I have met many wonderful people in Australia. With some I spent more time than with others, and often it had much to do with luck. Thus, I met Sue Ann Barber in Melbourne and got to see her and hang out with her later in Sydney and in Canberra. Some, on the other hand, lured me with chocolate.
The Chocolate Lady – which is what she will forever be inside my head – was the lovely Gillian Pollack. She is a chatty lady of Jewish descent with two doctorates, a passion for Regency cuisine, Doctor Who and she hands out chocolates at conventions. Yup.
She also writes and edits science fiction. Talking to Gillian was fascinating and I spent a lot of time with her at Conflux, having breakfast and the occasional lunch with her, Devin Jeyathurai and Nalo Hopkinson.
Gillian was a lot of fun, and while I try to pull together my GUFF trip report (which everyone is notoriously late with and I am strll struggling to avoid that fate), read Gillian’s on Conflux 9.
