Iain (M.) Banks is Guest of Honor at P-Con in Dublin next year. To encourage people to buy their memberships early, the convention is running a prize draw for signed copies of three Banks novels: Consider Phlebas, The Algebraist, and Matter. The deadline for buying your membership to qualify for the draw is 23:30 (Dublin time) on Tuesday 23rd September. Here’s the convention web site.
And if that isn’t enough to convince you of the joys of a weekend in Dublin, I note that the guest list also includes C. E. Murphy, Charles Stross, Chaz Brenchley, Colin Harvey, Eugene Byrne, Ian McDonald, John Reppion, Juliet E. McKenna, Ken MacLeod, Kim Newman, Laura Anne Gilman, Leah Moore, OisÃn McGann and Paul Cornell.
Also me, but don’t let that put you off.
Update: No Stross, apparently. See below.
Charlie Stross has said recently (last week I think) that he now won’t be able to make PCon (or Eastercon for that matter) in 2010. It’s a shame, but totally understandable, given the rest of his schedule for next year.
As she says – though we’re very much looking forward to the rest of those guests, having now booked our holidays and flights. PhoenixCon has always been a seriously enjoyable con and, assuming it doesn’t undergo the travails that OctoCon has done in recent years, we expect to continue going for years to come.
Thanks for the update, folks.