Conflux 4 2007
OK, so where to begin? Like most cons, Conflux 4 was a blur of
familiar faces, new attractions, late nights, group dinners and
rushing about between panels and the dealers room.
Rob, Robin and I drove down from Wollongong, arriving at around 5.30.
Things got off to a bad start when it transpired that no one knew
anything about the boxes of Daikaiju3 that were supposed to have been
delivered to Rydges Lakeside during the day. The hotel staff, most of
whom seemed to be about 15 years old, didn’t know anything about any
boxes. Turns out they didn’t seem to know much about anything at all
for the duration of the weekend. “How do you make a latte?” and
“What’s a gin and tonic?” were two classic quotes overheard by
congoers at different points. Someone actually asked if Rydges was a
training hotel. I thought it was more likely to be a work experience
weekend. As per usual, there’d be 50 people in the bar and one person
put on to serve drinks. When Etina tried to order a coffee she was
told off because it would take too long to make & there were other
people waiting for booze who would have to be served first. God help
anyone who ordered a burger. Not only was it cold when it eventually
arrived, it was raw in the middle. I had a dodgy stomach for the rest
of the day when I made the unwise decision to eat half of one.
Rydges Lakeside has always been a bit of a dive. The lifts have never
worked very well, but they were supposedly being “refurbished” the
weekend we were there. “Refurbished” meant a guy in tradesman overalls
hung about in the lobby telling you that everything worked fine if you
pressed the up and down buttons simultaneously. I took to using the
stairs and the goods lift until someone told me they’d been trapped in
the basement cos the fire doors were locked. There were old ladies
using the stairs too. I hope they made it out OK.
But enough about the lifts. Saturday morning came round and there were
still no Daikaiju3s to be found. I started to realise that it was
finally going to be my turn to have the launch with no books. Had the
printer sent them? Had the courier delivered them? No amount of asking
seemed to make any difference. The hotel said there were no boxes. The
launch was set for Sunday. I decided to cancel it. I also decide that
I was done with small press publishing. The dealers room was like the
Marie Celeste. No one was buying stuff. I shared my table with Keith &
Andy and Mark Deniz & Sharyn Lilley. As I was briefing newbie small
press publishers Mark & Sharyn on the running of the table, I saw
their bright little shiny hopeful faces & though “god, that was me
five years ago and look at me now”.
I had a bit of a whinge to Kylie Seluka about my missing books.
Already way pissed with Rydges for a thousand other reasons, she
narrowed her eyes to slits and said ‘let me go see if I can find
them’. When I came back from lunch two hours later, there they were!
My lovely Daikaiju books! Rydges, in their great wisdom, had shoved them in a
cupboard somewhere. Apparently Kylie had spent 2 hours harassing the
child-staffers till they looked in every possible storeroom, nook and
broom closet. “Lucky you!” said Guest of Honour Graham Joyce. “My
fucking books never turned up at all” Turns out his publisher
neglected to send any.
So we ended up having a D3 launch after all and it went well. We sold
enough to almost cover the print bill. Table sales of the other books
I was selling were dismal. I think I sold 5 copies of 26 Lies and a
handful of Orbs. No one buys our stuff anymore. People only bought
Daikaijus cos I gave em all half a glass of cheap champagne with a
squirt of melon liquor in it & a lolly dinosaur perched on the rim at
the door, and Sean riled em all up with daikaiju limericks while
standing on a chair. I was in a good mood for the rest of the con.
Graham Joyce may well have been the best Con guest of all time. He was
smart, funny, interesting, a talented verbal storyteller & he listened
when other people spoke to him. He had a lot of freakage &
disorganisation to put up with & took it all in his stride. I didn’t see much of Kevin J Anderson & Rebecca Moesta, other than being on a panel with Rebecca. By the end of the con they both seemed to have the flu.
Despite Rydges’ best efforts, I had a fabulous time at the Con. There are a lot of really funny stories I’d love to blog, but
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I’m not, so those will have to stay within the realm of private emails. Next Con on my list is WFC! I can’t believe it’s only a few weeks away. I am so not prepared to go overseas… The rest of my photos are here.
29 Comments
Surely there are other hotels in Canberra that could take Conflux? Rydges is getting worse by the year. MAybe we need to move it to Collector and have it in the pub. At least the food would be better.
Another hotel has been lined up for Conflux 5. It was very clear to all of us that Rydges do not want our money.
They made it pretty obvious.
We may come next year if its in a different hotel. That depends on a variety of factors, especially the overseas Christmas trip and how rich we are feeling.
Sorry, forgot to say well done on selling so many books. Where can I get a copy? From you or Infinitas?
I’m a bit distracted, my library budget was cut in half nad I’m very cross…
I’ll keep one for next time I see you.
Thank you. Maybe we do a run down to the Gong and see you after the WFC.
If you’re free Saturday week I’m having a few folks over for a BBQ cos Sarah Endacott will be staying with us. I haven’t sent out all the email invites yet. I’m still a bit dopey from the weekend.
Umm, that weekend is getting busy. We have Iain’s Mum staying and (as far as I know) 2 birthdays and something to do with the play. I shall go ask Iain.
Don’t stress about it, its just a casual BBQ thing. I’ll save you a book for next time we catch up.
I’m not stressing about that: not when I want to yell at the GM of the hospital.
I know!!! It’s actually 26 days away and I entered stress out mode today cause I have no pants and no shiny number to where in NYC.
bugger your clothing… we need to sort out a hotel!
I KNOW!! that’s also on the list – or would be if i wasn’t too stressed out to write one. But you want me to wear pants too.
very true.
Have you got plane tickets? Yes? Then what else do you need? You’re heading to shopping Mecca
what do you mean you’re not me?
I mean I’m not willing to say what i really think about some things & name names in a public forum. It wasn’t meant as an insult. I admit I’m a wus.
well, yeah, i got that’s what you meant. i didn’t think i did it that often, though. i’m a gentle, friendly sort 🙂
I’m taking note of the book thing, and the lifts, and the bad service and so on. I’m going to have a very interesting discussion with Rydges when they send out their invoice.
I would have liked to have come, but sadly it’s only the one convention for me this year.
I’ll try and make it next year, I think.
Hey great number of photos there. You must have rsi. Yep. Rydges was pretty ordinary. I’d rather have a con in a park than there again.
I’d rather have a con in a dumpster than go there again.
Still, wish I could have been there. Even if it was only to shout to the inept pimply staff “It’s CELERY, APPLES, WALNUTS, GRAPES! ON A MAYONNAISE SAUCE!”
I wanted to shout stuff. I was very restrained.
*looks up with bright, shiny & hopeful face* Well, I’m still very grateful for the advice, help and laughs. Thank you *g*
ooh! You’re back online! I didn’t realise they had the internet in Kellyville… I’ll email you.
yeah, they had to put the internet through here, just so I could stop terrorising the locals, and scare complete strangers *g*
Daikaiju rocks!
Don’t doubt it for a second – I love those books and can’t wait to get into #3 that Rachel brought back from the con for me (ok, ok, *us* 🙂
Re: Daikaiju rocks!
yay! You can never have too many giant monsters after all…