The nominations for the British Fantasy Awards have been announced. The winners will be announced at World Fantasy Con in Brighton on 3 November 2013.
Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award)
- Blood and Feathers, by Lou Morgan
- The Brides of Rollrock Island, by Margo Lanagan
- Railsea, by China Miéville
- Red Country, by Joe Abercrombie
- Some Kind of Fairy Tale, by Graham Joyce
Best Horror Novel (the August Derleth Award)
- The Drowning Girl, by Caitlin R. Kiernan
- The Kind Folk, by Ramsey Campbell
- Last Days, by Adam Nevill
- Silent Voices, by Gary McMahon
- Some Kind of Fairy Tale, by Graham Joyce
Best Novella
- Curaré, by Michael Moorcock
- Eyepennies, by Mike O’Driscoll
- The Nine Deaths of Dr Valentine, by John Llewellyn Probert
- The Respectable Face of Tyranny, by Gary Fry
Best Short Story
- “Our Island,” by Ralph Robert Moore
- “Shark! Shark!” by Ray Cluley
- “Sunshine,” by Nina Allan
- “Wish for a Gun,” by Sam Sykes
Best Collection
- From Hell to Eternity, by Thana Niveau
- Remember Why You Fear Me, by Robert Shearman
- Where Furnaces Burn, by Joel Lane
- The Woman Who Married a Cloud, by Jonathan Carroll
Best Anthology
- A Town Called Pandemonium, edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin
- Magic: an Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane, edited by Jonathan Oliver
- The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women, edited by Marie O’Regan
- Terror Tales of the Cotswolds, edited by Paul Finch
Best Small Press (the PS Publishing Independent Press Award)
- ChiZine Publications
- Gray Friar Press
- Spectral Press
- TTA Press
Best Non-Fiction
- Ansible, by David Langford
- The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn
- Coffinmaker’s Blues, by Stephen Volk
- Fantasy Faction, edited by Marc Aplin
- Pornokitsch, edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin
- Reflections: On the Magic of Writing, by Diana Wynne Jones
Best Magazine/Periodical
- Black Static, edited by Andy Cox
- Interzone, edited by Andy Cox
- SFX, edited by David Bradley
- Shadows and Tall Trees, edited by Michael Kelly
Best Artist
- Ben Baldwin
- David Rix
- Les Edwards
- Sean Phillips
- Vincent Chong
Best Comic/Graphic Novel
- Dial H, China Miéville, Mateus Santolouco, David Lapham, and Riccardo Burchielli
- Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
- The Unwritten, by Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Gary Erskine, Gabriel Hernández Walta, M.K. Perker, Vince Locke, and Rufus Dayglo
- The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard
Best Screenplay
- Avengers Assemble, by Joss Whedon
- Sightseers, by Alice Lowe, Steve Oram and Amy Jump
- The Cabin in the Woods, by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro
Best Newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Award)
- Alison Moore, for The Lighthouse
- Anne Lyle, for The Alchemist of Souls
- E.C. Myers, for Fair Coin
- Helen Marshall, for Hair Side, Flesh Side
- Kim Curran, for Shift
- Lou Morgan, for Blood and Feathers
- Molly Tanzer, for A Pretty Mouth
- Saladin Ahmed, for Throne of the Crescent Moon
- Stephen Bacon, for Peel Back the Sky
- Stephen Blackmoore, for City of the Lost
For more information…
Richard Matheson has announced that he will regretfully have to miss World Fantasy Convention
2013 because of ongoing health concerns. Matheson was named Honourary Guest of Honour for this year’s convention, which is scheduled to be held in Brighton, UK over the weekend of October 31-November 3. Matheson will remain a Honorary Guest of Honour at this year’s convention, and there will still be programming to celebrate his work.
For more information…
The winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award was announced during Sci-Fi-London 9: The Ninth Annual International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film. This year, the award included a prize of £2013. The winner is Chris Beckett for the novel Dark Eden.
