World Fantasy Con

World Fantasy Con, in Brighton, was an absolute blast. I bought a load of books, chatted with a load of talented people, took part in the NewCon Press launch for Blood In The Bricks (featuring my story 'The Call'), drank some v. expensive beers in the hotel bar, and had some of the best Chinese food I've ever had.

More importantly, as ever with these events I came back tired, but exhilarated that I'm part, in whatever small a way, of a community of such creative and friendly writers. There's always an afterglow from Fantasy Con and similar events where that positivity and enthusiasm for writing persists for a bit back into my real life and I'm spurred on to write and submit more than normal. I'm hoping to make that feeling last as long as possible this year. So here's some photos, to try and trick my brain that I'm still there...

View from the stage at NewCon Press launch.

The best Chinese food.

Brighton looking photogenic & creepy.

NewCon launch.

Did I mention the Chinese food?

Ending an evening with sophisticated literary chat drunken garbage.

A Few Thoughts on Fantasycon 2018

Fantasycon this year took place in Chester, and was once again a wonderful, hectic, stimulating, scary, exhausting and uplifting weekend celebrating genre fiction - not to mention celebrating friendship, great curries, and the odd drink too. It's hard to do these posts each year without a sense of repetition, but that's part of the charm: Fcon is a fixed point of the year, always different but always the same.

This blog is really only my selected highlights of the weekend; there's so much going on, so many people and books and conversations, so much laughter, that it's hard to fully take in at the time, never mind recall it all afterwards (mind you, Mark West always seems to bloody manage it). So, a few things:

Book Launches: I bought a one , a few, many, um, 'quite a lot' of books, again, including The Dark Masters Trilogy by Stephen Volk, The Alchemy Book Of Horrors, the third volume of Great British Horror, and not one but two books by Ramsey Campbell. The launches for the two books I had stories in were two of the best I've been involved in. Early Friday saw the launch for The Black Room Manuscripts IV which was staged as a mock-funeral, and then on Saturday NewCon Press launched Best British Horror 2018 where at least half of us contributors were there to sign copies: the launch seemed to go well, seeing the book in the flesh was wonderful (the hardback is beautiful), and overall it was a huge thrill.

Black Room Manuscripts IV Launch

Readings: I saw lots of fine readings over the weekend, but my three favourites were George Sandison at the Shadowbooth event, Eliza Chan's reading from her forthcoming novella during our fantasy reading slot, and of course John Llewellyn Probert's restrained, hushed, and sombre reading from his new Doctor Valentine novel...

I read my story 'Drones' from Falling Over, a piece I've never read live before (and only decided to do about an hour beforehand). As ever, I was nervous doing it but it seemed to go okay and hopefully my naturally dull monotone deadpan reading style hid any nerves from the audience (the glass of wine helped too, apart from the moment mid-reading I accidentally inhaled some of it).

My Fantasy reading slot with Mike Chinn and Eliza Chan 

Panels: I was on two panels: Being BFA Nominees (aptly, for Imposter Syndrome) and Strange Fiction. The latter especially was both huge fun and intellectually stimulating (or maybe that was just the bottle of prosecco Georgina Bruce cracked open at the start). Of the panels I attended as an audience member, my favourite was probably Fantastic Inspiration, which explored mythologies, tropes and narrative forms from cultures and traditions other than the usual—every year, I try and see something that broadens my horizons, that talks about books, authors, and fictional approaches that I'm unfamiliar with, and this one really hit that spot. More like this next year, please.

Georgina Bruce opens the 'Strange Fiction' panel in style.

