The first sci-fi convention I attended was the 2007 Eastercon in Chester. At that point I’d sold two short stories to Interzone, although only one of them, The Last Reef, had so far seen the light of day. The second, Ack-Ack Macaque, wouldn’t be printed for another six months.
I made a lot of good friends at that convention; but the one thing that really sticks in my mind is the suprise I felt in the art show, when I came unexpectedly face-to-face with a portrait of the aforementioned Macaque.
Although the story had been sold to Interzone, I had no idea that it had already been illustrated. The picture, which was done in strikingly colourful inks, depicted the titular monkey in the cockpit of his biplane, and the American photographer Lola Lush standing behind him, fending off shuriken throwing stars with the tripod of her camera. The whole thing measured roughly the size of a sheet of A4 and was mounted in a clip frame. Coming across it unawares gave me a visceral shock. The room seemed to spin around me. It was as if the characters from the story had escaped from my dreams and sneaked out to invade the real world.
At the time, I didn’t know much about the functioning of convention art shows, and I didn’t have much money to spare, so I left the convention without putting in a bid for the painting. Six months later, Ack-Ack Macaque appeared in Interzone, accompanied by the illustration. It looked great in print and I regretted not purchasing the original when I’d had the chance.
Another six months after that, and I was back at Eastercon, held this time at a Heathrow hotel. Unfortunately, the 2008 event proved memorable for all the wrong reasons. Within hours of arriving at the hotel, I contracted a vicious stomach bug which more-or-less confined me to my hotel room for the entirety of the Easter weekend, only allowing me to occasionally venture out to buy bottled water and rice cakes.
On one of these forays, I met my future co-writer Aliette de Bodard for the first time, and was informed by Martin McGrath that Ack-Ack Macaque was performing well in the annual Interzone Readers’ Poll. Cheered by this news, I stuck my head into the art show on the off-chance and there it was!
The picture looked even more vibrant than I remembered. I wasted no time in putting in a bid, and somehow managed to control my illness long enough to attend the art auction, where I bought the picture for roughly half the amount I’d earned from selling the story in the first place. I also found myself standing next to the artist, SMS (now also known as “Smuzz”). He asked me if I knew the story the picture came from. “Yes,” I said, showing him my name badge, “I wrote it.”
After the convention, I took the picture home and it now hangs in pride of place at the foot of my stairs, where to this day its staring yellow eye greets visitors to the house as they step through the front door.
The story Ack-Ack Macaque eventually went on to win the Interzone Poll and was named as the readers’ favourite story of 2007. This was in no small part due, I’m sure, to the striking illustration which, coupled with the story’s catchy title, helped it stick in people’s minds.
Click here to visit the artist’s website.
