Over the weekend of the 19 and 20 of November 2005, another very successful "mini-convention" was held.

Perth, Western Australia has had the annual "Swancon" for some 30 years, plus a range of smaller mini-conventions have been held over the past few years.

Again it was held at The Emerald Hotel - a most excellent establishment, being a smaller hotel with cheaper convention room hire rates (for the organisers) and cheaper residential rooms upstairs (for those fans opting to stay overnight on the premises) than most other city hotels.

It was previously the site of three "Borderlands" and last year's "Wasteland" conventions, plus last year's "Swancon".

I spoke to Ju Landeesse (known as "the hyperactive bundle of bounce" that organised this latest con) briefly on the Sunday morning and already more than 60 humans had been through the door, and the con was certain to more than break even (any small surplus remaining is donated back to "WASFF" the duly incorporated not-for-profit umbrella organisation which oversees conventions in WA).

So, for those that missed the event, let me tell you just some of what went on there.

Chuck McKenzie was the guest of honour, he was on many panels detailing how he got started in writing, amongst other stuff. A good fun guy to listen to.

Simon Haynes was the local guest of honour and he was also full of good stories to tell. I caught his reading of some of his Hal Spacejock story, and it was very funny indeed (remember that the theme of the con was about comedy, within the scifi genre).

The large downstairs lounge acted as the fanlounge hangout and gaming area. Rob Masters was there with Alicia and their huge plastic crate of various games (boards/cards/dice etc). I took part in a couple of games myself, being the "monochrome chess" (all the pieces are the same colour) and the Pirate game.

Ju or one of her minions were happily taking membership payments for next year... yep, Ju wants to go through all this over again!

Fantastic Planet, a new sci-fi specialty bookshop in Shafto Lane (Central Perth), had a table of assorted books for sale, staffed by SwanCon regular Elaine, and Sally was on the "ASIM" (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine) sales table ASIM, doing her bit for the cause, as she so often is, at almost every con.

Another table, and I'm sorry I cannot recall their name, had a demonstration of their interactive CD-ROM set up. Their interactive creation was available for just $5 per disc, a bargain to be sure.

Although this was intended as a "mini-con" ie smaller than the annual "SwanCon", there were still tow panel streams most of the time, plus a video-room ran part-time on both days, (an excellent achievement for any small con). The video room, although only part-time, had some real gems among the items shown. Several pilot episodes from brand new shows only just released in the USA (eg Supernatural and Threshhold). Plus real rare curiosities like the pilot episode of the un-released/cancelled series Global Frequency.

Some items I missed myself include "The Slash Hour Of Power" and "Muppets and Comedy", so your guess is as good as mine as to what went on there.

The success of the organised video stream probably played a part in the "incomplete success" of my own extra-curricular activities.

I left just prior to the end, as the wrap-up ceremony was starting (I had to run to catch two buses, and they're a long time apart on Sundays) but I understand that the crowd sang happy birthday to Ju (the main organiser).

Here's a link which will hopefully provide some info on next year's planned event. Fandomedia 2006.