Hotel booking is now open for World Fantasy Convention 2013 – plus, the next price increase for those wishing to purchase Attending Membership has been announced.

All Hilton Hotels are unable to start selling rooms directly online until 12 months prior to the event, but they have agreed that we can open up our room block early via their Central Reservations telephone number.

Our venue is the Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel, Kings Road, East Sussex, Brighton, BN1 2FU, United Kingdom. The hotel has more than 330 bedrooms, of varying sizes and configurations. All have 24-hour room service, flat-screen TVs and on-demand movies. A limited number of Deluxe Rooms at the front of the hotel feature sea-views, some with balconies.

All rooms have high-speed Internet service, but you currently have to pay extra for this. However, there is free WiFi in the hotel’s Lounge, Restaurant, Business Centre and Lobby, and the great thing about Brighton is that most of the restaurants and bars also offer free WiFi, as do many other hotels within their public areas.

The dates of the convention are 31 October – 3 November 2013, but you are able to extend your reservation from 29 October through 5 November 2013 at the same rate by quoting our special group code. Attendees who are members of the Hilton HHonors® scheme will earn Points & Miles® for their stay.

Please go to http://www.wfc2013.org/hotelbooking01.html now for full information about our special room rates (which include a full Buffet Breakfast) and how to book. Cancellation of bookings must be made 6 weeks prior to the reserved dates, otherwise charges will be made by hotel.

For those looking for alternative accommodation or who are attending on a limited budget, there are plenty of other hotels in the immediate surroundings. You can find out more information at: www.visitbrighton.com/site/accommodation

After a year, the Attending Membership rate will be increased to £125.00 from 1 October 2012. If you are attending this year’s World Fantasy Convention in Canada, you can join after the Awards Banquet by paying the current rate in CASH (C$165.00 or US$170.000) at our Registration Desk.

The 23rd annual Paperback and Pulp Book Fair will be held on Sunday October 28th 2012, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm at The Park Plaza Hotel, 239 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EQ. Admission on the door only £3.00.

As usual, a wide range of leading UK dealers will be offering 1,000s of SF, Horror, Crime, TV and Film-related and Western paperbacks, pulp magazines, comics and more! Along with rare Penguins, Pans, ephemera and guides, for the first time they also plan to have some contemporary publishers selling new titles.

There will also be a signing session at 1:00 pm that will feature award-winning horror editor Stephen Jones (A Book of Horrors, Curious Warnings, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror etc.), acclaimed artist Les Edwards (A Book of Horrors, Curious Warnings and The Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories etc.) and one of Britain’s finest fantasy authors, Adrian Cole (Madness Emerging, Moorstones and the Dream Lords trilogy etc.), with other guests to be announced.

The Birmingham Science Fiction Group are meeting on October 12th at the Briar Rose Hotel (on the first floor) on Bennett’s Hill, Birmingham.

Special guest at this event is Adam Nevill who was born in Birmingham in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. Adam’s biography paints a vivid picture of macabre influences, ranging from children’s television in the 1970s, through formative wanderings in the New Zealand bush and seminal horror movies on VHS in the 1980s. His history also shows his extensive devouring of notable horror novels. Amongst all of this is noted the way concepts and imagery lodged themselves firmly in Adam’s mind, giving him an abiding interest in the concepts of fear and horror.

Adam has subsequently authored four supernatural horror novels; Banquet for the Damned (nominated for the British Fantasy Society best novel), Apartment 16, The Ritual and Last Days, as well as contributing to the horror collection Dark Currents.

Adam is sure to give a fascinating talk and insight into his work and writings, and maybe sneak previews of forthcoming work…

The venue is just 5 minutes walk from New Street Station and handy for all bus routes. The meeting opens its doors at 7:30 p.m.

If you live anywhere in or around the West Midlands, the BSFG is the group for you! For further information, and a copy of their monthly newsletter, please email BHAMSFGROUP@YAHOO.CO.UK or check out their website: www.birminghamsfgroup.org.uk

On Thursday 27th September, Forbidden Planet will be hosting a signing with Titan Books authors Guy Adams, Samit Basu, Joanne Reay, Kim Newman and Danie Ware.

Guy Adams is the author of the best-selling Rules of Modern Policing: 1973 Edition, a spoof police manual ‘written by’ DCI Gene Hunt of Life On Mars, of two sequels, and of subsequent alternative history and fantasy novels. Guy will be signing Sherlock Holmes: The Army of Doctor Moreau.

Samit Basu is one of the most talented and prolific young writers of today, with an existing and impressive profile in comics culture, science fiction and fantasy. Samit will be signing his debut novel Turbulence.

Joanne Reay is a film scriptwriter with an impressive list of credits: Against All Odds, The Murder Rooms, Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis and Station Jim for the BBC; the features Everybody Loves Sunshine (Sony), Cold and Dark, and Gallowwalker. Joanne will be signing Lo’Life Volume 1: Romeo Spikes.

Kim Newman is a London-based author and critic. He contributes to The Guardian, The Times, Sight & Sound and others, and makes frequent appearances on radio and TV. He’s won the Bram Stoker, International Horror Guild, British Fantasy and British Science Fiction Awards and been nominated for the Hugo and World Fantasy Award. Kim will be signing Dracula Cha Cha Cha.

