Last weekend was Hypericon in Nashville. I'm still not entirely familiar or comfortable with the convention environment, but as a small con I have to say that Hypericon succeeded on a lot of levels for me personally. A few years back I was lucky enough to attend a week long writer's workshop with Tim Powers (Anubis Gates, Last Call, Declare and so many other great books). Much of my time there was spent in a state of fanboy amnesia. Cue Nashville - Powers guest of honour, young Savile a guest scheduled to be on three panels with his hero, and to act as host on An Hour With Tim Powers.

So much of conventions pass by in a blur - you are shaking hands with people, making contact, renewing old friendships and generally becoming part of a community of likeminded individuals, forging new friendships - oh yeah and playing fanboy.

After all, we are all fans at heart right? Who doesn't rush to the store to grab the new book by Preston & Child, or King, or Keene, or Clegg or Eddings or Donaldson, Lebbon... I'm lucky, I have a semi-charmed kind of life - I am friends with a lot of my heroes. I was always frightened about demystifying them, stripping away the aura and turning them into normal folks - after all most of us can be complete arses at time as well as charming erudite souls... Years ago I met Mike Peters of the Alarm and was invited back for a beer on the tour bus after the gig... Mike was one of my heroes, but drinking in the bus would strip the mythic from the musician making him nowt more than a normal man who entertains me... could he ever live up to it? Could Tim Powers or Chaz Brenchley or Janny Wurts or Kevin J. Anderson? My best friends are an eclectic bunch - artist Robert Sammelin, writer Stel Pavlou, guys with this amazing creative streak... and very normal guys.

Now bear in mind the first time I met Powers I had to deliver a speech to an audience including Robert Silverberg, Frederick Pohl, Hal Clement, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and so many other SF greats. Not surprisingly I wanted to be witty, intelligent, and all that - rather like trying to impress a new girl on a first date.... you want to turn it on, be yourself plus some... so my speech opened: 'This is such an honour, I have been incredibly lucky - I mean what did I do? I strung a few words together in an order some people found pleasing... but the experience has been incredible, so I want to thank a few people: first Powers. Wow. I mean... Wow. I can't believe I just said wow twice... three times now. My brain has gone to mush... wow... Powers...'

Yeah, I was smooth.

So, this time I wanted to hide the fanboy for a few hours.

Our panels were on Religion in Fantasy, Urban Fantasy and of course the Powers Hour. A number of folks have said some very nice things, so I think I did ok - but you know the best thing about the whole process. My hero is now my friend. You can't put a price on it - and it was hilarious listening to his stories about his own fanboy moments. I certainly stopped feeling bad about my wow speech. See, coz we are all fans inside.