WHC 2010

World Horror Convention 2010

Arrived in Brighton early, quick journey via A27, easily found Royal Albion hotel on seafront. Parking hassles and rain spoilt Thursday's mood a bit, especially with having to wait for later check-in than we'd hoped... for top floor twin-room without any view. Had good feed at local chip shop, then went back to hotel in time for mid-afternoon panel item about zombies.

Opening ceremony (at teatime) was a packed out, standing room only, but we had front row seats. 'New Blood' was a panel with next generation of horror writers. Who Cares What You Think? - proved an interesting panel topic on reviewing for blogs. First day of drinking was rounded off with a couple of creepy new short stories, of great descriptive flair and subtlety, read by author Ramsey Campbell.

Friday started dry and windy during our seafront walk after breakfast. 'X Factor' offered retro movie reminiscences of panellists (both writers and artists). Tanith Lee was interviewed by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, but I forgot to ask a question about her scripts for Blake's 7... 'Size Matters' was a worthwhile panel topic on current small press activities. Left reading by Brian Lumley after a few minutes because I found his story rather boring (too much arithmetic & fractions about vampire's age!), and went to see art show, where I met artist Caroline O'Neal and poet Cardinal Cox – both contributors to Premonitions.

I bought a couple of hardcover books at Newcon Press launch, and went to interesting 'Heritages of Horror' panel, featuring critics Kim Newman and David Pirie, talking about movie books. 'Life Sucks', a discussion of vampire fiction, was final panel of day for me.