I’m a bit of a geek as people who know me are very aware of. There’s a reason why Ben in The Sleepless City is a total comics geek and a huge Nightwing fan.

We don’t have much in New Zealand in the way of geek stuff, and most of what I buy I have to order from overseas as local stockists either don’t sell it, or do so at a horribly inflated price.

One of the few—the only if you don’t count Nat Con which is more about literary SF—opportunities to go to a con or expo is our annual pulp expo con, Armageddon. When I started going to it, it was only in Wellington and Auckland, but now is in a few other places around the country. I only attend the Wellington one, and I can’t justify the expense of the travel involved with the others.

Unfortunately the main stage for the last couple of years has been outside.

In April.

In Wellington.

I had a cold brewing last weekend, and an orchestra concert to play in at the beginning of next month, so I spent the day walking around the stadium enjoying the stalls instead. I always go with a group of friends, and they braved the elements to see the Wellington Paranormal panel, which they said was great. If you haven’t watched that show, I highly recommend it. It follows the two police officers who were called in to investigate the noise complaint by the vampires’ neighbours in the movie What We Do in the Shadows. Sadly I also missed seeing Tom Welling, but he was on Saturday and Sunday was a better fit for our group as four of us couldn’t have got leave on the same time and left no one to run the library.

But anyway I still managed to pick up some goodies at the stalls, including some presents for upcoming birthdays so I could that a win. Amongst what I got myself were two books. One was a children’s book called Wizard’s Guide to Wellington and the other is one of the reasons I wanted to write this post.

Last year at Armageddon, I bought a signed copy of a New Zealand book called Promised Land. This LBGT children’s books is a lovely story about a quest, and a prince and farm boy who meet, become friends, and then fall in love.

I was delighted that they had a booth again this year, and I was able to buy a signed copy of the next book in their Tales of Promised Land series called Maiden Voyage. This is the story of a fisherman’s daughter who joins the crew of a female captain as they embark on a quest. Their friendship soon blossoms into love.

I had a lovely chat with the authors this year and last, and would highly recommend these books. They’ve just finished a kickstarter for the next book in the series which is called Raven Wild and features a transgender character.