The FantasyCon 2010 committee is pitifully small at the moment, and they're looking for people to help out.

Whether you're interested in joining the committee (ideal for anyone looking to enhance their CV) or just helping to set up on Friday, drop a line to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Tokyo, 1970: army brat Alice McKee (Allison Miller) is attacked in the school gym by two demonic classmates, but she's rescued by new girl Saya (Gianna), who's athletic, handy with a sword and wearing a cute schoolgirl outfit. She's also an ageless vampire searching for Onigen, the demon who killed her dad four hundred years ago. As the battle moves from army base to city warrens to the wide open spaces of the country, can Saya keep Alice alive and complete her mission, or must she choose between them?

A 1984 film out on DVD just in time for Christmas, this anticipates the recent Halloween remake in showing just why Billy's so bad. Taken to see Grandad at the asylum, Billy learns about Santa's predilection for punishment, and on the way home Mum and dad are murdered at the roadside by a villain in a Santa suit. Growing up in St Mary's orphanage, Billy learns the most important lessons of all for a would-be Voorhees: sex is naughty and punishment is necessary. Punishment is good!

I made contact with Biddles again yesterday as the mid-week ETA had come and gone for September's Prism to be delivered.

I have been assured it wil be dispatched to us on Tuesday 10th, so once it's safely arrived I will post another update to let you all know it's here and when to start watching your letter boxes.

Once again, thank you for your patience.

The committee of FantasyCon 2009 have asked us to make a summary of their accounts available online.

Here they are in pdf.

As promised this an update on when to expect your September mailing.

Biddles have been in touch today to say they should be able to deliver Prism to us by the middle of next week.

This means we should be able to post them the following weekend, Royal Mail strikes allowing of course.

Thanks again for your patience.

This is a quick note to apologise for the delay in sending out the Autumn mailing and to give you an update on where we're up to.

As you know the most recent mailing was due to be with you a week or two before FantasyCon.  Due to issues with the printer we had to pull the job and look for another.  Biddles came to our rescue at the 11th hour, but have come up against a few challenges themselves.

At present all I can tell you is that I am due to speak to them again Monday and will let you know when to expect your mailing then.

We'd also like to thank you all for your patience and understanding in the matter and can assure you we're doing everything in our power to get it out as quickly as possible.

 

Please note that the York Open Night planned for October 31 has been cancelled. Instead there will be one on Saturday, 30 January 2010, at York Brewery. Our apologies to anyone who had made plans to travel to the event.

We are very sad to report the death of Louise Cooper, yesterday, at the age of 57. Thoughts of the entire society go to her husband, Cas Sandall, and family.

Louise wrote over 50 novels, delighting fantasy readers of all ages, and in 1999 was a Guest of Honour at our convention, FantasyCon. In 2000 the BFS produced a collection of her short stories, The Spiral Garden. Jan Edwards, who edited the book, described her today as a "lovely lady", and said that she was devastated by the news.

In her introduction to The Spiral Garden, Diana Wynne Jones said Louise was "a born writer", who probably had "more imagination than any other writer". Stan Nicholls said today, "Louise was a wonderful person and an exceptional writer."

Of Darkness and Light
By Paul Kane

Published by Thunderstorm Books

Cover art by BFS Award-winner Vincent Chong

Introduction by bestselling author Mike Carey (Felix Castor novels/Lucifer/X-Men)

Fear of the dark. It’s one of the most common phobias, especially when we’re growing up. For teenager Lee Masterton, his deepest childhood fears are about to become a reality – because not only will he discover that the things living in the darkness are real, he will also find himself in the middle of a war between them and the forces of light. Set against the normal, everyday backdrop of a council estate, the future of humanity will be decided by the outcome of these events.

As Lee’s family and his friends are threatened, he must face up to and conquer his terrors. Because Lee has a very special destiny, and his fate and that of the world’s is soon to be dangerously linked...  From the imagination of award-winning author Paul Kane (Touching the Flame, The Lazarus Condition, The Hellraiser Films And Their Legacy, Arrowhead, RED) comes a short novel that will make you re-evaluate both the darkness and the light. And everything in-between. Unique in its perspective, by the time you have read this powerful tale you will no longer be the same.

Are you afraid of the dark? No? You will be.

