Early bird tickets have just gone on sale for the Alt.Fiction festival of SF, fantasy and horror, taking place on 14 & 15 April 2012 at the Phoenix in Leicester.

The festival, run by Writing East Midlands, provides an opportunity for writers to hear from their favourite authors, find out more about the world of publishing and learn more about the writing process, while networking with agents, publishers and other writers.

Guest of Honour for the festival, now in its sixth year, will be multi-award winning science fiction author, Ken McLeod. Ken’s most recent novel is The Restoration Game.

The event will take a fresh approach to genre writing, bringing a strong multimedia feel to the event, highlighting writing for screen and games as well as novels.

There will also be a strong emphasis on guiding new writers entering the writing business, as well as other new opportunities such as open mic flash fiction, and a literary tour of Leicester by bike, courtesy of Leicester Cycle City.

You can buy your early bird weekend tickets now for just £30 HERE

Extraordinary General Meeting of the British Fantasy Society 6.00pm
The Mug House Tooley Street near London Bridge Friday 9 December 2011 (map).

NB. We will be starting at 6.00pm promptly to take care of formal business.  Hopefully this will give us some time for an open discussion on future priorities for the Society.  The meeting will by followed by the Open Event with special guests at 7.30pm.  You must be a fully paid-up member of the Society to attend the EGM.  Everyone else is most welcome to come to the Open Event.

AGENDA

1. Apologies For Absence
2. Minutes Of The AGM Sunday 1st October 2011
3. Matters Arising.
4. Statement of Accounts
5. Chairperson’s Report
6. Ratification of Election of New Officers to the BFS Committee
7. Results of Voting on BFS Awards
8. Future priorities for the Society
9. Any Other Business.

Here is your chance to vote on the proposed changes to the British Fantasy Awards process. The discussion has been raging over on the forum, so take a look and bring yourself up to date on what others think. http://www.britishfantasysociety.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3156.0

Then pop over to our secure voting system here and express your preference: http://bfawards.britishfantasysociety.co.uk/index.php?sid=79724

This vote is only open to BFS members, and all votes will be checked against the membership database. If you want to vote, it is not too late to join the BFS.

Votes are automatically tallied by the system and will be annouunced at the EGM on 9th December 2011.

An Extraordinary General Meeting of the BFS will be followed by its annual London Open Night on Friday 9 December 2011. The venue is The Mug House, London Bridge, London, SE1 2PF. The EGM starts at 6:00pm and the open night starts at 7:30pm.

The open night will involve the usual mix of book launches (by Pendragon Press and PS Publishing amongst others), general chit-chat, and a little drinking! All welcome.

China Mieville is set to be Master of Ceremonies at World Fantasy Con 2013, which is being held in Brighton from 31 October to 3 November 2013.

Full details HERE

Writing East Midlands is promoting a five week course on The Cinema of Stephen King at Broadway, Nottingham, starting on Monday 14 November 2011. The course takes place on consecutive Monday evenings from 7:00 – 8:30 pm.

“Since the 1970’s, Stephen King has become a name synonymous with horror and he has carved out a niche as one of the world’s most terrifying authors. Beyond the success of his many bestselling titles, King’s work has been translated to film many times, including many iconic titles in the last thirty-five years. Looking at well-known movies such as The Shining, Misery, The Shawkshank Redemption and The Green Mile, as well as lesser-known classics, this course explores the work of a master of storytelling in horror and beyond.”

Cost for the course £35 (£25 concessions) from www.broadway.org.uk or Broadway Box Office on 0115 9526 611

Alt.Fiction and Nottingham City Library present a Graphic Novel Workshop with artist Neil Roberts
12th November 2011 1:00 – 4:00pm at Nottingham Central Library
Cost £3

If you’re interested in graphic novels, this afternoon event will give you the chance to find out how comic books come to life, get tips on how to draw and storyboard your ideas, and have a go at working on your own storyboard!

The session will be run by Neil Roberts, an acclaimed artist who has worked on comics including Judge Dredd, Sinister Dexter and The Sarah Jane Adventures plus a host of computer games and book covers.

Suitable for ages 13+.

Tickets are available from the Ground Floor Helpdesk, Nottingham Central Library, 0115 915 2825

Full details of the event can be found HERE