The FUTURA science-fiction convention takes place at Wolverhampton’s Light House on the 15^th June, with a superb line-up of publishers and speakers taking part. The schedule has now been confirmed for this exciting and packed day of events, with something for all fans, readers and aspiring writers in the field.

The event will begin with a host of activities in both cinema spaces, including reading and Q+A sessions with the three Guests of Honour – Ken MacLeod, Adam Roberts and Ian R MacLeod. The cinemas will also host a range of panels, including sessions looking at the world of independent publishing, how to write great short stories, science-fiction’s place in the mainstream, the comic and graphic novel scene and many more.

These panels and readings offer a great chance to find out more about science-fiction on the whole, and these will be running alongside a number of ‘kafeeklatsch’ sessions. These allow audience members the chance to join an informal chat with their favourite authors – a unique chance to ask the questions that you may have for some of the leading writers on the day.

The courtyard area will be hosting a booksales area, featuring a range of booksellers and independent presses. Already confirmed are Wolverhampton Waterstones, Pendragon Press, Screaming Dreams, Fringeworks, Aethernet Magazine and more, offering you the chance to pick up some incredible bargains!

The evening of the event brings a host of fun activities to wrap up the day, including the live raffle draw, with some incredible prizes to give away. There will also be the mass signing – giving you the perfect chance to get your books at home or new purchases on the day signed – as well as a science-fiction quiz to close, with more fantastic prizes to be won!

Finally, you’ll be able to enjoy the Futura ‘Area of Ale’, with a great range of local beers and ales available to try. Both this and the bar will be open until late, giving you the chance to relax socialise after the day’s events draw to a close.

Event organiser Alex Davis said: ‘I’m really excited by the schedule of this event, which offers a great range of activities from the serious and professional to the light-hearted and fun. With so much to choose from, anyone coming along to the event is bound to find plenty to attend!’

Tickets to Futura are £25 for the day, including access to all of the above activities throughout. To book, call Light House Box Office on 01902 716055 or visit http://light-house.co.uk/featured/2013/05/futura-sci-fi-convention/

World Weaver Press (Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief) has announced the trade paperback release of Shards of History by Rebecca Roland, out now.

Shards of History is available in paperback and ebook via Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Kobo.com, and other online retailers. You can also find Shards of History on Goodreads.

Only she knows the truth that can save her people. Like all Taakwa, Malia fears the fierce winged creatures known as Jeguduns who live in the cliffs surrounding her valley. When the river dries up and Malia is forced to scavenge farther from the village than normal, she discovers a Jegudun, injured and in need of help. Malia’s existence–her status as clan mother in training, her marriage, her very life in the village–is threatened by her choice to befriend the Jegudun. But she’s the only Taakwa who knows the truth: that the threat to her people is much bigger and much more malicious than the Jeguduns who’ve lived alongside them for decades. Lurking on the edge of the valley is an Outsider army seeking to plunder and destroy the Taakwa, and it’s only a matter of time before the Outsiders find a way through the magic that protects the valley–a magic that can only be created by Taakwa and Jeguduns working together.

As previously announced, Roland’s new short story collection, The King of Ash and Bones, and Other Stories, including a tie-in toShards of History, will be released in digital edition on Tuesday, June 4, 2013.

An exiled man returns to his family and the life he left behind. A king is determined to avenge his people. A man doomed to die gives his wife her greatest wish. A suspected affair leads to a shocking and wondrous surprise. Roland works her magic again in this four-story collection of eerie and enchanting works, including Rasmus’s story from after Shards of History.

The King of Ash and Bones, and Other Stories will be available in ebook via amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, kobo.com, and other online retailers.

Rebecca Roland lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she writes primarily fantasy and horror. Her short fiction has appeared in Everyday Fiction, Uncle John’s Flush Fiction and in Stupefying Stories, and she is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s usually spending time with her family, torturing patients as a physical therapist, or eating way too much chocolate. You can find her online at Spice of Life, her blog, or follow her on Twitter @rebecca_roland.

A fractured Europe, a cook-turned-spy, a mighty web of espionage – but what happens when conspiracy threatens to overwhelm even reality itself?

Solaris is pleased to announce is has acquired Europe in Autumn by author and journalist Dave Hutchinson. The dystopian SF espionage thriller will be published in February 2014.

Rudi is a cook in a Kraków restaurant, but when his boss asks Rudi to help a cousin escape from the country he’s trapped in, a new career – part spy-part people-smuggler – begins. 

Following multiple economic crises and a devastating flu pandemic, Europe has fractured into myriad tiny countries, duchies, polities and republics. Recruited by the shadowy organisation Les Coureurs des Bois, Rudi is schooled in espionage, but when a training mission to The Line, a sovereign nation consisting of a trans-Europe railway line, goes wrong, he is arrested, beaten and Coureur Central must attempt a rescue.

