ArmadaCon 2025, Sir Terry Pratchett, And Me
In 1988, four hundred years after Sir Francis Drake set out from Plymouth to defeat the Spanish Armada, a science-fiction and fantasy convention was held in Plymouth, in the UK, and named for that event.
Thirty-seven years later, Armadacon’s still running, and this year will feature, as one of its two guests of honour, me. (The other’s a guy called James Steel, if you’re thinking that you’ll be needed a bit more than me to get you interested). Here’s the blurb they’ve got for me on their 2025 guests page:
Jonny Nexus has been writing SF and fantasy in various forms since creating a cult RPG humour webzine, Critical Miss, in the late '90s. Having since self-published four novels (Game Night, his tale of dysfunctional role-playing gods, If Pigs Could Fly and Sticks and Stones of the West Kensington Paranormal Detective Agency Series, and The Sleeping Dragon), he now has an agent, John Jarrold, but not yet a publishing contract. He’s been attending various SF conventions since the 2008 Eastercon, Odyssey. (You might well have bought a book from him.) He’s long stated that his ambition in writing is neither fame nor fortune, but simply being able to describe himself as a writer without feeling the need to deploy either quotes or a footnote.
Needless to say, I am very, very honoured to have been invited to be a guest, and must thank David Harvey and David Wake, for extending the invitation and being so welcoming.
What is ArmadaCon? ArmadaCon describes itself as sci-fi and fantasy multimedia convention, with the multimedia referring to the fact that it tries to cover all mediums (i.e. books, film, TV) rather than restricting itself to a single medium. It’s not a huge convention, I think the typical attendance is in the 70 to 80 range, but from what I’ve heard (I have a couple of friends who’ve long talked about it), this gives it a friendly and welcoming vibe.
But make no mistake. This is a convention with a long and storied history. Here’s a selection of guests (note this is basically the ones that have Wikipedia pages):
Brian Lumley (ArmadaCons I, II, and V) | Anne McCaffrey (ArmadaCon II) | Adrian Cole (ArmadaCons II, III, IV, and 20) | Terry Pratchett (ArmadaCon III) | Danny John-Jules (ArmadaCon V) | Mary Gentle (ArmadaCon VI) | Diane Duane (ArmadaCon VII) | Jack Cohen (ArmadaCon VIII) | David Langford (ArmadaCon VIII) | David A. Hardy (ArmadaCon IX) | Ken MacLeod (ArmadaCon X) | Stephen Baxter (ArmadaCon 1999) | Lionel Fanthorpe (ArmadaCons 1999, 15, 16, 21, 2018) | Michael Sheard (ArmadaCon 14) | Stephen Briggs (ArmadaCon 16) | Paul Cornell (ArmadaCon 18) | Jasper Fforde (ArmadaCons 19 and 20) | James Swallow (ArmadaCon 19) | Frances Hardinge (ArmadaCon 25) | Philip Reeve (ArmadaCon 26) | Liesel Schwarz (ArmadaCon 27) | Robert Shearman (ArmadaCon 28) | Jonathan Green (ArmadaCon 2017) | Jodi Taylor (ArmadaCon 2019) | Dominic Glynn (ArmadaCons 2023 and 2024) | Beth Webb (ArmadaCon 2023) | Jaine Fenn (ArmadaCon 2024)
If you’re interested in going, places are still available at a price of £47 for the full weekend (£40 concessionary rate). It’s held at the hotel, so you can have a nice cozy weekend (obviously, you have to book the hotel separately).
I’d love to see some of you there. It’s my first time, but I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about it over the years. If you do come, please find me and say hi. (Seriously, find me and say hi. I’ll probably be sitting in the bar by myself feeling lonely).
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