Continuum is Melbourne's annual speculative fiction and fan convention. Back in 2019, this reviewer attended “Continuum 15: Other Words”, which coincided with the 58th Australian National Science Fiction Convention (NatCon). That year's guests of honour were American science fiction and fantasy authors Kate Elliott and Ken Liu.
After an unavoidable hiatus, the convention returned this year as “Continuum 16: Reboot”, which coincided with the 62nd NatCon on 17-19 May. This reviewer attended the event for three reasons. The first was to see the guests of honour, which included American historical fantasy author Shannon Chakraborty, Australian fantasy author Vanessa Len, and Melbourne-based indigenous author Cienan Muir.
Also, this reviewer was granted an opportunity to present on Chinese author Hai Ya's “The Space-Time Painter”, which received the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. A summary of the story was provided, its historical and cultural context analysed, and its writing quality assessed, based on an unofficial English translation of the Chinese fantasy tale.
But the most enticing part of Continuum 16 as a convention was its impressive program, which featured a great variety of panels in streams such as pop culture, social media, fandom, writing craft, publishing, and books. For example, topics in the pop culture stream ranged from Tolkien and Barbie to Murderbot, Doctor Who, Deadloch and all the superhero movies one could remember.
Topics in the social media stream included but were not limited to cyberpunk and AI, DIY audio work for podcast and audiobook, and BookTok. Meanwhile, the writing craft stream covered romantasy, worldbuilding, creating magic system, blended plot structures, and the art of manuscript editing.
Some of the sessions and panels were truly remarkable. For example, Stephen Higgins and Michael Pryor are publishers of Melbourne-based Aurealis, Australia's longest running and most successful small-press science fiction and fantasy magazine. Not only did they offer generous advice for all who are interested in publishing short stories, but the duo also presented “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, a colourful and hilarious session featuring some of the “lurid, bizarre and inexplicable genre book covers from the 50s, 60s and 70s”.
Another excellent session was “Celebrating Romantasy”, which explored the genre's rise to prominence in recent years. Is it romance set in a fantasy world, or fantasy containing elements of romance? And what are the benefits and drawbacks of a brand new publishing label? The panelists offered some awesome recommendations of the must-reads.
Perhaps the most memorable session was “Is the Best Speculative YA Coming from Australia? (Yes)”, which featured some of Australia's most outstanding speculative YA authors. With their original and thought-provoking stories, they have been “punching above their weight” in a crowded field, attracting teenage and adult readers of YA fantasy novels across the world.
While Continuum had concluded in Melbourne this year – and so did SwanCon in Perth – those readers interested in speculative fiction and fan conventions can look forward to attending Conflux 18, Canberra's annual speculative fiction convention. The event will take place on 4-7 October.