BFS members should have received their email detailing how to download their digital copy of the Spring BFS Journal. From this edition, the Journal is available as a PDF, epub and mobi for all your ereader needs.

The email also includes details of how to download issue one of Shelflings. Shelflings, compiled and typeset by Stephen Theaker, is a new BFS ezine featuring reviews that were commissioned and edited by Craig Lockley, Phil Lunt and Jay Eales for the British Fantasy Society website, with some reviews that were commissioned by Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards.

If you have problems with your ebook editions please contact Journal Production Manager Cavan Scott (journal@britishfantasysociety.org) and don’t forget you can discuss any of the BFS’s publications on our forum HERE

BFS members Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards will be running a writers’ workshop from 18 – 20 May 2012 at Westview Guesthouse, near Hay-on-Wye, the town that is built on books. The course runs for the entire weekend, and is all-inclusive with accommodation, meals and tuition included in the price.

Participants are invited to pre-submit up to 2,000 words of fiction (a short story or the start of a novel, but no poetry), for one-to-one feedback on Friday evening.

For full details, including how to book, please visit the website HERE

Estronomicon is a free online magazine from Screaming Dreams. Each issue features a selection of short stories, artist showcases, interviews, book reviews and much more.

The current issue is the Christmas Special : December 2011.

Some chilly tales for the festive season! Fiction by Neil Williamson, Neil Davies, Bob Lock, John Forth, Jan Edwards, Marion Pitman, Ian Hunter, Mark Howard Jones, James Bennett, Stuart Young, Stewart Horn, Peter Coleborn and Matt Finucane.

Cover art by Steve Upham.

Download your copy HERE

The Winter 2011/12 issue of The BFS Journal has gone to press with a fantastic mix of fiction and non-fiction. Contents are as follows:

Ramsey’s Rant – Ramsey Campbell
The First Con is the Deepest – Sarah Doyle
Father Christmas 2011 – Rod Rees
The Mark of Fear – Mark Morris
Bad Vibrations – Allen Ashley
Granny’s Lucky Charm – Stuart Hughes
Tick-Tock Woman – Deborah Walker
Genre War: What is it Good For? – Sophia McDougall
Learning by Rote – Julian Baxter-Cockbill
Lamia, Alone – Sarah Doyle
Antisocial Media – Jared Shurin
The Monday Rebellion – Andy Oldfield
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like… – Ray Cluley
BFS Masterclass #1: How to write a fight – James Barclay
Heading Home – Ian Hunter
The King Is Dead… – Alister Davison
On Publishing: Jo Fletcher
Post-Apocalyptic Young Adult Fiction: Hell with Hormones – Lizzie Barrett
Swings and Roundabouts – Allen Ashley
Mostly in Shadow: Lesser Known Writers of Weird Fiction: Part Four: Henry S Whitehead – Mike Barrett
The Ghoul – Deborah Walker
Kindling – Alasdair Stuart
The Sea is in My Blood – Deborah Walker
A Man of Many Talents: Peter Crowther – Interviewed by Caroline Callaghan
The Evoked – James Brogden

The Journal is edited by Peter Coleborn (fiction), Ian Hunter (poetry) and Lou Morgan (non-fiction), and is designed by Cavan Scott. The fabulous cover art is by Vincent Chong.

THE DEAD WITNESS edited by Michael Sims. Bloomsbury £18.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

This large anthology is subtitled “A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Detective Stories”. I’m no expert of this genre but looking at the contents, it’s clear that this is a juicy book. Included herein are stories by William E Burton, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle and Mark Twain: 22 in all. Actually, there are a couple of non-fiction pieces, including a newspaper article and an inquest transcript from a certain Jack the Ripper case. Truly fascinating stuff.

Editor Michael Sims adds a good general introduction to the Victorian detective, plus pieces for each story in the anthology. He suggests that Poe’s Dupin story (“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” [1841]) kicked off the detective story genre, but mentions that “The Secret Cell” by William E Burton (reprinted here for the first time) was published in 1837, a few years before Poe’s masterpiece. This is an excellent anthology, and an excellent introduction to the detective tales of the Victorian era.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE BREATH OF GOD by Guy Adams. Titan £7.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

Titan Books is publishing new titles featuring the famous and infamous creations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, including Kim Newman’s Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles and this novel by Guy Adams. Beginning The Breath of God, I was struck by how many memories it brought back, of a time long ago when I devoured the stories of Sherlock Holmes. That was an auspicious start.

Dr Silence seeks the expertise ofLondon’s greatest detective, telling Holmes a tall tale. Holmes at the time seems to be suffering from ennui, with no case able to stretch his logical mind. Silence’s story does. And pretty soon Holmes and Watson are off on an adventure that involves murder, mayhem and the supernatural (or is it?).

With characters named Carnacki, Karswell, Crowley, Silence … it’s rather obvious in which direction the author takes this novel. And maybe certain readers of the Conan Doyle stories will be taken aback by the inexplicable, preferring the more rational explanations, not the supernatural. Nevertheless, readers steeped in the tales of Hope Hodgson and James et al, as well as Conan Doyle, will find themselves fully engaged in this book.

