I know Joe Abercrombie well enough that he probably qualifies as a friend. Good guy, full of great tips on writing and pretty much as he comes across on his blog, although it's a bit more obvious when he is taking mick.

Chris Wooding (RETRIBUTION FALLS, THE BRAIDED PATH TRILOGY) probably falls in the same bracket, since we randomly met, got drunk and bonded over a celebration of George Bush's then-imminent political demise before I even realised I'd read several of his books. Again a good guy with a work-rate that would put most authors not named Brandon Sanderson to shame.

Alex Bell (THE NINTH CIRCLE, JASMYN) is very funny young lady who always wears very impressive and varied hats to publisher events. Tom Lloyd (THE STORMCALLER) is also a nice guy, but haven't read his books yet.

Robert Holdstock (MYTHAGO WOOD) was very gracious and a good guy to talk to, even though I hadn't read his books (soon to be remedied). Adam Roberts (YELLOW BLUE TIBIA) is a very funny guy. Stephen Deas (THE ADAMANTINE PALACE) seemed a bit quiet and a bit shell-shocked at going from unpublished author to hanging out with Christopher Priest and Graham Joyce (both of whom I was way too awed to say hello to), but again he seemed like a good guy. His wife is a huge Muse fan, so we totally bonded over that.

Robert Rankin was funny and a bit of a nutter, as he comes across in his books. David Devereux (EAGLE RISING) is almost as much of a mentalist with some great stories.

I very briefly said hi to Rob Grant (COLONY, INCOMPITENCE, FAT), but didn't get into a big conversation. Seemed like a nice guy, but I couldn't work out if it was okay to mention RED DWARF (which he co-created) or not, since he left the series under a bit of a cloud.

Lisa Tuttle (GRRM's collaborator on WINDHAVEN) was very pleasent and friendly. Need to read some of her stand-alone books as well.

Patrick Rothfuss totally invaded my personal space and gave me an immense bear hug in the middle of Forbidden Planet, which was kind of cool. I think someone told him I gave THE NAME OF THE WIND a good review. Very funny public speaker as well.

George RR Martin I have only met briefly once, although we swap the occasional email. Nice, laidback guy. We briefly discussed how awesome a movie version of FEVRE DREAM might be and what direction he's taking the Dunk 'n' Egg stories in. Whilst I haven't met him since, I did end up going to a gay bar* in Dublin with his girlfriend once, which is a whole other story

Briefly met Steven Erikson, and he complimented me on the world maps I'd drawn for the Malazanempire website based on the books.

The winner - discounting Joe and Chris as they're more friends now than professional acquaintences - is probably Scott Bakker, simply because me and my mate were the last two people in line and got to chat with him for about 45 minutes whilst he signed backstock for Forbidden Planet. Very funny guy (he made a number of unrepeatable personal comments about Larry's personal hygiene, although oddly not until I mentioned certain blogs which had made certain comparisons to members of Air Supply ). Best bit was the 20-minute diatribe when he went off on one about how Terry Goodkind's idol Ayn Rand was a total lunatic and why, among philosophy professors, Objectivism is regarded as a laughing stock pretty much everywhere.

* No, I'm not ("Not that's anything wrong with that" - George Constanza), but there was much alcohol involved and others in the group swore it was the best nightclub in Dublin, which turned out to be the case.