Off to UK Games Expo 2012 – see you there!

It’s the end of May again, so that means it must be time for… UK Games Expo! One of the biggest (if not the biggest) games conventions in the UK, it’s a warm, friendly, and fun-packed weekend for all comers, from hardened RPGers to families with kids, LARPers, cosplayers, boardgamers, CCGers, genre fiction fans, artists, and tons more. This year will be my fourth time attending, and my second appearing in seminars and workshops. I’m absolutely delighted to be appearing in the RPG Designers panel (11am Saturday) and the “Pathways to Publication” fiction authors’ panel (1pm Saturday), both of which look to be great fun. I’ll also be up by the New Writers UK stand in the mezzanine (Green Zone 4, stand 8), where I’ll be signing copies of my transhuman space opera scifi novel “Mindjammer“. Please stop by and say hi if you’re there!

One of the coolest things about UK Games Expo is its inclusivity. I love to see daleks rubbing shoulders with stormtroopers, little kids running around with their mouths open in amazement, grizzled Warhammer 40K veterans bent over tabletops with looks of thunder, artists, writers, families clutching enormous boxed games looking forwards to cracking them open and playing when they get home. There are picnics where people in full Anglo-Saxon armour sit down to nibble on sarnies, games tables where folks can try out new games, and generally a hustle and bustle that you can only get when 5000 people are having a great time. Well worth a visit!

The two panels I’m appearing on this year sound great fun. The first, the RPG Design panel hosted by the awesome and unbelievably energetic Paco Jaen of the GMS Magazine, a great and old friend, is going to see me, Angus Abranson (Chronicle City), and Ben Counter (Warhammer et al) discuss all aspects of creating and publishing RPGs. I’m going to focus on gemming up an RPG from scratch, including how to write and design settings and scenarios. That’s at 11am Saturday morning.

In the “Pathways to Publication” seminar (1pm Saturday afternoon), I’ll be appearing with authors Marilyn L Rice and Nick Marsh, hosted by Jane Denning, to discuss the arcane workings of getting published. We’ll be each doing short readings from our works – I’ll be giving a 5 minute reading from “Mindjammer”. As ever, writing genre fiction is always fascinating to talk about in seminar, and we’re looking forwards to some knotty questions!

That’s it – off to finish packing now for the first leg of my journey to the UK for the con. Hope to see some of you there – please drop by and say hi!

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UK Games Expo takes place from the 25th to 27th May 2012 at the Clarendon Suites, Stirling Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK. Check out the website at http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk for details!