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On the 28^th April 2007, The Assembly Rooms in Derby held its second annual event, Alt.Fiction. The event is structured around the horror and science-fiction genre with the focus of books and graphic novels. And Cream’s roving reporters Ben Waldram and Andrew Barker pull on their best convention suits to check it out.

Set in the Darwin Suite of the Assembly Rooms was the second Alt.Fiction event, following on from the success of its conception the previous year. The aim is to try to give more coverage to some of the established authors of science-fiction and horror and to give the public an opportunity to meet and question these authors. There was a whole host of talent this year, including Harry Harrison, Iain Banks, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Gallagher & Graham Joyce, local horror writer Alison R Davies and Stan Nicholls and Mark Morris (see interviews) as well as many others.

There were a variety of workshops and mini-seminars all taking place and being run by the authors themselves. When they weren’t doing a question and answer session or running master classes on how to be published, these authors and publishers were merely relaxing in the bar or milling about chatting to people. The atmosphere was very low key and you felt as if you could approach anyone and just strike up a conversation.

It wasn’t a typical convention where thousands of people attend dressed as Stormtroopers or Dr. Who adversaries, it was a writing convention for people interested in books and, surprisingly, writing. That somehow made it seem more personal, more friendly. After spending And Cream’s liquid budget, Andy and I decided that we better start with the work and crack on. Andy first had to dodge an elderly lady known as Patricia the Proclaimer who was a tad ‘eccentric’ and had taken a fancy to his rugged good looks and ginger hair. Once escaped from the Proclaimer we moved onto business.

AC:      How did you feel the event went?

AD:      I was delighted with Alt.Fiction 2007, especially in terms of how it built on the foundations laid down in 2006. The audience was virtually double our first event and we were able to draw in even more fantastic talent from within genre writing. The authors put on a great range of different sessions throughout the day, and the feedback so far has been really positive. I think that we managed to capture the same atmosphere and excitement on the day as in 2006, and that's something that will hopefully continue to be a feature of the event.

AC:      Will there be another one in the future?

AD:      Absolutely – in fact the date pencilled in is April 26th, 2008. The possibility of a weekend event is under consideration but I really can't say any further than that right now!! The aim is for the event to remain annual within the city.

AC:      Are there any specific authors that you want to target in the future?

AD:      Typically about 10 months before the event I cook up a 'wish list' and I really work from there in terms of whom it'd be good to target. There are a few select names at the top of my list for 2008 but I can't really say just yet- targeting and actually getting are two wholly different things!!

AC:      What are your views on broadening the media to film and television as well as books (still keeping the same genre)?

AD:      Professionally, I actually organise the event from my job at Derby City Council (which is based in literature development) and as such the event has to very heavily focus on books.

Personally I think there are enough events out there already catering for film and television in SFF if that is your interest- Alt.Fiction has always aimed to offer a day focussed on books, authors and the process and act of writing. I think that it's kind of a selling point for the event and gives it a slightly different flavour to many of the conventions on offer in the UK, where writing and books are often competing with a whole range of other media throughout the weekend. Don't get me wrong here- I think that conventions and convention organisers do absolutely fantastic work, but my main passion has always been books and that's where I think Alt.Fiction will continue to be centered.

This Alt.fiction event was another success and I am hopeful that it will continue to grow into something bigger and more widely attended, yet still keep the focus on books as Alex stated. And Cream will definitely be attending next year to capture some more interviews and to learn some more about the craft of writing and getting published.

Andy may need a disguise to hide from certain proclamationary ladies.