Novacon 2012, held 9th to 11th Nov 2012, took place again at The Park Inn, Nottingham. As usual, this was a fun filled event, with a varied programme and this year, boasted a spectacular Guest of Honour in the form of Jaine Fenn.

The programme as I’ve said, was varied and interesting, and I even got involved in two panels, one as guest and one as moderator. The one in which I was moderating, ‘In Her Image’ involved a discussion about the images on book covers in relation to gender, which brings me neatly to the Programme Book itself. Whilst I applaud the artist’s talent who designed the cover of this book, I was quite disturbed to see that the cover image, representing an ‘Angel’ from Fenn’s work, was, well, naked: showing off her lady parts. Now this, I have a problem with. Having read Fenn’s work, I see no viable reason other than titillation or error, as to why the Angel had to be naked. Must try harder! However, the content of the book itself was very informative.

As for the programme, I particularly enjoy Dave Lally’s sideshow, the Sat night casual book auction (Rog’s auctioneer style is worth buying a book for alone) and the book launches, as well as the science panels, which truthfully, went over my head. All together, a good solid mix of panels.

Now, the thing that I love about Novacon is the local feel; the feeling that you are hanging around with your friends, sharing good conversation, meeting new friends and building a community. It’s not just about the programmed events – it’s about the beer! Yes, really, a big part of most conventions is the bar, where you mingle with these new and old friends, but at Novacon, beer comes to the fore with the final night. After the ‘closing’ ceremony, let’s face it, Novacon never really closes, fans gather in one of the main conference rooms of the hotel, where the GoH has chosen a themed buffet and you can take part in a beer tasting session. The buffet last year cost £11.50 pp and was well worth it, whilst the beer tasting costs either £5.00 or three bottles of decent quality beer.

However, when I came to the last night, things got even more exciting, as George Ternent turned up with some Belgian chocolates (he resides during his working days in Brussels) and there began, what I can only describe as Chocgasms.

Picture it; John Meaney’s mouth drooling, open, gaping, squirming, savouring the flavour of the exquisite chocolate, then Steve Lawson, equally enamoured and Jaine Fenn, all of them enraptured in their chocgasms. It was a beautiful sight! And there, my dears, is an image to finish my report with!

Theresa Derwin

* Lifted wholesale from Theresa's blog which can be found at http://www.theresa-derwin.co.uk/blog/

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