Trialling Audio for a Virtual FantastiCon

What a weekend that turned out to be, sitting drink in hand for six hours each day watching FantastiCon unfold on my laptop. Covid-19 has a lot to answer for, but Dan Grubb is a can-do kind of fella, and he will not be beaten by a mere world-wide pandemic. 

He and his wife run Fantastic Books Publishing and their annual FantastiCon is an in-person event held at Cleethorpes, just south of the Humber, with attendees travelling in from far and wide, including Hungary and the USA. This year it was held on a computer screen near you via TwitchTV. This rather curtailed the usual nerf wars and gaming extravaganzas, so it became more of a Litfest with extras. After all, there were six new titles to be launched.

My involvement came about when I was approached to do one of the short readings to be used as fillers. Using your smartphone will be fine. It might have been if I owned one. But if FantastiCon could go Virtual, surely I could use my laptop to video myself reading an excerpt or two. Mmm. Perhaps not. Well, I did, but let's just draw a veil over the result. I attempted to back out but Dan was having none of it. He was also compiling audio recordings. I had a go using software integral to Windows 10. Er... no.

My deadline was looming. It was then that I bit the bullet and downloaded Audacity, the free open source "easy to use cross-platform audio editor and recorder". Yeah, right. But it was! In a single afternoon I found my way round the basics, recorded two tests and a very passable final, then followed instructions to remove the inevitable ums, ers, and fluffed words. I amazed myself. Dan added book covers and it was good to go. 

If you should wish to listen to my rather non-dulcet tones, start at 6hrs 30mins HERE of Day 2. The recording of the event should stay live until mid September.

What this has done for me, of course, is open up a whole new world. I have languishing a YouTube channel carrying a couple of book trailers. All I need to do is learn how to add music and graphics tracks to audio files and I shall be uploading some of my short stories. First, though, I need to take lessons in speaking proper. Isn't there always a problem?

Exoskeletons and High-Wire Acts

Exoskeletons and high-wire acts?? It must be Hull's FantastiCon! And it was, 2-3rd September. It was also Hull's Freedom Festival. This year Hull is UK City of Culture and the city is making the most of it in the biggest way possible.

Even the weather came out to play, making a good show of the floral displays in Queen's Gardens (originally a water-filled dock; those are the original dock offices behind, now the Maritime Museum), and keeping the thousands of visitors in comfort while the Amazing Bullzini Family awed everyone with their gravity-defying comedy drama eight metres in the air. My photo shows one of their lesser (!) worrying escapades. I couldn't concentrate on taking photos when the two characters balanced on a chair; I was watching through squinted eyes.

FantastiCon was held in the Guildhall just round the corner, and was no less awe-inspiring. I now understand what a NERF war is, thanks to the ubiquitous ten-year old who explained how it worked while reloading the magazine of a plastic automatic weapon. Put on safety glasses. Really? And then I discovered why. But it was great fun. Note Hubby, well-armoured behind netting, attempting to claim on my life insurance. Yes, he enjoyed it, too. And yes, that is "ammunition" all over the floor, not all ours, I hasten to add.

FantastiCon is a doing Con, and lots of people had brought rigs, including Vesaro (above). How many buttons and switches and...?? Considering spectators come from miles around to watch me reverse-park my car, needless to say I just stood and watched. I did, though, have a go on the virtual reality rigs - my first time - and I can now understand the excitement over those. However, the magnets weren't all digital.

Yes, big blokes hunched intensely over role-playing games with dice and pencil. And it wasn't the only table. There was a lot of interest in the various offerings.

We also had a long chat with Chris Atkin, drone operator, sorry pilot, from Icarus Aerial Film & Photography, whose miniscule craft was producing high-definition images as it zipped in and around the various rooms - all good research material for an author.

As was fascinating Dr Matt Dickinson and his Comic Book Science mini-lectures, hence the "exoskeletons" mentioned at the top of this post. So... you want to know if Iron Man's feats are feasible? Er... yes, and Dr Matt explained why.

He'd also brought along a short tentacle, a la Dr Otto Octavius, which he moved from across the room by wearing that very small headset and his own alpha/beta brainwaves. No, I do not kid you. He had us all entranced. And then he put on a more sophisticated cuff and made Iron Man's hand clench and unclench. 

Want to know something really amazing? Neither items, nor the headset, cost more than £20 each. The headset came from Amazon - where else would you go for an alpha/beta brainwave headset?? - and all the components for both the hand and the tentacle were 3-D printed, and such printers can be picked up from... you're ahead of me.

