Much like on the Thursday, I awoke Saturday feeling more tired than hungover. Though with the amount of alcohol I got through over the course of the three days, I’m sure there were some withdrawl symptoms on top of the sleep deprivation.
As tempting as it was to switch off my alarm and fall back into my dreams, troubled though they’d been, memories of the previous night came rushing back and I remembered agreeing to meet Jillian at 9:20, spurring me to action. I was worried I hadn’t given myself enough time to get ready for the day since I also had to checkout, but I made it to the atrium in good time, though I missed breakfast for the third day running. I’d found Karen’s conference pack in my room that morning which I can only assume I’d picked up by mistake at some point during the drunken antics of Thursday night. So I took the opportunity to hand it over to Kaja Franck before the third and final day officially kicked off, as the pack had Karen’s paper in she’d presented on the Thursday which I thought she might need. We had a quick chat about werewolf literature but it wasn’t long before Kaja had to rush off to organise something else, and I was left scanning the crowd for any sign of Jillian. I began to panic I’d missed her, but it turned out she’d also been busy chatting, and we were heading to the panel she was chairing minutes later.
We entered the room to find people already in there, and Jillian had a quick word with the two Matts who were presenting papers, setting our cunning plan in motion. All that was left was for me to sit back and try to relax through the talks, until my moment came.
First Matt Beresford took us back in time to look at classical accounts of the werewolf myth, including the story of King Lycaon, which is one fans of Hybrid might recognise from the backstory of the origins of my werewolves. There were some really interesting historical accounts, including one or two I’d not come across before, although I was struggling to control my rising nerves so I can’t remember the morning as clearly as I otherwise might have done.
Next up Matt Crofts gave a talk on becoming a werewolf as a ‘power up’, and his paper featured one of my favourite video games from my childhood – Altered Beast! I spent so many hours playing the game over and over that I grew to know it like the back of my hand. Next time I can afford to take a night off from writing and marketing Hybrid, I have plans to dig out Altered Beast for old time’s sake, and it’s also been way too long since I massacred any villages as a werewolf on Skyrim. Ah my poor neglected consoles, I’ll try and make time for you soon.
And then it was my turn. My nervousness intensified as I made my way to the front, but it was too late to back out now and besides, this was the moment I’d been hoping for since I’d first learnt about the conference. For mine and Jillian’s plan was a simple one – most panels had three speakers but this one she was chairing only had two, so with Dr Sam George’s blessing I would fill the third slot, using it to read one of my short stories. I’d wanted to read something in the hopes it would help further get my name out there as a writer and also to help me reach new fans, and besides, I know I need to continue practising my reading so I can do my stories justice for future audiences. At a werewolf conference it had to be one of my short werewolf stories of course, and I’d decided on Beasts of Bedburg as the best fit for the event. It did work really well with the theme of the panel as it turned out, or at least I thought so, and I think everyone who heard it was impressed. Though Catherine did advise me afterwards to try and slow down when reading, as it seems my nerves had got the best of me once again, forcing the words out in a rush, despite my efforts to work on reading slower at HAC meetings and in front of the camera for my YouTube videos. It’s something I’ll continue to work on and hopefully perfect over time, but I was just happy to have read a piece for fellow werewolf fans and to receive some good feedback afterwards.
Back in the atrium, it was time for more Little Red Riding Hood and wolf biscuits, as well as werewolf cupcakes. I loved the image placed on top of the icing, which looked to be the werewolf from Doctor Who.
The next few hours focussed on wild children, including ‘Peter the Wild Boy’ whose grave we went to visit that afternoon. There was a talk from fellow author Marcus Sedgwick also themed on wild children, and later in the day he did a book signing – something I hope to be doing someday! Again the talks were really interesting and the trip to the graveyard was fun, although the coach apparently took a weird route which was very much the long way round. Not that I would have noticed if Jillian, Beverley Dear and a couple of others hadn’t pointed it out, typical Yorkshire werewolf as I am – I don’t venture out of Yorkshire often enough to know my way around any other parts of the country!
There was a final talk by Sir Christopher Frayling who had known Angela Carter, author of the story ‘The Company of Wolves’ which the film is based on, and which the werewolf conference was named after. Interesting as this talk was, I was so tired by that point from the lack of sleep over the last three nights that I was struggling to keep my eyes open! Sir Christopher Frayling also did a book signing afterwards, before the conference came to an official close at 6:30. I’d booked my train for 7:30, meaning there would be no time to eat till I made it back to Huddersfield that night, so I stocked up on shortbread biscuits for the journey back and said my goodbyes to all the new friends and acquaintances I’d made over the course of the event.
And so ended my adventures in the company of wolves. I was soon on the train back to Yorkshire, a lone wolf once more. Despite my earlier drowsiness I felt quite awake again, and was kind of sad it had all gone so quickly, feeling like I could have managed another night of beer and more werewolf talk if we hadn’t all been heading home. But all good things must come to an end and so I just want to thank everyone once again for a truly enjoyable and unforgettable experience. This write up would have grown far too long to mention everyone by name, but thanks to all the people who made it so awesome! The next Open Graves Open Minds conference might not be about werewolves (there was talk of a possible zombies, ghosts and revenants theme), but I hope I’ll be back for more adventures and I hope to see everyone again at the next one. Cheers guys!
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