The new year of BristolCon Fringe got under way last night. The schedule is a little fuzzy because Jo is handing over the management of the events to Tom Parker, so we don’t as yet have confirmed speakers for the months ahead. However, we did have a cracking event to kick off the year.

Amanda Huskisson had read an open mic events before, but this was her first time as a main guest. We got to hear a bit more from her novel, Melody of the Two Lands. I’m afraid I shamelessly took the opportunity to question her about Egypt. We had a great chat about religion and history. Amanda’s book is very feminist, and I was not surprised to learn that it is set during the reign of Hatshepsut.

You may have seen some things online about this woman pharaoh being a trans guy, but you only have to look at the magnificent tomb she had built for herself at Deir el-Bahri to see that this was someone very much concerned with women’s issues. Her problem was that in order to be pharaoh she also had to be an incarnation of Horus, which I’m sure presented a lot of challenges. Images of her tended to look more male, but in inscriptions she is always referred to as a woman and her name means “Foremost of Noble Ladies”.

One of the more interesting historical facts that came out of the conversation is that the Egyptians used exactly the same instruments as were used by the priests of Cybele in Rome. The double flute and sistrum were used by both cultures, over 1000 years apart.

Amanda’s book still doesn’t have a publisher, but I hope to be able to read it one day.

I’d not met Tej Turner before this event. Jo found him at FantasyCon and, as he’s not far away in Cardiff, coaxed him over the Severn to read for us. Jo has an excellent eye for talent. Tej is working on some epic fantasy, but in the meantime he has one book out from a small press and another (which he read from) due later this year.

The Janus Cycle is essentially a fix-up, with each chapter being a short story narrated by a different character. The book is urban fantasy, but more in the vein of Charles de Lint and Emma Bull than the hot chicks in leather with werewolves thing. There is an overarching story centered on a nightclub called Janus. Tej tells me that each one of the characters has a different gender. There is a lot of alternative culture involved. It isn’t as over the edge as Kathy Acker, but the subject matter does get close to that edge at times.

For Fringe Tej read from the sequel, Dinnusos Rises. Dinnusos is an alternative name for Dionysus so you can see that we have a theme going here. The extracts that Tej read were very funny, and very pointedly political. I think a lot of you folks would like his work. And if you don’t believe me, try this five-star review at Rising Shadow.

Tom has big plans for Fringe, including possibly locating to a different venue with more room and better audio equipment. Hopefully we can also get some budget to pay travel expenses and bring in some bigger names. The original plan was to have one big name writer as the main attraction and one local writer as the support act, which will give the local folks a much better audience.

One of the announcements we had at the end was from Jo. Kristell Ink currently has submissions open for no less than three science fiction anthologies. The deadline is the end of January, but if you write fast or have something in the trunk you should be able to make it. Details here.