Chester 2024 was my third FantasyCon, and for me it was the best yet. First of all, the event would not happen if not for so many dedicated people volunteering to give up some of their precious free time, and for that I’m massively grateful massively. Thank you.

Secondly, as good as the panels, interviews and workshops are, it’s such a joy to catch up with friends again. Sometimes, events like this are the only thing that bring us together. It brings me such joy. This FantasyCon seemed busier than ever, and there were plenty of new faces. I spoke to a number of first-timers, all of whom seemed to be having a great (if somewhat overwhelming) time. Plenty of time was spend in and around the bar, and a great time it was, too.

Here’s a run down of the events I attended during the course of the three days. As usual I’d marked up the programme with plenty I intended to attend, but (again, as usual) I strayed somewhat from the plan.  

FRIDAY

I arrived while the AGM was on ready for the first event at 3pm. I had a little wander around Chester, mostly to find this place:

8 hours of programming on the opening day meant I still had plenty in front of me.

3pm The Allure of Horror

Moderated by Dan Coxon, panellists: Vicky Brewster, Georgina Bruce, Ramsey Campbell, Ben Unsworth – Very broad topic discussing what drew the panellists into horror. Interesting to have panellists at opposing ends of the age and experience spectrum. It’s not an original topic at all, but it’s always interesting to consider what keeps drawing us back to the darkness. It remains true that horror is a broad genre, and as such it has a huge appeal.

4pm The Urban Fantasy and Horror Melting Pot

Moderated by Liz Cain, panellists: Daniel Carpenter, Raven Dane, Steve Toase, Neil Williamson – blending genres was a bit of the theme of the weekend. The consensus was very much that horror has more than a place in Urban Fantasy. It was interesting to hear the range of ways the writers on the panel had combined the two genres. It inspired me to jot down a few ideas exploring the potential of bringing other fantastical creatures into city settings to create new horrors.  

5pm Content Marketing Workshop

Workshop Supreme Commander and Overlord: Lauren McMenemy – a great workshop that had the audacity to make us think for ourselves about how we could market ourselves better. I still struggle with the idea of an ideal reader, and know it’s stupid to think everyone would find it interesting, but it’s a real blind spot for me. There were plenty of good tips on websites, newsletters, and how best to use social media. The creation of a mission statement was also a great idea. It’s a work in progress, but here goes: I’m Benjamin Langley and I create historical folk horror because there are bones buried in the past that need unearthing. It’s for you because it will drag you deep into another world of mystery, thrills, and horror.

You should check Lauren out here.

6pm – After three hours back-to-back, I dashed to the hotel to check in and grabbed a quick snack – a reminder that there’s little downtime at these events. There’s always so much going on, but you have to be realistic. You can’t see it all.

7pm Dan Coxon launch

A double launch, with Dan’s collection Come Sing For the Harrowing and the anthology For Tomorrow which collects accounts relating to the 1993 Wellbrook High disaster, which we all remember so well. There are still so many mysteries around those events, and I’m hoping what’s contained here will shed some light on it. Those reading from the collection, Daniel Carpenter, C.C. Adams, Phil Sloman, and James Everington were clearly emotional about having to revisit these difficult times, but, with the love and support of each other, they all managed to hold it together to complete their readings.

A lot of what Dan Coxon has been involved in can be found here. He’s been busy.

8pm – Another important part of conventions is socialising, and the next hour was spent doing exactly that. If anyone hasn’t been to an event like this, and they’re thinking about it, I urge you to go. Everyone has a common interest, and I’ve met some amazing people.

9pm – Making the Familiar Frightening

Moderated by Rachel Knightley, panellists C.C. Adams, Silas Bischoff, Adam Millard, Lee Swift – a really interesting panel that delved into our fears, and whether the panellists tapped into their own fears in their writing. Silas was making his panellist debut, but had plenty to contribute. I will remember the panel for the tale of the scrap man that came a-knocking at Adam Millard’s back door (that’s not a euphemism).

10pm – Stories in the Dark

Read by C.C. Adams, Stephen Kozeniewski, Kayley Dobbs, Simon Bestwick, and Kit Power. This is a great part of the FantasyCon schedule, with stories read only by the light of a phone, echoing and renewing that age-old tradition of low-light creepy stories. Five brilliant readings featuring such highlights as a snarling werewolf, a reaping, and a ghost in a jar, among other horrors.

Following this, there was more time spent in the bar, catching up with people I’d not seen in an age, or meeting people for the very first time. It’s such a warm and welcoming environment.

SATURDAY

Saturday started early, down for breakfast before 8am in order to get to the convention for the first event at 9. I wasn’t staying in the convention hotel this time, saving a little money by staying five minutes down the road. There was a plan for Saturday, but I did not stick to it at all well!

9am Mixing Science and Magic in Fantasy

Moderated by Ian Green, panellists Liz Cain, Helen Glynn Jones, Alice James, and Adrian Tchaikovsky. My first unplanned panel. I wasn’t sure whether I’d make it in on time and half-fancied the Muppets panel but after Friday’s horror and fantasy blending, I wanted to think about the blend between science and magic. I’d always leaned into the idea that Science Fiction and Fantasy were incongruent, with Sci-Fi being a genre of the rational and logical, and fantasy being one of the illogical and emotional. There was plenty here to persuade me otherwise. There is the potential for something to be perceived as magic, only to find out it is later science. Similarly, the fantastical world can have its own science and scientific explanations that wouldn’t work on our world. An intriguing and thought-provoking hour.

