On the 23rd of April 2025, I attended the Outsiders In Fantasy event at Waterstones West End. The event was chaired by Ann Landmann who was brilliant at keeping all the authors involved, facilitating great discussion points, and was very enthusiastic and engaging throughout the entire event! Also, Matthew Land – who is the Events Manager at both Waterstones West End (Princes Street) and Blackwells (South Bridge) – attended. Having spoken with Matthew before in October 2024, it was really lovely to say hello and bring forward some networking skills. It was really great to have a wonderful location to network with authors and professionals in the industry!
The authors in attendance were Eliza Chan, author of Fathomfolk and its amazing sequel Tideborn, Annabel Campbell, author of her fantastic debut novel The Outcast Mage, and Genoveva Dimova, author of Foul Days and the epic sequel Monstrous Nights. All three spoke about their books representing outsiders within fantasy, suggesting that the genre is a great space through which those who feel outcast can escape and find comfort, but they also spoke about the inclusion of mythology and folklore within their novels. The inclusion of mythology in fiction has always fascinated me, so to learn about how the fantasy genre is broadening its horizons by including different mythologies and folklores was really fun!
The speakers briefly touched on the idea that the real monsters and villains they wanted to highlight were the humans in their fantastical worlds; that regardless of the monsters and otherworldly beings created, it is in fact humanity that has become the true monster.
At the end of the event there was the chance to meet with the authors and buy their incredible books, providing a lovely moment to chat with the authors and with some of the other guests who attended; the networking opportunities available were fantastic! Not only were the authors absolutely lovely to talk to, but I met someone who had just finished their Publishing Masters at Stirling University and we had a lovely chat – since then we have also added each other on Instagram which really demonstrates how networking at events can be great and connect you with wonderful individuals!
Events are great place to meet people, to meet authors, and to build a network in a space that is very welcoming and enjoyable! If you are cautious about attending an event near you, don’t be. Take that leap and go for it, you never know who you might meet. Events are what you make them, if you decide to go to an event you can choose who to talk to and whether you want to speak, it really is your choice!
Thank you to the amazing Waterstones team who organised the event and the fantastic authors who attended! It was truly wonderful to attend and I cannot wait to attend more fantastic fantasy events like this in the future!
Bibliography:
Featured Image: Thompson, P. (2025) Photograph of Three Fantasy Books on Rocks
Images in the post:
Thompson, P. (2025) Photograph of Fathomfolk Cover
Thompson, P. (2025) Photograph of Foul Days Cover
Thompson, P. (2025) Photograph of The Outcast Mage Cover
MSc Publishing – Industry Accredited Postgraduate Degree 