14 Sep, 2019
Have you seen the magical work of Dispel Dice? Drool over a few of their designs here and find out more about their new Kickstarter campaign!
10 Sep, 2019
Dublin Worldcon 2019: A Mixed Report Being next door and having missed the London WorldCon 7 years ago I decided to take a trip across the Irish Sea and experience my first world science fiction convention. The experience was a mixed one. I am glad I went but I don’t think I am likely to go back any time soon. The Venue The main convention centre was split over several floors with the dealer’s room on the ground floor, the main rooms for panels and talks on the next two levels and the auditorium at the top. Additionally, there was a second space predominantly for workshops and lectures 15 minutes’ walk away (or a short tram ride). The space was probably as large as could be found in the city but there were definite struggles with space at times. Not so much in the meeting rooms themselves but the space queueing outside them. It took the organisers a while to get to grips with how to organise the large flows of people in and out. Whilst this improved as the convention went on, there was still a lot of miscommunication and anxiety that flowed from it. On the more positive side they did try to do things to alleviate how this could be of a concern to people, such as having a quiet room and offering earplugs. Also, the ensuring they had pronoun stickers and signs telling people not to harass people for their choice of bathrooms made me feel more comfortable being there as a non-binary person. I cannot comment too much on the second space as the distance meant that I rarely travelled there. The signup process in the first days was a bit confusing (we found ourselves sent around four different desks by often quite condescending staff) Dublin Itself We got to spend some time in Dublin before and after, to see the city for the first time in around 15 years. The feel of the city is like a more relaxed version of London, not quite the level of quiet you get on the west coast but certainly calmer than you...