FantasyCon 2012 is delighted to announce a special appearance by best-selling author James Herbert on the Saturday only.

James Herbert’s The Rats was published in 1974 with a first printing of 100,000 paperback copies. Within weeks that first printing it was completely sold out, and the book has never been out of print since.

Since then he has reigned as Britain’s undisputed number one author of chiller fiction, with more than twenty best-selling novels to his credit, including The Fog, The Survivor, Fluke, The Spear, Lair, The Dark, The Jonah, Shrine, Domain, Moon, The Magic Cottage, Sepulchre, Creed, Portent, ’48, Others, Once, Nobody True and The Secret of Crickley Hall (set to air as a three-part drama on BBC1 this Hallowe’en).

With world-wide sales of more than fifty million copies, James Herbert is one of the world’s most popular novelists. His books are translated into more than thirty-five languages, including Russian and Chinese.

James Herbert will be signing his latest novel, Ash, from noon until 1:00 pm on Saturday 29 September 2012. Ash is the eagerly awaited third volume in the trilogy featuring psychic investigator David Ash, which began with Haunted and The Ghosts of Sleath.

Also, don’t forget to go to the FantasyCon website HERE and vote for your favourite ghost story of all time. Just fill-out the electronic form and submit it. No novels or novellas please, just short stories. One vote per person, and you cannot nominate your own work (otherwise your choice will not be counted).

We will then tabulate all the votes and the winning short story will be announced during a panel at the convention on the Saturday evening. A carefully selected group of experts will discuss their own favourite ghost stories and what it is that makes a classic spooky tale, before acclaimed author Ramsey Campbell reads the winning entry as the clock strikes the Witching Hour of midnight!

For more information about FantasyCon 2012 visit the website HERE

FantasyCon 2012 is pleased to announce that, as usual, we will be holding a series of Expert Masterclasses on Saturday, September 29. These events will run for approximately one hour each, and cost just £5:00 per person per session.

Among those taking part are Marc Aplin, Mark Gatiss, Will Hill, M.D. Lachlan, Will Francis, Gillian Redfearn and Tony Lee, and the topics covered include how to run a popular blog, how to construct a novel, how to write for TV, how to work with an editor, how to get an agent, how to write successfully for comics, and how to come up with a young adult novel.

Seating is limited to fifteen (15) people per session, so book now to avoid disappointment! All the details can be found on the FantasyCon 2012 website at www.fantasycon2012.org/masterclass.htm.

We will also be presenting a number of Entertainments throughout the convention. These range from the Poetry Event hosted by Allen Ashley, the FantasyCon Quiz with question masters Joe Abercrombie and Sarah Pinborough, and the always-popular Just a Minute chaired by Paul Cornell, to the Fabulous FantasyCon Raffle presided over by the dapper John L. Probert and Guy Adams, and FantasyCon’s Evening Emporium of Entertainment featuring everything from recitations by Reggie Oliver, a short play by Stephen Volk, and the see-it-to-believe-it Burlesque performed by Alessa Dark. And don’t forget that Gollancz will be hosting the FantasyCon Disco on Saturday night with deejays Guy Adams and Rio Youers spinning the hits! For full details of what’s on offer, go to www.fantasycon2012.org/entertainment.htm.

Regarding the Raffle, please remember that we need your help. We would be grateful if you could donate a prize (or, even better, prizes) to support the Fabulous FantasyCon Raffle. All donations – and we really do mean ALL! – are always welcome, and the presenters will do their best to name-check as many people and publishers as possible who have donated prizes in the time available. Please e-mail us on info [at} fantasycon2012 [dot] org if you have something to donate, and go to http://www.fantasycon2012.org/raffle.htm for more information.

And don’t forget that the grand finale of FantasyCon 2012 will be the Awards Banquet on the Sunday afternoon, at which the British Fantasy Society will announce the winners of this year’s prestigious British Fantasy Awards. Banquet tickets are selling fast, and places are extremely limited. All bookings must be received no later than 9 September 2012. All the information can be found at http://www.fantasycon2012.org/banquet.php, and publishers and individuals who wish to pre-reserve a table should e-mail banquet [at] fantasycon2012 [dot] org and supply a list of the ten people that they will have on their table. Each person should have a meal booked and paid for before the table reservation is made.

FantasyCon 2012 is being held at the Royal Albion Hotel in the historic seaside town of Brighton, East Sussex,  from 27 – 30 September 2012. We now have fewer than 60 memberships remaining, so if you haven’t joined up yet, then please do so now. All you have to do is go to the “How to Join” page on the website (www.fantasycon2012.org/join.php), submit the form with your details and then pay via the PayPal buttons. Alternately, you can print out the form and mail it with a cheque to the address given. A limited number of Saturday-Only memberships are also now available.

