The FUTURA science-fiction convention takes place at Wolverhampton’s Light House on the 15^th June, with a superb line-up of publishers and speakers taking part. The schedule has now been confirmed for this exciting and packed day of events, with something for all fans, readers and aspiring writers in the field.

The event will begin with a host of activities in both cinema spaces, including reading and Q+A sessions with the three Guests of Honour – Ken MacLeod, Adam Roberts and Ian R MacLeod. The cinemas will also host a range of panels, including sessions looking at the world of independent publishing, how to write great short stories, science-fiction’s place in the mainstream, the comic and graphic novel scene and many more.

These panels and readings offer a great chance to find out more about science-fiction on the whole, and these will be running alongside a number of ‘kafeeklatsch’ sessions. These allow audience members the chance to join an informal chat with their favourite authors – a unique chance to ask the questions that you may have for some of the leading writers on the day.

The courtyard area will be hosting a booksales area, featuring a range of booksellers and independent presses. Already confirmed are Wolverhampton Waterstones, Pendragon Press, Screaming Dreams, Fringeworks, Aethernet Magazine and more, offering you the chance to pick up some incredible bargains!

The evening of the event brings a host of fun activities to wrap up the day, including the live raffle draw, with some incredible prizes to give away. There will also be the mass signing – giving you the perfect chance to get your books at home or new purchases on the day signed – as well as a science-fiction quiz to close, with more fantastic prizes to be won!

Finally, you’ll be able to enjoy the Futura ‘Area of Ale’, with a great range of local beers and ales available to try. Both this and the bar will be open until late, giving you the chance to relax socialise after the day’s events draw to a close.

Event organiser Alex Davis said: ‘I’m really excited by the schedule of this event, which offers a great range of activities from the serious and professional to the light-hearted and fun. With so much to choose from, anyone coming along to the event is bound to find plenty to attend!’

Tickets to Futura are £25 for the day, including access to all of the above activities throughout. To book, call Light House Box Office on 01902 716055 or visit http://light-house.co.uk/featured/2013/05/futura-sci-fi-convention/

FUTURA is an exciting new science-fiction event which takes places on Saturday 15th June in Wolverhampton. Hosted at the fabulous Light House, the day will feature a range of panels, readings and kafeeklatsches, plus your chance to win awesome prizes in our raffle and our science-fiction quiz! Futura runs from 11am till late, with the bar open until 1am – plenty of time to enjoy the drinks, food and real ale on offer! Not only that, but the even features a stellar line-up of authors and publishers, including Guests of Honour KEN MACLEOD, IAN R MACLEOD and ADAM ROBERTS.

We’re pleased to have two tickets to this fantastic event, worth £50, to give away to one lucky winner! We’re just looking for an answer to the following…

Guest of Honour Adam Roberts has been nominated for the Arthur C Clarke award three times. For your chance to win, simply name any one of the titles that have received a nomination.

Email your answer to us at competitions@britishfantasysociety.org with a subject line of “FUTURA COMPETITION”. The closing date is 5th June. One winner will be drawn at random from all correct entries.

Papers are invited for the first Nine Worlds conference. Nine Worlds is a convention for fans of science fiction, fantasy and related areas taking place at The Renaissance Hotel, Heathrow, from the 9th – 11th August.  As part of this, an academic conference is being organised to allow academic study and layperson interest in this field to overlap. The conference itself will be from 10am on the 10th through to the evening of the 11th. Confirmed speakers include Edmund Weiner, Beth Tovey, Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Andrew Crome.

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in the areas of science fiction and fantasy in general, and within the fan communities themselves an interest in studying works in this domain more closely. We therefore intend the conference to be accessible to the well informed non-academic, whilst still remaining valuable for those within the field.

We welcome contributions from any field that intersects with science fiction or fantasy, including the following:

Allen Ashley has several free “taster” sessions lined up for his writing workshops. Each of these is being held at a different venue. Depending upon the take-up, Allen hopes to follow the sessions with a regular group starting a few days or a couple of weeks after the taster session. So, if you live in or near north London and you want to take up or return to creative writing, get yourself along to one of his workshops!

Attendance is free at these Ways into Writing one hour taster sessions. Attendees will need to bring a pen, paper, a board or notepad to lean on, plus their imagination. Allen’s workshops are practical – you will be writing within 5 minutes.

If you want to reserve a place or if you have any queries, such as how to get to the venue, please email Allen on allenashley-writer (at) hotmail.co.uk

Please put the name of the venue (e.g. Chipping Barnet) in the subject bar.

Workshops will run on:

Saturday 19 January 2013 from 10.30am to 11.30am at Chipping Barnet Library, Stapleton Road, Barnet EN5 4QT

Monday 4 February 2013 from 5pm to 6pm at the Bull Theatre, 68 High Street, BarnetEN5 5SJ

Tuesday 5 February 2013 from 12noon to 1pm at Finsbury Library, 245 St John Street, Islington, London EC1V 4NB

Tuesday 19 February 2013 from 2.30pm to 3.30pm at Central Library, 2 Fieldway Crescent, Islington, London N5 1PF.