10am The Edges of World-Building

Moderated by Oliver Arditi, panellists Stephen Aryan, Sarah  Brooks, Raven Dane, Phil Parker. Again, I wasn’t intending to go to this panel originally (Young Frankenstein at 50 was calling), but I realised that there’s plenty of worldbuilding required when writing alternative history/historical horror, too. It proved to be really useful, particularly when thinking about what is generally known about a time period versus what fantastical elements are introduced. Plenty in there about the language, too, which remains the same whether being from an imagined land, or language that has changed significantly over time. The reader needs to understand, so a flavour of it can come across, perhaps through idioms. From this, I’ve but Sarah Brooks’ The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wasteland on my list.

11am GoH Interview – Priya Sharma

I saw Priya on the way to this. She told me to go see Ramsay Campbell instead. I defied her and stayed to listen to her interview, hosted by Stewart Hotston, and I’m glad I did. Priya is really engaging. It was great to hear about her process and how her writing has developed. I admire her writing, so I loved hearing more about it. Plenty of it resonated with me, particularly the idea of writing for oneself rather than a market or a target audience.  

If you’ve not read Priya Sharma, Pomegranates is a good place to start.

12pm Indie Group Launch

Colleen Anderson, Silas Bischoff, Raven Dane, Kit Power. There was an edge hanging over this launch event. Signs on the door forbid entry to one particular rapscallion who had been involved in a fracas with one of those launching their work, Kit Power. His whole launch has been a difficult experience, with many people trying to silence him about the event that has become known as Millionaires Day.

Colleen Anderson started us off with a number of poems. I’m not a huge reader of poetry, but these poems were engaging and brought laughs and cheers from the audience. Raven Dane followed up with a reading from her latest, an action-packed piece that again went down well. Silas Bischoff was releasing his debut novel. It featured a man in conversation with a crow, given the power of speech after being fed the flesh of the undead. It was fascinating. I bought a copy.

Finally, it was Kit’s turn. The copies of the book were delivered direct from the airport by a dazed and confused American gentleman. Still, there was further controversy when a disgruntled member of the audience called Kit out for his part in the events of Millionaires Day. Once it was over, I grabbed a copy. I thought I better pay cash, because I nervous about it being tracked back to me. Hopefully it will shed some further light on what happened that day.

Lunch – while there was plenty on for the next couple of hours, I took the opportunity to head for a pub and eat pizza.

3pm Horror Readings

Rachel Knightley, Colleen Anderson, Adam Millard, Steve Toase. Four great readings. I have a copy of Rachel Knightley’s Twisted Branches, from which she read The Moth Part one. It was a reading that has edged the book nearer to the top of by TBR. Both Adam and Steve read pieces I’ve already read, but it was nonetheless engaging and a great way to spend an hour before drifting back to the bar

5.30pm ad hoc Simon Clark pre-launch launch

The official multi-book launch was supposed to be at 6. The room was available earlier, so there was a preview event. I grabbed Simon’s book at the earlier opportunity before heading out for a bloody good burger and a few pints.

8.30pm British Fantasy Society Awards

I’m very fond of a lot of the people who were nominated for awards. It’s great to see them recognised for their excellent work. Among the highlights for me from this was seeing Dan Coxon and Tim Major win in their categories, The Tiny Bookcase scooping best audio (it’s a great show and Ben and Nico who host are awesome), and the standing ovation for Ramsey Campbell.

10pm The Raffle

An absolute travesty in which I was robbed of my rightful status as multiple prize winner. The universe conspired to separate me from my raffle buddy Kayleigh Dobbs, and both of us were left as winless ruins as a result. Sad times, made less sad by spending the following three hours among friends.  

SUNDAY

Despite a late night, I was down for breakfast again well before 8am. It’s so good, I didn’t want to miss anything.

9am How we View Historical Fantasy

Moderated by Sandra Unerman, panellists Mina Ikemoto Ghosh, Oliver Arditi, Karin J Robinson, Raven Dane. ‘Each book has to stand in its own reality’ – Raven Dane’s line was an important one about how we do this well. Plenty to think about with this one as it explored the idea or authenticity vs perceived authenticity and the level of work needed by the author to understand the reality, versus what the reader needs in the book in order to understand it.

10am Building an Author Brand

Moderated by Lauren McMenemy, panellists Amy Portsmouth, Dr Mike Hollows, Mark Stay and Heidi Goode. It asked a lot of good questions and forced reflective thinking about brand. What makes you different? What makes you stand out? We were also asked to consider what we like about what others do and to think about how we can put our own spin on that. Then there’s the need for consistency and cohesive branding. It was good to get a perspective from publishers and self-published authors to give plenty of variety. The take away from this? You must work at your brand with a strategy. It’s not going to happen without some kind of plan.

I took a couple of hours to catch up with some people and visit the dealer’s room before coming back to two final panels.

1pm Horror In Space

Moderated by Dan Howarth, panellists Simon Bestwick, Dave Watkins, Stephanie Ellis, Stephen Kozeniewski, Lee Swift. This was a great panel. It started by considering hat made a space horror and ended up considering where space horror could go next. All of the panellists had plenty to say about their own writing and reading to illuminate the topic. I was glad to hear that Billionaires in Space is something which needs more exploring, because I recently wrote something which went there.

2pm All About the Occult

Moderated by Jonathan Oliver, panellists Kat Day, Kayleigh Dobbs, Lauren McMenemy, Nicholas Pullen. This was the last panel I went to, and one I enjoyed the most. I obviously have a few occult leanings in my work, so it was great to hear others talk about why this worked and the different influences people had. I particularly enjoyed an anecdote about cultural appropriation from Satanism.

After this, I spent about 90 minutes saying my goodbyes to various people and running in to others who I’d somehow missed throughout the whole weekend before the lengthy journey home.

I met this cat at some point, Queenie:

It was a great event, and from it I feel invigorated about my writing. I might even start on that new novel soon.

Also, I brought books home with me…