CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

1415-1515: Mashpunk—Does steampunk play well with others? with Louise Curtis, Conor Bendle, Marilyn Pride and Rik Lagarto Panelists (from left to right): Louise Curtis, Marilyn Pride, Rik Lagarto The panel started out by giving a couple of broad definitions for steampunk, and then went on to discuss some other kinds of ‘punk’ I hadn’t heard of: trenchpunk and dieselpunk. Examples of steampunk novels included Mortal Engines and Lark Light by Philip Reeve, World Shaker by Richard Harland, Blaze of Glory by Michael Pryor and Leviathan by Scott Westerfield. The panel also went on to discuss favoured steampunk tropes and moved into the main focus of what genres would best get along with the steampunk genre. 1515-1615: Other entities—Fantasy beyond dragons, fairies, kings and queens with Katie J. Taylor, Lily Mulholland and Tor Roxburgh The discussion opened with what creatures they had chosen to write about and why. All had chosen creatures that were ‘off the beaten...

Lunch on Day 1 of Conflux 8 was over almost before we realised it and many of us had to scramble to make the first after-lunch panel on time. Something I’m going to have to remember to have a better handle on at Conflux 9 . Several interesting panels ran after lunch, but I couldn’t attend them all. Here are the ones I was able to get to, and each one was well worth it. 1300-1400: Romance Writers of the Apocalypse with Tracey O’Hara , Nicole Murphy and Jodi Cleghorn Panelists (from left to right): Tracey O'Hara, Nicole Murphy, Jodi Cleghorn. This panel consisted of a few of the many writers making up the Romance Writers of the Apocalypse blog. The blog was born out of a Twitter conversation about the need to get fit, have fun and write smart. They each spoke about the different ways they got into writing and/or publishing. Jodi Cleghorn spoke about how the lyrics of ‘Deck the Halls’ and the anthology that resulted brought her to the independent publishing field. ...

Day 1: Those of you who know me, know I don’t do high volumes of people well… but most people can’t pick it. Until I’d attended three days of convention, I didn’t fully understand this about myself either. Day 1 was the first time I’d been to a public event in a number of years. It was wonderful. Full credit should go to the Conflux 8 organisers and panellists for putting this event together… and I am very much looking forward to Conflux 9, early next year. Now, on to Day 1: 0910-0950: The Opening Ceremony FILDENSTAR! Oh, wait, first there was Jack Dann opening the convention and welcoming us, paying respects to the traditional landowners of the ACT region, and THEN introducing Fildenstar, a pair of performers who brought us speculative songs like Ghost Butterfly Ships . Memorable. 1000-1100: What makes a good fantasy/sf/horror story with Sue Isle, Ian McHugh and Alan Baxter This panel discussed the different elements that writers should pay attention to, if t...