AussieCon 4 – Sunday…

Sunday proved to be even better than Friday! Not only were the panels once again fantastic, this time I managed to squeeze in more one on one time with a variety of experienced authors, editors and publishers.

I grabbed a variety of photo’s:

The Melbourne Convention Centre, interior and exterior architecture.

The Polly Woodside located immediately next to the convention centre.

Melbourne in the morning sunlight.

A list of all the Authors doing signings on the Saturday. I hope this gives an impression as to the breadth of talent at AussieCon.

I captured the size of the crowd in the morning, everyone rushing about to get to whatever session they were after. I also took a photo of the signing line in the afternoon.

Throughout the day a variety of costumed individuals wandered around. Being a Star Wars fan I couldn’t resist the opportunity to grab a few shots.

The inflatable Dalek is owned by the man in the photo who was more than happy for me to take the picture. Apparently some time ago these were for sale at ABC shops.

Panel members from some of the sessions I attended.

There are a few specific photo’s I would like to explain in a little more detail. First, the cover image of Duncan Lay’s first book in his Dragon Sword Histories trilogy ‘The Wounded Guardian’.

I attended Duncan’s kaffeeklatsch. For those that don’t know, me included, these were break out coffee sessions. 9 guests sit at a round table with the host, typically an author and talk. Here is a photo late in the day once they were done.

My plans to catch Mur Laffferty’s and or Kim Falconer’s kaffeeklatsch fell through. I must have looked dejected as the lovely lady organizing these sessions recommended I attend Duncan’s instead.

I am so glad she did.

I discovered he is Australian and recently first time published. His fantasy series looks very interesting so I purchased the first and he signed it for me. At the end of the day we had a quick chat. In typical Australian fashion, I would describe Duncan as a top bloke with a sharp mind and not surprisingly a great series. If you are into Fantasy go get it, it’s selling like hot cakes!

Last but certainly not least I caught up with Ian Irvine, another well known Australian author. Ian has published 27 novels. Wow. As it happens, my wife is currently reading one of his fantasy series and I chatted to him about that for some time. He had five minutes spare so I ran a few issues past him that I’m presently having with my novel Impatience. He was generous of his time and gave some honest, well thought out advice. I couldn’t pay to get better advice from anyone. Thank you Ian!

That is it for photos.

Over the next week I’ll post some more specifics on the sessions I attended.