BFS bits
Ick, got a severe case of stamp licker's tongue! Yes, that's right, it's BFS mailing time again! In this month's mailing you BFS bods will get Prism, the latest Fcon Reporter (done by yours truly!), the Fcon booking form (do it if you haven't yet,) the awards showcase flier thingy and most importantly, the BFS Awards voting form. (Where you can vote for H&N in the best small press category, if you really want to.... oh, go on....) Also, if you want to nominate an H&N story from Issue 4, just pop it in the 'other' box. (Or if you're using the online form on the BFS site, just type it in any of the boxes in the Short fiction category. Of course box 1 will get you more points!)

Fcon bits
Still not having any luck with next years hotel. Everywhere in Reading is terribly expensive. Which is a shame, cos there were a couple of nicely positioned ones....
So we're looking at other areas.... priorities are:
1) single room rates that don't kill you - plus that are held at same rate for Thurs - Sun nights.
2) good transport links and a car park so everyone can get there easily.
3) size, of course. We need somehwere that has a minimum of 110 ish rooms.
4) Near to some shops/pubs/eateries so that you've got somewhere to go if you want to skip the hotel
5) cost of the function rooms & misc. hotel bits, is, of course, a factor, but the above are more important.

This is so frustrating cos we've got this lovely guest just waiting for us to say what the dates are, which we can't do until we've got a hotel.

Of course, it would be much easier if we just went for this years hotel next year, but we were rather hoping that we could get one nearer to a town centre - with, hopefully, better transport links for the non drivers.
Not that there's anything wrong with the Quality Hotel - it's dirt cheap, they've done the rooms up right nice since last year etc. etc. It's just that there's a minimal amount of local facilities for folks if they don't want to eat in the hotel.

Mind you, I really wouldn't mind doing the Quality again next year. Personally, it's easy for me to get to (only about 2 hours max drive up the motorways), the car park's handy (a necessity when you've got to lug the amount of boxes me and the rest of the Fcon girls have to) and it's nice and civilised!
Hmm, think I'll pop over to the BFS boards and start a 2006 poll/thread (will be in the 2005 Fcon section) - do me a favour and drop by to voice your opinions please. Along the lines of what's your most important considerations when you're thinking about attending...

Cheers