British Fantasy Society News

David Sutton

Back… back to your very beginning! This article was originally published in Silver Rhapsody (BFS Booklet No. 23 (1996), edited by John Carter & Jan Edwards, and produced by Jan Edwards & Peter Coleborn). Reprinted with the author’s permission.

As a founder member I am in a rare position, having observed at close quarters the growth, trials and tribulations of the Society during all of its formative years. Back in late 1970 I was editing my then successful fanzine Shadow, and in issue twelve I mentioned that the British Science Fiction Association was about to incorporate a “special interest” section for fantasy fans. Keith Walker (an active BSFA member at the time) was its proponent. The idea never got off the ground and so Keith, along with Phil Spencer and Rosemary (Ro) Pardoe, created the British Weird Fantasy Society (as it was then named) in 1971. The first BWFS publication, The Bulletin, was launched in May 1971 under Keith’s editorship.

The following thirty-four issues, however, were the work of myself – a duplicated, quarto sized, publication, of generally two to three sheets of text. During 1971, along with The Bulletin, Society members also saw the inauguration of a postal lending library (organiser Dave Riley), a Fanzine Newsletter (edited by Ro Pardoe) and the first issue of Dark Horizons (also Ro). Dark Horizons was mimeographed, and contained a mix of articles by BFS members, but no fiction.

1971 was also the year August Derleth died and Ramsey Campbell suggested that the BWFS should institute a memorial award to be given annually to the best literary work in the genre. An ambitious start for the Society that boasted a mere 34 members at the end of its first year.

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Peter Coleborn

Here’s a look back at times past, originally published in Silver Rhapsody (BFS Booklet No. 23 (1996), edited by John Carter & Jan Edwards, and produced by Jan Edwards & Peter Coleborn). Reprinted with the author’s permission.

The British Fantasy Society is an organisation of like‑minded fantasy fans and its history should be that of its members. Yet the story of the BFS will, of necessity, concentrate on publications and events.

The last Steve Jones/Jo Fletcher Newsletter was published in the winter of 1984/85. Theirs was a difficult legacy to follow – this issue was, after all, a massive 80–pager! The new editor, it seemed, vanished into obscurity and The Newsletter was threatened with extinction. So someone else had to take control of The Newsletter – but who? OK, I’ll own up: it was me. I volunteered for this role on a temporary (and on a quarterly) basis, until a new full‑time editor could be appointed. In the end I stayed on until the 1989/90 issue, although I was unable to maintain the regularity I had intended.

The volume 12 number 1 issue of The Newsletter (Summer 1985, my first), continued very much in the style of Jones & Fletcher, headlined the death of Ted Sturgeon, a rather sad start to my reign. I managed three issues in 1985. Looking through back copies, I note that a certain Stephen Laws of Tyne & Wear won a Gremlins competition run in an earlier issue; and reviewers included Kim Newman and Neil Gaiman. The Newsletter was accompanied by Dark Horizons 28 and 29 edited by Dave Sutton, and Gothique: 20th Anniversary issue.

Also in 1985, we held a couple of Open Nights in the “ever popular” (it said) Royal Connaught pub in Holborn. Karl Edward Wagner flew in specially to guest at the July Open Night. Dave Sutton won an award for one of his short stories in an international competition organised by the European Post and Telecommunication Recreation Council. But of course, the high point of ‘85 was Fantasycon X with guests Robert Holdstock, Charles L Grant and Diana Wynne Jones. The Society’s President, re‑elected at Fantasycon X, was Ramsey Campbell, and Mike and Di Wathen continued as co‑Vice‑Presidents.

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The shortlist for this year’s World Fantasy Awards (not to be confused with our own British Fantasy Awards, despite some overlap in the nominees) has been announced. The awards will be presented at the World Fantasy Convention in Calgary, held on 30 October-2 November 2008. The Life Achievement Award Winners, announced in advance, are Patricia McKillip and Leo & Diane Dillon, while Peter Straub won the IHG Living Legend Award. The judges this year included our own Peter Coleborn and Mark Morris.

