Horror Reanimated… the home of Bloody Books

After Shock: a WHC Retrospective, by Sharon Ring

April 14th, 2010

Sometime late in the afternoon of March 28th, I found myself sitting in the A&E ward of Eastbourne District General Hospital receiving a severe telling off from a very young doctor.

“Clearly you’ve been overdoing things,” he said.

“Perhaps,” I replied.

“What the hell have you been doing these past few days?” he asked.

“Ah, I was at World Horror Con!”

Thursday

I received an email from Joseph and Mathew asking me, at the last minute, if I fancied going to the Con and doing a little reporting on behalf of Horror Reanimated. With little time to spare, I packed my rucksack, donned my hiking boots and headed off to that most peculiar of south coast towns, Brighton. The Royal Albion Hotel, just across the road from the pier, was the venue for the convention and in due course I found myself in the reception area picking up my Convention ID and goody bag.

The hotel was packed with authors, artists, editors and bloggers; everyone jostling to get to their rooms, get to that familiar-looking face, get to the bar. Me, I was heading for the Dealer’s Area, looking for the two gentlemen who’d made it possible for me to be there. Hard to find at first, the Dealer’s Area was tucked away in the basement; a baking hot room that had everyone looking fit to drop from heatstroke. So many desirable books, so few coins in my purse!

The Convention got properly going a few hours later with opening ceremonies overseen by Amanda Foubister and Jo Fletcher. We were duly prompted to read our pocket programmes, a phrase which became something of a mantra as the weekend progressed.

From then on it was a matter of picking and choosing what I wanted to attend; and there was just so much to choose from. I took a deep breath, wished for the ability to clone myself and then tried to make it to as many panels and readings as possible.

The panel which really caught my attention on the Thursday evening was Who Cares What You Think? Do Reviews and Blogging Really Matter? I blog, I review, I had to be there. The conversation got off to a slightly controversial start with one of the panellists claiming that anyone who was reviewing for free was, in essence, a scab. I’m still not sure whether this person was playing devil’s advocate or if this is something they strongly believe. Either way, it got the audience’s attention and made for an intense hour’s debate with a lot of input from both panellists and audience. It’s a topic which seems to be doing the rounds this year, with EasterCon attendees talking along similar lines and various bloggers coming together to discuss it at social networking sites.

I made it to three readings that night: Joe D’Lacey, Peter Crowther and Michael Marshall Smith.

Most of the Convention readings took place in the hotel basement, in a small, soft-lit room far away from the mayhem of other Convention areas. More than once I heard people mention this room as a place to hide out and relax as well as catch up on readings from a wide variety of authors.

From Michael Marshall Smith’s reading, I made it to one of the bars. I had a love-hate relationship with the hotel bars for the entire weekend. I had vowed to behave myself and not end up spending vast amounts of money (which I didn’t have anyway) on beer and socialising. Thursday night was a success in terms of steering clear of beer. I had a couple of soft drinks, babbled somewhat nervously at Joseph, Gary McMahon, Steven Savile and Mark Deniz then wandered off into the night back to my lodgings. One day down, three more to go.

Friday

And so to Friday; the first full day of World Horror Con. I spent my first hour at the hotel kicking myself for missing the Adam Nevill reading; I’d planned to go, but was waylaid by a delicious breakfast and a lengthy explanation to my host of just what I was getting up to at the convention. I’m still not sure he “gets it”. I met up with Mark Deniz and Carole Johnstone to attend the Guest of Honour Interview with Tanith Lee.

I’ve been reading Tanith’s work since my teens although it’s been a few years since I’ve read any of her later stories. After a very pleasant hour listening to Tanith chatting with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, I hung about to listen in on some of the next Guest of Honour Interview with Dave Carson. I don’t know a great deal about artists working in the horror genre but, after spending time talking with one or two and seeing their work, it dawned on me just how long some of the iconic imagery has been in my life. I generally pay more attention to the words than the images but somehow those images have lasted equally as long as the words, testament to the power of a decent book cover. Dave Carson’s hour talking with Stephen Parsons ended on an unexpected note, discussing the possibility of illegal downloading having the potential to make an impact on the work of genre artists.

