I’d been told how important it is, when you go to cons, to try and find out where the parties are going on after hours, and do whatever you can to get there, because if you happen to find an editor or someone important, you could make an invaluable friend or connection. But I hated the idea of doing this schmoozing, and always just avoided this kind of thing. This is the con I learned not just the importance of going out to bars during the evenings of the cons, but how fun it could be.
The first night of this convention, we were just passing through the bar, and it turned out everyone was there. Everyone was staying at this same hotel, and there was nowhere else to go. Everyone was there. It was great.
We saw Dave Gibbons again, so I told E, “We’ve got to go over to him.” I wanted to just remind him who I was and about wanting a pin-up, and basically shmooze a little. But I was shy and intimidated to just walk up and say hello. And that’s why Elizabeth is so great. She’s a cute blonde, and she doesn’t know who any of these people are, even though they’re idols to me. So she just walks right up to them, and says, “Hi, I’m Elizabeth. Are you having a good time?” Or something like that. And since she’s a fun, friendly girl, who can get people talking really easily, no one minds starting a conversation with her. So I see someone else and turn around for a second, and when I see her again, she’s already introduced herself to Dave Gibbons and told him what a fan I am of his art, and how excited I am he’s going to do a pin-up for me. And now she’s already done with her conversation and telling me about how he said he thinks it would be fun. We go back to find him together, and do some quick visiting. E is wearing her “Spluhh” monster t-shirt, which allows for some visual recognition of the kind of pin-up we’ve been propositioning him for. He’s very friendly, but we don’t want to overstay our welcome, so we move on after a few quick comments and jokes.
We found Simon Bisley down at the bar, yapping away with some kids. He saw us and recognized us, and got talking, and he’s actually quite friendly and funny, and he wasn’t acting all crazy or scaring us to be near him. He wore these jeans and a three-quarter-sleeve jersey – which it turns out he wore the entire weekend. His jeans were covered with blood, and we asked what had happened to him. He showed us this bloody tear in his jeans, then pulled up his pants leg and showed us this enormous gash in his calf. He had put a see-through plastic bandage over it, you could look right through it, and see it’s about a three-quarter inch-long cut, and it’s DEEP. We can SEE how deep it is. You can see into it, because it’s just wide open and deep, and inside that deep cut is blood, splashing around, but held in by the bandage. “OH GOD! What the hell happened to you?” we shriek and wince
He said he passed out one night, and when he woke up, his pants were covered in blood, and his leg was “pissing blood.” Because of his accent, we had a communication barrier, and were confused as to what he was trying to say about his leg “pissing.” We had to ask if it he was saying he woke up and he had pissed all over his leg, or if he hurt himself so badly he began uncontrollably pissing, or if the wound had to do with “pissing,” somehow. And he had to explain, No, his leg was shooting blood out of it. “Pissing” was just an expression he was using. Later, he said to Elizabeth and I that our accents were hard to understand, which just goes to show accents cut both ways. We really enjoyed visiting with him. He was hilarious, and we were a little afraid of him, because he’s so big and muscular and intimidating.
While we were at the bar, I tried to ask Simon about what art he looked at, and what art influenced or inspired him. He wasn’t interested in having the discussion. I tried to press it and ask it a few different ways, and finally, he just said, “Where did Jimi Hendrix get it? He may have listened to other musicians, but so what? He just came out of nowhere. There’s no one like him.” So influences don’t really matter, was his point.
Elizabeth said afterward, you see, everyone has to be somewhere during the convention, every evening. We just have to find where they’re at, so we can hang out with them. Valuable, valuable lesson.
We ended up doing pretty well at the con. I think having something that marked us as “different” may have helped. In this case, having a different accent, and being from far, far away, might have helped us carve our niche. Elizabeth and I also think that, as I don’t do a superhero book, Europe is more open to non-superhero books. Who can say? We had a great time at this con though, just with all the fun, friendly people we met. The Bristol Con was intimate and encouraging, and we’d enjoy going back again.