Diary Sunday 5th April 2026 – Iridescence Birmingham Eastercon -The Last Full Day
- arthurpeterchappell
- Apr 14
- 2 min read
1.30pm The Hay Lecture – Stranger Than Fiction – Creatures Of The Deep Shana Worthen (moderator), Tasha Phillips A look at the real denizens of the deep, by a qualified marine biologist, showing how real giant squid have influenced the krakens of mythology, and a genuine (seabed) sandworm horror that may have influenced the sandworms of Dune and the Sarlak pit entity that appears in The Return Of The Jedi. There were creatures with great transparently or ability to generate their own luminescent light. he way creatures have adapted to the deeps was amazing, with true monsters, able to spread their jaws and swallow creatures bigger than their own bodies. That these creatures can happily survive in depths that can crush submarine steel is incredible, and even at the bottom of the deepest marine trenches there are A child closed the Q & A with a frightening warning of the horrible jellyfish entities that might poison us to horrible death if we ever swim off the Australian coastlines.
4.30pm Faith, Belief, Authenticity And World Building Roseanna Pendlebury (moderator), Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emily Tesh, Karen Lord, Meg MacDonald A slight panel presentation on religion in science fiction and fantasy that somehow avoided some obvious references such as C S Lewis and Walter M Miller, though Pratchett’s Small Gods, addressing the division between a church and the teachings of its foundation deity was touched on. I would have liked to see more on the negative aspects of powerful religious bodies in the genre, the cults, the corrupt priests and ministers, the unbelievers and heretics.
6.30pm The BSFA Awards 2026 Stewart Hotston (moderator) The British Science Fiction Association Awards (BSFA’s) are the UK equivalent of the Hugo Awards, like the BAFTA’s are to the Academy (Ofucar) Awards. The presentations are very much a major event at the Eastercons, with nominations and winners announced by the convention’s guests of honour and committee members among others. The awards are for work published in 2025. A full list of winners year by year can be seen here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSFA_Award#BSFA_Award_winners Congratulations to all the nominees and winners.
Photos taken by me.
Arthur Chappell
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