The People:
God, where to begin? Or more accurately, where to end as I'm sure to miss out some of you out. But, cliche or not, it's the people who make Fcon what it is, so I do feel it's important to try and mention as many of the you who made my weekend so special. So, in no particular order:

Friends I bumped into 30seconds after arriving in Chester station: Jim McLeod, Marie O'Regan & Paul Kane
'The Reverend' Justin Park, Tracy Fahey, Duncan Bradshaw, Penny Jones & the rest of the SHC crew
Charlotte Bond (great cake!)
Birthday Boys CC Adams and Ross Warren
Andrew Hook (finally we had our Fall conversation)
Ray Cluley (finally we had our poetry conversation)
Jess Jordan (a bad influence, frankly :) )
2am Saturday buddies Eliza Chan & Tim Major
Morning-after breakfast buddies Dion Winton-Polak & Lisa Childs
Laura "award winning" Mauro, Mr. Mauro, & Keith
G.V. Anderson (*waves from across hotel room*)
Neil Williamson (super-sub who never was)
+ Tom Johnstone, Dan Coxon, Mark Morris, Gary Budden, James Bennett, Geogina Bruce, Kit Power, Alison Littlewood & Fergus, Simon Bestwick, Cate Gardner, Chris Jones, Ren Warom, Steve Shaw, Ian Whates, Stephen Volk, Priya Sharma, Richard Farren Barber, Terry Grimwood, Ben Jones, Maura McHugh, Jan Edwards...

And last but never least, fellow Crusties Mark West, Phil Sloman, Steve Byrne, John Travis, Timothy Jarvis, Linda Nagel, Peter Mark May and Stephen Bacon

Dion Winton-Pollak, Mark West, Ross Warren, Steve Byrne, me

BRM RIP 

Chester - really quite lovely

Sober and dignified at the Best British Horror 2018 launch

My Fantasycon 2018 Schedule

This weekend it's Fantasycon, an event I like forward to immensely. And on the assumption that you, hypothetical blog-reader and Fcon-goer, are more organised than me and actually plan these things out in advance, here's my schedule - come say hi!

Friday 19/10 - 4pm, The Jubilee Room
Book Launch: The Black Room Manuscripts IV (The Sinister Horror Company)
This great looking anthology, edited by J.R. Park & Tracy Fahey, features my story 'Size Isn't Everything'. Something special is promised for the launch, so it should be a lot of fun...

Saturday 20/10 - 2pm, Panel Room 1

Being BFA Nominees

Ed Fortune (Moderator), James Everington, Anna Smith Spark, Stephen Volk, Jen Williams

Saturday 20/10 - 5pm, The Jubilee Room

Book Launch: Best British Horror 2018 (NewCon Press)

Great to see Johnny Mains's yearly patriotic best-of return; this year I'm chuffed to bits he chose my story 'The Affair' for inclusion. 

Saturday 20/10 - 8pm, The Disraeli Room

Readings: Fantasy

Not quite sure why I'm in a 'fantasy' reading slot, but I'm alongside the excellent Eliza Chan & Mike Chinn, so it will be alright on the night I'm sure.

Sunday 21/10 - 1pm, Panel Room 2

Strange Fiction

Andrew Hook, Duncan P. Bradshaw, Gary Budden, Georgina Bruce, James Everington, Jan Edwards

Sunday 21/10 - 3pm, The Jubilee Room

The British Fantasy Awards

I probably won't still be there for this, but I will be in spirit because Imposter Syndrome is nominated for Best Anthology!

Fantasycon 2017!

The obligatory Fantasycon post...

In which I never quite know what to say, to be honest. How to sum up a weekend like Fantasycon? Three days of books, great conversations, books, friendship, nice food, books, booze, books, very late nights, and books. It all seems completely normal when you're in the Fcon bubble, and its only when you're back in the real world and attempting to talk to strangers on the train about Shirley Jackson that you realise again how special it is.

The events I was part of were all brilliant. On Friday I took part in the horror reading session, with Kit Power and Jonathan L. Howard - a great session, which showed off the range of different horror fiction around at the moment, with Jonathan's clever Lovecraftian pastiche, Kit's very dark tale during which he pulled out a real hammer and my, well, densely-written creepy shit.

On Saturday I took part in a panel on horror writing with an absolute hero of mine, Ramsey Campbell, and another writer I immensely admire, Nina Allen. Not nervous at all, honest guv. Fortunately my good friends Mark West and Phil Sloman were also part of it, and it was an amazing session. The 50mins flew by (ably moderated by Helen Armfield) and I could have talked for twice as long with everyone - like the best panels it felt like a chat between friends and colleagues, not a back and forth Q&A. A real highlight.

