Stories entered into the competition must be original and previously unpublished. Entry is free. The prize for winning this year’s James White Award is £300 plus publication in Interzone, the leading UK science fiction magazine from TTA Press. There will also be a runners-up prize of £100. The closing date for receipt of entries is 16 December 2012. The winner / runner-up will be presented with their awards at the BSFA Awards ceremony at Eastercon 2013.

For further information see the website HERE

So it’s great news that Ken will have a story and a translated story in the next two issues of Britain’s premier science fiction magazine, Interzone. The first of these will mark his debut in the magazine. The second will mark Chen Qiufan’s debut. Ken’s story The Message has a father and daughter trying to repair their relationship as they explore an ancient alien ruin. The mystery they solve is both personal and universal.

The Flower of Shazui, the story Ken translated for Interzone and another from Chen Qiufan, is a near-future high-tech thriller set among the migrants that both powered China’s economic growth and became its victim. In this callous, greed corrupted milieu, men and women break the law as they struggle to do the right thing.

Interzone #242, containing Ken’s story, will be released mid-September. Chen Qiufan’s The Flower of Shazui will be in the November issue and constitutes a first for Interzone. The magazine has featured translated stories, eg from Serbian, in the past but a Chinese original is a new one for TTA Press.

Ken Liu was born in Lanzhou, China, and now lives in the United States. He writes speculative fiction and poetry and also translates Chinese fiction into English. He and his wife, artist Lisa Tang Liu, are collaborating on a novel; an epic fantasy set on an island world inspired by East Asian history. Ken’s fiction has appeared in SF magazines: F&SF, Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, along with several collections. Aside from his Nebula Award he has been nominated for the Hugo and Sturgeon Awards, and several of his stories have been featured in various Year’s Best anthologies.

The first five novellas are by authors very closely associated with TTA. These are:
Eyepennies by Mike O’Driscoll
Spin by Nina Allan
Cold Turkey by Carole Johnstone
The Teardrop Method by Simon Avery
Country Dark by James Cooper

Each novella will be available to buy singly or as part of a cheaper subscription. Until the publication of TTA Novella No. 1, the first five novellas are available for just £25 with free worldwide postage.

Full details from the website HERE

TTA Press have taken this opportunity to make a couple of design changes too. Black Static magazine will lose 36mm off its height and 30mm off its width, which will allow printing of more pages (issue 29 will be 96 pages instead of the usual 64). There is the very real prospect of increasing to 128 pages in the future. The new size will use a thicker uncoated paper and a thicker cover, which will be laminated. So it’ll have a spine. The point size of the fiction will be slightly bigger. This will all add up to a better reading and handling experience, and a format that better suits the content.

Baph Tripp

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  …

Interzone

Contents include fiction from Lavie Tidhar, Elizabeth Bourne, Ray Cluley, Vylar Kaftan and Tracie Welser; an interview with Nancy Kress (by Maureen Kincaid Speller); together with the usual mix of up-to-the-minute news and reviews.

Cover art is by Ben Baldwin.

For further information and purchase details visit the TTA Press website HERE

The free issue contains a mammoth book reviews section from Peter Tennant, an interview with Stephen Jones, and fiction from Steve Rasnic Tem, Ray Cluley, Joel Lane, Simon Clark and Lavie Tidhar.

Click here to try it for free now!

For full information see the TTA Press website HERE

Priya Sharma

Priya’s inspiration for her story, The Ballad of Boomtown, stemmed from reading about Ireland’s problem of empty and semi-occupied housing estates following the demise of the ‘Celtic Tiger’. She explores the effects of recession and clashes between modern times and Ireland’s ancient past for a woman left alone in a decaying estate while obsessing over the tragedy that caused her lover to desert her.

Priya is a GP who spends most of her spare time writing. She is making her name internationally via short stories but a historical fantasy novel set in Wales is her newest project. Two of Priya’s stories will be reprinted in ‘Year’s Best’ collections where her name will appear alongside the likes of Stephen King and Tim Powers.

