BristolCon

As is tradition, both of our authors were put to the question by Cheryl Morgan at the end of the evening. We learned that Baylea has the Best Mum in the World, and that horror writers have dreadful habits as children. Jonathan explained some of the background to After the End of the World. And Gareth Powell ask the very difficult question, "Who would win in a fight: Cthulhu or Godzilla?" BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages. As is traditional, we are taking December off, but we will be back in January with a brand new series of readings.

Our second reader for November was Jonathan L Howard, who read from his recently published novel, After the End of the World. This is a sequel to the critically acclaimed Carter & Lovecraft. And yes (spolier!), the world did really end in that book. There is a little bit of explanation as to what is going on in the Q&A, but chapter 1 of the new book stands pretty much on its own. The new world that Dan and Emily find themselves in after the destruction of the world we know is rather different. Explaining just how different allows Jonathan to indulge his passion for alternate history. No tentacled beings from beyond the stars were harmed in the production of this podcast. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

It being just past Halloween, November was a horror month at Fringe. Our first reader was Baylea Hart who describes herself as an IT Technician by day, horror writer by night and a reader everywhere in between. She has a BA in creative writing from Bath Spa University and enjoys watching people grow slightly white after reading her stories. Her short story, "Jack in the Box", won the 2015 Bristol Horror Writing Competition and her film, Behind the Door, won a Top 50 spot in the Bloody Cuts “Who’s There?” competition and has over 500,000 views on YouTube. Baylea read from her novel, The Log House, which will be available from Unbound very shortly. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Finally for September we have the Q&A. Cheryl Morgan talked to Chloe about hitting people with big swords and her job in the heritage industry. She talked to Anna about epic poetry, studying ancient history, and whether she had any advice for Chloe about getting published. Then Justin Newland asked a philosophical question about history and we discovered that, with three historians on a panel, the discussion can go on for ever. Pete Sutton previewed this year's Bristol literary festivals. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Our second reader for September was Anna Smith Spark. She lives in London, UK. She loves grimdark and epic fantasy and historical military fiction. Anna has a BA in Classics, an MA in history and a PhD in English Literature. She has previously been published in the Fortean Times and the poetry website www.greatworks.org. Previous jobs include petty bureaucrat, English teacher and fetish model. The first book in the Empires of Dust series (The Court of Broken Knives) was published by Harper Voyager in June 2017. Anna read from the opening chapters of the book. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Our first reader for September was Chloe Headdon. Ever since she was little Chloe has wanted to be either a writer or a knight, so she now combines a bit of both. Chloe’s work is inspired by myths and legends, especially King Arthur, medieval history, and the British landscape. She is currently working on a young adult fantasy novel as well as other short stories. In her spare time, Chloe practises Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and can regularly be found fighting people twice her size with swords. Chloe read from the first two chapters of her novel. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

As we still had some time before Gemma had to leave for her train, we were able to do a joint Q&A with both readers. We continued to address issues of covers and marketing, including why Gemma writes under her initials but Lucy does not. We also talked about use of foreign and invented languages. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Our second reader for August was Lucy Housom whose second novel in her Worldmaker series, Heartland, was published that week. The series will conclude with Firestorm next year and we have already booked Lucy to come back and read from it. Much of the Q&A involved covers and marketing. Lucy's books have recently been re-launched with dramatically different covers. Because she works for a well known major bookstore chain, Lucy has a special insight into how books are marketed. Lucy also discussed her podcast, Breaking the Glass Slipper. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Our first reader for August was G.V. Anderson who read from her story, "Das Steingeschöpf", which is a finalist in this year's World Fantasy Awards. It is Gemma's first professional sale and we are all very proud of her. Because Gemma had to catch an early train home we did some Q&A with her immediately after her reading. Fortunately we did have time for a joint Q&A session later in the evening. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.  

The readings were followed by the traditional Q&A session hosted by Cheryl Morgan. There was discussion of apocalypses and their attraction for readers, particularly teenagers. There was also a great deal of discussion of feminism. Given that the announcement that The Doctor would be regenerating as a woman had been made the previous day, this was a very topical matter. For reasons that will be obvious once you have listened to the podcasts, there was also some discussion of pornography. In the announcements we congratulated Jo Hall, Roz Clarke and Pete Sutton for their places on the British Fantasy Awards short lists, and wished Emma & Pete Newman best of luck in the Clarke and Hugos. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.  

Our second reader for July was Virginia Bergin. She is a Bristol-based writer of YA science fiction. Her third novel, Who Runs The World?, has recently been published by Macmillan. It is set in a world in which a virus has rendered human males all but extinct and the world is run by women. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.  

Our first reader for July was regular attendee, Justin Newland. He gave us excerpts from two separate works. The first excerpt was from his published novel, The Genes of Isis. This is from a section later in the book where the Apocalypse is well in progress and our heroes have fled Egypt for sanctuary in Babylon. Excerpt two is from the start of a work in progress, the novel set in Ming Dynasty China from which Justin read the prologue at the Open Mic. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Finally for June we have the Q&A. Cheryl Morgan talked to our readers about a range of topics including goats, babies, real v imaginary locations and many other topics. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Our second reader for June was Peter Newman whose third book in the Vagrant series has just been published. For us he read a short story featuring one of the most popular characters from that series, the goat. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.  

Our first reader for June was Kate Coe who runs the Writing & Coe website. She read extracts from two very different stories. Our apologies for somewhat muddy sound. This was partly because it was very hot and we needed to keep the air conditioning on, and partly because of a technical mishap which caused us to have to record on a phone. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Finally for May, Piotr and Emma are put to the question. Cheryl and Emma go off on a bit of a feminist rant. Piotr explains where Pennsylvania is. There is some discussion of tea, jeopardy and mild peril. Peter Newman reveals what he will be reading when he headlines Fringe in June. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Our headline guest for May was Emma Newman. She read the first chapter of her novel, After Atlas, which is a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. This introduces us to the main character in the novel, Carlos Moreno. He is a detective, but also the son one of the passengers on the Atlas, the colony ship from Planetfall. This story takes place many years after the Atlas left Earth. When introducing Emma, Cheryl Morgan mentions some top secret news that she can't divulge at the time. We can now reveal that Emma will be the Guest of Honour at Åcon 9 in Flnland next year. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Our first reader for May was local author and sometime radio show host, Piotr Świetlik. He read part of a science fiction story set in Pennsylvania (but not that Pennsylvania). BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

The second session of the open mic features the following readers: Chloe Headdon with the opening of a YA fantasy novel; Steve Tanner with an extract from his fantasy novel, Blind Faith; Suzanne McConaghy with part of a science fiction short story, "Partners in Crime"; Justin Newland with short story that forms the prologue to fantasy novel set in China. There is no Q&A in the open mic, because we want to make the experience as friendly as possible for the readers. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.

Our April event is traditionally an open mic where anyone can come and read, but just for 5 minutes. For reasons that will be explained on the podcast, this month's event was hosted by Tom Parker. The readers in this session are: Cheryl Morgan, with part of a short story about Amazons in Space; Ian McConaghy with the opening of a science fiction novel set in near future Los Angeles; Joanne Hall with a short story about monks, illuminated manuscripts and dragons; and Felicia Barker with a fantasy short story featuring some very famous fairies. BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For further details see our Venue and Schedule pages.