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

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

“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”.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Award-winning horror/crime writer Joe R. Lansdale is the first Guest of Honour to be announced, with editor/ anthologist Mary Danby – best known as editor of The Fontana Book of  Horror Stories from 1970 to 1984 – as Special Editor Guest.

Further guests to be announced shortly. Full details at the FantasyCon website

FantasyCon 2012 will take place from 27 September – 30 September 2012, at the Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton.

We are delighted to announce that  British FantasyCon will be returning to the historic seaside city of Brighton in 2012.

Membership rates and hotel booking details will be posted on the site in late November, while a rough programming grid is now available.

We will also be announcing an exciting range of Guests of Honour covering the entire spectrum and history of the fantastic arts in literature, publishing and the media.

Anyone who signed-up to the now-cancelled Corby event at this year’s FantasyCon will be offered the opportunity to convert their membership to Brighton 2012 or will receive a full refund. Please wait to be contacted.

I undertook to review and overhaul the BFS Awards. The old system that served us for such a long time had a hole punched in it this year. It was always a vulnerable system and with its weakness to “boosting” votes now only too exposed, it is in my view irreparable. I have consulted widely and I must say I have had terrific input and support from people connected with the Clarke Awards, the BSFA and SF Awards Watch. There appear to be more voting systems at large than there are denominations of the Protestant church but there are some great ideas around, even if some are contradictory. So here is the plan.

Stage 1: Before coming up with a new system I need to collect some hard data from the Society’s membership about your preferences. We will conduct an online survey of the Society’s membership and we will use the data returned to propose a new formulation.

Stage 2: The new formulation, whatever it is, will be put together by a small working group of “wise men and women” in response to the data.

Stage 3: That formulation will then be put to the EGM on December 9th. We will also collect votes electronically.

It won’t be possible to come up with a system that satisfies everyone. But it will be possible to come up with a system that has the consent of most of the Society.

The survey will also go to attendees of Fantasycon 2010, 2011 and 2012 who are not BFS members.

Why a survey not a vote? The logic of this is that Fantasycon attendees are entitled to vote on the awards and I feel they are entitled to express a preference. (Though of course Fcon attendees who are not BFS members are constitutionally not permitted to vote on EGM or AGM motions, so will not be able to vote on the final proposal.)

The survey will go out later this month and will close after a week. The motion for a new system will be assembled and published in readiness for the EGM. The proposed timetable for all this is as follows:

Monday 24 October: Post Survey online

Monday 31 October: Close survey

November 18: Working group makes recommendation. Recommendation posted.

December 9: Electronic ballot to close before EGM. Electronic votes and live votes tallied at EGM.

Graham Joyce

As Chairman of the Society, David’s responsibilities made him duty bound to fill in for committee members if they were unable to perform their nominated tasks, and in this case he was forced to step in when the actual awards administrator was unable to continue due to personal issues. Having to organise the awards at short notice, and with no-one else on the Committee able to assist due to time constraints, David was obliged to organise everything connected with the presentation of the Awards.

David did not have any involvement with the nominations, short listing or the voting process, other than the with the awards administration (procuring the statuettes, plaques, etc) and we are happy that the voting/counting process was 100% accurate within the scope of the current rules. We therefore completely exonerate David from any wrongdoing in the administration of the 2011 Awards.

David has worked extremely hard for the society this past year and has, we believe, raised the profile of the BFS significantly with the changes he has instigated and the work he has put in. We are very sorry, therefore that this situation, and the words of members of the society aimed personally at David, have forced him into a position to tender his resignation. The Committee regretfully respects his decision to stand down.

There are several issues, notably the awards procedure, that need to be addressed going forward in order to maintain the integrity of the society. These measures are already being discussed and will be announced and implemented as soon as practicable.

Ramsey Campbell
President, British Fantasy Society

Please do leave your comments and thoughts.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL32260EBC2F88BAD1

Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man (2010)

90 Mins

Directed by Jason Brock

Imagine becoming the top writer for Playboy in your twenties. Imagine being a mainstay for the ground-breaking Twilight Zone series.

Imagine verging on the cusp of a major film writing career. Then imagine a mysterious illness stealing your mind and youth …

ALSO (on a lighter note!):

On Saturday from 10:00 pm – Midnight in the Lounge

Spine-chilling, mouth-watering and rib-tickling amusements from …

TEATRO PROBERTO

Proudly Present..