ManMoth Productions are putting on another run of their popular sci-fi comedy Dead Static at the Hen & Chickens Theatre, Islington.

The year is – the future. Two complete strangers wake up on a tiny shuttle in the middle of deep space. Tyler (Cliff Chapman), a sarcastic, over-confident entrepreneur, finds himself trapped with Gary (Adam Joselyn), an insufferably chirpy conman. The Syndicate has sentenced them both to death – they have one hour before their shuttle plunges nose-first into the asteroid belt. Can they work together to survive? Are they doomed to irritate each other into oblivion? Or will they thwart an evil empire in time for tea and Deal or No Deal? (Yup, it’s still a thing).

The show runs from 11th-15th December, with a matinee performance on the Saturday. Tickets cost £9 and are available HERE or from the venue 30 minutes before each show starts.

Allen Ashley has several free “taster” sessions lined up for his writing workshops. Each of these is being held at a different venue. Depending upon the take-up, Allen hopes to follow the sessions with a regular group starting a few days or a couple of weeks after the taster session.

Attendance is free at these Ways into Writing one hour sessions. It’s first come, first served but Allen expects to be able to fit in everyone who turns up. Attendees will need to bring a pen, paper, a board or notepad to lean on, plus their imagination. Allen’s workshops are practical – you will be writing within 5 minutes.

If you want to reserve a place or if you have any queries, such as how to get to the venue, please email Allen on allenashley-writer (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk

Please put the name of the venue (e.g. All Saints) in the subject bar.

Workshops will run on:

Monday 5 November 2012 from 11am to 12 noon at All Saints Arts Centre, 122 Oakleigh Road North, London N20 9EZ

Wednesday 14 November 2012 from 12.30pm to 1.30pm at Enfield Town Library, 66 Church Street, Enfield

Saturday 24 November 2012 from 1pm to 2pm at North Finchley Library, Ravensdale Avenue, North Finchley, N12 9HP

Saturday 19 January 2013 from 10.30am to 11.30am at Chipping Barnet Library, Stapleton Road, Barnet EN5 4QT

The Bride Stripped Bare and other grotesqueries: a literary evening of dark fairytales, fables and foibles, written and performed by an all-female cast.

Dog Horn Publishing presents this Halloween production celebrating women writing the weird, the gruesome and the deadly, on November 1st, 8pm, at Apotheca, 17 Thomas Street, Manchester.

Young writers and performers from Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool will select their favourite stories from some of Dog Horn Publishing’s best dark fiction, and adapt them into a sensational theatrical experience which will re-imagine the book launch format.

Featuring work from:
Terror Scribes (ed. by Adam Lowe & Chris Kelso),
Cabala (ed. by Adam Lowe),
Bite Me, Robot Boy (ed. by Adam Lowe),
Women Writing the Weird (ed. by Deb Hoag),
and of course
The Bride Stripped Bare by Rachel Kendall.

Books will be on sale at special discounted rates, and Halloween cocktails will be available (two for £9).

For more info see the Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/443175295725311/

The Screaming Dreams Zombie Walk…

If you are in Cardiff on October 31st (around 5pm) then please come to the Screaming Dreams office and Miss Ally will use her make-up magic to turn you into a zombie. We will then proceed into town and worry the locals! If you need directions or have any questions then please get in touch.

For more info, check out the Screaming Dreams website: http://www.screamingdreams.com

As part of the Portsmouth Book Festival, four leading authors discuss their work and the Urban Fantasy genre at the Menuhin Theatre, Portsmouth Central Library. With Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Ben Aaronovitch, Kate Griffin and Benedict Jacka.

This event is on tonight, October 30th, and starts at 7pm. Tickets cost £5 and can be reserved by calling 023 9268 8037.

On Monday, October 15th at 7pm, Ian Livingstone will talk about his work and career at an event at the Showroom Cinema, Paternoster Row, Sheffield 1 as part of the Off the Shelf Festival in Sheffield.

Ian Livingstone has been a leader in the interactive games industry for over 25 years. He co-founded the iconic Games Workshop, launched Dungeons & Dragons in Europe, edited White Dwarf magazine and in 2002 he received a BAFTA Special Award for his outstanding contribution to the interactive entertainment industry. With Steve Jackson, he wrote the first of the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks which have sold over 16 million copies in 23 languages. He is the Creative Director of computer games company Eidos, the name behind the Tomb Raider games. He will be talking about his work and career.

Tickets cost £7.50/£5.50 (cons) and are available from the Arena Box Office – tel. 0114 256 5567, www.arenaticketshop.co.uk/offtheshelf, the Showroom Box Office – tel. 0114 275 7727, www.showroomworkstation.org.uk or in person from the Showroom Cinema Box Office.

Tickets on the door on the night subject to availability