For more information…
A dramatization based on Ian R. MacLeod’s alternate history story “Snodgrass” is being made as part of the UK Sky Playhouse. Snodgrass, about a world in which John Lennon left the Beatles before they hit it big. The production, which will air on Sky Arts 1, is based on the first third of the story. The show will be broadcast on April 25. John Lennon will be portrayed by Ian Hart, who previously portrayed Lennon in The Hours and Times (1991) and Backbeat (1994).
For more information…
In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who, the Royal Mail will be releasing official stamps. The main sheet of stamps will include eleven first class stamps, each with an image of one of the actors who portrayed the character. A second sheet of stamps will also be issued that includes one first class stamp depicting the TARDIS and four additional second class stamps depicting the Daleks, Cybermen, Ood, and Weeping Angels. The stamps will be made available in the spring of 2013.
For more information…
British author C.S. Lewis, who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, The Perelandra trilogy, The Screwtape Letters, and several works on religion, will be honored with the placement of a memorial stone in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey on November 22, 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of his death. Lewis will be the first addition to Poet’s Corner since Ted Hughes was added in December of 2011. Poet’s Corner is part of the south transept of Westminster Abbey, so named for the large number of poets, playwrights, and writers buried and commemorated there.
For more information…
On November 20, Africa In Science Fiction will be held at the Southbank Centre in London. The first part of the program will be a panel discussion called “Universal Mind Control” and chaired by Toyin Agbetu. Other panelists will include Tosin Coker and Biram Mboob. The second part of the symposium will be called “Parable of the Talents” and is a film screening with a question and answer period with Joy Francis, Oladipo Agboluaje, and animator Kibwe Tavares. The event is being coordinated by Agbetu and Courttia Newland.
For more information…
For tickets…
The winners of the 2011 British Fantasy Awards, presented by the British Fantasy Society, were announced on September 30 at Fantasycon in Brighton.
- Best Novel (Robert Holdstock Fantasy Award): Among Others, by Jo Walton
- Best Novel (August Derleth Horror Award): The Ritual, by Adam Nevill
- Best Novella: “Gorel and the Pot-Bellied,” God by Lavie Tidhar
- Best Short Fiction: “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter,” by Angela Slatter
- Best Anthology: The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
- Best Collection: Everyone’s Just So, So Special, by Robert Shearman
- Best Screenplay: Midnight in Paris, by Woody Allen
- Best Magazine/Periodical: Black Static, edited by Andy Cox
- Best Comic/Graphic Novel: Locke and Key, by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
- Best Non-Fiction: Supergods, by Grant Morrison
- Best Independent Press: Chomu Press
- Best Newcomer: Kameron Hurley
For more infrmation…
The London Worldcon bid easily won site selection at Chicon 7, receiving 864 of 932 votes cast in an uncontested election. The convention will take place from August 14-18, 2014 at the ExCeL London. Alice Lawson and Steve Cooper will serve as the convention’s co-chairs. The Guests of Honor will be Iain M. Banks, John Clute, Malcolm Edwards, Chris Foss, Jeanne Gomoll, Robin Hobb, and Bryan Talbot. Previous Loncons were held in 1957 and 1965.
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The British Fantasy Society has appointed three special juries to give out awards for artist, non-fiction, and the PS Publishing Independent Press Awards at FantasyCon in Brighton on 30 September 2012. Tee jurors and nominees are listed below.
The PS Publishing Independent Press Award:
Jurors: Sandy Auden, Peter Crowther, Nicholas Royle, Peter Tennant, Darren Turpin
- Chomu Press, publisher Quentin S Crisp
- Gray Friar Press, publisher Gary Fry
- NewCon Press, publisher Ian Whates
- Spectral Press, publisher Simon Marshall-Jones
The Artist Award:
Jurors: Guy Adams, Anne Sudworth, Christopher Teague
- Ben Baldwin
- Vincent Chong
- Les Edwards
- Daniel Serra
The Non-Fiction Award
Jurors: Djibril al-Ayad, Roz Kaveney, Adam Roberts
- Lest You Should Suffer Nightmares: A Biography of Herbert Van Thal, by Johnny Mains
- Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero, by Grant Morrison
- Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen since the 1960s, by Kim Newman
- Studies in Terror: Landmarks of Horror Cinema, by Jonathan Rigby
- Case Notes, by Peter Tennant
For more information…
