The Thing and the Whole of the Thing
So hey there, guys.
I recently (from last Thursday till yesterday) attended the Discworld Convention 2010 in Birmingham, UK. I know that there's an Irish one next year, an Australian one next year, and there was an American one last year - and I was wondering; has anyone here ever been to one of the Discworld cons?
If you haven't, and you're a fan of the books, you sure-as-hell should do! It was my first convention (for anything, for that matter) and I can safely say that's the most fun I've had in a long time! I met a load of new people, took part in a load of fantastic events and saw god-only-knows how many awesome costumes! The atmosphere there was brilliant, and apart from a couple of minor slip-ups (people sometimes have short tethers after four nights with very little sleep!) everybody there was amazingly friendly.
Aside from the convention itself, who else is a fan of the books? I know that Sir Terry Pratchett is a big name over here in Britain, but I don't know about other countries. I know he's an international author, and I know several people from America who read them (there were a bunch at the Con, as well as Canadian, German, Dutch... the list goes on) but I don't think he's quite as big elsewhere as he is here. Nonetheless, I have no doubt that there'll be a lot of you, so let's go ahead and talk about it!
My favourite books in the series would have to be the ones about Death, and Granny Weatherwax. The Watch comes a close second -- speaking of whom, I can exclusively reveal that after I Shall Wear Midnight, the new Tiffany Aching book coming out in a few days, the next novel that Terry is currently working on will be called Snuff, and will centre around Sam Vimes -- alongside more standalone ones like Small Gods and Pyramids.
I'm planning to go on a marathon Discworld re-read over the course of the next few months, once I've finished Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy, in order to re-familiarise myself with the world, and get ideas for a costume in two years time! You all should really come to the Discworld 2012 convention, scheduled for late August and once again held in Birmingham's Hilton Metropol hotel (though there are cheaper options for accommodation nearby) -- Here's a link to the facebook group if you want an idea beyond that which was on the website.
But anyways -- guys, let's hear it! I'm really interested to find out if any of you have been to a DW Con before, or even if you were there last weekend like the sneaky buggers you are!
