It has been a few days now since I returned home from Worldcon in Helsinki. Worldcon 75 to be precise. But for me it was Worldcon 1. I’ve been to national cons in Sweden, to Archipelacon in Åland, and to two Fantasycons in the UK, but this was my first worldcon.
It’s a massive experience. I arrive Thursday afternoon as I had other commitments before the con which meant I missed the first one and a half days, but I still got so much out from the con during the three and a half days I was there.
I will be attending this year’s Swecon. I’m in two panels, one as a moderator and one as panelist. I’m really looking forward to both, so please come and listen:
Efter bokbloggarna (moderator)
Friday 17:00 – 17:45, Akademien (Hotell Clarion Gillet)
Bokbloggandet har avtagit inom sf-fandomsfären. Vad har ersatt det? Hur används sociala medier för att diskutera läsande och fandom? Hur fungerar interaktionen mellan fans och bokdiskussioner över medier som Facebook, Instagram och Twitter? I hur stor utsträckning är bokbloggandet fortfarande aktivt?
Så gör vi för att få något skrivet!
Saturday 15:00 – 15:45, Gustavianum (Hotell Clarion Gillet)
Att skriva är inte alltid lätt och roligt. Hur gör vi för att få berättelserna att trots allt bli färdiga, utan att tappa motivation och eget intresse på vägen? Författare berättar sina knep för att komma sig för med att skriva, fortsätta skriva, och bli klara.
Apart from those two, I’ll hang around, attending some of the numerous, seriously interesting other programme items or chatting to people in the bar.
Wrote earlier that I am going to be in a panel at Fantasycon by the Sea in September.
The panel is called “Say My Name“and will be on Sunday morning. Makes for a slightly earlier Saturday night for me perhaps… The subtitle to the panel is “Is genre relevant at all”. It is always a fun subject to discuss and I remember the good discussions we had at Archipelacon along those lines. So I am really looking forward to it!
Here’s a link to the programme item, and one to the Fantasycon site.
Can’t wait to go there and meet all the lovely people!
See you in Scarborough
I will most likely miss this years Gothenburg Book Fair. Would have loved to go, but it is hard to be in two places at once. Instead I am going to Scarborough. To Fantasycon by the Sea.
It’ll be my second UK con ever, and I am supposed to take part in one panel as well, although at the time of writing I am not sure when it it is. Had loads of fun last year in Nottingham, and have been looking forward to this ever since.
It was great meeting a community of writers and readers that I hadn’t met before. And everyone were so welcoming. So I just had to go this year as well.
Hope to see you there!
There’s a pod project called SweconPoddar collecting panel discussions and various interviews from the national Swedish SciFi and Fantasy cons.
More or less every panel discussion from ConFuse, the 2015 SweCon, has been published, including two of mine!
So, if you for some reason want to listen to me you can now. 🙂
The two panels are:
Telling stories in different media
and
Or rather, I have been back for a few days, but I have been too busy and too exhausted to really follow up on the web site.
All in all it was four wonderful days. Packed with interesting and inspiring meetings and panels. Too many to list them here in fact. Suffice to say, it was well worth the trip. I really enjoyed being in the two panels, and hopefully that wasn’t the last time that happens. (Looks like there will be more opportunities come ConFuse).
Back home again I have picked up work on my current book. Work is slowly moving forward, and I am in to the final third of the first draft at the moment, so hopefully that should be finished before end of summer. While busy at/preparing for Archipelacon I have also received my first two reviews. Thankfully they were both very positive. I have updated the book page with links to both of them.
The Alandica conference centre, flanked by Game of Thrones flags
My first programme item at Archipelacon will be a panel on blogging at 3 together with 3 other blogger. Two of us are “writer bloggers” and the other two are “book bloggers”. I think the mix could lead to some really interesting discussions. Please come and listen if you are here at the con.
The second item will be later today, at 7, and is about cross-genre literature. Something I think is really fun, and again I think we have a nice mix of authors speaking. So again, please drop by if you can.
The first two days at the con have been really good, even given the fact that I have missed more or less all of the main items, including the panels with GRR Martin. 🙂
Today will be a busy day as well. Many really interesting things, and my own two items on top of that. Can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday though… 🙂
The programme for Archipelacon has been finalised, and I am going to take part in two panels. One on Book blogging and one on cross-genre literature. I’m really looking forward to it. Not just my panels, but the entire con as such. Meeting all the people, listening to interesting talks and generally having a good time.
You can find my programme items here: http://www.archipelacon.org/program_tag/thomas-arnfelt/ and the entire programme here: http://www.archipelacon.org/programme/
See you in Mariehamn!
I’ll be in at least one panel at Archipelacon this year. Really delighted about that.
From the programme:
Cross-genre fiction – Emil Hjörvar Petersen, Anna Blixt, Thomas Årnfelt & Magdalena Hai
Thereʼs often a fine line between what is considered science fiction and fantasy, urban fantasy and horror, steampunk and post-apocalyptic. Some works come under several genres at the same time. Some authors deliberately create hybrid-genre works in order to explore themes and concepts from different angles, for instance how magic would work in high-tech future, or steam-engines in the wastelands. This panel will explore these explorations.
Thomas Årnfelt 