The Prisoner, so obviously I got my little badge for that. So maybe a Number One badge—or a Number Two badge, because Number Two was always in charge of that. So yeah, just a badge. It lights up, obviously.

Lauren: Just a nice big badge, because obviously as guest of honour, you have to be number one there. Awesome stuff. So we talked a little bit about your first Fantasycon in Birmingham in the 90s. Obviously, there’s been a bit of time elapsed since then. So how has your career progressed since that first time, and what are you most proud of in those intervening years?

Peter: It’s progressed well. Yes, I mean I’ve been published for 30 years now, which is quite a terrifying thing to admit. I think just the fact that that it’s got me all over the world. I mean, I’ve been invited to conventions all over Europe. I’ve been to America for it. I’ve been to Australia, New Zealand, which has all been a wonderful side effect, if you like, of the whole thing. The thing I’m most proud of, probably, is the fact that it’s lasted that long—that I’ve managed to keep going, and people have kept on reading me. I think that’s what I’m probably proudest of most. Given the length of time I’ve been doing this, I’ve seen a lot of authors arrive, a lot of good authors arrive, have two or three nice books, and then just sort of fade away. So I think longevity is the thing I’m proudest of.

Lauren: Absolutely, and rightly so as well. It’s not a small feat to be publishing for 30 odd years, hence why guest of honour, right? Fantasycon is obviously one of the longer ones; it’s a three day convention. Do you have any tips for surviving Fantasycon, especially for the newbies that might be at their first one?

Peter: Oh, for the newbies, don’t be afraid is my is my advice. We’re all there for the same thing—to have a good time, maybe listen to some interesting panels. Don’t be—if you’ve not been to one before, don’t be afraid to talk to people because we’ve all got the same interests. Especially don’t be afraid to talk to authors. We’re not some kind of aloof people in the VIP section the whole time. We are mainly found in the bar. Come over, say hello, tell us which book you liked—please don’t tell us which book you hated—and we’re happy to sign them for you.

Lauren: Yeah, absolutely. Everybody there is just there to socialise, really, and to catch up with people, aren’t they? So, we’re obviously going to see you in a couple of weeks’ time in Glasgow, but in the intervening time, if someone perhaps hasn’t come across your work in those 30 odd years—I don’t mean to keep saying 30 odd years; it’s something to be very proud of!—but if someone hasn’t come across you, where can they read up about you? Where can they maybe find more of your work or follow what you’re up to?

Peter: I’d suggest if you want to read something of mine, try the short stories. There are a couple of short story collections printed because starting now—I don’t write small books. They’re mostly in series, so that’s a huge commitment to make. If you like the short stories, you’ll probably like the the series.

Lauren: Sure. And are you on online anywhere that people can follow you and say hi?

Peter: On Facebook, yeah, and that’s it.

Lauren: Fair enough as well. It’s too much of a distraction otherwise.

Peter: It’s yeah, way too much.

Lauren: Awesome, Peter. Thank you so much for your time today, and we will see you in Glasgow!

Peter: See you there.