The British Fantasy Society

Just received from Debbie is the current registration list for this years FantasyCon.

Before you head over to the list, don't forget that there's a price increase from July onwards.

• BFS Members: £50 until June 30, then £60 thereafter
• Non BFS Members: £60 until June 30, then £70 thereafter

Saturday Day Rate: £30

And now, without any further ado... the membership list as of today.

The Media Guardian is reporting that ITV have officially cancelled Demons, their early evening supernatural drama.  The show's international distributors, Sony, had reportedly held talks with the SciFi Channel US in an attempt to secure co-financing for the show and allow a second series to go ahead due to the lowered costs.  However, this approach, similar to the one Impossible Pictures attempted in their efforts to secure a fourth series of Primeval, proved fruitless.  

Despite what is effectively the removal of pre-watershed, non-soap opera drama from ITV's schedule, the Guardian  cites sources within the channel who believe that pre-watershed drama could still be a success, provided it is cost effective, fits the slot and has a 'buzz' about it.

The first annual David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy has been won by Andrzej Sapkowski for his novel Blood of Elves (published in the UK by Gollancz).

The Award was accepted on Sapkowski’s behalf by his UK editor, Jo Fletcher.

Craig Charles meets Red Dwarf fans at two signing sessions in London on Saturday June 20th

• His first appearance will be from 9-11am at The Television and Movie Store 111 Shenley Road, Borehamwood WD6 1AT 
• The second will be from 12 – 3pm at The Collectors Centre 79 Strand Store WC2R ODE

Steven Scott gives the Fans of Red Dwarf the chance to meet Craig Charles (Lister) in person when he signs copies of Red Dwarf : Back to Earth DVD.

The long awaited Red Dwarf: Back to Earth was a massive hit for Dave, the viewing figures for Show 1 were over 4 million and the aggregated figures for Back to Earth shown over the Easter weekend were 11.4 million. The largest audience for any commission for a multi-channel program in UK history.

The Back to Earth DVD pre-sales were the highest for any Red Dwarf Series. The Red Dwarf  series has sold  more Videos and DVDs than any other British TV show.

In their latest adventure join the Red Dwarf crew nine years later as they return back to planet Earth in 2009. But it is not everything the boys had expected, Rimmer has no intention of being replaced and Lister discovers he is a cast member of the popular television soap Coronation Street.

The DVD was released on June 15th and features fantastic extras such as the Director's Cut version, The Making of Back to Earth, Smeg Ups, Deleted Scenes, Exclusive-to-DVD Documentary, Cast Commentary and a Writer/Director Commentary.

Initially broken by Total SciFi this morning, The Guardian has confirmed ITV have cancelled Primeval.  The move has struck many as odd given that the latest season achieved five million viewers in a difficult time slot and is one of the network's very few original drama series.  

Production company Impossible Pictures reportedly put forward a proposal to co-finance a fourth season with a digital channel such as Sci Fi UK but even this was rejected.  Total SciFi's piece contains several quotes from an anonymous source close to the production apologising for the adbrupt end of season three and emphasiing how much of a shock this appears to have been to all involved.  Ironically, both the big-screen moive version and a possible US spin-off remain in development.

This year's Stoker awards have been announced and the winners are as follows:

• Novel - Duma Key by Stephen King
• Collection Just After Sunset by Stephen King
• Anthology - Unspeakable Horror edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helde
• Poetry Collection - The Nightmare Collection by Bruce Boston
• First Novel - The Gentling Box by Lisa Mannetti
• Short Fiction - The Lost Sarah Langan
• Long fiction - Miranda by John R. Little
• Nonfiction - A Halloween Anthology by Lisa Morton
• Specialty Press - Bloodletting Press (Larry and Debra Roberts)
• The Silver Hammer Award -Sephera Giron (for service to organization)
• President’s Award - John Little
• Lifetime Achievement - F. Paul Wilson and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro 

Christopher Lee, the face of horror for a generation and Saruman in the Lord of the Rings movies has been knighted in in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

The 87-year old, currently filming in New Mexico, has appeared in over 250 TV and film productions and has numerous iconic performances to his name, including Lord Summerisle in the 1973 cult Classic 'The Wicker Man', Francisco Scaramanga in the 1974 Bond movie 'The Man With The Golden Gun' and, of course, Dracula himself.

What: Launching an Independent Publishing House: Fab or Folly?
Who: The Shebeen Club and Atomic Fez Publishing
When: Monday, June 15TH, 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Where: The Shebeen, behind the Irish Heather, 212 Carrall Street in
Gastown
Details: $15 cash only, includes dinner and one drink. No minors,
please.
Blather: Follows below
MEET THE NAÏVE PROPRIETOR
The proprietor of Atomic Fez will engage the public in an all singing, all dancing event at the Shebeen Whisk(e)y House behind the Irish Heather
gastro-pub in Vancouver’s Gastown district. Ian Alexander Martin is expected to discuss his reasoning behind
beginning a Small Press Publishing house in these days of financial turmoil which have seen several international houses drastically scale
back their structures, frequently closing sub-imprints and selling off their intellectual assets like so much scrap iron. Likewise, when even local
publisher Raincoast Books scales downsize their operation following the completion of the ‘Harry Potter…’ series, is there any point in trying to
enter the market?

