There’s now less than a week to go until Derby’s Edge-Lit festival, which runs at the superb QUAD venue on 14 July 2012. Expect a packed day with a host of workshops, panels, readings and much more for readers, writers and lovers of science-fiction, fantasy and horror. Christopher Fowler and Geoff Ryman will be the event’s special guests.

With so much going on, and so much choice to be had, tickets are fantastic value at £20 – £25 for the whole day. You can book online at the QUAD webpage  or from the QUAD Box Office at 01332 290606.

Pre-orders are now being taken for The Screaming Book of Horror, from Screaming Dreams, edited by Johnny Mains. Billed as “.. a horror anthology in the tradition of the anthologies we all grew up with”, it contains new stories by Alison Littlewood, Reggie Oliver, Anna Taborska, David A. Riley, Paul Finch, Rhys Hughes, Kate Farell, Craig Herbertson, John Llewellyn Probert, Steve Rasnic Tem, Christopher Fowler and others. It also includes previously unpublished stories by John Brunner, John Burke and Bernard Taylor. Cover art is by Steve Upham.

The anthology will be published in a jacketed hardcover edition, limited to 100 copies only. To pre-order, see the website HERE

Stephen Jones is now seeking submissions for The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 24. He will consider stories and novellas first published between January 2012 and December 2012 for the twenty-fourth annual edition of this multiple award-winning series, to be published by Robinson (UK) / Running Press (USA) in 2013.

Authors are asked to forward stories of exceptional quality published between these dates, whilst publishers are invited to send novels, collections, anthologies, magazines, art books, graphic adaptations, DVDs and anything else connected with the horror field which could be mentioned in the comprehensive overview of the year in horror. Publisher contact information will also be included in the list of useful addresses contained in the volume.

The deadline for receiving material is January 2013, and all material must be sent to the postal address provided in the guidelines detailed HERE.

Also, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 23 edited by Stephen Jones is now available for pre-order from Amazon. To be released in October 2012, it contains stories by Ramsey Campbell, Christopher Fowler, Paul Kane, Joel Lane, Alison Littlewood, Mark Samuels, Peter Atkins, Thana Niveau, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Reggie Oliver, Steve Rasnic Tem, Joe R. Lansdale, Evangeline Walton and many others. The cover artwork is by Vincent Chong. Full details HERE

StarShipSofa #235 is available for download, with fiction including Contact Authority by William Mitchell and The Paradise Aperture by David Carani, Science News from J.J. Campanella and a feature on the Writers of The Future XXVIII contest. Details HERE

Meanwhile, the most recent issue of its ‘sister’ podcast, Tales To Terrify, contains the following:

The Whisperer in Darkness (film) by Larry Santoro
Short Fiction: Memory by H.P. Lovecraft
Fact: Horror Anarchy and Doom by Andy Remic
Poetry: Thumb by Martin Mundt
Main Fiction: The 11th Day by Christopher Fowler

Details HERE

Gary Northfield, artist, cartoonist and illustrator, has graciously donated all the original artwork from Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke for a charity art auction. The pieces will be auctioned at the book’s launch party on 4 April 2012, with all the proceeds donated to English PEN.  PEN campaigns around the world to promote and protect writers’ and readers’ freedom.

Attendees at the launch party can place their bids in person, and those unable to make the event can send in bids via email until noon (UK time) on Wednesday 4 April 2012. To bid by email, send your name, desired piece and maximum bid to jared [at] jurassic-london [dot] com

Art and details can be found HERE

Stories of the Smoke, tales of fantastic London inspired by Charles Dickens, features seventeen original stories from Adam Roberts, Kaaron Warren, Lavie Tidhar, Aliette de Bodard, Jonathan Green, Sarah Lotz, Archie Black and many others, and an introduction by Christopher Fowler.

The launch party on 4 April 2012 is free to attend, but space is limited. Tickets can be booked HERE

This July, QUAD in Derby brings together a host of leading science fiction, fantasy and horror writing for Edge-Lit, an exciting new day event for one of the city’s leading venues. The ideal day out for fans, readers and aspiring writers of genre fiction, Edge-Lit gathers together over thirty authors, agents and speakers for a wide range of workshops, panels, readings and much more.

There are many more leading names to be announced for the event, with the first two Guests of Honour for the 2012 event confirmed as Christopher Fowler and Geoff Ryman.

Christopher Fowler is a multiple award-winning author with thirty novels and twelve short story collections to his name. He is best-known for his Bryant and May mystery novels, with his most recent title in the series being Bryant and May and the Memory of Blood. Christopher has also written a number of successful thrillers, as well as the highly succesful graphic novel Menz Insana. His other credits include creating the War of the Worlds video game for Paramount, as well as running a successful film marketing company and writing for TV and film stars such as Kenneth Williams, Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Leslie Neilsen and the stars of Monty Python.

Geoff Ryman is an acclaimed author of science-fiction and fantasy, with his most recent title, The King’s Last Song, drawing stellar reviews. Other leading titles include Was…, Lust and Air, with his novels having claimed a host of awards including the British Science Fiction Award, World Fantasy Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award, The Philip K. Dick Award and many more. He is also a lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester University.

Edge-Lit runs from 10am – midnight on Saturday 14 July 2012, with tickets just £25, including access to all activities on the day. For more information, and to book your tickets, visit the website HERE

The Horror Writers Association has announced the longlisted works for its Preliminary Ballot for the 2011 Bram Stoker Award. Authors with longlisted work include Stephen King, Joe Hill, Reggie Oliver, Allyson Bird, Alan Moore, Peter Straub, Robert Shearman, Caitlin R. Kiernan, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Christopher Fowler, Kaaron Warren and Lisa Morton.

Following the Preliminary Ballot, a Final Ballot will be held to arrive at the nominees for the Award.

The full list of longlisted work is available HERE

Solaris Books have released Christopher Fowler‘s Hell Train – his homage to the Hammer Horror films of old.

“Imagine there was a supernatural chiller that Hammer Films never made. A grand epic produced at the studio’s peak, which played like a cross between the Dracula and Frankenstein films and Dr Terror’s House Of Horrors…

Four passengers meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive.

As the ‘Arkangel’ races through the war-torn countryside, they must discover: What is in the casket that everyone is so afraid of? What is the tragic secret of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them? Why is their fellow passenger, the army brigadier, so feared by his own men? And what exactly is the devilish secret of the Arkangel itself?

Bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of travelling by train, all in a classically styled horror novel.”

Full details on the Solaris website HERE

Black Static #25 is now available, containing fiction by Alison Littlewood, Ray Cluley, Christopher Fowler, Barbara A. Barnett and Nathaniel Tapley, along with its regular horror news and features.

For information and purchase details please visit the TTA Press website

Coming from PS Publishing: Red Gloves by Christopher Fowler. This is another of PS’s two books in one volume: Devilry and Infernal. Part 1 consists of 14 stories under the subtitle “London Horrors” – including a Bryant & May tale. Part 2, subtitled “The World Horrors”, includes thirteen stories (and again a Bryant & May tale). So that’s 25 stories – collected to celebrate 25 years in the business. Fowler is one of our finest writers of short fiction – and thus this book is a must for connoisseurs the dark side. The book is available in two editions at £19.99 and £49.99. [Photo courtesy of Mr Fowler’s blog.]