Blood on Satan’s Claw: A Pantomime
&
Corruption

BURLESQUE FROM BEYOND

Performances by:
Miss Baby Bones & Alessa Dark
Bea Devile
Ruby Demure & Infinity Favour
(The Flirtinis)
Esmeralda Underwood

Warning!
Not for the faint of heart or those of a nervous disposition!

Important notice: From Wednesday 29 September we can no longer accept electronic or postal memberships to FantasyCon.

From the same date, we will also no longer be accepting registrations for the final few specialist Masterclasses that are still available. If you wish to attend any of these events, you can either book today on the website or enquire at the registration desk if any spaces are still available.

Note that membership for FantasyCon 2011 has now reached 500, which is very close to our limit.

A limited number of day memberships may still be available on the Saturday only for £40. These can be purchased at the registration desk in Brighton on a strictly first-come basis.

The programme for next weekend is now available on the FantasyCon 2011 website. See what to attend, plan your day around book launches or readings or panel discussions…

Interest in our EXPERT MASTERCLASSES on the Saturday has been so overwhelming that we have had to move the sessions to a bigger room in the Royal York Hotel! This has allowed us to increase slightly the number of places available. However, despite this, one of the classes is already sold out and the others are filling up very fast.

We still have a few slots available in the following, but you need to book NOW to avoid disappointment, and please supply an ALTERNATIVE session if your first choice is sold out:

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – HOW TO WRITE FOR COMICS
Have you ever thought about a career in comics and graphic novels? Think you can be the next Neil Gaiman? Well, join Mike Carey (writer for comics and author of graphic novels such as Lucifer, X-Men Legacy, The Unwritten and the “Felix Castor” novels) as he outlines the secrets of how to write for the comics industry and how you can have a professional career in one of the most successful entertainment industries in the world!

11:00 a.m. to Noon – HOW A PUBLISHING DEAL WORKS
Written your first novel and have no idea how to sell it? And just what are “advances”, “royalties”, “subsidiary rights” and “reserves against returns”? Will Francis of the Janklow and Nesbit Literary Agency will explain to all you budding authors out there what to look for when you receive that all-important offer, how to avoid the pitfalls that might await you, and how to get a start on the road to a bestseller.

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. – HOW TO WRITE A BOOK THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO FILM
Forget books! Movies are where the real money is, right? So how can you turn your novel into the next Hollywood blockbuster? Meg Davis of the Ki Literary Agency knows all the secrets, and she’ll share them with you so that you can turn your book into a suitable project for film and TV adaptation.

2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. – THE MAKING OF A BOOK
So just how does publishing work? How do your idea get from manuscript onto the printed page and then into the bestseller lists? Here at last are the arcane workings of the publishing industry revealed! Join experienced editor and publisher Jo Fletcher (Jo Fletcher Books, Gollancz, Pan, Headline etc.) as she explains how your book will make that all-important passage from initial submission to final publication. These are the secrets that every author should know!

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. – THE HOT SEAT: SCREENWRITING
Got a great idea for a movie or a TV series, but no idea what to do with it next? How do you get a project off the ground and what are the studios and networks looking for these days? Well, never fear — help is here in the form of acclaimed screenwriter Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch, Gothic, Afterlife) who will tell you everything you have ever wanted to know about scriptwriting for film and television.

5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m – PUBLISHING THE TITAN WAY
Ever wanted to write a movie or TV tie-in? Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to create a sequel to the exploits of a popular fictional character? Or maybe there’s a huge coffee-table volume on a particular artist or film series that you’ve always wanted to put together? So where do you go with these ideas? Well, to Titan Books of course — the UK’s leading publisher of media tie-ins and now creating new works based around some of the classic characters of old!  Join Cath Trechman of Titan Books for an insight into the process of writing series and tie-in fiction.

This is your chance to learn from the experts! It is the kind of expert tuition and restricted access that money simply just can’t buy! Well, actually, now it can . . .

All Expert Masterclasses cost just £5.00 each and are available on a first-come basis. Payment will not be refunded if you fail to attend.

We fully expect these unique sessions with these experts to sell out in advance. However, if a particular slot is not fully booked prior to the convention, then you will be able to sign up in advance at the FantasyCon 2011 Registration Desk in the lobby of the Royal Albion Hotel.

