WorldCon – A World of Stories

LonCon3, WorldCon, call it what you will, there was only one word for it: Brilliant!

Thank you, LonCon, for giving us the space and facilities to do our readings, and special thanks to Eemeli Aro and Alison Scott for helping it all happen on the day.

 

 

 

We had a few firsts with these sessions, and I look forwards to them being repeated at other Pirate Readings at future events:

• First non-fiction – David Stokes, and Petter Hoaland
• First poetry – From Arthur Chappel, Christopher Graeme, and others.
• First foreign-language reading – Umiyori Katsuyama, Winner of Japan Fantasy Award 2011
• First multiple reading – Arthur Chappel, and Wendy Metcalfe.

 

 

 

 

 

It was great to be able to give space to all these people, and all the other readers below:

Martin Owton
Gaie Sebold
David Gullen
Arthur Chappel
Chuck Ian Gordon
Elaine Gallagher
Darlene Marshall
Rosanne Rabinowitz
Brian Milton
Adrian Faulkner
Ruth Booth
Marion Pittman
Angela Cleland Smith
Kevlin Henney
Petter Hoaland
Anthony Hilbert
Wendy Metcalfe
Umiyori Katsuyama
David Stokes
Christopher Graeme
Richard Stephenson
Francis Knight
Helen Callaghan
James Mitchell
Mike Torr
…and others, to whom I must apologise for not noting down your names.

And special thanks to my loyal Pirate Crew! To Gaie Sebold for putting up posters and making announcements, Orlando San for taking photographs, Ruth Booth for spreading the word, Helen Callaghan for hosting one event so I could go to the brilliant Arabian SF panel, and to Wendy Metcalfe, who agreed to host the Monday morning event when I discovered I had to leave the convention on Sunday evening.

Thank you, one and all, you were wonderful. Your stories were intriguing, scary, funny, and amazing. Each one was sheer entertainment.

The Pirate Readings will return next year, possibly even at Archipelacon in Finland. Watch this space!

Yar!

The Pirate King

(aka David Gullen)

~

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Signing up For the Voyage

Keep your eyes peeled for the Sekrit Messages appearing all around the LonCon3 warfs and warehouses. A little bird tells me they will look uncannily like this here wossname:

Except bigger*, maybe.

*O’course this one might be enormous, an’ we’re just standing a fair ways back. Hard to tell with this eye-patch, let’s try movin’ it. Nope, can’t see a thing now.

 

Badges? Badges! You want badges?

Stinkin’ Badges

Badges? These be no mere stinkin’ badges, these be treasure, I tell you, treasure of a unique and wondrous kind.

Few mortal folk will earn the right to wear one of these, but the winning ain’t too hard. All you need to do is take part in one of the Pirate Readings at LonCon, and the badge is yours!

See you there.

Rules – Can Anyone Read?

A shy young cove has just asked a crew member “Does one have to have one’s story published to read Piratically?”

No! A’course not!  The particular story does not need to have been published, and neither do you as a writer.

Pirate readings are for everyone – the only rule is length -10 mins maximum (ish) so plenty of people get a chance.  You don’t even have to read it like you was a pirate, though if you do, nobody is going to stop yer.

The Times and Rules Of Parley

Ahoy there, mateys! So, ye be wantin’ to join our brave crew and book a slot for readin’ your work?  Or ye be wantin’ to hear some new voices tellin’ their finest tales?

Readings will be held at the bandstand at these here times:

• Thursday 2pm – 4pm
• Friday 11am – 1pm
• Friday 5pm – 7pm
• Saturday 11am – 1am
• Saturday 5pm – 7pm
• Sunday 11am – 1pm
• Sunday 3pm – 5pm
• Monday 11am – 1pm

If ye be wantin’ to read, please sign up at the whiteboard near the bandstand, with a note of which time slot ye be wantin’.  If ye please, be keepin’ your chosen piece to a maximum of 10 minutes reading (or 1500 words).

You can find our crew by their secret sign around the place if ye be wantin’ to know more.  All are welcome* at our pirate parley, so come join us for a roarin’ good story time.

*The Cap’n says all are welcome except for Radishar Redbeard, and he knows full why, but if he pretends he doesn’t, it’s because of that thing with the octopus.

Stinkin’ Badges

Stinkin’ badges? We don’t… oh, arrrr. The Cap’n says we be havin’ stinkin badges.  To find one of our scurvy crew look out for our complicated secret sign. It be lookin’ like this:

If you do a readin’ you’ll be gettin’ one of our badges too, as a mark of yer courage.

Sign up For the Crew

If ye be wantin’ to read at one of our sessions, we’ll be asking you to sign up. We’ll have a whiteboard by the bandstand and ye can make your mark there. More details when we have them, so keep an eye on our messages.

X Marks the Spot

And here be a treasure map, showing the location of the Bandstand.

Packed with goodies, it be, and the eagle-eyed among you can tell where the Bandstand is because it’s about half way up on the left, labelled ‘Bandstand’.

Loncon3 14th – 18th August 2014

So, we’re back, me hearties – and this time it’s unofficially official!

If you’re coming to WordCon (LonCon3) http://www.loncon3.org/
and would like to do a 5-10 minute reading – or just sit down, put your feet up and sip some grog while being read to, keep your eye open for flyers announcing the where and when.

Actually, we know where – the Bandstand area in the Fan Village.
We’re hoping to do one event every day, maybe more, depending on time, tide, and enthusiasms.

Spread the word!

Yar!

World Fantasy 2013

World Fantasy has come and gone for another year, and so has the Pirate Fringe. What a blast!  The Popup Pirates/Pirate Fringe started as a conversation only four days before the convention began – by the end of the weekend we had run four amazing events:

– Two reading sessions for ten readers (David Gullen)

– A writing workshop (Sarah Ellender)

– LARP introduction and costuming (Luke Thomas, Emma King)

Thank you to everyone who came along to talk, sit and listen, or join in – we needed you all! Thanks also to the readers: Patrice Sarath, Francis Knight, Tom Pollock, Martin Owton, Gaie Sebold, David Gullen, Helen Callaghan, Ruth Booth, Mark H. Williams, and Marion Pittman.

Thanks also to the Granville Hotel for providing us a room for two hours on Friday, the Hilton for making space available on Saturday, and to the WFC Con team for running a lovely convention and being so welcoming and inclusive.

A special ‘Thank You’ tp Paul Cornell for his support during the convention.

All of this would have been impossible without my brilliant and hard-working shipmates: Ruth Booth, Luke Thomas, Sarah Ellender, and Emma King. Thanks guys, you are the Pirate Kings and Queens of Brighton!

Next time we plan a bigger fringe, more readings, more events. I promise to start planning sooner.

Yar!

David Gullen