 

Additional topics will include:
• why be a small-press publisher if you’re not also a writer?
• what sort of books does Atomic Fez select?
• the answer to the question “dead tree books or electronic
books” is “YES!”
• whither the future of independent bookshop?
• why can’t people buy any small-press books at Chapters or
Smith’s
• why shouldn’t authors just self-publish and go straight to the
readers and their money?
• just how insane are you?

Come and hear a 20-minute talk about what Mr. Martin’s approaches are, and what he thinks the state of publishing is today. A question and answer session with follow the presentation after a short break.

Atomic Fez Publishing
Only the Finest of Made-Up Stuff!

Rhys Hughes once again foists his mad tale-spinning ability upon the world with this brand new novel of monsters attacking all that is bad (musicians, Frenchmen… you know,
those sort of people), tipping his hat in the direction of both ‘Hellboy’ and Philip José Farmer in the process. When this author describes something as “this is the maddest thing I’ve ever written”, you know you’re in for something ‘special’. Twisthorn Bellow:
He’s dynamite — and he has a short fuse!

It may come as no surprise that France wants to take over the world again. But this time they plan to go much further and gain control of the spiritual dimensions too, making French the official language of the afterlife!
Twisthorn Bellow is a freshly baked golem who has fallen into a vat of nitroglycerin, turning him into a living stick of dynamite. As well as battling against monsters and rock musicians, he’s the only thing that can preserve and protect the glorious British Empire and prevent the Frenchification of the entire cosmos. But considering the French have all the best ideas and tunes, he doesn’t stand a soufflé in Hell’s
chance!

How to Kill Fiends & Intimidate People:
1. Set yourself a golem;
2. Give that golem a piece of your mind;
3. Unleash him on an unsuspecting world…
Atomic Fez Publishing will begin shipping copies in time for the official publishing date of
September 18TH, 2009.
It comes in one ‘Trade’ edition as follows:
• isbn: 978-0-9811597-1-3
• $24.99 (CAN/USA) or £14.99 (UK)
• bound in a paperback biding
Twisthorn Bellow by Rhys Hughes; his new novel and
heartfelt homage to the late Philip José Farmer

PRAISE FOR MR. HUGHES:
Rhys Hughes seems almost the sum of our planet’s literature… Few living fictioneers approach
this chef’s sardonic confections, certainly not in English
— Michael Moorcock

Just beginning to read: saliva already forming on chin.
— Brian Aldiss

Twisthorn Bellow by Ryhs Hughes
$24.99 can/usa — £14.99 uk
isbn: 978-0-9811597-1-3
Publishing: September 18TH, 2009
Atomic Fez Publishing
… Only the Finest of Made-Up Stuff!

Atomic Fez is go!  Ian Alexander Martin's new publishing house has launched, embracing not only the fact that books are fun again but also thetwin worlds of print and digital media.  As well as providing books in the traditional format — described by Mr. Martin as “the ‘dead tree’ variety of books using ink, paper, and bits of glue”— Atomic Fez will be also be endeavouring to tap into the latest of modern technology making available all its titles in the ‘electronic book’ format. Explaining this bi-formatted, pincer-movement approach to publishing, he explained that “the concept that either form [of publishing format] is a ‘bad’ way of getting a story into the hands of a reader is anathema to a logical mind. If you hate e-books, we have paper ones for you. If you hate paper ones, we have ‘e-books ‘to tempt you instead. Either way, we want your money. In the future,” he continued, “it is hoped that both forms [of book] can happily exist side-by-side as they have individual strengths for differing sorts of readers. After all, both forms are equally damaged when dropped in a tub full of hot water.”

Sources close to the company — requesting anonymity due to threatened punishment using hi-fidelity recordings of Mrs. Miller and / or Sebastian Cabot — stated that the first title to be released by the Publisher would be a brand-new novel by the noted Welsh writer Rhys Hughes, which would likely be released early in Q3 to coincide with the British Fantasy Society’s FantasyCon 2009 in mid‑September. The book’s contents are being edited now, with final text to be established and at the printers by the start of July. While the source was unable to provide an exact price, they did allow that “something reasonable around the twenty-five dollar mark is what we’re looking at.”

Further titles are entirely unconfirmed and the nature of their contents isn’t know, but Mr. Martin is ‘planning something’ for World HorrorCon in South England’s Brighton, and information has leaked out regarding works from three more British authors being launched at that event in March 2010; with possibly more titles expected in the autumn of the same year, this time including writers from the Dominion of Canada.

Paul Campbell has organised an Open Night for the BFS at the Cask and Still in Glasgow, and it's on Thursday night (June 11, 7pm).

He'll have the latest from Virgin Horror on offer for £3.99, and there will be free hot and cold snacks.

Click here for more details!