It’s over a week since Loncon 3 ended, but I’m only just able to sit at my desk and reflect on it today. Lovely to meet up with old friends there and, of course, to meet new ones as well. Of the panels I was on, I think the two most enjoyable were Tove Jansson’s Moomins and Writing and Pitching Comics. Thanks to Maura McHugh and Kate Laity for their excellent chairing.

As Bryan was Artist Guest of Honour, we were in attendance for the whole of the long weekend. It was great that our sons Rob and Alwyn were there too, though Alwyn only stopped for one night and managed to evade all cameras.

Bryan was presenting one of the Hugos in the awards ceremony. When the microphones failed as he approached them, it became an unintended event that for some was the highpoint of the evening. ‘Just speak into my chest’, said Geoff Ryman, the event host.

Sound was soon restored and Bryan was able to resume. ‘Here I am presenting a Hugo. By Grabthar’s hammer, what an honour!’, he declared, to the huge delight of the vast audience.