To book your Masterclass, please go HERE

Rumours of the Marvellous

Watch the video: Rumours of the Marvellous

Hunter’s Moon, the debut novella from Charlotte Bond
Lest You Should Suffer Nightmares, the biography of Herbert Van Thal by Johnny Mains
Kingston to Cable, the short novel by Gary Greenwood
The Joy of Technology, the debut chapbook by Roy Gray
Isabel Jane, the debut chapbook by Catherine Dale

There will be some free drink and refreshments on offer – along with the books of course!

Weeping Woman (2011) 8 Mins
Directed by Mark Steensland
Written by Paul Kane
UK Premiere – A travelling salesman discovers the danger behind taking a shortcut home.

Wishmaster (1997) 90 Mins
Directed by Robert Kurtzman
Written by Peter Atkins
A demonic djinn attempts to grant its owner three wishes, which will allow him to summon his brethren to earth.

The Devil’s Rock (2011) 83 Mins
Directed by Paul Campion
Screenplay by Paul Finch, Paul Campion & Brett Ihaka
Set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D-Day, two Kiwi commandos are sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler’s forces away from Normandy; however, they discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces in order to win the war.

Later (2011) 17 Mins
Directed by Simon Duric
Screenplay by Simon Duric based on the story by Michael Marshall Smith
Richard and Rachel are deeply in love but their life together ends when Rachel dies in a tragic accident…

Mail Order (2011) 16 Mins
Directed by Eric Shapiro
Screenplay by Eric Shapiro based on the story by Jack Ketchum
World Premiere – Not for the faint of heart, this is a story about a snuff film connoisseur.

Let Me In (2010) 116 Mins
Directed by Matt Reeves
Screenplay by Matt Reeves based on the novel and screenplay “Låt den rätte komma in” by John Ajvide Lindqvist
A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.

‘

All Expert Masterclasses cost only ’5.00 each and are limited to just’TEN places per session on a first-come basis. Payment will not be’refunded if you fail to attend. The schedule and payment details have been posted on the FantasyCon website.

If you’re an artist wishing to reserve a place, there are a few remaining Artists’ Row tables that can be booked at a rate of ’15 (limit of one table per artist) — if you have already purchased a membership to the convention. If you’re not already registered, then FantasyCon 2011 has agreed a special Artists’ Membership of ’50, which covers a weekend membership and one table in Artists’ Row.

 If you wish the convention to sell prints on your behalf via the FantasyCon Print Table, there is a small commission of 10% on all sales payable to the convention. Full details can be found on the website.

‘Once again it will be hosted by the sartorial-sharp team of Sarah Pinborough and Guy Adams (“The Ant and Dec of Free Stuff”). There will hopefully be many swish prizes up for grabs – ranging from signed books, limited editions, proof copies, artwork, prints and many rare treasures yet to be imagined!

However, WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please help us by donating a prize (or, even better, prizes) to support the Raffle. All donations — and we really do mean “all” — are very welcome, and the presenters will do their best to name-check as many people and publishers as possible. Email chair@fantasycon2011.org if you have something to donate.

Raffle tickets will be on sale at the convention throughout the Friday (check at the Registration desk if you cannot find the Redshirts selling them).’

FANTASYCON 2011 will be held over the weekend of 30th September to 2nd October 2011 at the Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton; venue for the highly successful 2010 World Horror Convention.

The first two GUESTS OF HONOUR TO BE ANNOUNCED are: World Fantasy Award-winning author and critic GWYNETH JONES, also known as Ann Halam, and Swedish horror writer JOHN AJVIDE LINDQVIST, author of the best-selling LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, which was adapted into a movie first in his native Sweden and more recently remade in the U.S. as LET ME IN, starring Chloe Moretz from KICK ASS.

MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES is SARAH PINBOROUGH, British Fantasy Award-winning Author of The Language of Dying and A Matter of Blood.

Other professional writers, artists, editors and publishers already registered as attending FantasyCon 2011 include: Guy Adams, Ramsey Campbell, Vincent Chong, Peter Crowther (PS Publishing), Les Edwards, Simon R. Green, Stephen Jones, Paul Kane, Michael Marshall Smith, Gary McMahon, Adam LG Nevill, Kim Newman, Nicholas Royle, Robert Shearman, Steve Tribe (BBC Books), Rio Youers and many more.

Current cost of registration stands at £45 (£40 to BFS members), costs will increase incrementally between now and the convention. To book your ticket, and for more information about the Guests or MC, please visit the website: www.fantasycon2011.org.