Best of all? Despite it being Comic Book Science at entry level for schools - if you're a teacher get on his website for the free code - ultimately it is all research for super-prosthetics to help the disabled. Awesome, yes? Well, that's FantastiCon for you in a nutshell.

Oh, I also sold some books. But who cares about that?

Missing... Presumed at FantastiCon

Yep, last weekend (19-20th November) was spent at Hull’s Guildhall for FantastiCon, which bills itself as A Doing, Not A Buying Con, though there were plenty of books purchased, including some of mine. The paperbacks of the Horror anthology ‘666’, to which I’d contributed a 666 word story, completely sold out.

FantastiCon started three years ago as a multi-book launch event by Fantastic Books Publishing for licensed novels set in the SF computer game world of Elite: Dangerous and has now become a fixture in the SF/Fantasy/Horror Con calendar.

There were SteamPunk traders – I bought myself an interesting miniature fob watch on a chain – and plenty of Cosplayers of both graphic novel/comic and Hollywood movie types, as well as a very realistic Tardis and an even more realistic 'Doctor Who' impersonator - the accent and mannerisms were spot on - plus a phalanx of full-size Daleks which punters could drive. I decided it looked a bit too claustrophobic for my liking so passed on that one.

However, a convention aimed at an international SF gaming community would be lacking without banks of computers, and banks there were, some set-ups a little more encompassing than others. Don't just look at the four screens  and joystick in the left image, also note the foot-pedals.

Considering I was forever clipping the conning tower of the aircraft carrier with my jump-jet in Harrier Attack [a brilliant 1983 9kb game for the ZX Spectrum – no joystick, just rubber keys] I decided not to humiliate myself in public. Watching over shoulders was enough.

Apart from the mind-boggling coordination skills on show, I found the holograms fascinating, and like a wally took a still photo instead of video - how analogue can I be?

Suffice to say the Millennium Falcon shown is a model from which the hologram lifts and flies to the Death Star as a nearby planet rises in the distance and then... if you've seen the Star Wars movies you'll already be ahead of me.

I was engrossed in trying to calculate how it worked when one of its minders came up and insisted on explaining. Er... I think it might be a bit lost on me. No, he insisted, the Victorians discovered it; it was simple. And I was lost after the third sentence. Perhaps I'll stick to writing fiction.

#Hull FantastiCon 2016 - I'm there!

Guildhall, Kingston-upon-Hull, 19-20 November 2016

It's good to see FantastiCon back in Hull's city centre; and amid the virtual reality experiences, the gaming (digital and old-school analogue), the Cosplay extravaganza (with prizes), traders, stage shows & special guests, live music, panels and book launches... somewhere in there will be little ol' me cowering in a corner until I'm hauled before a microphone. 

Er... what exactly is a NERF war?? Perhaps I shouldn't ask. It sounds as if I should drag out my old fencing mask and rapier. Now there's analogue for you.

FantastiCon 2015 was voted 'Top Rated UK Convention' by Niche magazine, but the idea started life as a multi-book launch event. Long story, but if you're into SF, particularly the game Elite, you'll know that the late (and very great) Robert Holdstock wrote the novella, The Dark Wheel, which stood beside the original game. When Frontier Developments brought out the game Elite: Dangerous it  decided to resurrect the idea and licenced authors, and publishers, to produce novels set in and around the world of Elite. Fantastic Books Publishing was one of those publishers and it produced a clutch of the novels. But, when you've been SF gaming across continents, a straight canapes & fizz book launch hardly fits the criteria, does it? So three years ago FantastiCon was born and has been almost doubling in size year on year. Hence the need this year for Hull's majestic Guildhall.

Sounds good? Even better, tickets are only £10 a day or £17 for the weekend. What, you live in Penzance or Edinburgh, Canberra or Los Angeles and it's just a wee bit of a stretch to attend for the weekend? You can be a part of it for as little as £1 (artwork, a parody album, digital wallpaper). Funding - and tickets - are being sold via Kickstarter and there's just 7 days to claim perks and privileges (don't forget to check the 'Updates' menu).

Me? I've been given dire warnings of what will happen if I don't complete the third in my Fantasy trilogy in time. Better stop slacking then, or I'll need more than just a fencing mask for protection.

FantastiCon was Fantastic - 2

FantastiCon was, ostensibly, a book launch by Fantastic Books Publishing (top that, London literati).

