Arrived just before ten, armed with a coffee. Managed twenty minutes of the ‘Truth in Writing’ panel before I got a text to meet a friend outside. I was holding their ticket for them. That gave me the opportunity for a ciggie before hitting the ‘hot seat’ room, where Ian Irvine interviewed grunge-poet Neil Boyack. Great talk.

Then it was outside to chat for a while with a fellow TAFE student over coffee before meeting up with Cameron Oliver, Brett McBean and Lucy Sussex to discuss the best way to run Sunday’s panel on the future and direction of horror and spec-fic.

After chatting with them for at least an hour and a half, it was time to meet up with my lovely family before hitting the ‘hot seat’ myself. I was interviewed by Dr Tom McWilliam, and it was a great session, with about thirty people and some great questions from the audience. Then it was time to chat outside for a while, and finally on to the launch of Scintillae, the festival anthology of writing.

Great launch.

After, went out for a meal with some friends. Now on to day 2!

Full report and photos to come tomorrow.