catsparx

Conflux 4 2007

OK, so where to begin? Like most cons, Conflux 4 was a blur of
familiar faces, new attractions, late nights, group dinners and
rushing about between panels and the dealers room.

Rob, Robin and I drove down from Wollongong, arriving at around 5.30.
Things got off to a bad start when it transpired that no one knew
anything about the boxes of Daikaiju3 that were supposed to have been
delivered to Rydges Lakeside during the day. The hotel staff, most of
whom seemed to be about 15 years old, didn't know anything about any
boxes. Turns out they didn't seem to know much about anything at all
for the duration of the weekend. "How do you make a latte?" and
"What's a gin and tonic?" were two classic quotes overheard by
congoers at different points. Someone actually asked if Rydges was a
training hotel. I thought it was more likely to be a work experience
weekend. As per usual, there'd be 50 people in the bar and one person
put on to serve drinks. When Etina tried to order a coffee she was
told off because it would take too long to make & there were other
people waiting for booze who would have to be served first. God help
anyone who ordered a burger. Not only was it cold when it eventually
arrived, it was raw in the middle. I had a dodgy stomach for the rest
of the day when I made the unwise decision to eat half of one.


Rydges Lakeside has always been a bit of a dive. The lifts have never
worked very well, but they were supposedly being "refurbished" the
weekend we were there. "Refurbished" meant a guy in tradesman overalls
hung about in the lobby telling you that everything worked fine if you
pressed the up and down buttons simultaneously. I took to using the
stairs and the goods lift until someone told me they'd been trapped in
the basement cos the fire doors were locked. There were old ladies
using the stairs too. I hope they made it out OK.


But enough about the lifts. Saturday morning came round and there were
still no Daikaiju3s to be found. I started to realise that it was
finally going to be my turn to have the launch with no books. Had the
printer sent them? Had the courier delivered them? No amount of asking
seemed to make any difference. The hotel said there were no boxes. The
launch was set for Sunday. I decided to cancel it. I also decide that
I was done with small press publishing. The dealers room was like the
Marie Celeste. No one was buying stuff. I shared my table with Keith &
Andy and Mark Deniz & Sharyn Lilley. As I was briefing newbie small
press publishers Mark & Sharyn on the running of the table, I saw
their bright little shiny hopeful faces & though "god, that was me
five years ago and look at me now".


I had a bit of a whinge to Kylie Seluka about my missing books.
Already way pissed with Rydges for a thousand other reasons, she
narrowed her eyes to slits and said 'let me go see if I can find
them'. When I came back from lunch two hours later, there they were!
My lovely Daikaiju books! Rydges, in their great wisdom, had shoved them in a
cupboard somewhere. Apparently Kylie had spent 2 hours harassing the
child-staffers till they looked in every possible storeroom, nook and
broom closet. "Lucky you!" said Guest of Honour Graham Joyce. "My
fucking books never turned up at all" Turns out his publisher
neglected to send any.

So we ended up having a D3 launch after all and it went well. We sold
enough to almost cover the print bill. Table sales of the other books
I was selling were dismal. I think I sold 5 copies of 26 Lies and a
handful of Orbs. No one buys our stuff anymore. People only bought
Daikaijus cos I gave em all half a glass of cheap champagne with a
squirt of melon liquor in it & a lolly dinosaur perched on the rim at
the door, and Sean riled em all up with daikaiju limericks while
standing on a chair. I was in a good mood for the rest of the con.


Graham Joyce may well have been the best Con guest of all time. He was
smart, funny, interesting, a talented verbal storyteller & he listened
when other people spoke to him. He had a lot of freakage &
disorganisation to put up with & took it all in his stride. I didn't see much of Kevin J Anderson & Rebecca Moesta, other than being on a panel with Rebecca. By the end of the con they both seemed to have the flu.

Despite Rydges' best efforts, I had a fabulous time at the Con. There are a lot of really funny stories I'd love to blog, but benpeek I'm not, so those will have to stay within the realm of private emails. Next Con on my list is WFC! I can't believe it's only a few weeks away. I am so not prepared to go overseas… The rest of my photos are here.