Yesterday’s mini-convention in Oxford went very well. For those of you who are not regulars, it was the 5th Anniversary event for The Write Fantastic, a UK fantasy fiction writers cooperative. As such, it attracted a very fine collection of writers, including Geoff Ryman who is spending some time in and around Oxford these days. Paul Cornell was absent due to having to attend a wedding elsewhere, but otherwise there was an excellent local turnout.

The con took place in the The Jacqueline du Pré Music Building at St. Hilda’s College, a fine establishment of which Juliet McKenna is a graduate. Being a concert hall, it has only one program room, seating around 200, but there’s a foyer in which the dealers (Newcon Press and Murky Depths) were able to set up.

I did a brief interview with Juliet for StarShipSofa and I’ll let you know when Tony has that online. John Dallman was taking some fine photos that I expect to appear on his Flickr stream soon.

As with any convention, what you want at the end is to have no major complaints, to cover your expenses, and to have people asking about “next year”. Juliet and her team managed all of that. I look forward to this becoming a regular feature of the convention calendar (though I note that if it is to grow much it will have to find a new venue).