Edited by Johnny Mains and with artwork by David Whitlam, The Burning Circus is an anthology for members of the British Fantasy Society.

Stories include:

Not a member? Sign up now to secure your copy! The Burning Circus will be sent out alongside the next edition of the BFS Journal.

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

After almost a year in the role, Caroline Callaghan has decided to step down as the British Fantasy Society’s Online News Editor. She says:

“To enable me to concentrate on other things, I’m reluctantly leaving this role having very much enjoyed my time as news editor. I’m delighted to announce that Phil Lunt has agreed to take on the role, and will do so with immediate effect. I will be staying on as an ‘occasional reporter’ and hope to continue to contribute to the BFS website in this way.”

“May I send a huge ‘thank you’ to all the wonderful contacts I’ve made over this year; people who’ve sent in news for the website and who have contributed to making the site as helpful and informative as I feel it is today. Please continue to send your news and events to Phil at the usual address (news@britishfantasysociety.org). I’m confident that with Phil in this role, the website will go from strength to strength.”

Soon to go out to BFS members: issue two of Shelflings, the British Fantasy Society’s reviews ezine!

Shelflings #2 has been compiled by Stephen Theaker from reviews edited by Craig Lockley, Phil Lunt and Jay Eales for the BFS website. It features almost 30,000 words of reviews by Carl Barker, Chris Limb, Craig Knight, David A. Riley, David Brzeski, David Rudden, Elloise Hopkins, Glen Mehn, Jacob Howard, Jay Eales, Katy O’Dowd, M.P. Ericson, Mario Guslandi, Matthew Johns, Mike Chinn, Pauline Morgan, Phil Lunt, R.A. Bardy, Rebekah Lunt, Selina Lock, Steve Dean and Stewart Horn. It is available to members in epub and mobi formats.

Creators reviewed include: Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, Alison Littlewood, Christopher Priest, Dan Abnett, David A. Sutton, Frances Hardinge, Gary Fry, Howard Hopkins, Jilly Paddock, Joseph Nassise, Kim Lakin-Smith, Maynard Sims, Nancy Kilpatrick, Nick Kyme and Gav Thorpe, Paul Magrs, Reggie Oliver, Richard Davis, Shaun Jeffrey, Terrance Dicks, and many others.

We are pleased to announce that Phil Lunt has joined the new BFS Journal team as designer. Phil’s background is in interior design and architecture and he has over 10 years experience working on the design of exhibition stands, booths, events and interiors. He also produces promotional material for various theatre companies across England as well as for publications such as Hub Magazine.

Since last year Phil has also been Book and Media Reviews Editor for the British Fantasy Society.

Also, we are pleased to say that in his role as BFS Features Editor Stuart Douglas has joined the BFS Committee, filling the shoes of Lou Morgan who leaves the committee to concentrate on her writing.

We are sure you would like to join us in thanking Lou for all her hard work for the Society and welcome Phil and Stuart as they start their new roles.

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.

Here’s a reminder of the BFS London Open Day on Saturday 16 June 2012 from 1pm till late at The Mug House, 1 Tooley Street, London E1 2PF, together with a rough schedule for the day:

• 1pm:  Meet, greet and quench your thirst…
• 2pm:  Peter Mark May will be arriving with copies of Alt-Zombie. Peter has also graciously agreed to donate one complete set of Hersham Horror Books to the raffle.
• 3pm:  Stephen Jones and Les Edwards will officially sign copies of Curious Warnings: The Great Ghost Stories of M.R. James from Jo Fletcher Books.
• 4pm:  Sara Jayne Townsend will be signing copies of her collection Soul Screams from  Stumar Press. Sara has also donated a copy of Soul Screams to the raffle.
• 5pm:  Raffle draw…tickets will be a pound per strip or one FREE strip with every purchase…get your mind out of the gutter and your pockets lined with GOLD.

Above all have fun! It’s getting increasingly harder to find a suitable venue that does not require huge amounts of cash up front to hold these unique events, where you can socialise with publishers, authors and, most importantly, fans of fantasy, horror and SF. Donations for the raffle are welcome on the day, but please be aware that donating a dog-eared paperback may well result in public ridicule.

Previous BFS open events have included:

• Awards Showcases – Brian Aldiss, Joe Abercrombie to name but a few…
• Poe edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris)
• Tim Powers Secret Histories (PS Publishing)
• Sam Stone (Murky Depths) + Torchwood panel and launch with Guy Adams, Mark Morris, Sarah Pinborough (BBC Books)
• Lauren Beukes – Zoo City (Angry Robot) – Reading / Talk / Launch
• Mike Lancaster – 0.4 (Egmont) – Young Adult SF – Launch
• Joe Hill – Special Guest + Brian Stableford – The Womb of Time (Perilous Press) UK Launch
• Where Are We Going? edited by Allen Ashley (Eibonvale Press) – authors included Allen Ashley, Joel Lane, Douglas Thompson, Marion Pitman, Terry Grimwood, Jet McDonald, Andrew Kirby, Gary Budgen and cover artists David Rix.

E-mail Martin Roberts  (events [at] britishfantasysociety [dot] org) for more information!

Don’t forget that the BFS Short Story Competition closes this month. Allen Ashley, judge of this year’s competition, sent this message:

“Now, I know that some people who enter competitions leave it till the last minute to get their entry in. I’m also sure that many of you are frantically writing and revising your entry to this year’s BFS Short Story Competition. So, this is just a gentle reminder to all you authors out there to make sure you do not miss the boat on this year’s competition. Entries close at midnight British Summer Time on Saturday 30 June 2012. Full details are available at the BFS website HERE.”

If you have any queries or if your manuscript is ready to go (as an attachment in Rich Text Format or MS Word 2003, but NOT doc.x) you can email Allen on shortstorycomp@britishfantasysociety.org

The British Fantasy Society is looking for new reviewers of independent press titles. All reviews now appear on the BFS website so you will receive valuable exposure – not to mention receiving free books! If you would be interested in becoming a reviewer for the BFS please email Craig Lockley, BFS Indie Press and RPG Reviews Editor, at bfsreviews [at] gmail [dot] com

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.