Back down in the basement, I caught a moment or two of both Yvonne Navarro’s and Barbara Roden’s readings. Next up was a brief and thoroughly welcome appearance from lunch; one sandwich, one coffee, then back into the thick of it.

Friday afternoon saw me attending yet more events; the Brian Lumley Reading and Q&A, the Ash-Tree Press book launch and the Guest of Honour Interview with Hugh Lamb.

Listening to Brian Lumley was a little like stepping back in time. As with Tanith Lee, Brian Lumley was a name I grew up knowing well, and again it’s been a long time since I read any of his work. This was, for me at least, a theme which was to run through the entire convention, reacquainting myself with some familiar names and promising to revisit some of those stories in the near future.

The Ash-Tree Press book launch was the only book launch I managed to attend all weekend. I was too late for cake but I did find time to get a photo or two of some of the authors who were launching books.

Back in the main lounge the next Guest of Honour Interview was with Hugh Lamb, overseen by the lovely Barbara Roden. This was a full hour of geek heaven for me; I edit for a living, so listening to someone who knows the industry as well as Hugh was a real treat.

Two more panels got my attention that afternoon. Life Sucks: Do We Really Need any More Vampire Books? and Deal or No Deal: How Do I get an Agent? Life Sucks was incredibly good fun with the conversation occasionally veering back to the subject of the Twilight books, something which raised a mild hiss every time it was mentioned. Deal or No Deal was a feisty and very informative hour of discussion on the work of agents; what they do, how to get one, how to lose one.

By then it was time for a long break. I caught up with my convention “buddies”, Mark Deniz and Carole Johnstone, taking off for dinner and a chance to talk over the event thus far. We rounded off the day by going to the screening of Let The Right One In complete with an introduction (and small magic show) by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

Saturday

I started Saturday off with coffee and a catch-up in the bar, only just making the tail end of Keeping Them Reading: What Happens When Harry Potter Grows Up.

It was then time for one of the largest gatherings of the Con, From the Sublime to The Ridiculous: A History of “The Pan Book of Horror Stories. I’d spoken with Johnny Mains, moderator of the panel and editor of Back From The Dead; The Legacy of the Pan Book of Horror Stories, on the first day of the Con where he confessed to feeling as nervous and overwhelmed as myself. All those nerves had vanished as he stood on stage with several of the original Pan authors, all gathered to talk about the book series. This was undoubtedly one of the best attended panels of the whole weekend. I doubt there was a person present who hasn’t spent time reading these books at some point in their lives.

Straight after the Pan panel was one of the liveliest panels of the entire Con. Femme Fatales: How Can We Get More Women in Horror was well attended with an excellent panel (Suzanne McLeod, Sarah Pinborough, Maura McHugh, Allyson Bird and Ellen Datlow). This was an intense hour taking into consideration not just female horror writers but also thinking about women readers, female protagonists and the stigma of paranormal romance.

From this lively panel, I went to my first Guest of Honour Interview for the day, David Case. He was being interviewed by Ramsey Campbell and the whole hour had a very sweet feel to it; more like two old boys sitting and reminiscing in the pub than a real interview and, despite its poor attendance was possibly one of my favourite hours of the weekend.

Next up was another Guest of Honour Interview, this time with James Herbert. As I made my way from one room to another I spotted Neil Gaiman who, it transpired, was to be a “super-secret” guest and interviewer of James Herbert. This caused a hell of a stir as word got around about his arrival with people descending on the main lounge from all over the hotel. Again, Herbert is an author I know well from years gone by but I haven’t read much in recent times. Once more, I was left with an urge to go back and re-read some of his earlier works.

After a hastily scoffed lunch I made it to yet another panel, When is Horror not Horror? Crossover Genres. Again, this was a well attended panel with a great discussion on defining those books which have crossover “appeal” and the resurgence of horror as a marketable product.

From here, I popped my head into the main lounge where the next Guest of Honour Interview was taking place with Ingrid Pitt. I’d decided to get a couple of shots of her, then try and grab a coffee and a rest. As I tried to leave the room, she stopped me in my tracks asking where I was going. I quickly mumbled something about bathrooms as I made my escape. I was told afterward that she sprung that little surprise on anyone who attempted to leave the lounge during her talk.