Novel

• Emma Bull, Territory [Tor]
• Guy Gavriel Kay, Ysabel [Penguin Roc]
• John Marks, Fangland [Penguin]
• Will Shetterly, Gospel of the Knife [Tor]
• Michael Marshall Smith, The Servants [Earthling Publications]

Novella

• Robert Edric, The Mermaids [PS Publishing]
• Elizabeth Hand, Illyria [PS Publishing]
• Ian R. MacLeod, Master Miller’s Tale [F&SF]
• Kim Newman, Cold Snap [The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club, Monkey Brain Books]
• Lucius Shepard, Stars Seen through Stone [F&SF]

Short Story

• Daniel Abraham, The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics [Logorrhea, Bantam Spectra]
• Theodora Goss, Singing of Mount Abora [Logorrhea, Bantam Spectra]
• Kij Johnson, The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change [The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, Viking]
• Robert Shearman, Damned if you Don’t [Tiny Deaths, Comma Press]
• Simon Kurt Unsworth, The Church on the Island [At Ease With the Dead, Ash-Tree Press]

Anthology

• Gary A. Braunbeck and Hank Schwaeble, Five Strokes to Midnight [Haunted Pelican Press]
• Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois, Wizards: Magical Tales from Masters of Modern Fantasy [Berkeley]
• Ellen Datlow, Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural [Tor]
• Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales [Viking]
• John Klima, Logorrhea [Bantam Spectra]

Collection

• Stephen Gallagher, Plots and Misadventures [Subterranean]
• Ellen Klages, Portable Childhoods [Tachyon]
• Kim Newman, Secret Files of the Diogenes Club [Monkey Brain Books]
• Tim Pratt, Hart & Boot & Other Stories [Night Shade Books]
• Robert Shearman, Tiny Deaths [Comma Press]
• Lucius Shepard, Dagger Key and Other Stories [PS Publishing]

Artist

• Ruan Jia
• Mikko Kinnunen
• Stephan Martiniere
• Edward Miller
• John Picacio

Special Award – Pro

• Alan Beatts and Jude Feldman for Borderlands Books
• Allison Baker and Chris Roberson for Monkey Brain Books
• Peter Crowther for PS Publishing
• Gordon Van Gelder for F&SF
• Jeremy Lassen and Jason Williams for Nightshade Books
• Shawna McCarthy for Realms of Fantasy

Special Award – Non-pro

• G. S. Evans and Alice Whittenburg for Cafe Irreal
• Stephen Jones for Travellers in Darkness (The World Horror Convention Anthology)
• John Klima for Electric Velocipede
• Rosalie Parker and Raymond Russell for Tartarus-Press
• Midori Snyder, Terri Windling for Endicott Studios Website

You can discuss the list here on the BFS forums.

For the third year in a row, an episode of Doctor Who written by Steven Moffat has won the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. This year’s winning episode was "Blink" (aka the one with the statues). Stardust, the film based on the book by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess, won the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.

Other winners included The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (Best Novel), and Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jeff Prucher (Best Related Book).

The full list of winners, as announced at the 66th World Science Fiction Convention in Denver, Colorado, on 9 August 2008, can be found on the Hugo Awards website.

The British Fantasy Society is pleased to announce the nominees for the British Fantasy Awards 2008. The overall winner in each category will be announced at the banquet of this year’s British Fantasy Convention, Fantasycon 2008. The convention will be held on 19–21 September 2008 at the Britannia Hotel, Nottingham, UK. More details can be found here on the BFS website and at www.fantasycon.org.uk.

In addition to the categories below, the winners of which have been decided by a ballot of the Society and Fantasycon memberships, there will be the announcement of the Karl Edward Wagner Special Award (selected by the BFS committee), presented to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the genre, and the Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award, selected by a panel of judges.

(Note: Where the list has more than five nominations, this is due to voting ties for one or more runner-up places. The nominees are listed in alphabetical order.)

Novel: The August Derleth Award

• Ramsey Campbell, THE GRIN OF THE DARK, PS Publishing
• Joe Hill, HEART SHAPED BOX, Gollancz
• Michael Marshall, THE INTRUDERS, HarperCollins Publishers
• Sarah Pinborough, THE TAKEN, Dorchester Publishing Co
• Dan Simmons, THE TERROR, Little Brown & Co
• Michael Marshall Smith, THE SERVANTS, Earthling Publications

Novella

• Eric Brown, STARSHIP SUMMER, PS Publishing
• Tim Lebbon, AFTER THE WAR (DOUBLE NOVELLA), Subterranean Press
• Gary McMahon, ALL YOUR GODS ARE DEAD, Humdrumming
• Del Stone jr., BLACK TIDE, Telos Publishing
• Conrad Williams, RAIN, Gray Friar Press
• Conrad Williams, THE SCALDING ROOMS, PS Publishing

Short Fiction

• Ramsey Campbell, DIGGING DEEP, Phobic: Modern Horror Stories, Comma Press
• Christopher Fowler, THE SPIDER KISS, The Mammoth Book of Monsters, Robinson
• Joe Hill, THUMBPRINT, Postscripts #10, PS Publishing
• Joel Lane, MY STONE DESIRE, Black Static #1, TTA Press
• Tim Lebbon, DISCOVERING GHOSTS, Postscripts #10 Spring 2007, PS Publishing

