BeoKon 2017!

It’s November, and the last weekend was BeoKon time. Well, not just the weekend, the convention started on Friday, with a panel on Stranger Things, and went on until late Sunday evening.

Err, what’s BeoKon?

A local convention, held in Belgrade, Serbia. Calling it a local version of Comic-Con wouldn’t be 100% accurate, but it will give you a pretty good idea what’s it like.

And what was it like?

For me, great. Well, I would’ve preferred more panels on books (hey, you know me!), but other than that, I went from one panel to another (Stranger Things, Supernatural, Killing Stalking, The Handmaid’s Tale, Rick and Morty, Saga, Lovecraft & Ligotti, Game of Thrones), and the highlight was (as it should be!) the guest of honor, Norman Spinrad.

I’ve first encountered Spinrad’s writing when I got to translate two of his essays, Science Fiction in the Real World and The Transmogrification of Philip K. Dick. For some reason, the idea that I might see him in person has never occurred to me. I don’t know why. I mean, he’s still alive (obviously), he’s still writing (the book he’s working on now sounds really interesting, and scary as well), and yet, somehow, I never thought that I’d see him in person. And then the announcement came, and I was sort of fangirling (no screaming or fainting, though), sharing the announcement all over Facebook, thinking about what to tell him (in the end I didn’t say anything, and talked a bit to his partner Dona instead, she’s awesome!)… You get the idea. And, of course, it was great to hear him talk about his work and experiences; he’s someone who’s been there, done that, and has a lot to say about it.

And then I was too tired for the third day, and missed some stuff like Alien, new Doctor Who, American Gods, Marvel vs DC, Star Trek: Discovery vs The Orville, The Expanse, cosplay catwalk, and a bunch of other things. Yes, it was all during just one day at BeoKon.

And now we’re all recovering, and waiting for the next BeoKon.

Here are some pictures, and you can see the rest here.

 

Down left is the book of Spinrad’s essays, so far the only book of his translated to Serbian

A room full of visitors, a lot of them very young, listening about Killing Stalking

Two stories by Spinrad were translated in the latest edition of the fanzine Emitor

There were a lot of things to spend your money on

Even Deadpool was shopping at BeoKon!

There were cosplayers…

There was Ursula the Sea Witch, plotting with Cersei…

…and, of course, there was Norman Spinrad! Yay!