World Fantasy Convention is essentially a conference for genre readers and writers, so we can all get together and discuss the books that we love and what’s new in the industry. There are various panels with excellent authors, an art show, a dealers room and a huge book bag for everyone who takes part. The convention (which to me seemed more like a conference) moves around the world every year. This year it was in Toronto, Canada (definitely travelable distance for me) and it moves to Birmingham, UK next year.

What originally interested me in this years event was that the always awesome Patricia Briggs was one of the special guests. She has been a favorite of mine for some time, and both she and Anne Bishop would be in attendance. Not only did I see Patricia Briggs speak on a panel about monsters in literature, but I stood next to Anne Bishop for a good five minutes while we were both waiting in the lobby. I know, I’m a dork and get my literary thrills in pretty odd places.

Another highlight for me was seeing Patrick Rothfuss speak. I haven’t read The Name of the Wind yet (but got a copy at the convention) but have watched him on Geek and Sundry, where he does a writers chat every few weeks. He seems like a really intelligent guy, so I’m looking forward to reading his book.

I also volunteered at the Book Bag Stuffing party, which meant I spent just over six hours hauling books around, but got to pick which books went into my own book bag, which I’m sure you can imagine was a lot of fun. I got a lot of titles that I’m really looking forward to reading. You can check out my most recent Stacking the Shelves post to see some of the great books I got that I’ll be reading soon.

I’ll be doing a more thorough recap for Geek Speak Magazine, which you’ll be able to find on their website at the end of the month.