Sunday saw me take part in another panel, this time on putting together anthologies. Whether I was as qualified as the other participants - Peter Mark May, Stephen Jones, Colleen Anderson and Peter Coleborn - to talk about such things, having only done The Hyde Hotel and Imposter Syndrome, the audience can decide, but again I found it hugely enjoyable.

Other great moments included John Llewelyn Probert's brilliant reading at the Great British Horror launch; the Weird Fiction panel; the fifteen minutes of the disco when they played decent music and, well, just chatting to everyone.

Because it's the people that really do make the weekend, and I know I'll miss someone out but thanks to the following for making Fantasycon as special as it always is: Steve Harris, Phil Sloman, Mark West, Kit Power, CC Adams, Neil Williamson, Dion Winton-Pollak, Priya Sharma, Cate Gardner, Simon Bestwick, Tracy Fahey, Adam Nevil, Gary McMahon, Ross Warren, Lisa Childs, Timothy Jarvis (and brother, whose name I forget, sorry!), Helen Marshall, Malcolm Devlin, GV Anderson, Laura Mauro and Mr Mauro, Lynda E. Rucker, Stephen Bacon, Paul Feeney, Georgina Bruce, Tom Johnstone, Peter Mark May, Sue Moorcroft, Stephen Volk, Tim Major, Alison Littlewood & Fergus, John Llewelyn Probert, Thana Niveau, Robert Sherman, John Travis, Tim C. Taylor, Steve Shaw, Richard Farren Barber, Charlotte Bond, Dave Jeffery, and Penny Jones. It seems incredible that I can know so many talented people, let alone have spoken to them all over the course of one weekend. But that's the time-bending wonder of Fantasycon. Roll on 2018.

Horror Reading - after finishing my extract from The Quarantined City, I'm enjoying Kit Power's reading, in which he genuinely pulled out a hammer.

Dion Winton Polak, Neil Williamson and me, deep into our cups.

Horror panel, with Ramsey Campbell(!), Phil Sloman, Mark West, Helen Armfield, Nina Allen and myself.

Mark West, me, Kit Power, talking about IT and god knows what else early into the morning.

Blurry dad-dancing on the dance floor. Plus non-dad dancing from Priya Sharma and Tracy Fahey.

Food!
With me, Tim Major, Dave Jeffery, Dean M. Drinkel, Sue Moorcroft, Paul Melhuish, Mark West

Fantasycon 2017 Schedule

I'll be at Fantasycon again this year, and I can't wait. It's being held in the Bull Hotel in Peterborough 29th September - 1st October.

I'm doing a couple of panels and a reading; other than that I'll be chatting with friends old and new, drinking in the bar, eating nice food, and of course talking about books, buying books, holding books, carrying books, selling books, admiring books, thinking about books, dreaming about books etc. etc. etc....

Hope to see loads of you there!

Friday 7pm - Readings Horror (Sandringham Room)
Jonathan L. Howard, Kit Power, James Everington

Saturday 10am - Horror: Mastery and Apprenticeship (FitzWilliam Panel Room 1)
Helen Armfield (mod), Ramsey Campbell, Phil Sloman, Mark West, Nina Allan, James Everington

Sunday 12.30pm - Building Anthologies (Burley Panel Room 3)
Colleen Anderson (mod), Peter Coleborn James Everington, Stephen Jones, Peter Mark May
The full Fantasycon 2017 programme can be found here.

Fantasycon 2016.

The view from the bar on Day 1: Sunny Scarborough

Fantasycon this year took place in sunny Scarborough (and it really was sunny) amidst the faded, peeling glamour of the Grand and Royal hotels. As ever it was a long and intense weekend, so I'm just going to mention some of the highlights here...

John Gilbert; Sue Moorcroft; Neil Williams; me; Priya Sharma; Phil Sloman; Mark West; Lisa Childs; Ross Warren; Wayne Parkin; Cate Gardner

Panels:
On the Saturday, I featured on the 'Bright Lights' panel, which was about awards and new talent coming through in genre fiction. I wasn't quite sure how it would go, but it was really well moderated by Penny Reeve, with interesting contributions from my good friend Kit Power, Donna Scott and Liz de Jager. When the questions from the audience came there was the inevitable one about the rabid/sad puppies in America and in our own different ways both Kit and I made our thoughts quite clear...