With so many nations to work in, and identities to assume, Rudi is kept busy travelling across Europe. But when he is sent to smuggle someone out of Berlin and finds a severed head inside a locker instead, a conspiracy begins to wind itself around him.

With kidnapping, double-crosses and a map that constantly re-draws itself, Rudi begins to realise that underneath his daily round of plot and counter plot, behind the conflicting territories, another entirely different reality might be pulling the strings…

Editor-in-chief of Solaris, Jonathan Oliver, said: “Dave Hutchinson’s novel bowled me over with its brilliance from the first chapter. It’s an extraordinary alternative history of a near-future Europe laced with a Kafka-esque nightmare and written with all the cool-assuredness of a John le Carré. An incredibly original and insightful work of speculative fiction.”

The Kitschies, sponsored by The Kraken Rum, are pleased to announce that they are open for submissions for 2013 titles. The prize looks for the most “progressive, intelligent and entertaining books that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic”. A total of £2,000 in prize money is distributed amongst winners in three different categories, plus bottles of The Kraken Rum to all the finalists.

The judges for the Red and Golden Tentacles, for novels and debut novels, are Kate Griffin, Will Hill, Annabel Wright, Anab Jain and Nick Harkaway. The Inky Tentacle, for cover art, will be judged by Craig Kennedy, Sarah Anne Langton, Barry Nugent, Hazel Thompson and Emma Vieceli.

Award Director Jared Shurin adds, “As with previous years, there’s no fee to submit to The Kitschies. And, as of this year, we’re happy to accept ebooks in lieu of physical copies – making it even easier for small and independent publishers to submit their work. We want to make sure that that our judges see all the great work that’s coming out of the UK.”

Please see http://www.thekitschies.com/submissions.html for more details.

More detail about the judges can be found at: http://www.thekitschies.com/judges.html

In 2012, The Kitschies received a record 211 submissions from 40 publishers and imprints. Submissions are now open for 2013 titles and close on 1 December 2013.

Tartarus Press are delighted to announce that their next publication will be Night Voices by Robert Aickman. Reprinting this eighth volume of Aickman’s short stories means that all of his short fiction is now in print, and they hope to keep it that way, especially as 2014 will be Aickman’s centenary year.

The short stories contained in this collection are: ‘The Stains’, ‘Just a Song at Twilight’, ‘Laura’, ‘Rosamund’s Bower’, and ‘Mark Ingestre: The Customer’s Tale’. We have added Aickman’s fantasy novella ‘The Model’, along with his ‘Essay’ written on winning the First World Fantasy Award, and his Introductions to The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories. The volume contains an ‘Introduction’ by Barry Humphries, which is bookended by the reminiscence ‘Robert Remembered’ by Ramsey Campbell.

Night Voices is a sewn hardback of 316+ vii pages, printed lithographically, with silk ribbon marker, head and tailbands, and d/w. Price £32.50

Publication date 29th May 2013.

Following the stella success of Ramez Naam’s Nexus, Angry Robot are delighted to announce the acquisition of the third book in the series.

The as-yet unnamed book is the follow-up to 2013′s Nexus and the forthcoming Crux, and will be published in late 2014.

The deal for worldwide English and translation rights was negotiated by Angry Robot Senior Editor Lee Harris and Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency.

Ramez was heard to say “I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with Angry Robot again for the third Nexus book. I couldn’t ask for better partners in bringing this story to life and getting it out to fans. Especially after I injected Nexus nanoparticles into their brains and used those to control the team’s every thought.”

Whilst Lee came back with “Absolute poppycock, of course. We bought the series because it is one of the smartest near-future technothrillers we’ve seen in ages, and not because Ramez (who, incidentally, is superhumanly handsome, gifted and generous, and an amazing dancer) is controlling our thoughts and actions.”

Ramez Naam is a professional technologist, and was involved in the development of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook. He was the CEO of Apex Nanotechnologies, a company involved in developing nanotechnology research software before returning to Microsoft. He holds a seat on the advisory board of the Institute for Accelerating Change, is a member of the World Future Society, a Senior Associate of the Foresight Institute, and a fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Ramez is the author of More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement, and is also the recipient of the 2005 HG Wells Award for Contributions to Transhumanism, awarded by the World Transhumanist Association.

Nexus was his first novel, and Crux will be published in September 2013.

He can be found online, on Twitter and his site.

Screaming Dreams are proud to announce that Black Mirrors by Paul Edwards is now available.

