LOVE AND PEACE! It’s been over a decade since pacifist gunslinger Vash the Stampede last rode off into the sunset, but now Trigun’s legendary outlaw is back and causing more chaos than ever! Set on the sci-fi Wild West world of Gunsmoke, the new Trigun: Badlands Rumble movie sports big budget visuals and scintillating action scenes while staying faithful to the characters that Trigun fans all know and love.

Trigun: Badlands Rumble (Manga Entertainment) came out on DVD and Blu-ray on 12th November.

We have one copy of Trigun: Badlands Rumble on Blu-ray to be won, to be in with a chance simply answer this question:

What is the name of the creator of the Trigun series?

Email your answer to us at competitions@britishfantasysociety.org with a subject line of “TRIGUN BLU-RAY COMPETITION”. Closing date is 16th November. One winner will be drawn at random from all correct entries.

Curse, a rarely seen Singaporean military chiller from director Esan Sivalinhgam, is set for release on September 17th and here’s your chance to win one of three copies of the DVD!

Simply tell us this: if you had the magical ability to curse someone, what would your best (or worst…) curse be?

Email your curses to us at mediareviews@britishfantasysociety.org with a subject line of “CURSE DVD COMPETITION”. Closing date is 14th September so that gives you just over a week to come up with something good. The top three curses will win a DVD each and be published on the BFS forum.

Arc, a digital SF magazine from the makers of New Scientist, have launched their third short story competition with the chance to have your story published in a future issue.

Exploring the future of pleasure, submissions should be between 3000 and 5000 words and submitted by 23:59 on Sunday 14 October 2012.

Further details, plus T&Cs, can be found at http://arc.submittable.com/submit

Allen Ashley, judge of this year’s BFS Short Story Competition, sends this gentle reminder to anyone who has yet to enter:

“Thank you to everyone who has already sent me a story for consideration. I have my work cut out reading the stories already received and have booked out most of July to do so… but there is still time to send in an entry for this year’s Short Story Competition which offers fantastic, generous prizes to the winner and two runners-up. Full details are available HERE but, in brief, I want to see new, unpublished stories in the broad fantasy / science fiction / horror/ slipstream / fabulation genres. 5000 words strict maximum. One free entry for BFS members. £5 entry fee for non-members (or Paypal calculated equivalent for non-UK residents). Send your story as an attachment saved in Rich Text Format or Microsoft Word 2003. Not .docx format please, it upsets my computer!”

The competition closes at midnight British Summer Time on Saturday 30 June 2012, so don’t delay too long in sending your story to Allen. If you are sending from abroad, allow for time differences.

If you have any queries, or if your manuscript is ready to go, you can email Allen on shortstorycomp@britishfantasysociety.org

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

Stumar Press are offering the opportunity to win a free copy of the first two volumes in the Ten Terrors series. Ten Terrors is a series of horror anthologies starting with Volume 1 in Winter 2012. Each volume will contain ten short stories by established and emerging writers in the horror genre.

Ten Terrors Volume 1 will contain short stories by Graham Joyce and Mark Morris. The other eight authors in Volume 1 will be confirmed soon. Volume 2 (2013) will feature Tim Lebbon and nine other authors.

The competition to win both Volumes 1 and 2 is open to anyone who has purchased a copy of the Derby Scribes Anthology which features short stories from Simon Clark, Conrad Williams, Neal James, Richard Farren Barber, Stuart Hughes, Christopher Barker and other members of the Derby Scribes writing group. If you haven’t purchased the Derby Scribes Anthology yet you still have time to buy it, read it, and enter the competition. Visit the website HERE to purchase

To enter the competition, all you have to do is answer three simple questions (see the competition entry requirements HERE). The competition closes on 31 August 2012.

In other news, Stumar Press will be launching Soul Screams – a collection of thirteen horror stories by horror and crime novelist Sara Jayne Townsend – at the BFS London Open Day on Saturday 16 June 2012. Sara will be attending and signing copies on the day. More information about Soul Screams can be found HERE

The most recent BFS London Open Night saw the launch of Where Are We Going? from Eibonvale Press, edited by Allen Ashley. The publisher ran a “Write a Postcard” competition which was judged on the night by Allen Ashley. The winners were: Martin Roberts, Tina Rath and John Forth, and each won an Eibonvale prize. The winning postcards – and all the other entries that Allen Ashley and David Rix were able to salvage! – are now on display at the Eibonvale site. Just follow this link HERE

The winners of the inaugural Poetry Box Horror & Dark Poetry Silver Cup Trophy Award have been announced as follows:

WINNER:  Mark Mikkelsen  – ‘Ode To Night’
2nd PLACE: Riff Poynton – ‘The Dark In The Heart’
3rd PLACE: Lynn Walton – ‘Awakening’
4th PLACE: Joe Hobbs – ‘Torso In The Gutter’
5th PLACE: Lorna Hunter – ‘Anxiety Attacks’

JUDGE’S SPECIAL COMMENDATION AWARD:
Cathy Bryant – ‘Petrified’
Tracey Clark – ‘Last Supper’
Pamela Johnson – ‘The Hanging Man’
Jerry Prince – ‘The Almost’
Daniel Mills – ‘Serpents (A Ballad)’
Annie Williams – ‘The Game’

HIGHLY COMMENDED AWARD:
Jim Stewart-Evans – ‘Nightfall on All Hallows Eve’
Lucienne Kim Flavell – ‘Afterword’
B.M. Laverty – ‘Fatal Attraction’
Tom Cunliffe – ‘Blank’

All winners’ poems will be featured in the first issue of The Poetry Box Horror & Dark Poetry Magazine. For full details and how to order please see the website HERE

Arc (the science fiction magazine from the publishers of New Scientist) has teamed up with The Tomorrow Project, Intel’s futurism project, to run a competition soliciting near-future stories with a heavy technological emphasis. The winning entry will be published in issue 1.2 of Arc due in May 2012, with the winning author receiving £500. £200 will also be paid to each of five runners-up, and those stories will then be published on the Tomorrow Project website and used to stimulate conversation about our shared future.

The publishers are looking for fully fleshed stories of between 3,000 and 5,000 words. By ‘near future’ they mean near enough to be recognisable, but not so near as to be boring. Technology, in whatever guise – from robotics to synthetic biology to geoengineering – should feature prominently, but they are looking for stories, not theses, and the human element will have to be compelling.

It is recommended that entrants read issue 1.1 of Arc for guidance on the approach required. Distinctive, thoughtful visions inspired by the theme are more likely to be successful. Arc 1.1 also explains the Arc / Tomorrow Project collaboration.

The deadline for entry to the competition is one minute to midnight GMT on 8 April 2012. Full details can be found in the Tomorrow Project section of Arc 1.1, or on the Arc submission page. Arc 1.1 is available now for Windows and Mac computers, iPads, iPhones and Android devices, as well as for Kindle and as a collectible print edition.

Coming soon from theEXAGGERATEDpress – Busy Blood, a selection of combo stories by those giants of the independant press, Stuart Hughes and D. F. Lewis
Cover art by Tony Lovell

“Adroitly written tales of the fantastic for the discerning connoisseur. A wonderful synthesis of mysterious delights and freakish surprises – expect the unexpected.”
Simon Clark

Just £5.00 from the website HERE

There will also be ebook versions available in the near future.

Pre-orders are welcome
BUT…

The BFS has teamed up with theEXAGGERATEDpress to give away a SIGNED copy. Just answer these three simple questions.

• What is the name of theEXAGGERATEDpress e-zine?
• What is the current edition’s theme?
• What is the theme of the next issue?

(Hint: you can find the answers HERE)

Email your answers, along with your name, to us at news@britishfantasysociety.org by midnight (UK time) on Saturday 31 March 2012. Use the subject heading BUSY BLOOD. Please note this competition is open to BFS MEMBERS ONLY (excluding committee members).

Good luck!