 ‘Paul Kane knows how to make you want to avoid the shadows and the cracks in the pavement.’ Mike Carey – Bestselling author of Lucifer, X-Men, and the Felix Castor novels

‘Definitely a name to watch out for in the future of British Horror fiction.’ Graham Joyce – Bestselling author of The Facts of Life and The Limits of Enchantment

‘Paul Kane’s fiction shows intelligence and imagination – he’s a writer who’s going places, and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next!’ Sarah Langan – Bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Keeper and Virus/The Missing

‘I’m impressed by the range of Paul Kane’s imagination. It seems there is no risk, no high-stakes gamble, he fears to take…Kane’s foot never gets even close to the brake pedal.’ Peter Straub – Bestselling author of Ghost Story, Mr X, Lost Boy Lost Girl and In the Night Room

Limited Edition Hardcover: $49 | Signed Paperback: $16.95 | Pre-order in hardback from the Horror Mall | Pre-order in paperback from the Horror Mall

The Doctor Who Autograph Collectors' Club presents its

 

Guests:

'Companions' Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling

Eric Potts (Aliens of London), Adrian Mills (Kinda)

and other guests to be announced

(all guests appear subject to work commitments)

Saturday 31st October 2009

10.00 am to 4.00 pm

Darwen Cricket Club, Darwen, nr. Blackburn, Lancashire

IN AID OF CANCER RESEARCH UK

Tickets: 

Adults £25     Concessions (child, senior citizen, student, etc) £15

Family ticket: £65 (2 adults, 2 concessions - a £15 saving)

Contact: Graham Groom, DWACC, 23 Meadow Street, Darwen, Lancs. BB3 2QL

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Charles Vess is one of the most revered artists in the field of fantasy and comic art. The three-time Eisner Award winner has worked on some of the most recognizable comic properties of all time, including Jeff Smith’s Rose and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, a retelling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for which he and Gaiman shared the prestigious World Fantasy Award.

For over thirty years Vess has positioned himself, through his art, as the best fantasy illustrator in recent history.

Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess collects decades of the artist’s unparalleled work and is scheduled to be released by Dark Horse on December 23, 2009. The hardcover, full-color, 200-page book costs $39.99.

But as a special treat, Dark Horse is happy to announce that the entire book is now available on darkhorse.com for collectors, art connoisseurs, and newly introduced fans to browse for free.

“This book has taken a bit over two years from the completion of my initial layouts to actually seeing print,” said Vess.  “So, in an effort to make certain that you know that the book will indeed be available this December, we are giving you a sneak peak of the entire 200 pages.”

“Above all,” Vess continued, “there’s the unique opportunity to view all the projects that you’d never have a chance to see except in a book like this: a 16’ bronze sculpture, event posters for local organizations, private commissions and previously unpublished paintings done just for the pure pleasure of doing them.”

Vess’s art immerses readers into a place of such fantasy and grandeur, one hopes to stay forever lost in the beauty. His masterful use of paint and brush stand out in an age of digital design, harking back to the golden age of illustration.

Dark Horse invites you to step into a realm of imagination and wonder. Anyone interested is welcome to join the magical journey.

To enter the world of Charles Vess, direct your browser to: darkhorse.com/features/ecomics and click on the Drawing Down the Moon icon.

We’ll be waiting.

Kim Newman will be introducing a screening of DRACULA AD 1972 at the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath this Friday (October 9) at 7.30pm as part of FROM OUT OF THE SHADOWS, an ongoing season of films celebrating the Gothic On Screen.

See http://fromoutoftheshadows.blogspot.com for more details.

The latest in the alternative Earth Pax Britannia series, Evolution Expects takes us into a London where the population is under threat of a startling metamorphosis, a giant robot and masked vigilante, giving Jonathan Green further opportunity to expand on the futuristic vision of Britain the series has built up to date. We’re entering a world where the British Empire is still going strong with Queen Victoria on the throne for 150 years, retaining the rusting remnants of the industrial age alongside technical advancements. This is an Empire that’s increasingly stagnating and Londinium Maximum remains under an almost permanent toxic smog. Heroes and villains lurk amongst its vermin-infested streets.

