October will soon be here, and it’s a busy month for conventions. All the more so these days, now that online participation has become an integral part of SF&F events. Enabling people who cannot attend in person to take part in genre gatherings and events is an excellent development. Of course, that doesn’t happen by magic, so let’s remember to thank convention committees and volunteers for organising the tech and taking on this extra work.

I’d love to be travelling to Cork for Octocon over the weekend of 3rd-4th October but since that’s not possible, I’ll be part of their online programme. I’ll be discussing the complexities of writing satisfactory endings at 10am on Saturday morning, followed by a conversation at 1pm on the importance of writing support networks. One of the interesting aspects of this panel is it’s also being run in person with different contributors. I’m curious to see where the two groups agree and where opinions vary.

Sunday afternoon’s panel on Retelling Fairytales and Folktales is similarly being run online as well as at the convention itself. Once again, it’ll be fascinating to compare and possibly contrast conclusions.

The following weekend sees Fantasycon 2026 in Glasgow, from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th October. My personal schedule for Saturday 10th is packed, with two publisher’s launches, a reading slot, panels on working with folklore, and on the merits or otherwise of joining societies and organisations for writers, as well as contributing to a live podcast.

Happily, I am free of commitments on Friday, apart from attending the BFS AGM, and I have just the one panel on Sunday afternoon, on realism in writing fight scenes. So those are the better days to find me for a chat or to get a book signed, if you’re there all weekend. If you’re only there on Saturday, catch me before midday.

24th-25th October will see me at Bristolcon. I am particularly looking forward to this, as one of the Guests of Honour is Cheryl Morgan, the driving force behind Wizard’s Tower Press, and without whom the Green Man series would never have seen the light of day in print or pixels. Programme details will be forthcoming when I have them.