The National Science Fiction and Fantasy meetup (Au Contraire 2) and a Pantomime?

It's Tuesday, and although this isn't a genuine Tuesday Blog, it feels strange not to at least put something up.

So here goes...

'Twas a very strange weekend, which I imagine is par for the course at any convention, let alone one designed to celebrate all things weird and wonderful.

Somewhere between doing the can can, and defeating some evil prince or other with the awesome and ever so talented Butterfly Theatre Troupe (and feeling rather rubbish because most of the kids had done more acting than me) I found myself on a roller-coaster of planning to do one thing -- and getting sucked into doing something completely different...

But that's half the fun - the other half (more than half) is meeting so many fellow writers who are so passionate about what they do.  Ripley Patton's idea of having the Specfic meetup there was a masterstroke, because it brought a certain life, not only to the convention, but also to the SpecFicAGM which went off without a hitch.  Of course if you love Speculative Fiction of any kind, poetry, short stories and novels then this the organisation to join with so much energy, support, competitions and innovation I think they put some of our bigger writers organisations to shame - so if you think you like the sound of that why not join up?  They can be found here at http://www.specficnz.org/

So much energy and enthusiasm, and of course it isn't a National Convention without the Sir Julius Vogel Awards.  Check out the awesome winners here at http://www.sffanz.org.nz/sjv/sjvResults-2013.html -
and yes, of course I was disappointed not to carry off one of the stunning awards, but there is always next year and I do so admire all the winners.  They are all so amazing! :)

Hope to be back to poetry soon.
Miss it already,

A.J.

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.