From Wednesday September 1 to Monday September 6, I was in Melbourne for the fourth Australian Worldcon, Aussiecon 4. This was a great chance to meet authors and people in spec fic from all over the world, including long-time online friends and many others. FableCroft had a strong presence in the Dealer Room (thanks to Alisa over at Twelfth Planet Press who permitted us space on her beautifully presented table, as well as access to her EFTPOS machine!) and I got the chance to meet and catch up with almost a full quotient of FableCroft authors! Both Worlds Next Door and Australis Imaginarium sold well and it was lots of fun to talk to people about them and show them off.

Some highlights:

* Giving Shaun Tan his contributor copy of Australis Imaginarium and having him admire it very much! Well done Amanda Rainey for a cover design that really did his artwork justice.

* Getting authors to sign their stories in a special copy of Worlds Next Door.

* Hearing Dirk Flinthart recount how he read his Worlds Next Door story (“The Best Dog in the World”) to a very appreciative audience, only to end up in tears himself – twice! (A number of other people also said they may have choked up when reading it themselves – it’s a good story 🙂 )

* Being on a panel about writing the difference in Australian SF with Peter M Ball and Narrelle Harris and being able to recommend fantastic Australian short and long fiction to a mostly international audience.

It was such a busy but fabulous five days, and one I’m so glad I got to – hope to make it to another Worldcon one year! For now though, I’ll look forward to Swancon36/Natcon50 in Perth at Easter, the Aurealis Awards in Sydney sometime next year, and hopefully Conflux in Canberra late 2011!

Alisa and Tehani behind the TPP/FableCroft table

(this photo courtesy of George Ivanoff)