Last Sunday I was at Somerset ComicCon, crossing the border into unknown fantasy territory. It was a huge event but surprisingly spacious and everyone had room to roam which was great. I am not one to stay chained to my author table for long so my day was broken with frequent sorties to other stands. For this event, I decided to go a little outside the author box and try to make my table less about the books and more about the Torcian experience. So I had candles, a goblet of sweets, and my dogeared map of the two lands., which is looking more authentically battle-worn each time I have it on display.
One of the things I look forward to most at ComicCons is meeting fellow lovers of high fantasy. You meet some very interesting people. One of my favourites atSomerset was this young man who wanted to know about my magic system which was quite exciting for me to explain – I don’t know if it was as exciting for him though.
I also one man came up to inquire if I had elves in my book, to which I replied that I don’t have elves, dwarves, goblins or orcs, that would be a little book called Lord of the Rings! And that I have my own stable of fantastical creatures. This seemed to please him as he bought a book regardless or perhaps because of the elfless nature of my work!
Another random happening was a real live actor actually came over to me and shook my hand. He was in Rogue One – one of my favourite Star Wars films ever and I thought do I ever wash this hand again? Needless-to-say hand has been washed but memory not deleted. When TheTorcian Chronicles is made into a movie I would love to have Daniel Eghan in it!
As with all good conventions, there was a tight security with constant Daleks patrols. The funniest moment was Dalek versus wheelchair when a lady in a wheelchair was chased passed my table by a Dalek screaming. ‘Exterminate! Exterminate!’
I also met Daenerys Targaryen, the mother of dragons. I do not know anything about Game of Thrones but what I did learn was never to go round the back of a dragon as their tails have a tendency to whip unsuspecting peasants in the face!
After SomersetCon I had the cutest message ever from a parent saying her son had taken ‘The Torcian Chronicles’ into his school to show his friends – which I thought was adorable 🙂
By P.J. Reed author of The Torcian Chronicles
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