Ad Astra Society discussion

Please introduce yourself to the group. Let us know how many Ad Astra events you have attended. Your favourite book and your favourite author - if you can choose!

Hi folks.

I'm August, and while I have a day job, I'm also a freelance book critic, editor, and once in a blue moon I publish some fiction.

My favourite author is William Gibson, but I honestly can't settle on a favourite book, so I will instead recommend a novel that I read a while back that I thought was astonishing but that didn't get enough attention: The Stone Boatmen, by Sarah Tolmie.

I haven't been to any Ad Astra events yet, but I'm hoping to get there in April.

I'm Wayne. I was at the first Ad Astra many years ago. Haven't been to most of the recent ones, the move to spring puts Ad Astra in conflict with another con I like attending.

Oh, and I'm now writing Horror :)

I'm Daniel ... I'm one of the Ad Astra volunteers, because I love the con. I can't actually recall my first year. I am not a writer in any way - but I do like to read. I'm a reader of Star Wars for about %80 of my reading - and everything else will generally fall in the SciFi/Fantasy/Zombie area.

Mr Ed Greenwood would be one of my favorite authors in the realm of Fantasy... and currently Karen Traviss tops my Star Wars list. But all the authors I read make me happy - so they should not feel jealous ;)

I can not say I have a "favorite" book ... but I can say that World Enough, and Time was the book that got me reading when I was young - and I will always remember it best of all.

I'm Julie, or Jules to some. I'm a Law Library Technician by day and the rest of the time a big book nerd. I've been attending Ad Astra for six year and I've been on the CoGone GirlnCom team for the last few years.

I read almost anything from Speculative to thriller, to literary fiction and those classics I never read in high school. So I don't think I could pick my favourite author or book - too many of them and the others might get jealous. But, some of my favourite books from 2015 were Station Eleven, The Book of Negroes and Gone Girl.

Hi All, I’m Stephen B. Pearl, Steve but I just can’t get use to spelling it with a V. I’ve been to five out of the last six Ad Astras and am intending to be at the 2016 one as a panellist. All signed up and paid and everything. 

My favourite Author would be me, ego much aye. Jim Butcher for living authors other than me gets the nod and for all time J.R.R. Tolkien. My favourite book is Lord of the Rings, which is weird because my personal stile is nothing like Tolkien’s. Next in line is the Harry Dresden Wizard for Hire series by Jim Butcher.

Hope to see folk at the con drop by the Bain Lag book launch and say hi.

Hi! I'm Douglas Smith, an award-winning Toronto author of speculative fiction, mostly fantasy and SF. My first Ad Astra was 1996 and I've never missed one since then. It's my favourite con--welcoming, friendly, well run. It's also always had a strong literary program, which has made it a fave con for a lot of authors. Looking forward to this year's version. Favourite authors include Roger Zelazny, Charles de Lint, Ray Bradbury, Tim Powers, William Gibson, and Neil Gaiman.

Hello! I'm Lesley and I'm a late bloomer. This year will be my third Ad Astra, where I was a panelist last year and did a preview of my debut fantasy. The con is great! To connect with me there send me a notice via Twitter: @BornAgainWriter. I've always had my nose in darker fiction, although please forgive my pre-teen years diversion into SVH (hashtag what was that all about?). I don't have a favourite author, per se, but I tend to read more spec fic, psych thriller, fantasy and horror than anything else.