With Author Guests of Honour Joe R. Lansdale, Muriel Gray and Brent Weeks, Special Editor Guest Mary Danby, Special Media Guests Mark Gatiss and Robin Hardy, along with Master of Ceremonies Tim Lebbon, this is an event not to be missed!

Allen Ashley will be hosting a poetry event at this year’s FantasyCon, which takes place at the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton from 27 – 30 September 2012. Allen reports:

“I am pleased to let everyone know that I am once again hosting a Poetry Event at Fantasycon. This year we are in the Russell Room from 8.00pm till 9.30pm on the evening of Friday 28 September. I will be running the event in a similar fashion to last year, which is: we will read ’round robin’ style. This means that every participating poet will read two poems (up to about 40 lines each) in the first round. Then, if we have time, we will go round again and people can read a couple more poems. I am advising everyone to prepare up to 6 poems. Last year’s event was fun and friendly with an appreciative group of poets and audience and I anticipate that this year will be much the same. If you want to put your name down, please email me on allenashley-writer [at] hotmail [dot] co [dot] uk or else just turn up on the night to read or listen”.

Vote for your favourite ghost story of all time!

FantasyCon 2012 is giving you the opportunity to answer the question: What is the best ghost story of all time?
Just go to www.fantasycon2012.org/ghoststory.php, fill out the electronic form and submit it. No novels or novellas please, just short stories. One vote per person, and you cannot nominate your own work (otherwise your choice will not be counted).

We will then tabulate all the votes and the winning short story will be announced during a panel at the convention on the evening of Saturday September 29th. A carefully selected group of experts will discuss their own favourite ghost stories and what it is that makes a classic spooky tale before acclaimed author Ramsey Campbell reads the winning entry as the clock strikes the Witching Hour of midnight!

This poll is open to EVERYONE – you do not have to be a member of the convention to vote. The more people who participate, the more representative the winner will be. So don’t delay – vote today!

FantasyCon 2012 is being held at the Royal Albion Hotel in the historic seaside town of Brighton, East Sussex, over the weekend of 27 – 30 September 2012. Membership is selling fast, so if you haven’t joined up yet, then please do so now. All you have to do is go to the “How to Join” page on the website (www.fantasycon2012.org/join.php), submit the form with your details and then pay via the PayPal buttons. Alternately, you can print out the form and mail it with a cheque to the address given. A limited number of Saturday-Only memberships are also now available.

With many fantastic Guests of Honour, interviews, panel discussions, readings and numerous authors, editors, publishers, artists and actors in attendance, this is one convention you cannot afford to miss! Visit the FantasyCon website HERE

With FantasyCon fast approaching there’s no time like the present to book your attendance at the event if you haven’t already done so. FantasyCon will take place from 27 – 30 September 2012 at the Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton, UK. A limited number of Saturday-only memberships are also now available.

Guests at the event will be: Joe R. Lansdale, Muriel Gray, Brent Weeks, Mary Danby, Mark Gatiss and Robin Hardy. Master of Ceremonies is Tim Lebbon.

There will be panel discussions, Q&As, book launches, readings and films, along with the British Fantasy Awards ceremony and the famed FantasyCon banquet and raffle.

Tickets are selling fast so book yours HERE

FantasyCon 2012 is delighted to announce the addition of two Special Media Guests to complement its already stellar line-up of Guests of Honour.

Actor, author and playwright Mark Gatiss is a quarter of the team who created the award-winning comedy/horror series The League of Gentlemen for the BBC. He also scripted the three-part Christmas portmanteau Crooked House and the 2010 TV movie of H.G. Wells’ First Men in the Moon, and he co-created the international hit TV series Sherlock with Steven Moffat.

As an actor, he has appeared in all the above shows, along with episodes of Being Human, Psychoville, Nighty Night, Clone, Jekyll, Funland, Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), The Wind in the Willows and Midsomer Murders.

Mark is also an author, and his books include the Lucifer Box trilogy, The Vesuvius Club, The Devil in Amber and Black Butterfly, four Doctor Who novels, along with a biography of Hollywood film director James Whale.

Robin Hardy is an author, playwright, film director and producer, best known for his 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man, starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Diane Cilento. Today, it is justifiably regarded as a classic of British cinema.

He followed it in 1986 with the Irish serial killer thriller The Fantasist, featuring Christopher Cazenove and Timothy Bottoms, and he co-scripted and produced the rarely-seen Forbidden Sun (aka Bulldance, 1989), a mystery based around ancient Cretan rituals starring Lauren Hutton and Cliff De Young.