Black Static 28 will be in newsagents, and some bookshops, from mid-April. So, with that issue, Priya joins Black Static authors such as Ramsey Campbell, Alison Littlewood and Christopher Fowler, along with others like Conrad Williams and Justina Robson who began their writing careers in its pages or in the pages of its predecessor, The Third Alternative.

Interzone #239

Twember by Steve Rasnic Tem, illustrated by Dave Senecal
Lips and Teeth by Jon Wallace, illustrated by Richard Wagner
Tangerine, Nectarine, Clementine, Apocalypse by Suzanne Palmer, illustrated by Richard Wagner
Bound in Place by Jacob A. Boyd, illustrated by Ben Baldwin
Railriders by Matthew Cook, illustrated by Warwick Fraser-Coombe
One-Way Ticket by Nigel Brown, illustrated by Mark Pexton

Also includes: Book Zone, Ansible Link (news and obituaries) by David Langford, Mutant Popcorn (film reviews) by Nick Lowe, Laser Fodder (DVD/Blu-ray reviews) by Tony Lee, and its latest Readers’ Poll.

Black Static

Empty of Words, the Page by Gord Sellar
illustrated by David Gentry

The Little Things by Jacob Ruby
illustrated by George Cotronis

Cuckoo Spit by Stephen Bacon
illustrated by Mark Pexton

The Churn by Simon Bestwick
illustrated by Dave Senecal

Family Tree by V.H. Leslie
illustrated by Rik Rawling

Plus the usual mix of news, reviews and non-fiction articles.

Details HERE

The magazine’s 2012 cover artist is Ben Baldwin who, in his guest editorial, explains that the images “will be focused around the imagery and symbolism of some of the Major Arcana of the tarot deck”. The first is The Moon.

Details HERE

Emma’s story has a mid-fifties woman facing freedom after serving forty years on a hellish prison planet. Her sentence is over … but she thinks it’s about to start.

Interzone #238 will begin mailing out around 13 January 2012. So, with that issue, Emma will join the ranks of Interzone authors like Brian Aldiss, Terry Pratchett, and J.G. Ballard, along with Liz Williams and Alastair Reynolds who established their writing careers in its pages.

Emma is 28 and has a BA in English and American Literature from the University of Manchester and an MA in Creative Writing (Royal Holloway, London). She now works at the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an affiliation of eight dance, drama and circus schools, and is responsible for communications and events. She takes time out from writing and the day job by exploring circus skills such as trapeze classes at Circus Space in London, and hula hooping.

Emma plans to make a career of her writing and is represented by Zeno Agency. Her novel, Osiris, the first in a planned trilogy, is currently waiting for a publisher’s decision.

Black Static #26

Fiction:
I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing by Ray Cluley, illustrated by Ben Baldwin
The Demon Laplace by Mark Rigney, illustrated by Rik Rawling
Remains by Gary McMahon, illustrated by Mark Pexton
Dizzy Land by Andrew Hook, illustrated by Paul Milne
The Monster of Venice by Carole Johnstone

Features:
White Noise: Horror News compiled by Peter Tennant
Coffinmaker’s Blues by Stephen Volk
Interference by Christopher Fowler
Night’s Plutonian Shore by Mike O’Driscoll
Case Notes: Book Reviews by Peter Tennant
Blood Spectrum: DVD/Blu-ray Reviews by Tony Lee

The original art on the cover is taken from Rik Rawling’s illustration for The Demon Laplace and Mark Pexton’s illustration for Remains.

Full details HERE

Interzone

STORIES:

The Last Osama by Lavie Tidhar
illustrated by Steve Hambidge

Erasing the Concept of Sex From a Photobooth by Douglas Lain
illustrated by David Gentry

Insect Joy by Caspian Gray

Digital Rites by Jim Hawkins
illustrated by Richard Wagner

FEATURES:

Ansible Link by David Langford
News, obituaries

Book Zone
Lots of book reviews

Laser Fodder by Tony Lee
Lots of DVD/Blu-ray reviews

Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe
Lots of film reviews

COVER ART:

Babel II by Richard Wagner
This is the sixth and final of his 2011 covers, and James Worrad’s interview with the artist will be on the website shortly

For information and purchase details please visit the TTA Press website