The first two Guests of honour have been announced: World Fantasy Award-winning author and critic Gwyneth Jones, also known as Ann Halam, and Swedish horror writer John Ajvide Lindqvist, author of the best-selling Let the Right One In, which was adapted into a movie first in his native Sweden and more recently remade in the US as Let Me In.

The Mistress of Ceremonies is Sarah Pinborough, British Fantasy Award-winning Author of The Language of Dying and A Matter of Blood.

Other writers, artists, editors and publishers already registered as attending FantasyCon 2011 include: Guy Adams, Ramsey Campbell, Vincent Chong, Peter Crowther, Les Edwards, David J. Howe, Gwyneth Jones, Stephen Jones, Paul Kane, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Gary McMahon, Adam LG Nevill, Sarah Pinborough, PS PUBLISHING, Nicholas Royle, and many more.

Visit the FC2011 website for more information.

• Jenny Barber: http://bradanpress.blogspot.com/2010/09/fcon-2010-aftermath.html
• David A. Riley: http://davidandrewriley.blogspot.com/2010/09/fantasycon-2010_19.html
• Adrian Faulkner: http://www.adrianfaulkner.com/content/node/53
• The RCMB: http://www.knibbworld.com/campbelldiscuss/messages/1/4060.html?1284984179
• The SFX blog: http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/09/20/blog-fantasycon-2010/
• Louise Morgan: http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/fantasycon-2010
• Sam Stone: http://sam-stone.blogspot.com/2010/09/fantasycon-2010-and-bfs-awards.html
• Simon Bestwick: http://simon-bestwick.blogspot.com/2010/09/back-from-fantasycon.html
• Mark West: http://markwestwriter.blogspot.com/
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/#search?q=fantasycon
• Floor to Ceiling Books: http://floor-to-ceiling-books.blogspot.com/2010/09/horr-i-mean-fantasycon-2010.html 
• Ian Sales: http://iansales.com/2010/09/20/space-frogmen-magnetic-shower-curtains-and-jugs-fantasycon-2010/ and http://iansales.com/2010/09/21/undersea-habitats-full-stops-and-low-humour-a-little-more-on-fantasycon-2010/
• Un:Bound: http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/2010/09/fantasy-con-2010-round-up.html (which links to lots more, as well as hosting video and audio footage of the event)
• Kai Savage: http://kaisavage.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/fantasycon-2010/
• Stephen Theaker: http://theakersquarterly.blogspot.com/2010/09/mr-theakers-quarterly-fiction-goes-to.html
• Pablo Cheesecake: http://www.theeloquentpage.co.uk/2010/09/20/fantasycon-2010/
• Stuart Young: http://stuyoung.blogspot.com/2010/09/fantasycon-2010.html
• David Tallerman: http://davidtallerman.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-first-fantasycon-part-1-all-stuff.html
• David Hebblethwaite: http://davidhblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/fantasycon-2010/
• Laura Watkinson: http://www.laurawatkinson.com/2010/09/22/fantasycon-fantastic/
• Fiskerton’s video footage of the British Fantasy Awards: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AC0C1746804283BB
• Mangacat: http://lifewhatnots.blogspot.com/2010/09/fantasycon.html
• Jonathan Green: http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.com/2010/09/24-hours-in-nottingham-or-how-i-learned.html
• Mike Shevdon: http://shevdon.com/how-to-sign-an-ebook
• Adam Christopher: http://www.adamchristopher.co.uk/?p=1593
• Daniele Serra: http://www.multigrade.it/wordpress/?p=223
• Geoff Nelder: http://geoffnelder.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/fancy-that-at-fantasycon/
• Adam LG Nevill: http://adamlgnevill.blogspot.com/2010/09/fantasycon-2010-nottingham-british.html

Don’t miss out again! The 2011 convention will be in Brighton: www.fantasycon2011.org.

A leaflet for booking for 2011 is up on the FantasyCon 2010 website. Note that payment and form must be received by 25 September 2010.

The anthology will be published by Gray Friar Press in September 2010 and launched at FantasyCon 10.

It will be a mixture of original stories and reprints… pre-order it NOW!