I may have said "dickheads".

My favourite panel that I saw was 'Is Reality The New Horror' - it featured Paul Finch, Mark West, Tracy Fahey, Victoria Leslie, Helen Marshall, and Ramsey Campbell. With that calibre of talent it couldn't fail to be interesting - I'd have quite happily watched them talk for longer.

Great British Horror Launch:

Steve Shaw was launching both This Twisted Earth (edited by Dion Winton-Pollock) and Great British Horror #1:Green & Pleasant Land, a collection of horror stories with a stunning lineup of authors. Present at the launch were Victoria Leslie, Laura Mauro, Adam Millard, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Ray Cluley, Jasper Bark and Alexandra Benedict. I think all of them felt as thrilled as I did when Steve presented us with our contributor copies - wrapped & with a scroll of the artwork for each of our stories. Laura and Jasper read from their stories; Dion gave a very personal introduction to This Twisted Earth (complete with heckling gulls); Victoria gave a brief chat about the influence of Virginia Woolf on her (wonderful) novel Bodies Of Water, and then it was onto the signing. And we seemed to sign a lot of books. It was one of the most wonderful launches I've done and I left on a real high.

Best contributor
copy ever?

GBH Launch:
Laura Mauro,
Ray Cluley, me,
Simon Kurt Unsworth

Adam Nevill Launch:

I bought *cough* a few books over the weekend, but none were so handsome as Adam Nevill's latest,  Some Will Not Sleep. It's Adam's first collection of short stories and people were literally queuing out the doors for it. I for one can't wait to read it.

Hersham Horror Launch:
The launch for my novella Paupers' Graves, as well as novellas from good friends Phil Sloman, Stephen Bacon and Mark West, and a collection from Marie O'Regan. It had all been organised by head honcho Peter Mark May and I had an absolute blast. Lots of people seemed really interested in buying books and getting them signed, and it was a real pleasure to be launching alongside some of the first friends I made when I started attending conventions. The fact they're all fine writers helped too, of course.

Hersham Horror launch: Phil Sloman, Stephen Bacon, Mark West, me

D.P. Watt Launch:
An intersting one, this. I didn't really know anything about this book other than the fact Undertow published it - which was good enough for me, as I love what they put out. It was a very interesting reading: some of it delivered in the normal way, some via a preprepared recording. It made me instantly think of Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape. And the story itself seemed brilliant - needless to say I picked up a copy of Watt's collection, Almost Insentient, Almost Divine.

The People:
As well as the folks mentioned above, the following all helped make my weekend a brilliant three days: Conrad Williams (a nice prologue to the con on the train); Wayne Parkin; Andrew Hook & Sophie Essex; Jim McLeod (sorry I lost the t-shirt!); Ross Warren; Lisa Childs; Sue Moorcroft; Chris Barnes; Charlotte Courtney-Bond; Steve Shaw; Chris Teague; Jay Eales & Selina Lock; Neil Williams; Priya Sharma (congratulations on the award!); Cate Gardner; Simon Bestwick (telling rude jokes, natch); Richard Farren Barber; Laura Mauro (still no idea about that wrestling thing, sorry!); Gary Couzens; Ren Warron (told you we would have a proper chat this time), Victoria Leslie and Tracy Fahey (great cow stories!), Ben Jones (Whitby? Whitby??); CC Adams; Dion Winton-Pollock; Ray Cluley and his partner Jess; Kit Power, Helen Marshall; Des Lewis; Neil Snowden; Georgina Bruce; Steve Byrne; Amanda Rutter; Graeme Reynolds; Jasper Bark; John Travis; Terry Grimwood; Lynda E. Rucker; Gary Fry (thanks for the book!); Tim Power, and Tim Jarvis (a nice epilogue to the con in a cafe)

Horror writers are scary, serious people
Lisa Childs, Mark West, Laura Mauro (hidden), Ross Warren, Phil Sloman, Gary Couzens, Peter Mark May, me, Richard Farren Barber, Stephen Bacon

Paupers' Grave: First Reviews & Fantasycon Launch

My new novella, Paupers' Graves is being launched this Saturday at Fantasycon 2016 as part of the Hersham Horror launch event, which also includes great looking books by Marie O'Regan, Mark West, Phil Sloman and Stephen Bacon. (You can also preorder it here.)

