Random thoughts and images - Conflux - a review

It's all over. It's going to take a while to assimilate, but in the meantime, here are my memories and thoughts at this incredible moment. Oh, and if you could keep me up to date with other places comments about Conflux are posted, that would be great. I would like to put a list here and on the website, so people can geteveryone's thoughts.

Conflux 4 - the day before

Thursday morning there were some fiddly things to do, and I had to drop Tim at the airport (he went to Melbourne for the weekend to play in the Australian Croquet Association's President's 8s invitational tournament - considering it was the first tournament with the new grip, he was very happy).

I went to the hotel to pick up Graham Joyce and we went to lunch at Gillian Polack's place. Donna Maree Hanson, Trudi Canavan, Paul Ewins and Russell Kirkpatrick were also there. Russell almost committed suicide by telling me after asking for a projector for his workshop that he had left the program he wanted to run at home. It was a fun afternoon, with lots of chat and laughter.

At 3, Graham and I left and went to the airport to pick up Kaaron Warren. It was fantastic to see Kaaron, back in Canberra for the first time after leaving in January. I droppped them both at the hotel and went home for more work/packing. At 6, it was back to the airport, this time to pick up Jonathan Strahan. I took Jonathan to the hotel, he dumped his gear and then we met Graham, Kaaron, Simon Brown and his wife Alison Tokley down in the foyer and went over to the Canberra Yacht Club for dinner with about 30 people.

At the dinner, I realised I needed to do up some signs for Gorman House, so when I got home at 10.30 I started them. Then I remembered a whole lot of other things and did them and it was after midnight when I finally got to bed for my last sleep before moving over to the hotel


Conflux 4 - day one

The day began at 8.30 at Gorman House – a quick decision was made to change where Gillian Polack and Russell Kirkpatrick’s workshops were. I think we ended up with more than 15 at Russell’s workshop.

The projector for Russell also arrived. Those two workshops began at 9am, and I had a little while to sit quietly before Kaaren Sutcliffe and her students arrived to begin at 10am. It was good to see Kaaren again – I don’t think I’ve seen her since I emceed the launch of Kered’s Crown earlier this year. I went to the airport to pick up Kevin J Anderson and Rebecca Moesta. Their plane was unfortunately delayed due to high winds in Canberra. I grabbed a copy of NW magazine and settled down to enjoy my last quiet moment before the con.

There was a man standing by the carousel and I thought, “Is that Garth?” It had been a while since I’d seen him, so I was working more on the picture on the website. I knew he was arriving that morning but wasn’t sure when – Garth had said he would get himself to the hotel. I went over and turned it out was him. We had a chat while waiting for his luggage to arrive, and then Kevin and Rebecca’s plane landed, an hour late. I greeted the two and they confessed to having come down with some sicknesses – Kevin had a massive cold, Rebecca felt unwell. By the time we got the luggage, we found out Garth was still without luggage – the entire planeload had been left behind in Sydney. So I took my last three guests to the hotel and then we met up with Graham, Jonathan, Simon, Alison and Kaaron in the lobby before making our way over to Gorman House.

There, we joined Donna and the committee for a special lunch (along with ring-in Russell Kirkpatrick). Sage Restaurant is a very nice place, the food was great (Garth had this fantastic desert with fairy floss on it – honestly it was beautiful, if slightly disturbing in its resemblance to a number of furry creatures). And they serve their wine by the bucket. I had to do a bit of running around during the lunch – fixing up the room keys, then helping Kevin and Rebecca set up for their workshop, which they manfully made their way through.

I took Kaaron back to the hotel, then dashed home to pick up my stuff and the convention stuff. I booked in and we started setting up registration. It is a known fact of conventions that the moment you starting setting up registration, people will come to be registered. Everything was moseying along, then came the fun of getting hold of the floor. Another convention was being held there that afternoon, and they didn’t finish until 5. There was a mild panic as we waited to see if the AV in particular could be set up in time for a 7pm start to the con. Emcee Jack Dann arrived and we worked out the plan of attack.