The books, four novels and an anthology of short fiction, are based in the universe of the SF Elite series of combat and trading computer games. Back in the 1980s the late Robert Holdstock wrote a novella The Dark Wheel to accompany the initial launch, and gaming and fiction have gone hand-in-hand ever since.

This may come as an eye-opener, as to many the stereotypical gamer equates to a pale-faced bloke in a black T-shirt staring at a screen, often wearing full 3D-immersion goggles and headphones. There were some of those in attendance, and a friendly lot they were, too, but believe me, they read books. Helping with the bookstore I watched as an eye-watering amount of cash changed hands for the printed word. Even I sold books and I’m writing Contemporary Mythic Fiction, almost as far from SF gaming as it is possible to get. As one buyer quipped ...a good read is a good read... How fantastically refreshing.

At any –Con, authors and books means panels and they were all extremely interesting: actors from the earlier episodes of Dr Who rubbed shoulders with the cast of anime Vampire Wars. The Q&A session with the writers of the Elite: Dangerous novels was funny and inspiring, and one of FBP’s audio downloads from the anthology made the busy room hush – the sound effects were extraordinary.

And then, at just gone 8pm, Stuart Aken and I were asked to the stage to talk about our different Fantasy novels, and give a reading. By this time there were around ten in the room; hey, I’ve spoken to less. But when we’d answered our introductory questions our audience had grown substantially, and very appreciative they were, too. JS Collyer followed with her debut SF novel Zero, launched that day, and she handled the spotlight as if she’d been doing it all her life.

Throughout, Dan Grubb, FBP’s CEO, acted as compere with a never-ending supply of enthusiasm, insightful questions and seemingly no script. The surprise video tribute to him was hilarious and for once left him speechless.

At midnight I bowed out for the drive home, leaving the event still going strong, and that was before it closed for the night and everyone headed for the bar. Now I understand why these things are held in hotels. Next year... or even before. I feel quite privileged that an entire new and welcoming world has opened up to me.

FantastiCon was Fantastic - 1

In Hull on Saturday, Fantastic Books Publishing put on the book launch to end all book launches – an SF&F Convention

FBP was launching the hardback and paperback editions of four licensed novels and an anthology of short fiction based in the universe of Elite: Dangerous, a space combat and trading online computer game.

If that reads like a bit of a mouthful, the whole day was a bit of a jaw-dropping mouthful. Never having attended a Con, and knowing nothing about the game, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as can be seen from a selection of photos there was plenty going on, and never a dull moment.

 

...a few of the Cosplayers...

...photo opportunities...



...and a fast-moving Dalek intent on chasing me round the raffle mountain.





There were also the gamers, both old school round a table...

...and 3D immersion via Occulus Rift, which unfortunately I never got to try.

Not that I'd have known what to do. And probably I would have ended up going on the stage suffering from motion sickness.

Add in X-Box consoles, Manga, Anime, and various merchandising stalls, the biggest problem was finding time to eat. This doesn't even touch the stage panels, including Dr Who actors, or the eye-opening amount of books sold, but I'll cover that side tomorrow in FantastiCon was Fantastic - 2.

Everyone was friendly and ultra chatty, and most willing to explain the inner workings of anything in words of one syllable. I had a spectacular time and will definitely be going to another.

FantastiCon in #Hull - 14 Days and Counting

Funny how life can change. One moment I'm attending Hull's FantastiCon as an inquisitive visitor, the next I'm invited to participate on a panel!

On 16th August the Mercure Hull Royal Hotel will be the venue for an SF/F and gaming extravaganza hosted by Fantastic Book Publishing. It's part of its launch for its Elite: Dangerous tie-in novels that seems to have taken on a life of its own and now includes Cosplay, RGP Gaming, Dr Who actors and an I-AM-A-DALEK, independent films, a Star Wars speeder bike complete with a green screen,  R2D2, and...er... me.

I'm on a panel with Stuart Aken and JS Collyer talking about our books. For obvious reasons I shall be concentrating on the Torc of Moonlight trilogy, and this is where I really should have written faster as those taking notice will recall that only books 1 and 2 are available.

And Cosplay? If there are any Roman legionaries attending, do call by the author table. Other than that, what costume to wear for a Celtic water deity? I knew I should have bought that torc when I saw it advertised.

If you're on Facebook, FantastiCon has an Event Page, a link to the Programme, and as can be seen below, a rather eyebrow-raising YouTube trailer. I think I need to raise my game.