Guest of Honour at Satellite 2, Glasgow, 25th/26th July 2009

[Michael]

Iain will be the Guest of Honour at Satellite 2, an SF convention being held on the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, the first manned moon landing.

The convention is being held in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow, on the 25th and 26th of July. It is a fan-run, non-profit making convention. The programme is very broad with items about space exploration past and present, panel discussions on SF and Science and talks on a wide range of subjects, along with plenty of fun and games (you can build your own spaceship and even fake your own moon landing!). And of course Iain will be making a Guest of Honour speech and appearing in several other programme items.

There will also be a dealer's room and art show

More details can be found at our website www.satellite2.org.uk

See you in July:)

Michael
Flight Control, Satellite 2

[Michael]

Please note we also hope to have Ken McLeod as a member of Satellite 2. Ken was our Guest of Honour at Satellite 1 in 2007. If you want to find out more about that convention, visit http://www.satellite1.org.uk/?page=hotel

Michael

[Michael]

Hear it first!!

Transition the newest book by Iain M Banks is due for publication on September 3rd. However, if you can’t wait till then, you can get a sneak peek at Satellite 2 in July where Iain will be reading from his new novel.

Be the first to hear from his latest book – come to Satellite 2!

Michael
Chair, Satellite 2
www.satellite2.org.uk
http://community.livejournal.com/satellite_2/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Satellite_2/

[rac]

While I admire your spunk (stop sniggering at the back!)- I've merged this with your previous thread.

And I do hope to get along to this...

[Conscious Bob]

Likewise,

I'll have got by all the unimportant stuff by then, like my wedding.

[daveh]

The programme for the convention is out - see http://www.satellite2.org.uk/?page=grid

By the way, pre-registration closes on July 17th, after then you have to pay on the door which is more expensive.

[edash]

Got yourself on a panel with TMH, I see.

[daveh]

Got yourself on a panel with TMH, I see. Well spotted.

[edash]

Don't be showing him up with a more extensive knowledge of his own books :)

[Deep Black]

Have a goodun Dave :)

[Conscious Bob]

See you later Dave...

[Conscious Bob]

I can't go, Beloved has booked us a weekend away.

I usually read DaveH's articles of such matters in the Banksonian or in here knowing I'll get a unbiased report. Now however, calamity! DaveH is on the panel, I can't expect an unbiased report from him now he's part of the event.

What other Glasgow based forumites are around here? There was coercri but he sublimed.

[Conscious Bob]

I wonder how this one went? Looking forward to the Banksonian.

[daveh]

Brief Notes on Satellite2, where TMH was on four programmes items

1) His GoH session which involved him reading the prologue from Transition and then taking questions. Not realising it was timetabled for 90 minute, he started wrapped up just before the hour mark and was then told he could carry on - so he asked for another beer. Some good quality questions from the audience which included fellow novelists such as Ken MacLeod and Charles Stross.

2) Future of Spaceflight. TMH was the enthusiastic amateur on a panel of guys involved in the space industry in various capacities. He commented that the current generation seemed to need convincing of the need for space exploration, they seem to take green issue more seriously, but that "as a bit of a greeny" he could still see that having all our eggs in one basket was a risk.

3) Culturally Challenged - Would you like to live in the Culture?
TMH got a bit defensive when someone (possibly of this parish) mentioned a few things he had slight issues with, such as with the drug glands, the genitalia improvements etc. what do you do for vice? Answer - Be imaginative!

4) Room 101. TMH got to rant about the things he hates, and consign them (well, some of them) to a black hole (well, wastepaper basket with a black bin liner). The list was: the chairman of Ryanair (customers, contempt of), modern hiking gear (waterproofness, lack of), television news (lily-livered nature of), comedians who pick on their audiences (laziness of), American cultural imperialism (ubiquitousness of), Privatization (inappropriateness of) and Reality TV (participant embarrassment of)

Other bits I picked up. The book after Transition is an M one, in the Culture. He wants to make it more like Consider Phlebas than like Matter. "More Kinetic" was the phrase he used - I took that to mean action. In this context he also said, "shorter and snappier" was his aim. Current plan is to start writing in the New Year, so first draft by the end of March 2010, then up to the publishers when they publish it. Apart from the thinking about the book, the rest of this year (not counting the Transition promotional tour) will probably be music projects, and finishing off the Fife Coastal Path. Also his divorce has come through.

More in the next Banksoniain.

[Deep Black]

The book after Transition is an M one, in the Culture. He wants to make it more like Consider Phlebas than like Matter
Yay all round :cool:

[rac]

Also his divorce has come through.

Lucky bast!