Lyon is France’s second city, renowned as the capital of the rest of the country while Paris is the metropole. And OctoGônes is its biggest annual fantasy, gaming and independent weird publishing convention – a mecca for exhibitors and fans across the country. Official attendance numbers for the long weekend of the convention were 18,200, and the Saturday at least eventually sold out, so there’s no question of its popularity.

To explain the name, gône is local Lyonnais slang for a kid, and especially a young girl. So OctoGônes translates roughly as “OctoKids”, or “Eight-Legged Girls”. Given the geek focus of the convention, that’s pretty appropriate. And it also echoes the convention’s focus on sheer fun.

The event filled two entire floors of the Double Mixt trade and convention center in north-eastern Lyon to capacity, as well as catering stalls outside. As well as 12 leading French authors of fantasy and imaginative literature, the convention hosted a roughly equal number of leading independent fantasy and imaginative fiction publishers. Cosplay and fan fun were everywhere.

Mnémos, just one of the key fantasy and imaginative fiction publishers exhibiting at the convention, has been in business for over 30 years, and publishes French translations of leading English-language F/SF authors like Lavie Tidhar and Gwendolyn Kiste, as well as classics like Frederick Pohl and Clark Ashton Smith, and a huge stable of local French authors. Leha Éditions publishes fantasy bestsellers like R.J. Barker and Brian McClellan, as well as, once again, a slew of French authors.

The spirit of the whole gathering was exemplified by the chief organizer, going around the tables of RPG players with a jug of coffee, dispensing refreshments. Whatever France’s reputation as a country of firm rationalists, the wilder regions of the imagination are clearly in rude good health in the Hexagon.