His latest release is The Wicker Tree, which we will be screening at FantasyCon on the Friday evening, following a Q&A with Robin and screenwriter Stephen Volk. Neither a sequel nor a prequel, but inhabiting the same territory as the earlier film, it is based on the director’s novel, Cowboys for Christ.

Please note that Mark Gatiss and Robin Hardy will both be attending FantasyCon for a limited period only.

They join FantasyCon’s Author Guests of Honour, Joe R. Lansdale, Muriel Gray and Brent Weeks, Special Editor Guest Mary Danby, and Master of Ceremonies Tim Lebbon.

After the success of last year’s event, the convention is returning to the Royal Albion Hotel on the seafront in the historic seaside town of Brighton, East Sussex, over the weekend of 27 – 30 September 2012. For further information, including how to join, visit the website HERE

Mark Gatiss photo (c) Linda Nylind for the Guardian

FantasyCon 2012 is pleased to announce author, broadcaster and columnist Muriel Gray as its third Author Guest of Honour. Best remembered as co-presenter of Channel 4’s seminal early 1980s music programme The Tube, alongside Jools Holland and Paula Yates, she began her writing career in 1995 with the best-selling horror novel The Trickster (shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award). It was followed by two more, Furnace (1996) and The Ancient (2000), which Stephen King described as “scary and unputdownable”. She has also contributed many short stories to anthologies and magazines, and written for comics.

Muriel joins FantasyCon’s other Author Guests of Honour, legendary Texas “Mojo Story Writer” Joe R. Lansdale and New York Times best-selling fantasy author Brent Weeks, Special Editor Guest Mary Danby, and Master of Ceremonies Tim Lebbon.

The British Fantasy Society has recently announced its list of Nominees for this year’s British Fantasy Awards, and you can now book your place at the Awards Banquet on the Sunday afternoon. This gala event is always the highlight of the convention, but please be aware that places are strictly limited so early booking is advised.

Programming for the convention is also now being put together. As always, there will be panels, talks and presentations on a wide variety of genre-related topics presented over the weekend. If you are interested in being considered for programming, then please register HERE.  And if you are interested in doing a Reading from your own work, then go HERE to register.

Publishers who wish to sponsor Launch/Signing Parties, have material included in the Delegate Bags or donate prizes to the Raffle should contact info [at] fantasycon2012 [dot] org. This is also the same e-mail to contact if you are interested in advertising in the Souvenir Book or Pocket Programme.

The Dealers’ Room is currently sold out, but if you want to be put on a waiting list, in case anybody drops out, then please contact dealers [at] fantasycon2012 [dot] org

After the huge success of last year’s event, the convention is returning to the Royal Albion Hotel on the seafront, where rooms are now selling out fast. For those who require a little more luxury, there are also a limited number of rooms available at the nearby Queens Hotel. Booking information for both hotels can be found on the website HERE

FantasyCon 2012 is being held in the historic seaside town of Brighton, East Sussex, from 27 – 30 September 2012. If you haven’t joined up yet, then please do so now as membership prices will be increased from 1 June 2012. All you have to do is go to the “How to Join” page on the website HERE, submit the form with your details and then pay via the PayPal buttons. Alternatively, you can print out the form and mail it with a cheque to the address given.

FantasyCon 2012 is delighted to announce that New York Times best-selling author Brent Weeks has been added to its exciting line-up of guests. Brent is the author of “The Night Angel Trilogy”, featuring master assassin Durzo Blint, who practices his fatal art in a world of dangerous politics, strange magics and sudden death. The first volume in the series, The Way of Shadows, was published in 2008 and was quickly followed by Shadow’s Edge and Beyond the Shadows.

Perfect Shadow is a prequel novella in the same series, while the first book in the author’s new “Lightbringer” series, The Black Prism, launched in August 2010. It will be followed by The Blinding Knife, which will be published by Orbit in time for this year’s FantasyCon, which is being held in the historic seaside town of Brighton, East Sussex, over the weekend of 27 – 30 September 2012.

Brent joins the other Author Guest of Honour, legendary Texas “Mojo Story Writer” Joe R. Lansdale, Special Editor Guest Mary Danby and Master of Ceremonies Tim Lebbon.

With memberships fast approaching 200, if you have not joined up yet, do so now! All you have to do is go to the “How to Join” page on the website HERE. Full details of the convention are available on the website HERE

FantasyCon 2011 was voted runner-up in the Event of the Year category of the This Is Horror 2011 Awards. The winner of Event of the Year was FrightFest 2011.

To see all the winners and runners-up in all twelve categories go HERE

The nominees for the This is Horror Awards include FantasyCon 2011 in the ‘Event of the Year’ category, and there are lots of other events, publications, films and TV series of particular interest to BFS members who lean toward the darker side too.

To vote for your choices, go to the This is Horror website HERE. Voting ends 30 December 2011.