Story Notes PART ONE | PART TWO

The editors, authors/artist and publisher will receive no fees for this work. Any profits made from sales will be donated to anti-racist or human rights organizations, e.g. The Sophie Lancaster Foundation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Nina Allan Feet of Clay | R.J. Krijnen-Kemp Volk | Lisa Tuttle In the Arcade | John Howard A Flowering Wound | Tony Richards Sense | Alison Littlewood In On the Tide | R.B. Russell Decision | Mat Joiner South of Autumn | Rosanne Rabinowitz Survivor’s Guilt | Rhys Hughes Rediffusion | Simon Kurt Unsworth A Place For Feeding | Joe R. Lansdale The Night They Missed the Horror Show | Kaaron Warren Ghost Jail | Steve Duffy The Torturer | Gary McMahon Methods of Confinement | Rob Shearman Damned If You Don’t | Carole Johnstone Machine | Stephen Volk After the Ape | David Sutton Zulu’s War | Thana Niveau Death of Dreams | Andrew Hook Beyond Each Blue Horizon | Ramsey Campbell The Depths | Simon Bestwick Malachi

Blind Swimmer

Isolation is a subject that humans have a tricky and contradictory relationship with. On the one hand we fear loneliness, seeking to banish it with contact with others and suffering considerable negative effects from it sometimes. Fundamentally we are a gregarious species. But on the other hand, a contradicting force often sends us desperately seeking isolation. Maybe this is a symptom of the world we live in that creates the need to escape from it in order to actually achieve things. Or maybe it is a deeper dichotomy in our own psyches. Writers in particular feel this dichotomy, which must be why it is quite a prevalent one in literature. Lovecraft, for instance, wrote about little else. Blind Swimmer is an anthology of stories and novellas that seek to explore this isolation, especially in terms of creativity and in terms of how that isolation relates to the outside world.

The anthology is also a kind of “sampler” and snapshot of Eibonvale Press itself at this key moment in time, featuring all of its writers to date, past, present and near future, in a fascinating experiment in collaboration, with various contributors playing off each other and all giving their best towards a sum greater than its parts. Featuring: Joel Lane, Nina Allan, Gerard Houarner, Rhys Hughes, Brendan Connell, David Rix, Allen Ashley, Jet McDonald, Douglas Thompson, Terry Grimwood, Alexander Zelenyj, and Andrew Coulthard.

Sylvow

In the city of Sylvow, brother and sister Claudia and Leo Vestra made a childhood promise to each other: he would look after the plants and she would look after the animals. Unlike most promises, both of these were kept – each in their own way. Claudia is now a vet – looking after pampered pets or putting down strays and leading a mundane life in the city. Leo, on the other hand, disenchanted with modern urban life, has abruptly abandoned his wife and disappeared into the surrounding forest, his only contact with the outside world being a sequence of dramatic and prophetic letters –increasingly convinced that a semi-sentient natural world is preparing to rebel against its human irritants.

Nature is a strange thing – although we have done an amazing job of cataloguing and observing it, we still know very little about it. Nature always surprises – and always changes, especially under an external influence such as humanity’s devastating effect on the environment. This book follows its cast of characters through a spectacular clash between everyday life and life on the evolutionary scale – as society dissolves and is stripped away under the onslaught of surreal environmental disaster. Douglas Thompson has dug deep into the inevitable guilt that we all feel, as a culture/species, for the disastrous state of civilization and its effect on both ourselves and the world around us. Sylvow incorporates elements of literary surrealism, philosophy, horror, disaster novel and science fiction into a visionary and highly original work.

Please do take the time to register any books you’re thinking of bringing – it doesn’t take long. Each book will be assigned a BookCrossing code (a BCID) which you then write (or put on a post-it, depending on how you feel about writing in books!) inside. This means you can track the book’s travels on the BookCrossing site – and some have been known to go all around the world.

If you’re not signed up, and you don’t fancy creating your own account, we have a BFS account which members can use – just ask Louise Morgan (LouM on the BFS forums) and she’ll send you the login details.

Likewise, if you pick up any books that have been registered and have a BCID inside, please go to the site and mark them as found – it only takes a minute or two, and again, you can use the BFS account if you don’t have one of your own.

If everyone coming to Fantasycon registers and brings just one or two books, this could be rather brilliant. I can see it becoming a real highlight of the event every year…

Peter F. Hamilton was born in Rutland in 1960. He began writing in 1987, and sold his first short story to Fear magazine in 1988. He has also been published in Interzone and the In Dreams and New Worlds anthologies, and several small press publications. His first novel was Mindstar Rising, published in 1993, and he has been steadily productive since then.

Peter lives near Rutland Water with his wife Kate, daughter Sophie and son Felix. Visit www.peterfhamilton.co.uk to find out more about Peter’s books.

