Got a couple of things going on in Manchester in July, and as the month’s speeding toward us I suppose I’d better a) mention something about them, and b) start getting psyched about what I’m going to do.

Both events take place at “Manchester’s perfect pub” the Lass O’Gowrie near Oxford Road, and the first of them’s Doctor Who-related; I don’t do much Who stuff so it’ll give me a chance to trot out my anecdote. Titled Vworp 4, the ‘convention in a pub’ runs from 9am until 6pm on Sunday, July 3rd, and confirmed guests include Bob Baker, Paul Tams, Dez Skinn, Adrian Salmon, Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovich and “the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre performing an exclusive set of their Doctor Who material”.

Tickets for the day are £19.95 and you can get them here.

Then on Saturday July 23rd, as part of the Lass O’Gowrie’s ongoing Pub Fiction programme, there’s just me for an hour in the Salmon Room from 6.30 to 7.30, most likely with a few video clips to talk around. Tickets for this are £5 (there’s a capacity limit on the room so you can advance-book here to avoid disappointment – as if)

Just before me, at 5.30, there’s an illustrated talk by old mate Bryan Talbot in which he’ll be discussing his graphic novels Grandville and Grandville Mon Amour.

Then at 8pm they’re screening a classic horror double bill of Night of the Demon and Vampire Circus. Despite the presence of lightweight B-movie import Dana Andrews and the show it/don’t show it rubber monster controversy, this updated 50s retelling of M R James’s Casting the Runes is well worth your attention – not least for Niall MacGinness’s Dr Julian Karswell, a shaded and thoughtful take on an Aleister Crowley-style villain.

In fact if you cast an eye over the programme of events for the venue’s month-long fringe festival, the Lass O’Gowrie is becoming a significant national hub for genre and genre-related activity.