Things were ready, and we started at 7pm. Jack did his usual highly amusing schtick in introducing the guests and the committee. A local opera singer, Larissa Stoljar, is a fan and she did a performance of Cathy Berberian’s Stripsody, a vocal piece based on cartoon sound affects. It was terrific – strange and unique and Larissa is a fabulous performer. She really enjoyed herself and said it was great to perform the piece to an audience that got it. Then the guests (bar Kevin and Rebecca, still not well) read a piece of their work. It was fantastic, a great way to get at least some insight into the guests and what they did. In particular, it was good to hear Graham Joyce (very few people had read his work, although we were all in love with him by the end of the weekend, funny, funny man). Garth Nix was great, because he read a bit of Sabriel (always amazing to hear an author read one of their most famous works) and then a bit of his newest piece, a short story for Jonathan Strahan’s YA anthology. I’ll never look at a gargoyle the same way again.

A break and then the great debate. There were a lot of new faces on the debate and it went really well. You’ll be pleased to know that the evil overlord is more interesting than the weapon wielding hero. And thanks to Ian Nichols for stepping into the role of moderator for the debate at short notice – five minutes before hand. Highlights included numerous attempts at bribery using confectionery and Liz Argall’s dress.

After the great debate was a cocktail party and then the adjournment to the bar. I hit the sack at 12.20am, thinking the con was off to a good start.

Conflux 4 - day two

The day began at the ridiculous time of 4.30am. That’s right, a little over four hours sleep. I stayed in bed until 5.30, but I’d had a terrible premonition – we had a projector for the film festival, but nothing to play the films on. I got up, went home and grabbed the projector (along with the all important ABBA cd for the masquerade) and then back to the hotel to have breakfast before Barlens arrived at 7am to set up the art booths. It was then I discovered that the hotel hadn’t done some of the things I had expected. With the tiredness, I went into instant panic. Then I realized I’d forgotten to photocopy the information sheets for Jack Dann’s workshop. Then we found out the speakers on the projector weren’t good enough for the film festival, so another mad dash home to get some speakers.

It all worked out eventually – the art boards went up well in time for the artists to set up, we fixed up the tables in the dealers room and they started setting up, and I did a mad dash out to Fyshwick to photocopy Jack’s worksheets (only to discover I could have done it elsewhere in the hotel). Then I checked on my ill international guests – they were both feeling better, but Kevin’s voice was particularly delicate. He wanted to get some spicy Thai soup, so I took he and Rebecca out to Manuka to lunch. The joy of being the con chair – you get the opportunity to spend some quality time with some fantastic people. We then went to Starbucks, and with his favourite coffee in hand, Kevin felt much better.

At this point, things were running pretty smoothly – panels were going on, the Joffre Street boys were podcasting. I was in a position to go to a few panels. Then it was mass book signing time. People started coming in before we were really ready, and it seemed a little chaotic for a time. But in the end, went extremely well – I was told it had a similar feel to the World Fantasy Con mass book signings. During it all, I discovered my dad is a fan boy – he came up to me clutching a bit of paper on which Kevin had written the title of the last book in the Saga of the Seven Suns (he was working on the final edits of it during this trip). “I’m one of the first people in Australia to know this,” said my excited father. I love that a little thing like that can make someone’s day.

Once the mass book signing was over, it was time to get ready for the regency gothic banquet. My dress was literally hemmed in the hour before it (God bless you, Donna Hanson!) and so a little after 7 I went down. A fair proportion of people had dressed up (including Garth Nix, who looked absolutely remarkable). There was unfortunately a few people who hadn’t realized they couldn’t book at the con, and then we found they could have because some people didn’t turn up. The meal was sensational – the roast in particular in the second course was mind-blowing, the meat so tender it fell apart on the fork. Gillian Polack is to be congratulated – it was fantastic.

After, I adjourned along with some friends to Donna’s room for the now con-staple of gin and tonic. We had a fabulous chat, including coming up with Trudi Canavan’s body update – let me put it this way, if you step into a lift with Trudi and smell lavender, it may not be perfume. In bed by 12.20 am again.

Conflux 4 - day three

Up just before 7. This day had the last thing I was potentially worried about – that the sound equipment for the masquerade would work. Had breakfast with Kenny Snabel (who I was rooming with) and we were later joined by Garth and had a good chat. Then it was time to set up registration for the day, before I went to a kaffeeklatsch with Jonathan Strahan and Jack Dann. The kaffeeklatsch was great – it’s always interesting as an editor to speak to people who are renowned for their ability.

