BICS 2009

Posted: October 5th, 2009 | Author: DanHill | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

Bristol this year marked something of a departure point for me as I was there promoting my own work, and I was much more active on the networking side of things, meeting old collaborators for the first time in person and making new friends.

BICS this year continued the latter notion– and then some.

On Friday, myself and the other half made our way to the Panama Bar for the launch party. After almost half an hour of standing at the side of the room, like the social misfits we are, we finally made contact!

A huge thanks to Adam Cadwell and Chris Doherty for speaking to us on the Friday night (they were manning the excellent Manchester Comix Collective table all weekend).

I didn’t have a table in an official capacity this year (I don’t know many writers who do) but a friend, Mike Bunt, did. This was ‘basecamp’ for pretty much the entire weekend. Highlights for Saturday include picking up ‘Alan’s War’, ‘High Moon’ and the latest Zarjaz (which is pretty much a con staple for me now). I also got to meet Valia Kapadia at the Insomnia table. I picked up a copy her mini-comic 100% Mushy which looks great (looking forward to Snow!)

And then? Then there was the Cosplay competition.

The judges in this instance were Dan Boultwood and Tony Lee. If you were a witness to the crime against humanity that was their panel at this years Bristol then you know what to expect. For those more fortunate souls, it involved a detachable codpiece, a slightly tubby gyrating Spider-Man and pedophile jokes.

The evening consisted of drinks at the Briar Rose (I think pretty much EVERYONE was there) where we bumped into Chris and Adam again. Conversations about ‘The Wire’, Paddy Considine, and hilarity ensued. My face hurt from laughing so much at one point. I was tempted to move onto Subside with the rest but that pre-con crud was starting to creep back in at this point.

Sunday was a more sedate affair, consisting of me abusing my wallet even more. I also toddled over to the Futurequake table and spoke to Dave and Rich, both top blokes. I’m really looking forward to the next Zarjaz now, there’s some cool stuff coming up. It was great to hear that the majority of the FQ stuff sold out over the weekend. Good stuff fellas!

I also managed to grab a quick chat with Colin Mathieson of Accent UK about submitting work to some of their forthcoming anthologies.

All in all it was a great con (bar that launch party). I spent too much, laughed too much and met a boatload of new people.

What did you do with your weekend?