Fantasycon is Education, Entertainment – and Trinkets from the Dealers

We’re entering the home straight: Fantasycon looms in the near-future! To get us ready, we asked previous attendees to tell us about their first time, or any abiding memories from cons of yore. For Katie Bruce, that magic first Fantasycon was all about soaking up the panels—and indulging in the dealer’s hall.

Three years ago I set off for my very first Fantasycon and I’ve never looked back! A weekend that started with a silly little joke about being on a train to Birmingham New Street (where are my Edguy fans at), turned into a wonderful weekend full of friends, community and inspiration.

After checking into my hotel, I went to register and got given a tote bag full of stuff. Free books! What better way to start a convention. Then the programme began and the first thing I did—and the thing I encourage all first timers to do—was go to the ‘New to Fantasycon’ panel. It’s a great way to find out how the convention runs, what to expect and to meet other newbies. I went to the convention by myself and only vaguely knew a few people I’d interacted with online, so this was a great way to really get into the spirit of things.

Then it was on to more panels. And some more panels. And even more panels. One thing I have learned since that first convention is to not plan everything so rigidly. There will always be panel clashes. There will always be times where you need a cloning machine (which the BFS continues to refuse to invent, very rude of them). Nowadays I highlight all the panels I’m interested in and then decide what I want to attend at the time and not before. That way I can see what I’m in the mood for, see which sounds most interesting in the moment, go for food when I inevitably realise it’s 5pm and I haven’t eaten since breakfast, or just hang out in the bar with some amazing people. I now give myself the freedom to live in the moment—but back in 2021, I very much did not. I had the most fabulous time, don’t get me wrong, but it was exhausting. I’m too old for that nonsense nowadays.

I had a fabulous first day and set my alarm bright and early the next morning for, you guessed it, more panels! They were all fabulous. Entertaining, interesting, educational—there’s panels for everything. I also went along to some readings, which is a great way to hear some of your favourite authors reading their work aloud, but it’s also lovely to hear new authors who you don’t necessarily know. To let their voices take you to their worlds. And then take you straight to the dealers’ room to buy their books. 

Which brings me to one of the best parts of Fantasycon. Ah, the dealer’s room. Books as far as the eye can see! And not a single person with any kind of self-control in sight. There are other things in there too: pins and stickers and random merch that no, I have no clue what I’ll ever use it for but yes, I absolutely need it in my life. And there’s no one to tell me I can’t have it. It’s a dangerous place that dealer’s room and I implore you to visit it at least once a day. You might even find some authors doing signings in there.

Saturday night ended for me with the brilliant “Tales from the dark with Kit Power”. This involved a whole bunch of horror writers reading their short stories aloud, in the dark, late at night. It was an absolute highlight of the con for me and has stayed with me. Creepy, spooky, atmospheric and so very, very fun. I look for this on the programme every year and I’m so happy to see C. C. Adams carrying it on this year. If you like horror at all, make sure to get yourself to this one!

One thing that you will hear people talk about a lot is barcon. This is the part of the convention where you plonk yourself in the bar and have the most wonderful and ridiculous conversations with fellow con-goers. It is brilliant and an absolute staple of Fantasycon nowadays, but back at my first one, I was shy and exhausted and the idea of inserting myself into a random conversation filled me with dread. Now I do it without thinking, mainly because Fantasycon, and the BFS as a whole, is the most wonderful, kind and welcoming community I have ever known. We have a high proportion of neurodivergent folk, so we absolutely welcome your info dumps—tell us more about this obscure topic, wow us with your special interests! Community is one of my biggest takeaways from Fantasycon. That feeling of ‘these are my people’. The bliss of entering that space and knowing you belong. I came home from my first Fantasycon with a whole heap of good memories, a bunch of new friends, and an incredible community.

And then there was Sunday. Ah, Sunday. The awards are wonderful to attend, it’s brilliant seeing so many amazing people being celebrated for their incredible work and you should absolutely go along, it’s included in your ticket after all. But before the awards, there was Writeopolis live. Now, Writeopolis is a podcast that describes itself as ‘barcon without the BS’, and that’s exactly what it is, but not this time. This time it was being done live, in person, and it was the inaugural One Star Quiz. An event that will live in my memory forever. Essentially the One Star Quiz is one team reads out a one-star review of a book and the other team has to guess which book it is. It was non-stop laughter from the start and by the time they got to the glorious review that simply stated “This book is not for reading. It is smally, like hand”, all was lost. ‘Smally like hand’ will live in infamy amongst the citizens of Writeopolis and was the perfect way to end an incredible weekend. (Yes, I know I said this came before the awards, therefore wasn’t the end, I’m taking artistic license with my memory, shush. Also, the book was Moby Dick, in case you’re wondering.)

There are so many other facets to Fantasycon that I haven’t gone into—the launches, guest of honour interviews, karaoke—but I missed them on my first time out and this is my story about my first Fantasycon. The day after I got home, after unpacking the freebies bag and my shiny new books and everything else I’d collected, I immediately bought my ticket for the next year, as I have done every year since. This year’s Fantasycon is only a couple of weeks away and this time, for the first time ever, I shall be a panellist! But that is another story and shall be told another time…

(P.s. I’ve been told I talk about cake too much, so I haven’t mentioned it here once. But if you want to find out about the cake, find me at Fantasycon.)

Grab your ticket to Fantasycon here, or check out the programme.