The day mosied along – there was two streams of panels, along with the film festival and workshop and kaffeeklatsch. I went down to the bar for lunch and ended up having a good chat with Bruce and Quinnie from Joffre Street, Graham Joyce, Garth Nix and Richard and Aileen Harland. Graham was talking about the few days he was going to spend in the bush on the south coast with his sister-in-law after the con, so we attempted to scare him with our best snake and spider stories. I’m not sure how scared he was – more intrigued, I think. And in a win, my snake stories were declared the winner. Well, there aren’t many people who can discuss smoking snakes out from under a kindergarten building with an old 4WD (courtesy of my years in the Kimberley).

Graham’s voice was starting to go as well (the man does know how to talk), so he pulled out of one panel (he had three in a row that afternoon). The charity auction was at 6pm and unfortunately, we didn’t have as many people as I would have liked. However, we raised a couple of hundred dollars for the fan funds and Home in Queanbeyan.

I went down to the masquerade to discover Sean Williams hard at work with the AV guy on setting up the sound system. It worked well – I did have to borrow a lamp from my room however so Sean could see what he was doing. Once it was all sorted I dashed upstairs, got changed and made my way downstairs as Queen Elizabeth II. At the masquerade Donna Hanson (making another appearance as the Conflux Goddess) and I entered a dance-off – first one to drop loses. We didn’t stop and danced non-stop for four hours. In the end, Donna offered me the moral victory as I was the con chair, but really it was a draw. But my legs are stiff two days later and my feet were very sore the following day.

We repaired to the bar after Sean’s signature ending of Vienna and there witnessed the usually sophisticated Trevor Stafford in a pillow fight – after the stress of last year, it was good to see Trevor able to relax and enjoy a con. I hit the sack at 1.30am.

Conflux 4 - day four

I was up at 7 and after breakfast and setting up registration, had my worst experience of the con with the lifts – which were atrocious. I waited 25 minutes to try and get some of the remaining auction items down to the registration desk to be sold, before I gave up and left the trolley in the hall for several hours.

At this point in the con, things were running so well that I was able to go to several panels, and was able to see some great panels and some interesting interactions with panelists. A lot of people told me that they really enjoyed the panels and panelists, which I’m really pleased about.

During the day, the decision was made to go ahead with Conflux 5 – Karen Herkes offered to chair, and I took her up on the decision. People will learn not to volunteer for things in my hearing.

The launch of Rynemonn was one of the highlights of the con – the way Terry Dowling spoke of Peter Macnamara brought tears to my eyes, and I never met Peter. It was touching and so full of love.

The closing ceremony came and we made the announcement about Conflux 5 and already have a couple of dozen people who have signed up for pre-supporting memberships (including Simon Brown, who’s already volunteering for panels – see above comment for volunteering). We don’t know a great deal yet, but the theme will be Dreaming and it will be held on the October long weekend next year.

At the closing ceremony, I gave the guests their gifts – the originals of the artwork in the con book (I’ll try to get it up on the website for those who weren’t there – Mik Bennett drew charicatures of the guests as superheroes). Then once it was all packed up, we retired to the bar, where I had another good chat with Kevin and Rebecca and a couple of drinks before going for dinner with Donna, Trudi and Paul Ewins. While a big drinkathon was my original plan, I was quite frankly rooted by this point and a small dinner of some nice Italian worked much better. After, we had a glass of Cointreau in Trudi and Paul’s room (joined by Dave Cake) and I was in bed by 11.

Conflux 4 - the end

Woke up at 5.30. I really, really, REALLY hate this time of the year – the sun is way too bright way too early. I stayed in bed and started to read the third edition of Year’s Best by Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt and then took Kevin and Rebecca to the airport. It was a shame they had been sick, but they are such lovely people and I was glad they came.

Back at the hotel I went to breakfast and sat with Jonathan, Sean, Simon and Alison. Having a chat with them was a nice way to end the con. I packed up the car and was home before 10am to a very happy husband.
So there you have it - Conflux 4 from the view of a very happy but tired chair.