StarShipSofa #232 is now available for download.
Contents:

Fact: Covering the Sofa by Skeet with artist Richard Wagner
Fact: Hugo Reviews – Palladin of Souls by Andy Thomaswick
Main Fiction: The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman
Fact: Theatre of the Mind – Magic Island by Paul Finch

Mystery Writers of America has announced the nominees for the 2012 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction and non-fiction. The winners will be announced at a gala banquet on 26 April 2012 in New York. The Awards carry Poe’s name as his work  spanned the boundaries of the horror/mystery genres.

Nominees include Neil Gaiman in the Best Short Story category, for his story The Case of Death and Honey in A Study in Sherlock (Random House Publishing Group – Bantam Books).

The full list of nominees can be found HERE

The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will present SFF writer Gene Wolfe with the first Fuller Award on 17 March 2012, acknowledging an outstanding lifetime contribution to literature. Wolfe’s novels include The Book of the New Sun, Peace and The Fifth Head of Cerberus. More recently, his novel Home Fires was published by PS Publishing.

Neil Gaiman, Audrey Niffenegger and Peter Straub are just some of the authors set to pay tribute to him at the lavish event at a private estate outside Chicago. Full details HERE

Night Shade Books have released Alien Contact, an anthology of alien-inspired stories edited by Marty Halpern:

“We are not alone! From War of the Worlds to Invasion of the Body Snatchers… From ET to Close Encounters… creators of science fiction have always eagerly speculated on just how the story of alien contact would play out.

Editor Marty Halpern has gathered together some of the best stories of the last 30 years, by today’s most exciting genre writers, weaving a tapestry that covers a broad range of scenarios: from the insidious, to the violent, to the transcendent.

These twenty-six stories from extraordinary writers such as Harry Turtledove, Orson Scott Card, Molly Gloss, Michael Swanwick, Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Moon, Adam-Troy Castro, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Neil Gaiman will captivate and intrigue. Separately they are enthralling, combined together into one anthology they will take you to another world.”

Full details on the website

The list of books to be given away during the 2012 World Book Night has been announced, with the inclusion of some genre books. Alongside classics both old (eg. Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities and Rebecca) and new (eg. The Road by Cormac McCarthy), the list also includes such titles as The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, Misery by Stephen King, Let the Right One In by John Ajvde Lindqvist and Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

The full list and article about this can be found at theBookseller.com

If you’re not already a member of the Society, I’m afraid you’ve almost certainly left it too late to get your hands on either of these: a last minute upswing in membership left the print orders looking a bit pessimistic!

Prism features the editor’s report on the World Horror Convention, along with dozens of reviews, an interview with Shaun Jeffrey, columns by John L. Probert, Ramsey Campbell and Mark Morris, and without a doubt the finest, most lovingly crafted Chairman’s Chat the British Fantasy Society has ever seen. Prism is edited by David A. Riley. Cover art by Howard Molloy.

New Horizons issue five, edited by former Elastic Press supremo Andrew Hook, features stories by Craig Hallam, Frank Roger, Terry Grimwood, Mark Finnemore, Allen Ashley and Douglas Thompson, and a series of bite-sized interviews by Andrew with literary luminaries at the World Horror Convention 2010, including Neil Gaiman, Ian Watson and Paul Cornell. The fantastic cover art is by George Cotronis.