Danie Ware is Forbidden Planet’s publicist and event organiser. She has been immersed in the science fiction and fantasy community for the past decade and regularly appears on panels as an expert on genre marketing. Danie will be signing her debut novel Ecko: Rising.

The event will take place in the London Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, between 6pm and 7pm.

The World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) is coming to London in 2014 – and it’s bringing some of the biggest stars in science fiction and fantasy with it.

London was confirmed as the venue yesterday (2 September 2012) at the 2012 Worldcon, currently taking place in Chicago. The 2014 Worldcon will be the seventh to take place in the UK and the third in London; the capital previously hosted the event in 1957 and 1965.

Loncon 3 will take place in the ExCeL conference centre in London’s Docklands from 14-18 August 2014. The confirmed Guests of Honour cover the fields of fiction, comics, art, criticism, publishing and fandom: Iain M. Banks, John Clute, Malcolm Edwards, Chris Foss, Jeanne Gomoll, Robin Hobb and Bryan Talbot.

Worldcon joint chair Steve Cooper said: “We’re thrilled to be bringing the Worldcon back to London. We have fantastic guests and we’re building an exciting programme covering all aspects of science fiction and fantasy.

“It doesn’t matter what area of this wide-ranging genre you’re passionate about – classic or modern, film or television, comics or cosplay. We’ll have something to interest, inform and
entertain you.”

The Worldcon is held in a different city each year, and usually attracts around 5,000 science fiction and fantasy fans from across the globe. Highlights of the event include the Hugo Awards and the Masquerade, a spectacular live show showcasing fantasy and science fiction costumes. The programme has around a thousand individual items spread over five days,
with panels, talks, workshops, quizzes, films, videos, autograph sessions and more.

Alice Lawson, joint chair, said: “Loncon 3 will bring the best of science fiction and fantasy into the heart of London, and we plan to make it a fully inclusive, family-friendly experience that is safe and accessible to all.

“The 2012 Olympics and Paralympics demonstrated that London has outstanding facilities, infrastructure and volunteers, and we hope to attract a record-breaking number of fans. I’m
looking forward to welcoming them to London in 2014.”

For further information, check out the Loncon website: www.loncon3.org

BFS member and Bram Stoker Award® finalist Frazer Lee is thrilled to announce that his novel The Jack in the Green and novella The Lucifer Glass have both been sold to Samhain Horror via Executive Editor Don D’Auria. Frazer says, “Executive Editor Don D’Auria told me he loves the books and I’m excited to be working with him and Samhain Horror again on these new titles.”

Also, Samhain Horror presents its first UK event on 27 October 2012 with ‘Samhain Stories at Abney Park Cemetery’. The event, taking place in Stoke Newington, London, is free with a voluntary donation to Abney Park Cemetery on the gate. The evening will include a guided historical cemetery tour, live readings in the atmospheric Chapel from Samhain Horror authors Maynard Sims, Frazer Lee and Peter Mark May, and a book signing/meet and greet. The official Facebook event page can be found HERE

The latest This Is Horror event, on Saturday 22 September 2012, will celebrate the launch of their second chapbook in the Premium Chapbook Series – Thin Men with Yellow Faces by Gary McMahon and Simon Bestwick. The launch event – involving Ramsey Campbell, Gary McMahon, Simon Bestwick and Conrad Williams – takes place at MadLab in Manchester from 6:30pm and will run through to approximately 8:15pm. Award-winning author Jasper Bark will host the event.

Tickets are available for just £3. Copies of both the first chapbook, Joe & Me by David Moody, and Thin Men with Yellow Faces by McMahon and Bestwick, will be available for the special price of £4 in Manchester for one night only. More information on the This Is Horror website HERE

John Barrowman and Carol E. Barrowman will be signing the latest Torchwood tie-in from BBC Books, Torchwood: Exodus Code, at Forbidden Planet’s London Megastore on Thursday 20 September 2012 from 6.00pm to 7.00pm.

About the book:
“It starts with a series of unexplained events. Earth tremors across the globe. Women being driven insane by their heightened and scrambled senses. And the world is starting to notice – the Twitter trend is #realfemmefatales. Governments and scientists are bewildered and silent. The world needs Torchwood, but there’s not much of Torchwood left.

Captain Jack has tracked the problem to its source: a village in Peru, where he’s uncovered evidence of alien involvement. In Cardiff, Gwen Cooper has discovered something alien and somehow connected to Jack. If the world is to be restored, she has to warn him – but she’s quickly becoming a victim of the madness too…”

Pandemonium are launching two new anthologies on Thursday 30 August 2012 at the Pillars of Hercules, 7 Greek Street, Soho, London. They state: “From 7:00 pm we’ll be reading, drinking and waiting for the pub’s famous ghost to make an appearance.”

The books being launched are Lost Souls and Crossroads. Lost Souls includes twenty forgotten stories of loss and redemption. The tales have been carefully selected and introduced by Anne Perry and Jared Shurin and illustrated by Vincent Sammy. It is available as a limited edition of 100 numbered copies and as a Kindle eBook.

Crossroads features four new stories of the devil and his due – written by Christian Fox, Jenni Hill, Robert Sharp and Ian Whates. It is available as a Kindle eBook.

RSVP is not required, but details are on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/events/406298732762348/