Debbie Bennett is a Legend! Allegedly ...

A blonde, a brunette and a redhead walked into a bar. They really did. I was the brunette. 

It’s November 1991 (I think – give or take a year – it was a long time ago) and we’re in Earl’s Court, London at a fantasy convention. I’d met the blonde (Jan) and the redhead (Lindsey) six months or so earlier at a writers’ conference – we were among the dozen or so writers whose work wouldn’t be pigeonholed into romance, or memoirs or even thrillers. We were fantasy, science fiction and horror writers and affectionately dubbed the weirdos by the late and lovely editor Carolyn Caughey, who took us under her wing! Carolyn was a senior editor at Hodder & Stoughton and she made an effort to keep in touch with me over the years – even as far as making sure I got an invitation to the Stephen King party in London in the late 90s (Storm Constantine and I asking Mr King to dance is a whole other story …) 

Jan and Lindsey knew each other already, and I lived only 20 miles or so away, so we formed our own writer’s group in Surrey and met up most weeks. I discovered the British Fantasy Society, joined it and promptly told the newsletter editor David Howe what I thought he should be doing. No, I’ve never been known for tact and diplomacy! David quite rightly asked if I thought I could do a better job, and he only lived about 10 miles away from me, so that was my introduction into the inner sanctum of the BFS, where I remained for some 20+ years. David and Jan are still two of my oldest and closest friends. 

So our first BFS convention, FantasyCon in Earl's Court that year was a blast. In those days, it was rare for women to attend these things ‘unaccompanied’ and most of the ladies were wives and girlfriends of the men. But there was strength and safety in numbers and we were perfectly able to hold our own with the blokes. I have memories of the bar still being open at 6am and drinking while the cleaners were hoovering around us. I was 27 – I can’t do this kind of thing any more! 

Fast forward a few years. I was running the conventions, with Jan, David and a host of other people. Plus I spent over 10 years editing BFS publications – newsletters and the regular short story anthologies – and my house was full of books, both ARC copies for reviews and boxes upon boxes of paperbacks for convention goody bags. 

But the BFS and conventions always need fresh blood. And running a convention sucks the life out of you. And I moved on, started writing crime more than fantasy. Conventions can be expensive to attend as a visitor and it’s hard to justify the expense when you go alone. Andy often came with me when I was running stuff, but he’d rather stick pins in his eyes than pay to attend! So these days, I only go along if it’s local. This year was Chester a few weeks ago. 

And I’m sitting in the bar (as you do), and someone casually says to Jan how she was name-dropped in the awards ceremony and the winner was Debbie Bennett. 

Wait – what? Yes – ME. That's ME!

So I go rushing in and everybody’s gone apart from the organisers, but yes, I’ve only gone and won a bloody award! Legends of FantasyCon. A lovely surprise, especially as I’d gone to the weekend with a massive dose of imposter syndrome and feeling totally out of the loop.

I'm even in Locus Magazine!

Can you tell I'm a bit excited about this? It's amazing to be appreciated, isn't it? I mean nobody really volunteers their time (and money - not everything is claimed back) for recognition and applause, but it is nice to be noticed. I will be - when it's engraved -  the very proud recipient of an extremely heavy glass bowl for a year.

Gosh.

www.debbiebennett.co.uk