On Friday the 8th of July, the Confessions die
hards (me), boarded a train to sunny Rotherham to attend their first ever
Horror Con UK. This was a weekend that I had been looking forward to for a long
time. I was going to meet authors I have spoken to on social media for a long
time. Most in a professional capacity, and also a lot of them in a personal
capacity. Either way, I was looking forward to having some interesting
conversations and a few beers and also picking up some lovely new books.
It didn’t start the best. My train was cancelled and I
had to jump on an earlier one. Problem was, there were three train loads of
people on one train. Standing the whole journey for two and a half hours was
not my idea of fun.
Then I got to Rotherham. Oh dear. No offence meant to
anyone who lives there but you really need to do something with that town
centre.
I decided to walk up to my hotel because my Google Maps
told me it was less than a mile away. It didn’t tell me it was up the highest
gradient hill in Rotherham. I know I’m on a diet, but losing three stone in
sweat in that one walk was not something I had planned for that weekend.
Then I got to the hotel. Oh dear. It was worse than the
town centre. I decided to bite the bullet and just go with it because at the
end of the day, I was only going to be sleeping there. Oh dear. My room was
like an old people’s home. I probably shouldn’t do this but I’m not naming it
so here is a picture of the beautiful interior.
THE CRAP HOTEL
Anyway enough of my problems. The rest of my Friday
turned into a fun filled afternoon / evening of friends and drinking and more
drinking and eventual fast food eating and the obligatory collapsing into bed
in a drunken stupor. I met up with author Andy Lennon for the first
time and we very easily slipped into a routine of chatting and drinking and
smoking and drinking and chatting.
The only problem was, we forgot the eating
bit.
We were joined later that evening by Mr Stuart Keane and
his wife Leisyen. They remembered the eating bit but to be honest, they made up
for the wasted drinking time very well.
Back to the old people’s home for some sleep and off to
the event on Saturday. I was intending to take a load of pictures of the event
itself to help tell this story but alas, I didn’t, so I can’t really show you
what the event was like, or the people. One thing that stuck in my mind was the
sheer effort a lot of people had put into their costumes for the day. Some had
quite obviously been planning this for a very long time and should be applauded
for their efforts.
The downside of the main hall was the fact that it stank.
Not exactly sure what the smell was but I have an idea. It was rank.
Both days were more or less the same. It was spent
wandering around chatting to authors, new and old. The first people I made a
point of visiting were Duncan Bradshaw and Justin Park, manning the Sinister
Horror Company stand. And what a beautiful site that stand was! It probably
would have looked a bit better if they had moved to the side a bit but that is
another matter. Loads of lovely books all on display and some of them finding
their way into my possession. Dunk and Justin were exactly as I had thought
they would be from chatting to them via message, and email over this past year.
Very welcoming fellas who are a true credit to everything they do with SHC.
Plus Dunk liked my moobs!
DUNK AND JUSTIN
A lot of time was also spent with Jack Rollins and his
brother Chris, manning the Dark Chapter Press stand. As normal, all of the DCP
books were on display and also the new wares of Jack’s latest venture, Carsun’s
Bazaar. If you see it at one of these events you really must pay him a visit.
He has some wonderful figures, keyrings and curiosities on sale at very
reasonable prices.
JACK AND CHRIS
Beside the DCP lot as usual was Stuart Keane, This time
accompanied on the same table by Ian Noakes. As I type this I have just
realised that I didn’t get my picture taken with Stuart or Ian. In fact I don’t
even think I was properly introduced to Ian. I apologise for this guys and
promise to make it up to you in the future. You definitely need to pop by
Stuart’s stand at a con. His books are beautiful and I guarantee you will pick
some up.
Another stand we spent a lot of time at was the one
belonging to Mark Cassell. I met Mark at Emcon a few months ago and thought
then that he was a really decent chap. After being able to spend a little bit
more time in his company this time around I have to say that he is one of the
nicest guys I think I have ever met. A really genuine bloke that works his nuts
off at these events to make the most of the time he has there. He even let me
take over his stand for a while when he needed a well-deserved pee. I can say
that right? I made him money as well, selling a magazine and a flash drive!
Never got my cut though.
MARK CASSELL
Andy Lennon is another man I must apologise to because I
did not get a picture of me and him at his stand. I felt a bit sorry for Andy
because he was in a smaller hall by himself, but as far as I can gather, he did
OK for himself on the Saturday. He certainly had one of the best views with all
the snakes and spiders that were surrounding him on the Saturday.
The highlight for most of us horror book lovers though
was probably our individual sightings and meetings with the legend that is,
Shaun Hutson. Facebook on the Saturday was saturated with exuberant fangirls
and fanboys repeatedly posting their pictures with Mr Hutson and I really
cannot blame them. What an absolute gentleman he was. Not in the true sense of
the word because as anyone will tell you, his use of language is certainly not
that of a refined gentleman. More the fella next door. He was an absolute gem
none the less and it was a pleasure for all of us to meet him. He didn’t turn
anyone away and was always willing to stand and chat no matter where you met
him.
I was lucky enough to get to chat to him and his
publisher from a Confessions point of view as well and got some rather exciting
news that I will share with you at a later date so watch this space.
THE LEGEND SHAUN HUTSON
All in all I enjoyed Horror Con UK. I reckon I would go
back OK. I don’t reckon I would stay in the same hotel though. I'm sorry my report isn't as fun as others to read but to be honest, it is something that is quite hard to describe. You need to be there. It is certainly
an event where you can get up close and personal with your favourite authors
and some of the film stars and has some wonderful stands selling some crackin
horror merchandise. Some of the t-shirts especially were fantastic. I need to
take a bigger budget next year!
So here is to next year. May it roll round very quickly!
To all of you going to Edge Lit at the weekend, be safe and enjoy. I will
unfortunately not be there this year but with a bit of forward planning, there
is always next year.
Thanks again for visiting Confessions of a Reviewer!
Nev.
No comments:
Post a Comment