The other event I attended on Friday was Thrilling Wonder Stories 2, a series of lectures on SFnal themes put on by the Architectural Association’s School of Architecture. I’ll be writing something a little more serious on this in the near future, but for now I recommend the write-up by Paul Charles Smith, who was there for part of the day.

It was lovely to get to meet Paul, and to catch up with Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, Farah and the Clutes. The day was also very interesting, though I have to say that as a convention it was pretty disorganized. I don’t suppose they have to worry, as they have a guaranteed audience of students who are probably more used to sitting all day in overcrowded conditions on hard plastic chairs than us old folks are.

Will Self, by the way, was very funny, and also provided an object lesson in how to discourage members of the audience from asking questions. One of these days I shall try being that snarky to a questioner who asks something daft (though I doubt I’ll get away with it). And I now want to see a snark contest between Self and John Scalzi, because it could be awesome.

And if you are interested, Self’s book, Walking to Hollywood, was reviewed yesterday by the excellent Peter Murphy.