Straight after Ingrid’s interview was a special surprise, Kim Newman interviewing Neil Gaiman for half an hour. Once again, the main lounge was packed out as Kim and Neil chatted about the old days before moving on to what Neil is up to at the moment, which would appear to be “everything”.

Following the Newman and Gaiman chat were two equally interesting panels. State of the Art: Masters of the Craft assess the Genre and Into the GoreZone: Can you Go Too Far in Horror? It was soon obvious that the planning for these two panels was slightly out, with State of the Art needing to move to the larger of the two panel rooms. Ramsey Campbell took charge and got the rooms switched, with people milling about in a slight state of confusion in the hotel reception not quite knowing which panel was where.

The Awards

I took myself off for a long break then, grabbing food and a spare set of camera batteries before making my way down to Brighton Pier to catch the Bram Stoker Award Ceremony. The ceremony began with an embarrassingly bizarre video introduction from Deborah LeBlanc. May I never have to see anything like this ever again…

The awards went as follows…

• Tanith Lee and James Herbert were named Grand Masters
• Basil Copper received a Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Horror Convention (a slightly different award to those won by Brian Lumley and William F. Nolan)
• Brian Lumley and William F. Nolan received Lifetime Achievement Awards
• The Richard Layman President’s Award went to Vince Liaguno
• The Silver Hammer Award (for volunteer work on behalf of the Horror Writers’ Association) went to Kathy Ptacek
• The Specialty Press Award went to Tartarus Press (Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker)

The Stoker winners were:

• Novel: Audrey’s Door, Sarah Langan (Harper)
• First Novel: Damnable, Hank Schwaeble (Jove)
• Long Fiction: The Lucid Dreaming, Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
• Short Fiction: In The Porches Of My Ears, Norman Prentiss (PS Publishing)
• Anthology: He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson, Christopher Conlon (ed.) (Gauntlet Press)
• Collection: A Taste of Tenderloin, Gene O’Neill (Apex Book Company)
• Non-Fiction: Writers Workshop of Horror, Michael Knost (Woodland Press)
• Poetry: Chimeric Machines, Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)

The Horror Writer’s Association also announced three new award categories for the awards – Screenplay, Young Adult and Graphic Novel. No announcement on when these new categories will be added though, perhaps next year?

From the Award Ceremony, it was back to the hotel for parties. Two or three parties were taking place, scattered between the Royal Albion and the nearby Radisson Blu (which had played host to the conventions KaffeeKlatsches and writing workshops). It was here that my mission to remain beer-free suddenly hit a magnificent pint-shaped obstacle; it was also here that things got a little bit hazy for me. Mark, Carole and I wandered from the Albion to the Radisson and back again before settling down to a very long night of drinking, aided and abetted by Joseph D’Lacey, Charles Rudkin and Bill Breedlove.

We were politely, and very firmly, asked to leave the hotel around half six in the morning having been caught helping ourselves to the beer; I should point out here that Joseph had long since vanished and took no part in the beer theft.

Sunday

By Sunday lunchtime all I was fit for was lounging in the sun room of one of the bars, drinking coffee and muttering oaths of abstinence to anyone who was unlucky enough to be sat with me.

World Horror Con was not just my first horror genre convention, it was my first convention ever; and, as several people pointed out during that long weekend, it was a real baptism of fire. I have nothing to compare it with but can say in all honesty it was one of the most intense, interesting and funny weekends of my life. Apparently, World Horror Con has never taken place outside of the U.S; I’m glad I got to be there on its first trip away from the States and reckon it won’t be long before the U.K. gets to play host again.

So, what were my favourite moments of Horror Con? Now there’s a list that could go on for a long time but, narrowing it down, I’d have to say that getting to hang out with my boss from Morrigan Books, Mark Deniz comes top of the list. We work together but live a fair old distance apart so getting to spend time together talking shop and wandering around the various panels was a lot of fun.

And then, in no particular order; meeting authors I grew up reading, getting to listen in to a lot of industry talk (mind-boggling at times but mostly very informative), meeting authors I’ve reviewed and interviewed for my own blog, meeting fellow bloggers and reviewers and even the occasional Facebook Scrabble friend. I’d started the weekend feeling entirely out of my depth but by the time I was heading home I was left with the feeling that I’m part of that community now.

Sharon Ring

Entry Filed under: Writing Chat