Conflux, LLB...

Conflux 4 turned out to be fabulous. As I said in an earlier blog, I've never been to an Aussie fantasy con before, and I really had no idea what to expect. I didn't know anybody there, either, having little involvement with the fantasy community before now (reason--there just weren't any fantasy crit groups near me when I started writing, and the only online site I found was the Delrey one--which I stayed on until they started charging. Plus, of course, my books are only now being released in Australia.) There were some great guests there, including the fabulous Kevin J Anderson and his wife Rebecca Moesta (I did their workshops on increasing writing productivity, and it was brill), Graham Joyce, Garth Nix and Simon Brown. There were lots of interest panel discussions and one very funny debate on the benefits of being an evil overlord versus the hero. But it was great fun meeting and talking to everyone, and I met some lovely people I hope to remain in contact with (waves to Jane). All in all, well worth the effort, and I hope to get back there next year.

Onto other stuff....Laurie from All About Romance/Laurie Likes Books has written a wonderful article on Urban Fantasy in her 'At the Back Fence' weekly column, and the Riley books are featured rather heavily in it. Head on over there to check it out, and feel free to participate in the conversation, because Laurie's asked a heap of interesting questions at the end of the article.

I also managed to get some writing done. Eight pages on Mercy, which isn't a whole heap, but its better than nothing. The reason I didn't get more writing done was actually because I spotted the new Dick Francis (Dead Heat) when I was up in Canberra, and I just had to get it. It was fabulous. Like a lot of his more recent novels, it's more character driven rather than action (which is not saying there wasn't action--there was), but it was still a great read. Evidenced by the fact that I finished it in three nights (reading only a couple of hours each night). I haven't read that fast in ages!