It's had some pre-releases reviews already, and yet again I'm humbled by what what people have said about my work:

"...an incredibly powerful and scary story that actually has something to say - and something genuinely nuanced and uncomfortable, at that. Very highly recommended." Kit Power at Gingernuts Of Horror.

"As might be expected from the author of the amazing Quarantined City, this is a story which operates on multiple levels. It’s a story about stories; it’s about society. It’s ghosts and hauntings and is very effective in dealing out the thrills and chills. It’s a corker – scary and profound." Anthony Watson at Dark Musings.

My Fantasycon schedule is as below:

Saturday 12.00pm: Bright Lights panel, with Penny Reeve (Chair), Liz De Jager, Donna Scott, Kit Power & me.... (Royal Ballroom, Royal Hotel)

Saturday 1:00pm: Book Launch for Great British Horror #1: Green & Pleasent Land (Harbour Lights, Grand Hotel)

Saturday7:00 pm: Hersham Horror launch, including Paupers' Graves (Cocktail Bar, Grand Hotel)


Otherwise, I'll be hanging around enjoying myself. Hope to see as many as possible there!

Events

A quick post about some upcoming events that I'll be showing my face at:

Local Writers Showcase, West Bridgford Library, Tuesday 30th August, 2.30pm
This is a free event, where I'll be appearing with five other writers from the local area. More info and how to get a ticket here.

Fantasycon 2016: 23-25 September
Once again I find myself massively looking forward to Fantasycon, this year being held in sunny Scarborough. I'm doing some official things as you can see below; for the rest of the time I'll just be enjoying myself. Come and say hi!

Saturday 12.00pm: Bright Lights panel, with Penny Reeve (Chair), Liz De Jager, Donna Scott, Kit Power & me....
Saturday 1:00pm: Book Launch for Great British Horror #1: Green & Pleasent Land
Saturday7:00 pm: Book Launch for Paupers' Graves as part of the Hersham Horror event

You can see the full Fantasycon programme here.

Derby Writers' Day, The Quad, Saturday 15th October
I'm I'll be talking about short stories, the small press, and whatever else comes into my head as part of Derby Writers' Day, where they'll also be such excellent people as Alison Littlewood, Stephen Poore, Alison Moore and Amanda Rutter.

Full details here.

FantasyCon 2015 - After...

So, Fantasycon 2015. What a weekend.

This year it took place in my home town of Nottingham. Despite my being local, somehow Steve Byrne got to the venue before me, so when I saw on Facebook he was hanging around in the hotel bar I set off. We were soon chatting away over a pint and gradually other people arrived and joined our table: Ross Warren, Lisa Childs, Phil Sloman, Alison Littlewood & her partner Fergus, Simon Bestwick, Cate Gardner, Priya Sharma (who it was lovely to meet for the first time), Theresa Derwin, Steve Shaw and Dean R Drinkel.

Neil Williams, Wayne Parkin, me, a glass of free wine

The latter three were here for the unofficial launch of Masks (which features my story Porcelain) which we'd been planning to do in the bar... unfortunately the constant flow of people coming to check in and the unpromising acoustics meant we couldn't do any readings as planned, but the books looked great (the artwork is by the late James Powell, who sadly passed away earlier this year) so a number of people bought a copy and asked for signatures from me & Phil, which was great.

They'd been a stir of excitement in the hotel when Joe Hill (a late addition to the convention) entered, wearing a Haunting Of Hill House t-shirt no less. When I came back from the bar I found he was stood talking to our little group; Theresa was somewhat flushed and flustered, and managed to introduce me to him as if I were the important celebrity writer: "Joe, have you meet James Everington?" I could see in his eyes he was thinking 'who the hell is this guy?' but he was charming enough not to say it out loud. I just played it cool and told him I liked his t-shirt.

