Below are the juries for the British Fantasy Awards 2013. The main jury decides the categories of fantasy novel, horror novel, novella, short story, collection, anthology, magazine/periodical, comic/graphic novel and screenplay, while the non-fiction, artist, small press and newcomer (Sydney J. Bounds) awards have their own juries. The special (Karl Edward Wagner) award is decided by a vote of the British Fantasy Society committee.

The main jury
Esther Sherman
Matthew Hughes
Neil Williamson
Pauline Morgan
Ros Jackson

The non-fiction jury
Djibril al-Ayad
Jason Arnopp
Roz Kaveney

The artist jury
Daniele Serra
Jimmy Broxton
P.M. Buchan
Rachel Kendall
Rhian Bowley

The small press jury
Elaine Hillson
Elloise Hopkins
Dave Brzeski
Rachel Kendall
Rhian Bowley

The newcomer jury
Adele Wearing
Alison Littlewood
Jim Steel
Lizzie Barrett
Peter Tennant

Over the next month or so the juries will decide whether to add any “egregious omissions” to the shortlists produced by the voting of the British Fantasy Society and the attendees of FantasyCon 2012. The shortlists will then be announced, and the juries will go on to decide the winners, which will be announced at an awards ceremony held at the World Fantasy Convention 2013, which runs from October 31 to November 3 in Brighton.

The jury members were selected by the British Fantasy Awards Administrator, Stephen Theaker (bfsawards@britishfantasysociety.org), and approved by the committee of the British Fantasy Society.

Edited by Johnny Mains and with artwork by David Whitlam, The Burning Circus is an anthology for members of the British Fantasy Society.

Stories include:

Not a member? Sign up now to secure your copy! The Burning Circus will be sent out alongside the next edition of the BFS Journal.

Ramsey Campbell has been the President of the British Fantasy Society for as long as we can remember. His hand has been on the tiller, guiding the BFS through sometimes choppy waters, but always there as the face of the society, and as the final arbiter in times of indecision and conflict.

As one of the most important writers of his genre and generation the BFS has been privileged to have him as president.

Sadly, all good things end, and Ramsey has indicated that for various reasons he feels that now is the right time for him to step down from this position, and it is with great sadness that we are announcing his retirement as president.

The committee hopes you will all join us in wishing Ramsey well for the future, and in thanking him for his tireless work in promoting and representing the British Fantasy Society.

We will be contacting all members again soon, with regard to the appointment of a new president, who will need to be proposed and voted for at the next AGM.

Regards,
The BFS Committee

If you are a member of the British Fantasy Society (congratulations on your wise choice of association!) or if you attended the glorious celebration of fantasy that was FantasyCon 2012 in Brighton (wasn’t the weather good for October?), today is the final day to cast your votes in the British Fantasy Awards 2013.

Every vote matters! In every category!

If there is nothing you wish to vote for this year, even empty voting forms will be gratefully received, just so we know we reached you.

VOTE HERE!

An email will shortly going out to BFS members with download links for issue four of Shelflings, the BFS’s electronic reviews zine. In response to popular demand there is now a pdf version available as well as the usual mobi and epub ebook versions.

This 150pp issue collects reviews originally appearing on the British Fantasy Society website in October, November and December 2012, by Carl Barker, Catherine Mann, Chris Limb, Craig Knight, David Brzeski, David Rudden, Elloise Hopkins, Glen Mehn, Guy Adams, Jim McLeod, Katy O’Dowd, Laurel Sills, Mario Guslandi, Matthew Johns, Pauline Morgan, Phil Ambler, Phil Lunt, R.A. Bardy, Rebekah Lunt, Steve Dean and Stewart Horn.

They consider the work of (deep breath) A.E. Rought, Alexander Mackendrick, Allen Ashley, Amanda Carlson, Arkane Studios, Benedict Jacka, Billie Sue Mosiman, Brent Weeks, C.L. Werner, Chris Butler, Chris Pauls and Matt Solomon, Chris Wraight, Christian Dunn, Christopher Hivner, Corey Grant, Dale Fabrigar and Everette Wallin, Dan Abnett, Danie Ware, Darius Hinks, David Hair, David Tallerman, Dean M. Drinkel, Eddie Robson, Edward M. Erdelac, Eric Brown, Eric J. Guignard, Esan Sivalinhgam, Evie Manieri, Frank P. Ryan, Freddie Francis, Gary McMahon, Geoff Nelder, Graeme Hurry, Graham McNeill, Guy Adams, Hannah Simpson, Hannu Rajaniemi, Hayao Miyazaki, Jaine Fenn, Jake Arnott, James Swallow, Jason Arnopp, Jasper Fforde, Jeani Rector, Joe Knee, John Ajvide Lindqvist, John Charles Scott, John Dorney, Jonathan L. Howard, Joseph Khan, Juan Martinez Moreno, Julie Armstrong, Kate Griffin, Kevin Connor, Laini Taylor, Laura Lam, Laurell K. Hamilton, Lee Collins, M.E. Brines, Marcel Schwob, Mark Morris, Martin Powell, Martin Smits and Erwin van de Eshof, Massimo Dallamano, Maynard Sims, Michael A. Nickles, Michael Croteau, Nicholas Ahlhelm, Nicholas Briggs, Nicholas McCarthy, Paco Plaza, Percival Constantine, Peter Heller, Peter Mark May, Philip José Farmer, Philip Purser-Hallard, Rachel Kendall, Ramsey Campbell, Rhys Hughes, Robert Hamer, Ross M. Kitson, Rowena Cory Daniells, Saladin Ahmed, Sam Stone, Sarah Newton, Scott K. Andrews, Sean Egan, Stefan Grabinski, Stephen Deas, Stephen Jones, Stevan Mena, Suzanne Johnson, Terry Brooks, The Butcher Brothers, Theresa Derwin, Toshiya Fujita, Val Guest, Will Hill and William Meikle.

