As the summer rolls around I’m starting to prepare for conferences and conventions. Here’s where I’ll be:

The Romantic Novelists Conference, Harper Adams University, Telford, UK – 10th-13th July

I’m here mainly for the giggles, I fully admit, but I plan to be steampunked out with the best of them at the Love of the Past Book Fair at Blists Hill on 11th July and I will have some books on sale for anyone interested.

Loncon3 (ie WORLDCON!!!), Excel Arena, London – 14th-18th August

I’m heading over to London for a combined holiday and Worldcon visit. I’ll be at Worldcon itself from Thursday to Monday and I’m on three panels. The draft schedule is as follows –

Writing 101: Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction

Saturday 18:00 – 19:00

Young adult and middle grade genres are booming. Still, there’s confusion around these genre categories. Moreover, how are these genres related to children’s and juvenile fiction? Panelists discuss the ins and outs of young adult and middle grade fiction from reading age to diversity, content, characters, and more. How far can you go with language, violence, and sex without crossing the line? What about series, such as Harry Potter, that jump categories mid-stream? How do all of these element affect what we write and publish for middle grade and young adult readers?

Reluctant, or Just Not Interested?

Sunday 11:00 – 12:00

Are reluctant readers being failed by the education system, or is the publishing industry just not giving them what they want?

Tumblr: Dispensing with the Myths

Sunday 19:00 – 20:00

Tumblr is used by companies, politicians, television networks, fans, justice groups, pornographers and pretty much every other type of community found online. Yet to those who don’t use Tumblr it is often a mystery wrapped in an enigma, while those who do use it often keep to their own communities. In this session we discuss Tumblr as a form of social media, its benefits and limitations,  how it is used in general, how it is used within fan cultures and how it is encouraging the evolution of fandom.

Shamrokon (Eurocon!!!), Doubletree Hilton, Dublin – 22nd-24th August

Will let you know what I’m up to there when I do, but it’s going to be awesome!

So there we go. All the excitement and we haven’t even got to the launch of A Crack in Everything yet…