Black Mirrors is the debut collection from Paul Edwards. Originally published as a paperback by Rainfall Books, this title is now available as a Kindle edition from Screaming Dreams. Featuring fourteen stories of dark fiction to satisfy your twisted souls!

Available on Kindle from http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CXACN5U and in ePub format from https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/318898

Screaming Dreams also have two other books now available on Smashwords:

Now That I’ve Lost You by Paul Edwards
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/318923

In these nineteen tales of love and loss, sex and death, you will brave witches, warlocks and the living dead; traverse uncharted, hypnotic highways; and you will meet up with green-eyed losers who inhabit small spaces: whether it’s graveyards, old churches, or their own echoing heads.

Songs from Spider Street by Mark Howard Jones
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/318614

Ambitious killers, haunted clowns, energetic layabouts, tender murderers, discontented lovers, honest thieves and the occassional mislaid hero all jostle for their place in a finely-spun web of desire and death, pleading to be heard. A collection of short story dark fiction.

Out now from The Alchemy Press:

In the Broken Birdcage of Kathleen Fair by Cate Gardner

When the mirror released Kathleen into the unknown, for the briefest of moments she giggled and realised that she’d never laughed before. She had been a blank canvas, sitting and waiting in a room and occasionally bouncing from wall to wall desperate for freedom – and now she was out. White walls no longer surrounded her. In this new place, a thousand mirrors spun reflecting worlds.

The first in The Alchemy Novella Series, available in Kindle format via Amazon, only £1.35

For the ePub version contact The Alchemy Press - alchemypress [at] gmail.com

The Lutterworth Press have announced the upcoming release of their book The Ideal of Kingship in the Writings of Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R Tolkien: Divine Kingship is reflected in Middle-Earth on 27 June 2013. This new work forms an inter-disciplinary approach to the notion of Kingship – literary, theological and historic – that offers a deeper understanding of the work of the three Oxford ‘Inklings’ and their concepts and ideals of kingship.

Ultimately claiming that the foundations of these authors’ ideal of kingship are important to consider in light of today’s Christian belief (or lack of it) in contemporary Britain, Christopher Scarf assesses the authors individually for characteristics of their writing. In the three authors’ work he evaluates the concepts of the vicegerent, the experience of joy, the divine court, hierarchy, life in the kingdom and the historical notion of kingship. It is in understanding these ideas and ideals that the true contributions of these great men to English Life and Literature can be fully appreciated.

This fascinating study looks at three of the world’s most famous authors in new light, and offers novel insight into their oft-studied books.

From the dark hills of America to detective stories from the dawn of time, the cutting edge publisher of science-fiction, horror and fantasy, Solaris, has bolstered its Spring 2014 schedule with intriguing acquisitions from two exceptional talents.

Blood Kin by Steve Rasnic Tem will be published in March 2014 and follows last year’s critically-acclaimed novel for Solaris, Deadfall Hotel.

Set in the southern Appalachians of the US, alternating between the 1930s and the present day, Blood Kin is a dark Southern Gothic vision of ghosts, witchcraft, secret powers, snake-handling, Kudzu, Melungeons, and the Great Depression. Michael Gibson returns home following a suicide attempt and now takes care of his sickly grandmother. In a field not far from the Gibson family home lies an iron-bound crate within a small shack buried four feet deep under kudzu vine. Michael somehow understands that hidden inside that crate is potentially his own death, his grandmother’s death, and perhaps the deaths of everyone in the valley if he does not understand her story well enough.

Editor-in-chief of Solaris, Jonathan Oliver, said: “Steve’s Deadfall Hotel was one the highlights of 2012 for Solaris: a moving, powerful and haunting horror novel. Blood Kin, likewise, promises to be something extraordinary. Steve walks in the traditions of such great writers as Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon and Flannery O’Connor, while enriching the field with his own unique take on genre.”

Talus and the Frozen King by Graham Edwards will be published in April next year and tells the story of Talus – the world’s first detective.

A dead warrior king frozen in winter ice. Six grieving sons, each with his own reason to kill. Two weary travellers caught up in a web of suspicion and deceit. In a distant time long before our own, wandering bard Talus and his companion Bran journey to the island realm of Creyak, where the king has been murdered. From clues scattered among the island’s mysterious barrows and stone circles, they begin their search for his killer. Creyak is place of secrets and spirits, mystery and myth. It will take a clever man indeed to unravel the truth. The kind of man this ancient world has not seen before.

Jon said: “Graham’s novel is a murder mystery like no other. A richly evoked past draws you into this unusual thriller and the characters of Talus and Bran have to be one of the most entertaining crime-fighting duos ever. A startlingly innovative book and a corking good read!”