Science fiction conventions - a sense of community

I spent the Easter weekend at Dysprosium, the annual UK Eastercon science fiction convention. As at Loncon 3 last year, I was struck by how much of a sense of community there is between SF fans.

I went to the con alone, and within ten minutes of sitting down with my sandwich at the bar I was chatting  to a woman who'd also come alone.  We discussed our favourite SF and books, and went to the opening ceremony together.

I'd booked onto several writing workshops over the weekend, and spent a lot of the time in the company of other women writers, chatting about our work and the genre in general.  This is so different from my everyday life, where I'm surrounded by crime writers and women's contemporary writers, many of whom I have absolutely nothing in common with. 

I had a very lively dinner  discussion with another writer in which we compared our favourite SF books. It's such a joy to mention a book you read in the1980s and find that someone else has read it too, and understands why that book is so important to you.

There is a sense of cameraderie at cons, and a level of respect for other attendees that I don't see in my everyday life.  When I'm out in my favourite cafe I'm frequently annoyed by insensitive people who have no respect for others.  Yet, in the midst of hundreds of people, a very busy restaurant and hotel, I wasn't annoyed by anyone's behaviour once.

So, I've booked for Nine Worlds Geekfest in London in August this year, where I hope to meet another great set of people who share my passions.  I'm looking forward to it.

Wendy Metcalfe is the author of Panthera : Death Spiral and Panthera : Death Song, and the short story collection Otherlives.  Find out more about her at. www.wendymetcalfe.com