Worldcon: Also Attending
Worldcon is in Melbourne, Australia this year, which of course feels very “nearby” when you live in New Zealand with ocean on every side. But although Australia is our closest neighbour, it’s just not that close—London, in fact, is closer to Moscow than Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is to Melbourne.
Don’t believe me? You can check it out right here on the World Clock Distance Calculator, which says that the shortest distance from London to Moscow is 1559 miles/2508 kilometres; the shortest distance between Wellington and Melbourne is 1603 miles/2579 kilometres.
There’s not much in it, but it still makes you do a double take on the whole concept of “close”.
All the same, it’s an awful lot closer than North America, Japan, or the UK where the last few Worldcons have been held. And Melbourne is one of my favourite cities anywhere, and my new novel The Heir of Night will be almost out—so like many others in the NZ SF-F/SpecFic community in NZ I made sure to get my registration in.
Jennifer Fallon, whom I interviewed recently here, will also be attending, together with a large number of other writers, as a quick look at the Also Attending list will show. And yes, it was a thrill to see my name on that list, too!
And although China Mieville‘s name is not on the list yet, I did hear a rumour that he might be attending …
In the meantime, the shortlist of Hugo Award nominees is out, so let the reading begin!