Or to be quite accurate:

For enthusiasts of crime fiction and most things crime related,
budding authors and people with a macabre sense of the normal,
crimeScene will be held at the Rydges Perth Hotel in Perth, Western
Australia…

… a fantastic programme lined up that will present talks and
discussions by crime fiction authors regarding their work and by the
people involved in the real-life world of criminal investigations.

 The British Fantasy Convention this year is in York 
(Friday 5th-Sunday 7th September), 
and I will be there — my first time at this particular convention.

I will be a panellist on two panels (see below)
and also giving a 20 minute reading from either
 The Lascar’s Dagger or The Dagger’s Path.

And I’d like some help here. 
If you have an opinion on these panel topics, 
email me, or comment here or on facebook or twitter… 

For example:
What fantasy/SF books have you read
(apart from The Isles of Glory!) 
where there was a platonic friendship between women
forming a central part of the book (or fantasy TV series/film)?


Why do you think (if indeed you do) that such platonic friendship 
between women in fantasy fiction is rarer than male ones?

Is it necessary to dispose of the parents of young protagonists? 
Can you think of successful examples where parents were a full participant of the young hero/heroine’s adventures?


Saturday 12.00 Noon  
Dead Parents, Burned Homesteads and Wicked Stepmothers
Is it essential to write out the parents before youthful characters can
head out on adventures? Are adult figures always unhelpful or malign?
Should writers search for ways to keep parents around — or do fantasies
of a world without parents fulfil a real need?
Marc Gascoigne (m), Edward Cox, Emma Newman, Sophia McDougall, Glenda Larke, Laura Lam

Saturday 3.00pm 
She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Sister
Kirk and Spock, Luke and Han, Frodo and Sam – epic friendships between
men are common in fantasy, but friendships between women, or platonic
relationships between men and women that stay that way – are much
thinner on the ground. The panellists discuss why it matters and examine
some of the rare exceptions.
Roz Kaveney (m), Mhairi Simpson, Glenda Larke, Charlaine Harris