BFS Short Story Competition

Also announced at Fantasycon last weekend were the results of the annual British Fantasy Society short story competition...

The lucky winner was Patrick Whittaker with his story Dead Astronauts. Patrick receives £50, a year's membership of the BFS (which includes eight magazines and at least one book), and will be published in a forthcoming BFS journal.

Second place went to Elana Gomel with In the Moment, who will receive £25 and will be published in a forthcoming journal.

Third place (alas, with no prize attached), went to Charlotte Bond with The Apocalypse Has Been Good to Us. (A story that is this reader's favourite!)

Alchemy members Jan Coleborn-Edwards, Pat Barber and Jenny Barber were on the reading panel along with Chris Teague (of Pendragon Press) and Ranjina Theaker.
The panel of celebrity judges for the final round of reading consisted of Rhys Hughes, Sarah Pinborough and Chaz Brenchley.

The BFS has announced that next year's competition will be open to entries from 1st January 2010 so stay tuned for more news!

BFS Awards

The annual British Fantasy Awards were announced last weekend at Fantasycon on the night of Saturday 19th September. And the winners were:

Best Novel (The August Derleth Fantasy Award)
Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney aka Graham Joyce (Gollancz)

Best Anthology
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 19 ed. Stephen Jones (Constable & Robinson)

Best Collection
Bull Running for Girls by Allyson Bird (Screaming Dreams)

Best Non-Fiction
Basil Copper: A Life in Books by Basil Copper ed. Stephen Jones (PS Publishing)

Best Novella
The Reach of Children by Tim Lebbon (Humdrumming)

Best Short Fiction
"Do You See" by Sarah Pinborough from Myth-Understandings ed. by Ian Whates (Newcon Press)

Best Magazine/Periodical
Postscripts ed. Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers (PS Publishing)

Best Artist
Vincent Chong

The PS Publishing Best Small Press Award
Elastic Press (Andrew Hook)

Best Comic/Graphic Novel
Locke and Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW Publishing)

Best Televison
Doctor Who (Russell T. Davies, BBC Wales)

Best Film
The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner Brothers)

The Karl Edward Wagner Award (the Special Award)
Hayao Miyazaki

The Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer
Joseph D'Lacey for Meat (Bloody Books)

Fantasy Magazine Needs Slush Readers

The very fabulous Fantasy Magazine is in need of some slush readers. If you can spare 5 - 10 hours a month and want to find out more, check out their website for more details,

All about Mike

It's almost time for Dark Horizons #55 to hit the streets and not only is our Mike's story: Sailors of the Skies in it, but it's the cover story! Behold, Arthur Wang's view into young Mr Chinn's mind...



Mike talks about the return of Damian Paladin on his blog here.

And if, like any sane person in the universe, you can't wait to get yourself some Paladin goodness, there's an extract of Mike's story Ace in the Hole here.

New Award for Short Fantasy

Following the success of the David Gemmell Legend Award and its celebration of heroic fantasy novels, a completely unrelated group of folks have decided that short heroic fiction deserves its trumpets too.

To that end, presenting: The Ham-Sized Fist Award! The award is for best heroic or sword & sorcery short fiction published during the year, whether in print or online and both the winning author AND the publisher scoop $400 prize money.

To find out how to nominate fiction for 2009, check out their website here.

Hugo Awards

The Hugo Awards were presented at Worldcon over the weekend... and the lucky winners were:

* Best Novel: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
* Best Novella: The Erdmann Nexus by Nancy Kress
* Best Novelette: Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear
* Best Short Story: Exhalation by Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
* Best Related Book: Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008, John Scalzi (Subterranean Press)
* Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
* Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: WALL-E
* Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
* Best Editor Short Form: Ellen Datlow
* Best Editor Long Form: David G. Hartwell
* Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
* Best Semiprozine: Weird Tales, edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal
* Best Fan Writer: Cheryl Morgan
* Best Fanzine: Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
* Best Fan Artist: Frank Wu

And the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines): David Anthony Durham

Mythopoeic Awards

The Mythopoeic Society have awarded their annual Mythopoeic awards and the lucky winners are:

Award for Adult Literature: Carol Berg for Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone
Award for Children's Literature: Kristin Cashore for Graceling

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies: John Rateliff for The History of the Hobbit, Part One: Mr. Baggins; Part Two: Return to Bag-end
Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies: Charles Butler for Four British Fantasists

It's especially pleasing to see that women scooped both the literature awards...