Derby Scribes invites everyone to the Brunswick Inn, Railway Terrace, Derby DE1 2RU on 21 November 2011 at 7:00pm to be regaled with tales of the supernatural, the comical, the fantastical and the horrific.

This is an evening not just for Scribes’ members, but for anyone at all to come along. If you’d like to showcase your own work during the evening, get in touch to arrange this.

Cost of entry is £4, which includes money off the Scribes’ current anthology, sandwiches and nibbles, as well as an evening of fiction. Tickets available on the door.

If you are a writer who is looking to improve, who wishes to become a published author, Renegade Writers could be just the ticket. Group members bring along their work in progress, read a bit out (if they wish), and then join in constructive discussions – all intended to help everyone improve. Current members include writers already professionally published, a publisher and editor, writers looking to make their first sale, and people at the start of their passion.

If you are a writer who dares to be different – come along. All genres catered for…

The next meeting is at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 26 October 2011 at the usual venue, the Jolly Potters, Hartshill, Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire ST4 7NH. Check the blog for further information on location, etc.

There is no entrance fee — just turn up for a friendly evening with like-minded folk.

National Novel Writing Month will soon be upon us. It’s a fantastic way to kick-start your writing, an online support network to help you stop procrastinating and get down to writing that novel!

Read The Independent’s article about it HERE and sign up to NaNoWriMo HERE

Guardian Masterclasses presents “Bringing Writing to Life”, a writing workshop with Alan Spence and Iain Banks.

The workshop takes place in Edinburgh on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 November 2011 from 10:00am to 5:00pm on each day. Price (inclusive of VAT) is £400.

Please see the website HERE for information and booking details.

“Authonomy is a writing community site for writers, readers and publishers, conceived and developed by book editors at HarperCollins. They aim to flush out the brightest, freshest new literature around.

If you’re a writer, authonomy is the place to show your face – and show off your writing on the web. Whether you’re unpublished, self-published, looking to get published, or just getting started, all you need is a few chapters to start building your profile online, and start connecting with the authonomy writing community.

And if you’re a reader, blogger publisher or agent, authonomy is for you too. The book world is kept alive by those who search out, digest and spread the word about the best new books – authonomy invites you to join its community, champion the best new writing and build a personal profile that really reflects your tastes, opinions and talent-spotting skills.

Authonomy are now thrilled to announce that they will be launcing a digital publishing programme dedicated to authonomy’s best authors! The books will be hand-picked by the authonomy Editorial Board, worked on by HarperCollins’ finest publishing teams, and published as HarperCollins digital originals across all possible devices.  This new HarperCollins list will look to publish one book a month, starting in January 2012. Most importantly, all of the titles will have been discovered on the authonomy.com website and will be published digital originals. The bestselling titles will go on to have print editions.”

Author, editor and publisher Ian Whates will visit the Birmingham Science Fiction Group in November 2011. Ian’s prolific career in SF has included his authoring of five novels as well as many short stories (one of which, “The Gift of Joy”, was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Awards). Furthermore, Ian has edited a string of SF anthologies, from Dislocations: Nine Stories of Speculation and Imagination (2007) to Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction (2011). On top of all this Ian set up NewCon Press in 2006, which has published a range of original fiction which have themselves garnered various awards.

With such a breadth of experience in the field of SF Ian is sure to give a fascinating insight into his process of writing, editing and publishing books.

The meeting is on 4 November 2011 at the Briar Rose Hotel on Bennett’s Hill, Birmingham; this venue is just 5 minutes walk from New Street Station and handy for all bus routes. The meeting opens its doors at 7:30 pm.

Please note that this meeting is on the first Friday in November, which varies from the BSFG’s usual tradition of meeting on the second Friday of the month!

Mslexia, the magazine for women writers, is inviting submissions of unpublished stories (up to 2,200 words) and poems (up to 40 lines) on the theme ‘In the year 2212…’.

Two hundred years hence, will we be teleporting or living in caves? In peaceful eco-cities or war-scarred refugee colonies on a distant planet? Cast your imaginative spotlight into the future and tell us what you see.

Closing date: 28 November 2011.

See www.mslexia.co.uk/submit for more information and full contributors’ guidelines, or call 0191 233 3860.

Hauntings Workshop
On 29 October 2011 1:00 – 3:00pm
At Chesterfield Library
Tickets £3/£2 concessions

This Alt.Fiction workshop will explore the world of ghost stories, enabling you to create your own atmospheric tale of terror. Led by Alex Davis, tutor, speaker and author, this session is the ideal prelude to the Hauntings afternoon performance. Bring a pen, some paper and your imagination!

Followed by:

Hauntings
29 October 2011 3:00-4.30pm
Chesterfield Library, Lecture Theatre
Tickets £5/£4 concessions

Alt.Fiction presents Hauntings, an afternoon of classic ghost stories to get you in the mood for Hallowe’en. Featuring a host of Victorian tales designed to send a chill down your spine, all presented by Sustained Magic Theatre Company, Hauntings is the perfect event for fans of classic literature and horror, or those who enjoy their theatre on the darker side.

Booksales and raffle will be available at the event. We advise that this event is suitable for people aged 16+

To book tickets for either event, call Chesterfield Tourist Information Centre on 01246 345777 or visit www.chesterfieldfestival.co.uk

Paroxysm Press seeks flash fiction for a new anthology of flash fiction, 100 Lightnings, edited by Stephen Studach. This will be a one hundred work anthology of some of the best new flash fiction from Australia and around the world. Submitted pieces should be from 0 to 1000 words in length. Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dark Realism and anything in between are accepted. Award winners are welcome.

The submission period is now open and will remain so until the editor has 100 brilliant works and that announcement is made. Payment is in contributor copies only.

For more information visit the Paroxysm Press website.

Christopher Teague, proprietor of Pendragon Press, announces as follows:

“In 1999 I embarked on a publishing journey with no real experience of, or knowledge in, what I was doing, but I edited and published Nasty Snips. Late next year, Pendragon Press will be publishing its first proper e-book – and a sequel to Nasty Snips – imaginatively titled NASTY SNIPS II.

I will, though, be helped by three co-editors to read the flood of submissions – yes, this is OPEN to ALL. My fellow editors are (in alphabetical order) Katy O’Dowd, Esther Sherman and Ross Anthony Warren. Submissions open on 3 October 2011 and will close on 31 January 2012.

Keeping in flavour with the original Nasty Snips, we are looking for short, sharp and shocking tales of original horror fiction no longer than 1000 words. Payment will be a token £10 upon acceptance (which works out at 1p per word), preferably by Paypal, for first World E-publication rights – all other rights reserved by you, the author.

E-mail your submissions (in typical MSS format) to: submissions [at] pendragonpress [dot] net. Please one story at a time, and simultaneous submissions are fine with us.”