There is a science fiction convention on the 25th-26th July in the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow. The guest is Iain M Banks.

On Thursday night (9th) at The Cask and Still the committee will be selling memberships and this will be one of your last chances to save yourself a £5 drinking voucher by signing up in advance.
After July 17th there are no more advanced memberships.
You can visit the website http://www.satellite2.org.uk/

Now that weekend is also the River Festival so the Crowne Plaza is definitely the best place to be that weekend as there will be loads of fantastic things going on in addition to out brilliant convention.

And if that's not enough just imagine how you'll feel when everyone else is celebrating 40 years since Apollo 11 landed on the moon and you're doing nothing.

Come on. It's going to be brilliant.

We have just heard that Iain M Banks will be reading from his new book "Transition" at Satellite 2. This book won't be released till September 3rd, so hear it first at the convention.

http://www.satellite2.org.uk

I have also just heard that the Glasgow River Festival is the same weekend. As the Crowne Plaza is right on the river, you'll be in the best place to see the event.

http://www2.seeglasgow.com/diary/event.asp?Eventid=1749

PS I have posted this in several places today, all with a spelling mistake. I am a numpty and should really try and work through my to do list when I'm actually awake.

On Saturday morning I got up at 4am to fly to Luton. I had a doze on the plane and Al picked me up at the airport. We went straight to the fishmarket and got our convention/bookstall set up. I was primarily there to promote satellite_2 and albacon and I had taken some books from the cupboard to sell to offset the cost. And it's also a good way to start conversations with people.

The fishmarket is a large open L-shaped space. After the opening ceremony the decision to turn the seating round was taken as the acoustics were utterly terrible. (Flashback to 1995 and Intersection). The sound problems were made worse by guests waving mics about instead of holding them close to their mouths. I made sure that I was sitting close to the front of any program item I went to so I could at least partially lip-read.

I attended a panel on Is "New Space Opera" just "Old Space Opera" in fresh clothes? I think the consensus of the panel was that space opera is great, either new, old or "widescreen baroque." A sentiment I agree with. Al and I manned our stall, handed out leaflets and book marks, made new friends, met old friends, had weird conversations, and sold a few books. Our book stall was a marble fish slab which kept our books nice and cool. Many of the other vendors were small press publishers or self-published authors. There was no jewelery stalls, so I didn't spend too much money.I stuck up posters in the toilets and they may still be there.

The con had the Jester of Northampton as a compere and M/C which was a super idea and he entertained everyone by walking about on those bouncy leg things and juggling and he did his act in the evening which was hilarious.

We listened to excepts of Paul Cornell's adaptation of Iain Banks' State of the Art for BBC Radio 4 which will be broadcast at 2.15pm on the 6th of March. Paul was pleased that Iain wanted to add his ship name "Innocent Bystanders" to the official list of ship names.

In the evening we had free wine at NewCon Press's launch of Subterfuge and then a BBQ in the courtyard. I spoke to some of the fishmarket staff. I really like the place. It's run by a lot of really young people, many of whom are volunteers. They have exhibitions and events as well as a collection of teeny independent shops, a bar selling veggie and non-veggie options. Al and I decided to go for a wee walk (and chips) before bedtime. Northampton at the weekend is terrifying. There were bus loads of police trying to keep the peace, blood on the streets and everyone was out to get plastered and into a fight. I was glad that the fishmarket had a tough looking security guard. He was needed.

The next day I attended the GoH talk with Iain Banks and ken MacLeod in conversation with John Clute. All three were introduced by the legendary Alan Moore who lives in Northampton and was stunned that an SF con had arrived in his town.

Al and I went to the panel quiz, "Just an SF-ing Minute" which was utterly hilarious. Paul Cornell was so cute as he got embarrassed about being caught in a repetition as he put his head in his hands and said that he couldn't look at anyone. Priceless. Iain Banks masterfully played the back game, failing to talk for more than 8 seconds on the subject of malt whisky, putting the audience into utter convulsions.

Things finished quite early as the fishmarket shut at 6pm. If I'd realised I wouldn't've booked a third night in the hotel as we could really have gone home. As usual we were all sorry when it was all over. And the PCBs set in quite early for me.

In all there were about 200 people there over the course of the weekend. At such an intimate con there was loads of audience participation and the atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly. The guests were all incredibly clever and so witty and entertaining. I had a great time.

I've just been to the Aye Write website and in the audio and video section they have a video of the Iain M Banks and Ken MacLeod talk that dalg and I went to on Sunday.

It's Official. Satellite2 has Iain Banks as Guest of Honour.

It's on 25th and 26th July 2009 to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing.

So the programme will have a strong science fiction and science slant to it.

All program ideas and participants greatly accepted. There will be a small art room, so any artists willing to exhibit, get your space booked ASAP. Membership is currently as cheap as chips at £40 and we will be having a "£10 off" sale for Orbital.