Our Adventures Pre-Worldcon

I’m very shortly off on my travels to Glasgow and I’m pretty excited!

This is what I’ve got going on this coming long weekend:

That’s quite the mix, isn’t it?

Today I have a couple of errands to run, and then the rest of the day is prep, prep, prep. I am watching Luisa Omielan’s show Bitter as I go, and ticking things off the tick list. Oh my life, I love a tick list! I like the sentiment of Luisa’s show, about the mood of the UK right now, and self-worth, hard work, and acknowledging our feelings and the reasons for them. I think my current mood is deeply sad at the state of the country and the awful racist cretins running around burning libraries and hotels and shaming us on the world’s stage. But look, right now, the positive people are getting all enthusiastic about running, and mountain biking, and rowing in Paris… or putting on shows in Edinburgh, or going to a science fiction convention to talk about books, and aliens, and Ghostbusters, and 17th-century social injustice and monarch-sanctioned murder. Positive!

It has been a busy couple of weeks, as my comedy persona Captain Bilgewater has been travelling to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Durham, and latterly Portsmouth near the beautiful Guildhall to entertain children as part of The Extraordinary Time-Travelling Adventures of Baron Munchausen. I don’t have any more gigs booked with them for now as I focus on all things bookish for the next few months. Here is a little gallery of some of the things we have got up to, and features fellow Baronial companions Jen Strike, and my husband Neil K. Bond, Buckets of Blood’s Eden Ballantyne telling scary stories, and writer pals Helen Cooper and Philip Irving, who we bumped into in Durham.

Apart from that, Neil and I have been trying to get fitter, which has involved getting back into Parkrun, and downloading the Komoot app which we took for a stroll around Irchester Country Park with our new ‘dos.

For people travelling to Glasgpw from even further away than us, we know that a few of you are planning a longer sojourn and may even be travelling to Edinburgh to take in some of the festival and fringe shows, in which case I have the following science-fiction adjacent recommendations from the world of comedy:

Another fellow Baronial companion has this show: CJ Hooper – What If History. Or Urban Horror Fairy Tales.

And yet another Baronial companion has these shows: Sid Singh – American Coloniser or Table for One

Donal Vaughan is doing a children’s comedy fantasy roleplaying show – Adventures! Journey Through Dungeons, with Dragons!

Another children’s show is 1001 Space Adventures: Breadlove and Poophead

Mitch Benn compares idiot humans to AI in The World’s Cleverest Idiot.

Rik Carranza’s kid’s show is Marvel vs DC while for grown-ups it’s Star Trek Vs Star Wars.

Denzil Ede’s show is Artificially Intelligent Procrastinating Pundit has references to Sci-Fi, AI, robots, ghosts, the undead and roleplay. Satyr Bar, Leith Walk, 6pm 14th-25th (not 20th)

SJ Wyatt has a Doctor Who show from from the 3rd – 14th Aug 230 at Kafe kweer

Nicky Vere-Compton has a show called Freaks and Fools, which features flying saucers and 1970’s and 1980’s children’s shows and films. Uno Mas, venue 219, 4 Picardy Place, 6pm until 25th August.

Aaron Simmonds has a show called Harry Potter or My Girlfriend: Who do I Love More?

Dylan Dodds is doing GroundDodds Day.

Gary Colman is doing 2 versions of Dorks ‘n Orks – for kids and for adults.

Matt Hobbs and Alex Farrow are doing Stand-up Science.

Science-fiction writer Alex Leam is doing Awkward Question Time and Ex-DJ shows.

Dark Room guy John Robertson is doing the Human Hurricane.

…and actor George Coppen is Coppen Through Life.

Right, best crack on with the packing!