Two changes were made to the rules of the British Fantasy Awards at an EGM on 7 December 2012, held at the British Fantasy Society’s Christmas Open Night.

Following a proposal by BFS member Allen Ashley, this text was added to the rules:

Where practicable, the awards administrator will allow and encourage members, publishers and other interested parties to contribute to a list of eligible items, to be made available online before voting begins.

Following a proposal by BFS chair Lee Harris, this text:

The Awards Administrator may not be associated (either by writing, publishing or editing) with work nominated in any category.

was replaced with:

The Awards Administrator may not own or part-own any works shortlisted in any category. Where the Awards Administrator is associated (either by writing, publishing or editing) a work shortlisted in any category, the Awards Administrator will declare this association to the committee, who will independently verify the votes placed for that work, and that work’s eligibility to be shortlisted.

The updated awards constitution can be seen here.

The constitution that applied from 30 September 2012 to 7 December 2012 can be seen here.

Before the 2013 awards get started, we are asking members, publishers and any other interested parties to help us in building (and correcting) an informal list of eligible items. Inevitably, the list will be incomplete, but it should prod our members’ thoughts in appropriate directions.

Contributions to the list can be made, and corrections suggested, here.

The resulting eligibility list can be seen here.

You don’t have to be a member of the BFS or a FantasyCon attendee to contribute. Feel free to supply details of your own work. We’d be grateful to anyone spreading the word about this on Twitter, Facebook or their blog.

If you have a large number of items to add (for example if you’re a publisher or the editor of a magazine), you may find it easier to supply them in a spreadsheet to the awards administrator (see below). Just be sure to include a column listing the appropriate categories.

Note that the resulting list is an informal eligibility list. There is no prestige in appearing on it. People whose items appear on the list must not describe themselves as British Fantasy Award nominees, or as having been longlisted for the British Fantasy Award. Members will not be limited to voting on items that appear on the list.

For any queries as to the eligibility rules, please see the British Fantasy Awards constitution. If any questions remain, please contact the awards administrator, Stephen Theaker (bfsawards@britishfantasysociety.org).

If you are a member of the BFS you should by now have received (or shortly be receiving) the latest BFS Journal (Autumn 2012). The Journal contains new fiction and poetry by: Christopher Golden, Gary Fry, Peter Crowther, Allen Ashley, Terry Grimwood and others. This issue also includes interviews with Nina Allan, Rhys Hughes, David A. Sutton and graphic artist Emma Vieceli (who also provides the amazing cover art for this issue of the Journal). Together with regular and one-off features by Mark Morris, Ramsey Campbell, Garry Kilworth (on crafting the short story) and Editorial Director of Gollancz Gillian Redfearn among others, this issue is jam-packed full of interesting content.

All BFS members receive the BFS Journal on a quarterly basis along with their other benefits of membership. If you haven’t yet joined the BFS but would like to do so to secure your copy of The Journal please go to the “join the BFS” page HERE

Allen Ashley, judge for this year’s competition, reports:

“For those of you who were not at FantasyCon 2012 or who don’t navigate their way through the Forum pages, I can now confirm that the winners of the BFS Short Story Competition are:

First place: Rope of Words by Megan Kerr

Second place: Green River by Aliya Whiteley

Third place: Saarbrucken Witch by Juliet Hubbell

All three stories will be appearing in a future print issue of The BFS Journal. My thanks to everyone who entered this year’s competition; the standard was very high. If you didn’t quite make my top trio you are now, of course, free to submit your stories elsewhere. Good luck doing so.

It’s highly likely that I will be judging next year’s competition, so keep an eye out for updates on that.”

More news on this later in the week but, as a teaser, here’s the cover of the Autumn 2012 issue. Illustration by the awesome Emma Vieceli!

(click on the image for a better look!)