I’ve just returned from signing books at Armageddon, and am happy to report that I had a fantastic time, and that the book was really well received. It was my first such event and I was a little nervous, but the folks from Earth’s End and Faction Comics made me feel very welcome – a huge thanks to them.
I went along to a Wellington Armageddon as a punter about 10 years ago, so was staggered to see how much it’s grown since then; on the Saturday something like 70,000 people attended and judging by the scenes in the main thoroughfares (which for anyone with a crowd phobia would be something like a vision of hell) that’d have to be fairly accurate.
As an inveterate starer and general nosy-parker I was in my element however, as there was plenty to look at from the relative calm of the booth. The effort that people had put into their costumes, and the general air of totally unironic enthusiasm for their various fandoms was great to see, though the large size of my pop culture blindspots was soon apparent to me. A tip for anyone intending on going in future: note the location of toilets as trying to find one in the melee can put one in serious danger of bladder explosion.
Once again, a big thanks to Adrian Kinnaird and Kelly Sheehan of Earth’s End, and Damon Keen and Amie Maxwell of Faction, my fellow booth-sharers. Also to Ant Sang, who was there signing books on Saturday and who I was pleased to finally meet after being a longtime admirer of his work. A shout out to the artists whose work I bought/discovered/admired, including Li Chen, Mary Tamblyn, and Alex McCrone (whose amazing ‘Settler Comics’ can be seen in the latest Funtime Comics anthology). And of course thanks to all those who came by to say hello, buy the book, and generally shoot the breeze, particularly Tim Danko who kindly gave me a beautiful little mini-comic and disappeared into the crowd before I could properly show my gratitude.
Looking forward to the next one, and with luck, Mike’ll be there too.
the old, weird New Zealand. 
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