If you are a member of the BFS you should by now have received (or shortly be receiving) the latest BFS Journal (Autumn 2012). The Journal contains new fiction and poetry by: Christopher Golden, Gary Fry, Peter Crowther, Allen Ashley, Terry Grimwood and others. This issue also includes interviews with Nina Allan, Rhys Hughes, David A. Sutton and graphic artist Emma Vieceli (who also provides the amazing cover art for this issue of the Journal). Together with regular and one-off features by Mark Morris, Ramsey Campbell, Garry Kilworth (on crafting the short story) and Editorial Director of Gollancz Gillian Redfearn among others, this issue is jam-packed full of interesting content.

All BFS members receive the BFS Journal on a quarterly basis along with their other benefits of membership. If you haven’t yet joined the BFS but would like to do so to secure your copy of The Journal please go to the “join the BFS” page HERE

More news on this later in the week but, as a teaser, here’s the cover of the Autumn 2012 issue. Illustration by the awesome Emma Vieceli!

(click on the image for a better look!)

We hope you have been enjoying your copy of the Spring BFS Journal and thank everyone for the many messages of support for the new combined publication that we have received from the membership and beyond.

As you are aware, the Journal is put together on a volunteer basis, the contributors and editorial team giving their own time to produce every issue. Over the last year Lou Morgan has been instrumental in helping form the new Journal, combining the three previous BFS Publications into one title. Now, due to her growing writing commitments, Lou has decided to step down as Non-fiction Editor. We’re sure that you would like to join us in thanking Lou for all her hard work and wish her well for her new novel, Blood and Feathers, out 2 August from Solaris.

We are taking this opportunity to look at how we produce the Journal – how the entire process can be streamlined to ensure it is the best it can possibly be; a publication to be proud of, free of publication delays.

In line with this, a new Editorial Team is being assembled. Cavan Scott is to take over as Journal Editor, responsible for the overall feel and direction of the Journal. Cavan has many years experience editing newsstand magazines for such publishers as Future Publishing and BBC Magazines and will also continue to oversee the production process. He is joined by Stuart Douglas, publisher of Obverse Books, who is coming onboard as Non-Fiction Editor. Guy Adams and Ian Hunter are also remaining as essential parts of the Journal team, continuing their sterling work as Fiction and Poetry Editors respectively.

In order to ensure that we can establish a regular publishing schedule, we have made the hard decision not to publish a Summer Edition. This means that we have the entire Summer to make plans, gather second-to-none articles and set out plans for the years ahead. The next edition will be published in the Autumn and will be packed with must-read articles, fiction and poetry. To accommodate the short hiatus, members will automatically have their membership extended, meaning that they still get four issues in their ‘year’ of membership.

We would like to ask for your patience as we run through this process to ensure that the future of the Journal is as smooth-running as possible.

If you have any questions, please contact Cavan Scott on journal@britishfantasysociety.org. Contributors who have already submitted articles should be assured that their content isn’t going to waste. They will still appear in the Journal.

New submission guidelines are currently being compiled and more news about the Autumn Journal will be posted soon – so, as the saying goes, watch this space.

BFS members should have received their email detailing how to download their digital copy of the Spring BFS Journal. From this edition, the Journal is available as a PDF, epub and mobi for all your ereader needs.

The email also includes details of how to download issue one of Shelflings. Shelflings, compiled and typeset by Stephen Theaker, is a new BFS ezine featuring reviews that were commissioned and edited by Craig Lockley, Phil Lunt and Jay Eales for the British Fantasy Society website, with some reviews that were commissioned by Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards.

If you have problems with your ebook editions please contact Journal Production Manager Cavan Scott (journal@britishfantasysociety.org) and don’t forget you can discuss any of the BFS’s publications on our forum HERE

In his Mark of Fear column in the latest issue of the BFS Journal, Mark Morris writes:

“Why do writers write? What compels them to commit their thoughts and ideas to paper, and then to present them for the scrutiny, criticism and approbation of others? A recent Facebook update from Gary McMahon gave me pause for thought. In it he claimed that he was only ever truly happy when he was writing. Not when he had completed a piece of work to the very best of his ability and was basking in the glow of a job well done; not when he had the finished book, complete with groovy cover and that delicious smell of fresh ink, in his hands; not even when fans were telling him how much they loved his work. No, it was the act of writing itself that he loved – the process of sitting at a desk and trying to express the tangle of ideas in his head in some kind of coherent and readable way.

For me, writing is tough. It’s hard, brain-aching, often exasperating work. Don’t get me wrong. I love my job. I love creating characters, and telling stories, and building what I hope are convincing worlds around them, and tapping into thoughts and emotions that, if I’m lucky, convey themselves to the reader. But I wouldn’t describe myself as ‘happy’ during the actual process of writing. I’m happy when I’ve written – or rather, when I’m satisfied with what I’ve written. But during the act of writing itself I’m… thoughtful, pre-occupied, sometimes frustrated, and occasionally – fleetingly – self-satisfied at a particular line of dialogue or turn of phrase. But happy? No.

