Hello!

MCM ComicCon is the biggest nerd convention event in the country and is an event I’ve been lucky to attend for the fourth time (I think) this year!

The event has changed a lot since I first went in 2016, but one of the things that has only grown is author events – I’ve massively got back into reading in those eight years and this weekend, I had a full schedule of panels, signings and main stage events to attend.

I made a TikTok about the books I was taking with me to con – there were more that I could have taken, but I was very aware of having lots to carry and not being so busy I couldn’t look around all the stalls and vendors, so the final list was 8 books:

• Girl, Goddess, Queen – Bea Fitzgerald
• A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder / Good Girl, Bad Blood – Holly Jackson (the shiny special edition hardbacks)
• The Luminaries / The Hunting Moon – Susan Dennard
• Skulduggery Pleasant – Derek Landy
• Tarnished City / Bright Ruin – Vic James (who was billed as V. V. James!)

Unfortunately the only ones I couldn’t get signed in the end were the Luminaries books by Susan Dennard, as apparently she was caught in a tornado and didn’t make it! But I managed to meet everyone else and they were so lovely – I’ve only been to a couple of signings before and it was a little intimidating, but everyone was so sweet. I had the loveliest chat with Vic James for about five minutes as I caught her in a moment when there was no one else in the queue and it was so kind of her to spend so much time talking to me.

I also attended a bunch of panels that a lot of these authors were featured on – It’s All Greek To Me (all about my favourite kind of mythology), A Spotlight on Holly Jackson (who is hilarious), Magic, Murder and Mayhem (featuring S. T. Gibson!), Stranger Than Fiction (which looked into the importance of research), a horror panel led by Derek Landy (which nearly made me want to read horror), A Spotlight on Derek Landy (who is also hilarious) and last but not least Getting Witchy With It with Sangu Mandana, Krystal Sutherland, V. V. James and Kate Griffin which was actually my favourite – it had a really good conversational dynamic and I actually added all of the books I didn’t already own to my digital tbr, it was the perfect end to my very bookish con!

There was also a Main Stage event looking at the BBC Three adaptation of A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder (#girliemurds, I got you Holly) which had three core members of the cast, the lead director and Holly Jackson herself – it was such an insightful panel, we got the first look at the teaser trailer and the newly announced release date as well as a really fun chat and Q&A with the panel.

All in all, the bookish events were wonderful, but the real question is; how much did I spend?

Now, I’m not prepared to add that up, but I did get lots of cute stickers and prints from the creators in Artists’ Alley, I just about stuck to my ‘only buying 3 new books’ goal (I bought 4), I took 3 to a BookTok Book Swap event and only brought 3 back with me (though it has added three books to my tbr) and I even got a couple of books for free in exchange for a review, which was very exciting! These were:

• Medea – Rosie Hewlett
• A Dowry of Blood – S. T. Gibson
• Song of the Six Realms – Judy I. Lin
• Sanctuary – V. V. James
• Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas (first edition American hardback, from the book swap!)
• Caraval – Stephanie Garber (from the book swap – no dust jacket, but still!)
• Stardust – Neil Gaiman (book swap)
• The Children of Pisces: The Two Pendants / The Crystal Earrings – R. E. Lewin (free books!)

All of the books I picked up on the book swap were on my digital tbr, so being able to add second hand copies to my physical tbr was actually very exciting! The fact I have seven new books on my physical tbr isn’t so exciting, but I’m back on the book buying ban now… Or until sometime in the summer when I go to York for a book shopping date with my sibling.

All round, it was a wonderful weekend – it was definitely the most relaxed MCM I’ve ever been to and whilst I definitely got a little bit stressed and overwhelmed when the crowds were really dense, it was such a lovely few days with my family and I will be posting a haul of everything I got from the con on my YouTube channel soon!

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx