FantasyCon 2011 was voted runner-up in the Event of the Year category of the This Is Horror 2011 Awards. The winner of Event of the Year was FrightFest 2011.

To see all the winners and runners-up in all twelve categories go HERE

The nominees for the This is Horror Awards include FantasyCon 2011 in the ‘Event of the Year’ category, and there are lots of other events, publications, films and TV series of particular interest to BFS members who lean toward the darker side too.

To vote for your choices, go to the This is Horror website HERE. Voting ends 30 December 2011.

It seems a long time since that hot weekend in Brighton. So now, with the days growing shorter and colder, here’s a reminder of FantasyCon 2011, courtesy of Allen Ashley. Further recollections of FantasyCon will follow in the next issue of the BFS Journal …

The morning of Saturday 1st October – unseasonably sunny and warm – finds me and the wife on Brighton Pier when we should be at FantasyCon. Well, actually we are but having reaped the benefit of a seafront view – i.e. cars and clubbers frolicking noisily outside the window all night – a little break and a lungful of fish and chips flavoured seaside air is called for.  But what’s this? A ghost train ride suitably entitled “Horror Hotel” and only £3 a go. Sarah dutifully screams and I reflect that the next time someone tells me that they don’t know what to write about, I’ll suggest that they borrow some characters from this switchback selection. It’s fun.

But not as much fun as the Saturday night double bill from Teatro Proberto. John Probert and the versatile Lady Probert offer up a delightful, pantomime inflected take on a couple of 1960s horror films. With several knowing winks to the rapt audience, the performers demonstrate a mastery of comic timing. Highlights include a savaging by a canine glove puppet, rapid costume changes, unconvincing wigs, cheap props and deliberate overacting. Someone should have filmed this show and put it up on You Tube.

Blood on Satan’s Claw and Corruption are followed by a quintet of burlesque dancers who begin life as characters from a Dark Horizons illustration but then take it right down to the nipple tassel. Top exotic stage names, too, like Baby Bones and Esmeralda Underwood. One of the performers is actually a man in drag. He runs into the audience and mock bites me on the shoulder. By Sunday evening I have a streaming cold. Is there a connection?

My convention is bookended by two events. On Friday night I host a poetry soiree where the standard is very high – one of the pieces is in Full Fathom Forty and another is up for an Aurora award. My last major contribution to the weekend is to present the British Fantasy Award for Best Magazine. A few things have been written about the awards since then and I don’t wish to become embroiled. I’ll only repeat what I said at the time: Many of us owe a lot to magazines so I was thrilled to give a little bit back.

For many people, the big draw to FantasyCon is the quality of the guests of honour. With all due respect to the other luminaries, for me the most exciting visitor to FantasyCon was Brian Aldiss. Witness the spontaneous standing ovation this genre great received after his speech of thanks at the banquet. On the Saturday afternoon, Brian was interviewed by Christopher Priest in the Russell Room – a venue so stifling that the missus had to leave before the show started. The loquacious and loveable Brian is not your standard interviewee – feed him a starter and he’ll regale you with a selection of entertaining anecdotes without further prompting. The tale concerning Agatha Christie is the one that I shall remember always.

Later, I turn the tables somewhat on Chris Priest as we sit opposite each other in a Brighton curry house and I gently quiz him about his early books. He tells me that he edited an anthology back in the 1970s. Really? That had slipped my mind. When he reveals that it was called Anticipations, however, I instantly remember buying the paperback edition. I used to find time to read everything in those younger days.

FantasyCon is, of course, all about the people and with this year’s attendance put at 539, it’s no wonder that I spent much of my weekend saying hello and catching up with people in corridors and on the stairs. These locations were partly determined by that fact that the hotels’ tiny lift broke down at least twice in 24 hours. Must be all those five volume trilogies in hardback that folks are carting up to their rooms.

One moment it’s Friday afternoon and I’m in a massive queue to register, with Ian Whates and Simon Clark ahead of me and Nina Allan, Sam Stone and Frazer Hines behind me; the next moment it’s late afternoon on Sunday and I’m wondering when the turquoise and white taxi will eventually turn up to whisk us off to the railway station. Sensibly, I’ve spent the last of my cash in registering for next year’s FantasyCon.

Sarah and I arrive at Brighton terminus and guess what? Yep, it’s Sunday so there are engineering works and a replacement bus service. I picture us back on the pier. “Sorry, mate, no ghost train today just a replacement bus service…!”

Until next time.
-    Allen

Allen Ashley is an award winning editor and writer as well as a keen BFS member. Allen’s next book will be as editor of Where Are We Going? a themed anthology of SF/Fantasy/Horror/Slipstream stories with the uniting feature of “journeys”. This is due from Eibonvale Press (UK) within the next 6 months.

FantasyCon 2011 is only a week or so away, and the excitement is definitely building with something like 500 attendees now expected!

Interest in our EXPERT MASTERCLASSES on the Saturday has been so overwhelming that we have had to move the sessions to a bigger room in the Royal York Hotel! This has allowed us to increase slightly the number of places available. However, despite this, one of the classes is already sold out and the others are filling up very fast.

We still have a few slots available in the following, but you need to book NOW to avoid disappointment, and please supply an ALTERNATIVE session if your first choice is sold out:

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. – HOW TO WRITE FOR COMICS
Have you ever thought about a career in comics and graphic novels? Think you can be the next Neil Gaiman? Well, join Mike Carey (writer for comics and author of graphic novels such as Lucifer, X-Men Legacy, The Unwritten and the “Felix Castor” novels) as he outlines the secrets of how to write for the comics industry and how you can have a professional career in one of the most successful entertainment industries in the world!

11:00 a.m. to Noon – HOW A PUBLISHING DEAL WORKS
Written your first novel and have no idea how to sell it? And just what are “advances”, “royalties”, “subsidiary rights” and “reserves against returns”? Will Francis of the Janklow and Nesbit Literary Agency will explain to all you budding authors out there what to look for when you receive that all-important offer, how to avoid the pitfalls that might await you, and how to get a start on the road to a bestseller.

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. – HOW TO WRITE A BOOK THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO FILM
Forget books! Movies are where the real money is, right? So how can you turn your novel into the next Hollywood blockbuster? Meg Davis of the Ki Literary Agency knows all the secrets, and she’ll share them with you so that you can turn your book into a suitable project for film and TV adaptation.

2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. – THE MAKING OF A BOOK
So just how does publishing work? How do your idea get from manuscript onto the printed page and then into the bestseller lists? Here at last are the arcane workings of the publishing industry revealed! Join experienced editor and publisher Jo Fletcher (Jo Fletcher Books, Gollancz, Pan, Headline etc.) as she explains how your book will make that all-important passage from initial submission to final publication. These are the secrets that every author should know!

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. – THE HOT SEAT: SCREENWRITING
Got a great idea for a movie or a TV series, but no idea what to do with it next? How do you get a project off the ground and what are the studios and networks looking for these days? Well, never fear — help is here in the form of acclaimed screenwriter Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch, Gothic, Afterlife) who will tell you everything you have ever wanted to know about scriptwriting for film and television.

5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m – PUBLISHING THE TITAN WAY
Ever wanted to write a movie or TV tie-in? Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to create a sequel to the exploits of a popular fictional character? Or maybe there’s a huge coffee-table volume on a particular artist or film series that you’ve always wanted to put together? So where do you go with these ideas? Well, to Titan Books of course — the UK’s leading publisher of media tie-ins and now creating new works based around some of the classic characters of old!  Join Cath Trechman of Titan Books for an insight into the process of writing series and tie-in fiction.

This is your chance to learn from the experts! It is the kind of expert tuition and restricted access that money simply just can’t buy! Well, actually, now it can . . .

All Expert Masterclasses cost just £5.00 each and are available on a first-come basis. Payment will not be refunded if you fail to attend.

We fully expect these unique sessions with these experts to sell out in advance. However, if a particular slot is not fully booked prior to the convention, then you will be able to sign up in advance at the FantasyCon 2011 Registration Desk in the lobby of the Royal Albion Hotel.

To book your Masterclass, please go HERE

Screaming Dreams and Pendragon Press invite you to spend a Saturday afternoon in the salubrious company of authors and other like-minded folk to celebrate the launch of five books:

Hunter’s Moon, the debut novella from Charlotte Bond
Lest You Should Suffer Nightmares, the biography of Herbert Van Thal by Johnny Mains
Kingston to Cable, the short novel by Gary Greenwood
The Joy of Technology, the debut chapbook by Roy Gray
Isabel Jane, the debut chapbook by Catherine Dale

There will be some free drink and refreshments on offer – along with the books of course!

Films screening at this year’s FantasyCon will be…

Weeping Woman (2011) 8 Mins
Directed by Mark Steensland
Written by Paul Kane
UK Premiere – A travelling salesman discovers the danger behind taking a shortcut home.

Wishmaster (1997) 90 Mins
Directed by Robert Kurtzman
Written by Peter Atkins
A demonic djinn attempts to grant its owner three wishes, which will allow him to summon his brethren to earth.

The Devil’s Rock (2011) 83 Mins
Directed by Paul Campion
Screenplay by Paul Finch, Paul Campion & Brett Ihaka
Set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D-Day, two Kiwi commandos are sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler’s forces away from Normandy; however, they discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces in order to win the war.

Later (2011) 17 Mins
Directed by Simon Duric
Screenplay by Simon Duric based on the story by Michael Marshall Smith
Richard and Rachel are deeply in love but their life together ends when Rachel dies in a tragic accident…

Mail Order (2011) 16 Mins
Directed by Eric Shapiro
Screenplay by Eric Shapiro based on the story by Jack Ketchum
World Premiere – Not for the faint of heart, this is a story about a snuff film connoisseur.

Let Me In (2010) 116 Mins
Directed by Matt Reeves
Screenplay by Matt Reeves based on the novel and screenplay “Låt den rätte komma in” by John Ajvide Lindqvist
A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.

With effect from 1st January 2011, prices for a weekend membership to FantasyCon 2011 rise to £50 for non-BFS members, £45 for members. The price for a day membership (Saturday only) will be £40, so book now to avoid the increase!

FANTASYCON 2011 will be held over the weekend of 30th September to 2nd October 2011 at the Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton; venue for the highly successful 2010 World Horror Convention.

The first two GUESTS OF HONOUR TO BE ANNOUNCED are: World Fantasy Award-winning author and critic GWYNETH JONES, also known as Ann Halam, and Swedish horror writer JOHN AJVIDE LINDQVIST, author of the best-selling LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, which was adapted into a movie first in his native Sweden and more recently remade in the U.S. as LET ME IN, starring Chloe Moretz from KICK ASS.

MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES is SARAH PINBOROUGH, British Fantasy Award-winning Author of The Language of Dying and A Matter of Blood.

Other professional writers, artists, editors and publishers already registered as attending FantasyCon 2011 include: Guy Adams, Ramsey Campbell, Vincent Chong, Peter Crowther (PS Publishing), Les Edwards, Simon R. Green, Stephen Jones, Paul Kane, Michael Marshall Smith, Gary McMahon, Adam LG Nevill, Kim Newman, Nicholas Royle, Robert Shearman, Steve Tribe (BBC Books), Rio Youers and many more.

Current cost of registration stands at £45 (£40 to BFS members), costs will increase incrementally between now and the convention. To book your ticket, and for more information about the Guests or MC, please visit the website: www.fantasycon2011.org.

It’s never too soon to start thinking about your next FantasyCon..!

A leaflet for booking for 2011 is up on the FantasyCon 2010 website. Note that payment and form must be received by 25 September 2010.