Gary’s words prompted me to ask him, and a number of other writer friends, what actually motivates them to write.”

You can read the answers Mark received in the Spring Edition of the BFS Journal, but we want to know what makes you write?

What drives you to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard?

Let us know by joining the discussion on the BFS Forum

BFS Members should now be receiving their copy of the Spring BFS Journal. Edited by Lou Morgan, Guy Adams and Ian Hunter, the latest edition features a brand new look.

The contents include:

FICTION:
Don’t You Like The Bird Man? – Jonathan Oliver
The Call of Chavthulu – Neil Fulwood
Jenny Khan – Rhys Hughes
Mother’s Boy – Grant Quimper
Listen – Marie O’Regan
Faerie Mails – Allen Ashley
The Fabulous Beast – Garry Kilworth

NON-FICTION:
Why YA? – Tom Pollock
Worlds Which Never Were – Sarah Pinborough & Will Hill in conversation
A Glow Born of a Different Process – a cover artist spotlight on Chris Roberts
Laying the Foundations – Simon Bestwick
A History of THE SERVANTS – Michael Marshall Smith
BFS Masterclass #2: Writing for Children – F E Higgins
Enterprising Minds – Andrew Reid
Progressive + Inclusive = Popular? – Amanda Rutter
Anne McCaffrey: A Tribute

POETRY:
Morningmares – Zoe Elizabeth Barrett
Shadow Whisper at Black Hole Hotel – Kelda Crich
Doorways – David Glen Larson
The Wheel of Whumpus – John DesPlaines

Plus regular columns from Ramsey Campbell, Mark Morris, Sophia McDougall, and a special feature from Jared Shurin, interviewing Jane Rogers.

We would love to hear what you think of the edition. You can leave feedback at our Facebook page and at the forum.

For the first time, members will also be able to download the journal as an ePub, mobi or PDF file. Members should watch their email inboxes to find out how to access their digital editions.

The upcoming BFS Journal will be sent out to all BFS members soon, contents as follows:

FICTION:
Don’t You Like The Bird Man? – Jonathan Oliver
The Call of Chavthulu – Neil Fulwood
Jenny Khan – Rhys Hughes
Mother’s Boy – Grant Quimper
Listen – Marie O’Regan
Faerie Mails – Allen Ashley
The Fabulous Beast – Garry Kilworth

NON-FICTION;
Why YA? – Tom Pollock
Worlds Which Never Were – Sarah Pinborough & Will Hill in conversation
A Glow Born of a Different Process- a cover artist spotlight on Chris Roberts
Laying the Foundations – Simon Bestwick
A History of THE SERVANTS – Michael Marshall Smith
BFS Masterclass #2: Writing for Children – F E Higgins
Enterprising Minds – Andrew Reid
Progressive + Inclusive = Popular? – Amanda Rutter
Anne McCaffrey: A Tribute

POETRY:
Morningmares – Zoe Elizabeth Barrett
Shadow Whisper at Black Hole Hotel – Kelda Crich
Doorways – David Glen Larson
The Wheel of Whumpus – John DesPlaines

Plus regular columns from Ramsey Campbell, Mark Morris, Sophia McDougall, and a special feature from Jared Shurin, interviewing Jane Rogers.

COVER ARTIST: Chris Roberts

If you aren’t already a member of the BFS and would like a copy, why not join us HERE!

The Winter 2011/12 issue of The BFS Journal has gone to press with a fantastic mix of fiction and non-fiction. Contents are as follows:

Ramsey’s Rant – Ramsey Campbell
The First Con is the Deepest – Sarah Doyle
Father Christmas 2011 – Rod Rees
The Mark of Fear – Mark Morris
Bad Vibrations – Allen Ashley
Granny’s Lucky Charm – Stuart Hughes
Tick-Tock Woman – Deborah Walker
Genre War: What is it Good For? – Sophia McDougall
Learning by Rote – Julian Baxter-Cockbill
Lamia, Alone – Sarah Doyle
Antisocial Media – Jared Shurin
The Monday Rebellion – Andy Oldfield
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like… – Ray Cluley
BFS Masterclass #1: How to write a fight – James Barclay
Heading Home – Ian Hunter
The King Is Dead… – Alister Davison
On Publishing: Jo Fletcher
Post-Apocalyptic Young Adult Fiction: Hell with Hormones – Lizzie Barrett
Swings and Roundabouts – Allen Ashley
Mostly in Shadow: Lesser Known Writers of Weird Fiction: Part Four: Henry S Whitehead – Mike Barrett
The Ghoul – Deborah Walker
Kindling – Alasdair Stuart
The Sea is in My Blood – Deborah Walker
A Man of Many Talents: Peter Crowther – Interviewed by Caroline Callaghan
The Evoked – James Brogden

The Journal is edited by Peter Coleborn (fiction), Ian Hunter (poetry) and Lou Morgan (non-fiction), and is designed by Cavan Scott. The fabulous cover art is by Vincent Chong.