SFScope have reported that the winners of this year’s Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (for best short science fiction story published in 2011) and John W. Campbell Memorial Award (for best science-fiction novel of 2011) are as follows:

Campbell Award:
1st (joint): The Islanders by Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
1st (joint): The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski (Tor)
3rd: Embassytown by China Miéville (Ballantine/Del Rey)
Honorable Mention: Osama by Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)

Sturgeon Award:
1st: The Choice by Paul McAuley (Asimov’s)
2nd: Six Months Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)
3rd: The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)

Baph Tripp, soon to have a his story Chodpa published in Black Static #29 (July 2012), was originally Louis Tripp who starred in the Canadian movies The Gate and Gate II: Trespassers, aka Gate II: Return to the Nightmare, in 1987 and 1990 respectively. He is now a musician creating underground industrial music as x.a.o.s in Australia, but will become a new author this summer when his first published fiction appears in Black Static. His story Chodpa is “a dark, unsettling meditation on alienation, blighted hope, and the uselessness of human consciousness. And insects.”

For new authors, an appearance in Black Static brings international recognition in horror and dark fantasy fiction, but Baph has had plenty of experience of that from an early age. Baph has a convoluted history in terms of names, locations and artforms. He was born Louis Tripp, and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada and was a movie star in his early teens playing the role of Terry in the 1980s cult horror films The Gate and Gate II. At age 20, he changed his name to Twelve Twenty and as 12:20 he created confrontational, experimental music and engaged in the type of performance art activities that, on occasion, resulted in his involvement with the humane society and the police. At 30, the by then somewhat notorious 12:20 became Baph Tripp and began to create underground industrial music as x.a.o.s with releases in 2001, 2007 and 2009. He now lives in New South Wales, Australia.

He wrote the 8,100 word short story Chodpa in 2011 but spent time on extensive editing and re-writes before submitting it for publication in April 2012. Its acceptance for Black Static has fuelled his ambition to write more dark fiction.

A couple of horror-centred websites have published “Where is Louis Tripp?” articles in the last few years  …

Although his short story writing workshop on 19 May 2012 is now fully booked, award-winning writer, editor and competition judge, Allen Ashley, will be holding another similar workshop on Saturday 16 June 2012 from 2pm to 5pm at Trinity-at-Bowes, Palmerston Road, London N22 8RA.

This is your chance to improve your short story writing with guaranteed personal feedback from a specialist in the field. The afternoon will consist of a practical workshop for all short story writers, whether beginners or published writers. Topics covered will include: getting started; generating ideas; beginnings; middles; endings; useful writing exercises; practical tips; avoiding pitfalls; and preparing your work for submission.

The fee for the workshop is £20 and booking is essential. To book your place please email Allen at allenashley-writer [at] hotmail [dot] co [dot] uk

This years’ BFS Short Story Competition will be judged by award-winning editor and BFS stalwart Allen Ashley.

Allen Ashley is an author, editor, poet, critic and writing tutor as well as a long-standing, active member of the BFS. Allen is a regular contributor to The BFS Journal and attendee at FantasyCon. Allen won the BFS award for Best Anthology in 2006 as editor of The Elastic Book Of Numbers (Elastic Press).

Allen says: “Judging a competition is something I have wanted to add to my accomplishments for a long time, so I’m really pleased to be given this opportunity. I’m sure it’s going to be a tough decision to choose the eventual winners as I know that the standard is always very high. There’s just me judging – no filtering committee or anything like that. Also, this year it’s not anonymous as that was felt to be an unnecessary complication. Word limit is 5000 words and all the usual rules apply. Submission window opens on 1 March 2012 and closes on 30 June 2012.”

Entry is free for BFS members and just £5 per entry for non-members. Further details and full submission guidelines HERE

For enquiries please email Allen on shortstorycomp@britishfantasysociety.org

Subterranean Press are planning two collections of short stories by authors best known for their longer novels.

A Stark and Wormy Knight is a new collection by best-selling fantasy author Tad Williams, due next summer. Tad Williams is an acknowledged master of the multi-volume epic. A Stark and Wormy Knight, though, offers readers something both special and surprising: a virtuoso demonstration of Williams’ mastery of a variety of shorter forms.

Secondly, Subterranean announce the largest collection of Jonathan Carroll‘s short fiction yet published. The Woman Who Married a Cloud will feature 37 stories-including his limited edition novella, “The Heidelberg Cylinder”. Always better known as a novelist, Carroll has also created a compelling and deeply moving body of short fiction. Perhaps more eclectic and slant-wise than some of his novels, stories like World Fantasy Award winning “Friend’s Best Man” and Pushcart Prize and Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire honouree “Home on the Rain” stand amongst his very best work.

The Woman Who Married a Cloud: Collected Stories will be the best and most complete collection of Jonathan Carroll’s fiction ever published. It collects 35 stories written across a thirty year long career, a number appearing in print for the first time, in a single landmark volume that stands as the perfect introduction to this unique and wonderful writer.

Mslexia, the magazine for women writers, is inviting submissions of unpublished stories (up to 2,200 words) and poems (up to 40 lines) on the theme ‘In the year 2212…’.

Two hundred years hence, will we be teleporting or living in caves? In peaceful eco-cities or war-scarred refugee colonies on a distant planet? Cast your imaginative spotlight into the future and tell us what you see.

Closing date: 28 November 2011.

See www.mslexia.co.uk/submit for more information and full contributors’ guidelines, or call 0191 233 3860.