Mistress of Ceremonies will be our very own Sarah Pinborough, British Fantasy Award-Wiinning Author of The Language of Dying and A Matter of Blood.

Guests of Honour to be advised at a later date. Full information about how to book accommodation etc. will be avaiilable shortly via our website.

FantasyCon 2010 is delighted to annnounce the THIRD Guest of Honour will be Bryan Talbot.

He’s worked on DC Vertigo titles including Hellblazer, Sandman, The Dreaming and Fables and has written and drawn the graphic novels for which he is best known: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Heart of Empire, The Tale of One Bad Rat, Alice in Sunderland and Grandville.

In July 2009 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Arts by Sunderland University.

His website is: www.bryan-talbot.com

Bryan joins previously announced guests Garry Kilworth and Lisa Tuttle alongside MC James Barclay at FantasyCon 2010.

Garry Kilworth has been writing short-stories and novels for nearly forty years. A Yorkshireman who went walkabout from the age of two, he loves to travel the world with a pack on his back and his wife Annette by his side.

Since the publication of his first novel  ‘In Solitary’ he has written SF, fantasy, children’s fiction and, as Garry Douglas, a series of historical war novels.

He is the recipient of both a British Science Fiction Award and World Fantasy Award, both for the same story, ‘The Ragthorn’ written in collaboration with a Rob Holdstock. He has also been twice shortlisted for the children’s Carnegie Medal award and won the Lancashire ‘Children’s Book of the Year Award’ (which is judged by kids so pleases him immensely).

Garry joins GOH Lisa Tuttle and MC James Barclay at FantasyCon 2010…

Lisa Tuttle won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1974, and went on to write seven novels and numerous short stories (four collections published so far)  as well as fiction for young adults and children and several non-fiction books, including Encyclopedia of Feminism.

Among her best-known books are Windhaven, written in collaboration with George R.R. Martin, Lost Futures, short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, A Nest of Nightmares (described by Stephen Jones as “without doubt one of the finest collections of horror stories to appear for many years”), The Pillow Friend, and The Mysteries.

Her most recent novel was a romantic fantasy set in a Scottish village overwhelmed by creatures and events from ancient legend, The Silver Bough. Her complete short stories (almost 100) are forthcoming in three volumes from Ash Tree Press.

Lisa has worked as a journalist – five years as a reporter, reviewer, feature writer and television columnist for The Austin American-Statesman followed by occasional free-lance work for various publications, including Time Out, City Limits and The Bookseller, while she was based in London during the 1980s.

Also during that time she taught science fiction classes (reading and writing)  for the extra-mural department of the University of London at the City Lit.  She’s also been the tutor-in-residence on several Arvon courses – twice at Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, once at the centre in Devon, twice at Moniack Mhor in Scotland.

Herself a former Clarion  student (New Orleans, 1971, and Seattle, 1972) she returned to teach at Clarion West in 1991. In addition, she’s taught occasional one-day writing workshops in various venues around Britain, and has been involved with informal professional writing groups throughout her career, being one of the founder members (with Howard Waldrop, Tom Reamy, Steven Utley and others) of the Turkey City Writers’ Workshop in Texas, and Writers’ Bloc in London (with Christopher Evans, R.M. Lamming, Garry Kilworth, Robert Holdstock and David Wingrove)., as well as attending the English Milford for a number of years.

Born and raised in Texas, she received a BA in English (Creative Writing) from Syracuse University in 1973.  Since 1990, she’s been living in a remote, rural part of Scotland with her husband, Colin Murray, who now works as a freelance editor and writer after many years in publishing, and their daughter, Emily.

And to whet your appetite you can see James in action from FantasyCon 2008 below…

Best Novel 2008: Ramsey Campbell

Martin Roberts | MySpace Video

Further details about Kingston to Cable and other titles from Pendragon Press can be found here.

For more information, see here.

Early bird bookings are available until January 11 at the vastly reduced rate of £35 for the entire weekend. From then until March 31 the price is £45, and on April 1 it rises to £55. From July 1 the price will be £65.

Tickets for Saturday only will be available for £35.

Non-members pay £10 more in each case.

Email fcon@britishfantasysociety.org for more info on booking your place!

Whether you’re interested in joining the committee (ideal for anyone looking to enhance their CV) or just helping to set up on Friday, drop a line to fcon@britishfantasysociety.org.