Picocon 25

Picocon 25 took pace on Saturday 23rd February 2008, in Imperial College Union.

Picocon 25 was the largest Picocon on record (perhaps ever?) with 176 guests. Talks were again held in the Clore Lecture theatre.

 Guests of Honour
 

Paul Cornell is an Oxfordshire-based TV writer and author best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction. He is the creator of one of the Doctor's memorable companions in the spin-off material, Bernice Summerfield. His work for the Virgin New Adventures Doctor Who novels has included "Human Nature", "Love and War" and "Happy Endings".
Paul has written episodes for the new Doctor Who: Season 1's "Father's Day" and Season 3's "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" two-parter. His other work for TV includes writing for Robin Hood, Primeval, Casualty, Holby City and Coronation Street.
He has also written for Marvel Comics - in addition to his six-issue limited edition "Wisdom" series, he is to take over writing the "New Excalibur" series in 2008.
He has also published two original novels, the time-travel tale "British Summertime" and "Something More", set in Britain's far future.

 

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author and blogger who founded and co-edits the influential blog Boing Boing; now back in London after a year teaching as a visiting professor at the University of Southern California.
Doctorow's first novel, "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" was published in January 2003, and was released under one of the Creative Commons licenses. His other works include the novels "Someone Comes to Town", "Someone Leaves Town"; "Eastern Standard Tribe"; and the forthcoming "Little Brother".
He has won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2000, the Locus Award for Best First Novel for "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" in 2003, and the Sunburst award for best Canadian Science Fiction Book for his short story collection "A Place So Foreign and Eight More" in 2004. The short story "0wnz0red" from this collection was nominated for the 2003 Nebula Award.

Liz Williams is a science fiction and fantasy writer living in Glastonbury, where she is co-director of a witchcraft supply business. She is currently published by Bantam Spectra (US) and Tor Macmillan (UK), also Night Shade Press and appears regularly in Realms of Fantasy, Asimov's and other magazines. She is the secretary of the Milford SF Writers' Workshop, and also teaches creative writing and the history of Science Fiction.
Her novels are: "The Ghost Sister", "Empire Of Bones", "The Poison Master", "Nine Layers Of Sky", "Banner Of Souls", "Darkland", "Bloodmind", "Snake Agent", "The Demon And The City", and "Precious Dragon". She has also published a short story collection "The Banquet Of The Lords Of Night".
Forthcoming novels are: "Winterstrike" and "The Shadow Pavilion" due out in 2008.
Her novel "Banner Of Souls" has been nominated for the Philip K Dick Memorial Award, along with 3 previous novels, and the Arthur C Clarke Award.

 Prices

Membership for the whole day is:

£4 for ICSF members
£6 concessions (with valid ID) - students/DHSS/OAP/children
£8 full price

ICSF membership is not required for attending Picocon.

 Directions to Picocon

Here's a general map of the area, pointing at the entrance to Beit Quad (which houses the Union) off Prince Consort Road.

The easiest way to get to Picocon is by tube; both Gloucester Road Station and South Kensington Station are within easy reach. The following TfL maps are accurate enough, as long as you ignore the place names: from Gloucester Road Station and from South Kensington Station.

The buses C1, 9, 10, 49, 52, 70, 74, 345, 360 and 414 all stop nearby. Please look here for further information from TfL - in particular the South Kensington spider map may be helpful.

Our mail address is the following:

ICSF
Imperial College Student Union
Beit Quad
Prince Consort Road
SW7 2BB London
UK

 Timetable

Timetable

Regular tours of the newly upgraded ICSF library will be run regularly through out the day.

Time Event
10:00am Doors Open
10:30am Welcome, and a Reading and Q&A with Liz Williams
11:30am "Doing It All", a talk by Paul Cornell
12:30am Destruction of Dodgy Merchandise Auction
2:00pm Reading and Q&A with Cory Doctorow
3:00pm Guests of Honour Panel Discussion "Futurism Sucks" and Q&A
4:00pm Turkey Readings
4:30pm The Ministry of Silly Games
5:30pm Harmless Fun -Not A Fish Duel
6:00pm SF&F Quiz (Union Bar)

For more information, please contact Ed Sherman, the Picocon Sofa (as opposed to chair), at picocon@icsf.org.uk.

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