Nine Worlds was amazing. I was there as a guest and in this post, I want to thank Tori Truslow who invited me to the con, and also the Con Committee who made it possible for me to attend the con.

While Nine Worlds was a busy con for me (I had panels on Saturday and Sunday and a reading on the evening of Friday), I came away from it feeling very much recharged, energized and challenged ( I did sleep all day afterwards, but that’s normal, right? ).

I have great love for the Queer space. I wish all cons had a space like this. I loved that there was this safe space you could go to and just talk and connect with like-minded people. I felt like I could really be myself, and that’s always a good feeling to have when you’re talking about issues you’re passionate about.

I don’t have any other cons to compare Nine Worlds to, except for Eastercon. But Eastercon has a very different thrust and I don’t think there’s any way to compare the two. Nine Worlds is Nine Worlds and Eastercon is Eastercon.

Tori Truslow’s workshop on Writing our Own Stories proved to be very inspiring for me. I found myself challenged to write a story which would express the multiplicity and complexity of self. This was the story that woke me up at 5.30 on Saturday Morning–a voice that just refused to let me go back to sleep. I was rather grumpy about waking up too and having to turn on my netbook and write words when all I really wanted to do was go back to sleep.

The discussions and the conversations I had at the con were so thought-provoking and inspiring and I am even more determined to go on and keep writing about the things I’m writing. If we want to reach a place where we’re all finally conversing on equal terms, we need to create more space for diverse voices to be heard and paid attention to.

This is why I still value very strongly the voices of those coming from within a culture above the voices of those outside of the culture. What I mean is: I’d rather see more of us writing our own stories. And while I acknowledge the value in those who write about us, it’s just not the same.

We need more writers of color, we need more queer writers, we need more writing from the perspective of those with physical limitations, and we need more women writing. We need these stories because these stories are what make Science Fiction richer and better.