I won’t call this a pastiche since that has negative overtones. This is a homage that treats with respect the characters Adams has borrowed. Personally, I prefer Holmes in the short story format but other than that nitpick, this is well written, engrossing and effective.

OEUVRE by Drew Struzan. Titan £29.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

It’s easy to forget that the film posters you see in magazines, outside the cinema – maybe in your bedroom – have to be created, often using original artwork rather than stills from the movie. For 30 years Drew Struzan has been a Hollywood mainstay in this area, and this fabulous book reproduces pages and pages of his paintings. The man’s ability at changing styles is amazing, judging by the 250+ illustrations in Oeuvre – and indicated by some of the most iconic posters you’ve seen: Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Back to the Future, Harry Potter… And not just films: he’s worked in the music biz, publishing, and the commercial sector.

Obviously, with an art book such as this you expect pages of full colour images – and you’ll not be disappointed. And yet I would have liked more text, especially about the man. The brief introduction mentions his “ordinary” background – but he seems to have always been an artist. He realised his dreams – and for that we should also be thankful.

A beautifully produced volume of some amazing artwork. This is a great gift for the art lovers among us. And I nearly forgot to mention, George Lucas provides the book’s foreword.

MASTER OF THE ROAD TO NOWHERE / IN THE TIME OF WAR by Carol Emshwiller. PS Publishing £19.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

Pete Crowther said he loves the old Ace Doubles: one short novel starts at one end; flip the book over and the second novel begins. This book by Carol Emshwiller is a nod to that format: two collections, Master of the Road to Nowhere starts from one end, In the Time of War from the other. I’m not sure this format is necessary because all the stories have a similar feel to them, that of loss, of trying to come to terms with the outside world, of being on the road to nowhere, in time of war or not.

I’ve not knowingly read anything by Carol Emshwiller before – but I’m damned glad I have now. These are beautifully written stories about real people. If they don’t move the reader to (almost) tears, then he or she must be a zombie. I especially like – love – the title story from Master, and “Logicist” from War. But I don’t believe there is a bad story in this/these collection(s).

The name Ed Emshwiller maybe well known to you as an artist extraordinaire – and his paintings grace both covers of his wife’s book. Also included are two introductions by Ursula K Le Guin and Phyllis Eisenstein.

Carol Emshwiller shows you how to write fantasy/SF stories – engaging characters, intriguing plots, true emotions.

DEMI-MONDE: WINTER by Rod Rees. Jo Fletcher Books £7.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

I don’t normally read science fiction, at least not nowadays. And I avoid books of many pages, preferring short stories and novellas. But Rod Rees is a friend and a regular at the Renegade Writers’ Group … and so I thought I best give it a go.

I’m rather pleased I did. The story arc is vast – there will be four books in the sequence – and complex. The events in Winter take place, mostly, in the world of the Demi-Monde, a virtual realm developed by the military to train its soldiers. In order to create an effective training regime, the Demi-Monde is populated with avatars of some of the nastiest people from history: Robespierre, Heydrich and Torquemada, for starters.

That’s the background. Into this world comes Ella, who is tasked with the job of finding the president’s daughter, trapped in this unreal-but-really dangerous place. Ella must infiltrate various factions and in doing do encounters Vanka – a truly likeable rogue. They team up and become embroiled in revolution and war. Bad enough, but certain of the Demi- Monde’s inhabitants are very much aware of these real-life characters – and of their value when it becomes time to confront the people in the real world.

This is Rees’ first published novel. It effectively utilises so many aspects from his life (he’s lived here, there and about everywhere in the world – our world, that is), and he expertly acquires and twists characters and events from our history, knitting them seamlessly into a vastness of intrigue. This is a longish book, that’s true. And there are times when I wish the protagonists stopped chatting and got on with their adventures. But it was an amazingly quick and enjoyable read. The book has a beautifully designed cover – and for those into the Internet-thingy, visit the website. It will keep you entertained for hours.

Volume two, Spring, is due out at the end of the year.

Madame Xanadu: Extra-Sensory by Matt Wagner. Vertigo $17.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

This is the third and final volume in Matt Wagner’s Madame Xanadu sequence (collecting issues 24-29). The six chapters are all set in New York of the 1960s, that time of change (actually, there were many times of change, but’). The first five deal with the senses: sight, hearing, taste, etc, each with different characters ‘ and with brief cameos by the seer; the exception is ‘Don’t Touch Me There’, in which she does more than just offer supernatural advice. The episodes tend to be slight tales, perhaps they are a little moralising.

But ‘Don’t Touch Me” is the strongest by far. Neon is a supermodel and rock diva, one of Randy Warsau’s entourage, part of The Foundry, where also reside the avant garde musicians Subterranean Suede. Then there’s The Portals fromCalifornia’ you get the idea? Neon isn’t just a model, though; she’s something much older ‘ and very evil. It’s up to Xanadu to stop her trail of death.

Extra-Sensory lists eight artists, and all do justice to their tasks. It’s astonishing, the range of artists working in the comics field, on a single title ‘ I recall the days when the only artists were Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko (or so it seemed). I prefer the variety of today.

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