BFS member and author Natasha Mostert has been asked to deliver a speech at The Richmond Literature Festival along with Martin Amis, Tibor Fischer and Brian Chikwava.

Entiled "Suspense, Fantasy and Gothic in the 21st century", the talk is due to take place from 7.30pm on Friday 13th November at the Octagon Room, Orleans House Gallery - Price: £6 (£5 concessions).

Natasha is the author of five novels. Her fourth novel, Season of the Witch, won the Book to Talk About: World Book Day Award 2009. Her latest book was released in April and is a novel about chi, tattoos, quantum physics, martial arts and muscled men. It is titled The Keeper.

For details about Book Now events click here or visit Natasha's website to read more...

Having room for only fifty honourable mentions in her Best Horror of the Year, Volume 1, Ellen Datlow has published the complete list online, and a number of members and friends of the BFS found their way onto the list, including Mike Chinn, Allyson Bird, Ramsey Campbell, Steve Duffy, Joel Lane, Paul Meloy, John Llewellyn Probert and Conrad Williams.

Simon Bestwick's novella "The School House", from the BFS publication Houses on the Borderland (ed. David Sutton) received an honourable mention, and his story "The Narrows" was selected for inclusion in the book itself, as was Steve Duffy's "The Clay Party", "Very Low-Flying Aircraft" by Nicholas Royle, and stories by Miranda Siemienowicz, Joe R. Lansdale, Laird Barron, Margaret Ronald among others.

Two items from our own magazine Dark Horizons received honourable mentions: "Kali's Kiss", a poem by Karl Bell from Dark Horizons 53, and "Behind the Curtain", by Joel Lane, from Dark Horizons 52.

Unfortunately a previous news item was posted here which took the list of fifty honourable mentions to be the book's contents. Apologies for any embarrassment caused.

Ultrameta is one of the strangest novels I’ve ever read. It tells the extraordinary story of the enigmatic Alexander Stark, a professor of English at Glasgow University, who disappears for ten years. During that time, his wife receives a series of notes from him, accounts of the life – or rather lives – he is leading. The novel consists of these accounts, occasionally interspersed with conversations between the detective and the journalist who are working together to solve the mystery of Stark’s disappearance and who gradually become obsessed with their search, to their cost.

Two of the best thriller writers working today will be appearing at Waterstones' Piccadilly branch this Thursday.  From 7pm, John Connolly will be introducing his wonderful new novel THE GATES, talking about THE LOVERS and looking forward to THE WHISPERERS, and Mark Billingham will be talking about the eighth in the Thorne series, BLOOD LINE. If you're remotely interesting in thrillers and crime fiction and you're in the area then you need to spend time listening to these authors talk, it's well worth it.

Cheap as free, as Homestarrunner himself once pointed out, is the best price of all.  Especially when the free stuff you're getting is as ridiculously good as the latest issues of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and Clarkesworld, both available from the links below:

 

Issue 2 of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly has just hit the streets of the 'net.  

http://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com
With fiction by Euan Harvey, William Gerke & Marie Brennan, poetry from Joshua Hampton & Teel James Glenn and issue artwork from Norimichi Tanaka.  

and

Clarkesworld Issue 37 is also fresh out!
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com
Fiction by Kij Johnson & Gord Sellar, non fiction in the form of an interview of Ken Scholes and an article on The Iconic Poe of the 21st Century, fabulous cover art from Sean Donaldson and for podcast fans, the podcast of the month is Kij's Johnson's story Spar read by Kate Baker.

Starship Sofa never fails to impress and this week is no exception, as the Aural Delights team present their usual array of impressive names, now with added Charles Stross:

 

Aural Delights No 102 Charles Stross

Editorial: StarShipSofa and the Future by Tony C Smith

Cover Art: Evan Forsch

Poem: Clone Assassin by Lyn C. A Gardner 

Fact: Movie Talk by Rod Barnett

Fact: Science News by JJ Campanella 

Flash Fiction: The Arrival of the Cogsmiths (oil on canvas, by Turner, 1815) by Fábio Fernandes 

Main Fiction: Down On the Farm by Charles Stross 

Fact: Progress Report 3 by Lawrence Santoro 

New Titles: by Tony C Smith 

Narrators: Julie Davis, Chris Booth, Diane Severson