Collection

• Simon Clark, MIDNIGHT BAZAAR: A SECRET ARCADE OF STRANGE AND EERIE TALES, Robert Hale
• Paul Finch, STAINS, Gray Friar Press
• Christopher Fowler, OLD DEVIL MOON, Serpent’s Tail
• Stephen Gallagher, PLOTS AND MISADVENTURES, Subterranean Press
• Gary McMahon, DIRTY PRAYERS, Gray Friar Press
• Tony Richards, GOING BACK, Elastic Press

Anthology

• Charles Black, THE BLACK BOOK OF HORROR, Mortbury Press
• John Grant, NEW WRITINGS IN THE FANTASTIC, Pendragon
• Stephen Jones, THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR 18, Robinson
• D. F. Lewis, ZENCORE!, Megazanthus
• Ian Alexander Martin, THE FIRST HUMDRUMMING BOOK OF HORROR STORIES, Humdrumming

Small Press

• Andy Cox, Black Static
• Peter Crowther, PS Publishing
• Peter Crowther, Postscripts
• Andrew Hook, Elastic Press
• Steve Upham, Screaming Dreams

Artist

• Vincent Chong
• Les Edwards (Edward Miller)
• Dave McKean
• Bryan Talbot
• Steve Upham

Non-Fiction

• Allen Ashley, PLANET DODO COLUMN, Midnight Street
• Peter Tennant, WHISPERS OF WICKEDNESS WEBSITE REVIEWS
• Stephen Thrower, NIGHTMARE USA: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE EXPLOITATION INDEPENDENTS, FAB Press
• Darren Turpin, UKSF BOOKNEWS
• Mark Valentine, WORMWOOD, Tartarus Press

Fantasy writers including Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, Alan Garner, Darren Shan and Neil Gaiman have expressed their opposition to proposals to add age bands to the covers of books published for children in the UK. One of their many issues with the proposals is that children may reject certain books for fear of being thought babyish, while others will find books of their "correct" age-group too challenging, and be put off reading even more firmly than before.

Pratchett had this to say: "When I was a child I read books far too old for me and sometimes far too young for me. Every reading child is different. Introduce them to the love of reading, show them the way to the library and let them get on with it. The space between the young reader’s eyeballs and the printed page is a holy place and officialdom should trample all over it at their peril."

For further details of the campaign see the No to Age Banding website.

Only a few days to go for members to vote in this year’s awards. The deadline is 1st August. Click on the BFS Awards link to go to the on-line voting form and full instructions on the voting process. You can also vote direct to bfsawards@britishfantasysociety.org, or use the postal voting form which was included in the recent mailing. Remember - every vote counts. Even if you do not vote in each category or only select one item from a possible three votes in a single category, your vote will impact on the outcome of the awards. If you have any questions please email the address above.

Vincent Chong, winner of the 2007 BFS Award for Best Artist, will be exhibiting several pieces of his artwork in the "Art in Mind" group exhibition at the Brick Lane Gallery in London (196 Brick Lane) from July 29 to August 11.  The gallery is open daily from 12.00-6.00 pm and there is a preview opening night for the show on Wednesday, July 30, from 6.00-9.00 pm.

He was nominated again this year for the BFS Award for Best Artist, as a result of his work for Gray Friar, PS Publishing and Immanion Press, and he was the cover artist of the December 2007 issue of our own Prism. His work can also be seen on the cover of the forthcoming collection, Bull Running for Girls, to be published by Screaming Dreams and launched at this year’s Fantasycon.

Two novels by Mike Philbin have been published this month by Silverthought Press (a publishing offshoot of the similarly-titled website).

Bukkakeworld (charming!) is described by the author as "a savage indictment of the corporate mentality", while Planet of the Owls is said to be "a radical new interpretation of ’spirituality’ as seen from a higher dimension".

Further details of Mike’s strenuous efforts to eliminate the barriers of good taste can be found on his website.

The latest book from McSweeney’s, All Known Metal Bands, compiled and edited by Dan Nelson, prints in silver upon black pages the names of every metal band the author could discover, all 51,000 of them. Members of the Society looking for a new occult tome with which to tempt their protagonists might well find this suitable - reading any section of it aloud feels uncannily like participating in a ritual likely to end in one’s own sacrifice.

It contains no less than three Necronomicons, a Necronomicon Beast, and a Necronomitron. There are five Azathoths, six Yog-Sothoths (spelt variously), five Nyarlathoteps, five Dagons, two Cthulhus and one Cthulhu Biomechanical.

There are also three bands by the name of Minas Morgul, two Minas Tiriths, one Fellowship of the Ring, three Aragorns, seven Saurons, seven Mordors, and one Saruman.