Me and Steve Byrne then went to get signed in and pick up our free books - in terms of choice it was far superior to last year, and I got some lovely hardback editions of Alison Littlewood, Joe R Lansdale and Sarah Pinborough novels, a Conrad Williams collection from PS Publishing as well as several interesting looking paperbacks.

Stephen & Mark

We went into the convention venue proper then, and in the space of another drink or two meet Graeme Reynolds, Lynda E Rucker, Peter Mark May, Paul Feeney, Ray Cluley and his partner Jess, Mark West, Sue Moorcroft, Paul Feeney, Wayne Parkin, Stephen Bacon, Steve Chapman, Clover & Dion Winton-Polak and Emma Audsley. We then went to the first book launch, The Lost Film, featuring a novella apiece by Mark West and Stephen Bacon - two talented writers I'm proud to call friends. They both did a reading, watched over by publisher Chris Teague. It was a really good launch - a big queue for the book, which it deserved given the quality of both Mark and Stephen's previous work.

We then went off for some food, which given the rather poor quality of food in the hotel (already notorious even on the first day) and lack of other options nearby meant a walk to a Toby Carvery. The glamorous life of a writer. So let's gloss over that - back at the convention, Mark had a panel/mock gameshow to attend called The Atrocity Exhibition, which was different to say the least, and got some laughs. I had to leave that before the end to get to Victoria Leslie's reading. I've not managed to review it on here as yet, but I consider her collection Skein & Bone to be among the finest released over the last few years and her reading of one of the stories was predictably brilliant. Later, Victoria and I had a good natter at the bar about all things horror - these kind of conversations that you can't have with 'normal' people are why I relish events like Fantasycon. Somewhere in the midst of the next few drinks I meet both Nina Allen and Simon Kurt Unsworth, who I wanted to say hello to as they were on my panel the next day, and also Neil Williamson, a fellow Infinity Plus author who I've know online for awhile; we've been talking about meeting up at some point for ages.

It was then time for Simon Bestwick's reading, the late night atmosphere suiting his rather bleak extract from his forthcoming novel. After that (I think - bit hazy by this point) I spoke to Alex Davis who will be publishing Trying To Be So Quiet soon and we discussed some of his ideas for the design of the hardback, which sounded amazing.

Saturday started with the launch of Adam Nevill's new novel Lost Girl, complete with a free bottle of local ale - lovely. Adam's a great guy and very supportive of other writers - a fact shown by the fact he let a few of us take over the last fifteen minutes of his launch for a surprise event...

Jim McLeod is the man behind The Gingernuts Of Horror website, one the best sites out there, and he's been a tireless supporter of the horror genre for years, both of the big stars and us lesser names working in the small press. So Phil Sloman put together a book for Jim... a very special book, of which they'll only ever be one physical copy printed. Jim McLeod Must Die! features stories from over 20 different horror authors; in all of them a character called Jim McLeod dies or suffers a fate worse than death. My own story is called Peephole and it was an absolute pleasure to be asked to be included in something so special. The look on Jim's face when he realised what was going on was priceless and for me a moment that sums up Fantasycon: the friendships made at conventions really do lead to great moments like this.

Jim McLeod, Mark West, Phil Sloman (with Sue Moorcroft in the background)

Then followed the launch of the second Spectral Book Of Horrors, in which a huge number of the authors were in attendance to sign, including many I've already mentioned, plus top gents Robert Shearman and Stephen Volk - and of course editor Mark Morris and publisher Simon Marshall Jones.

The it was on to my first panel. Gulp. Which I was moderating. In the main theatre. Double gulp. British Horror Present & Future featured myself, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Nina Allen, Stephen Jones, Cate Gardner, Alison Littlewood and Adam Nevill. Of course, with a lineup as good as that I didn't really have to do much as moderator - we got through less than half the questions I had prepared because everyone's answers were so good. Someone said later that it had the feel of a proper discussion rather than just a back-and-forth Q&A so I was really pleased with that. And as with all these things, once you're actually doing it your nerves vanish.

Me, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Stephen Jones, Cate Gardner, Alison Littlewood, Nina Allen, Adam Nevill

After that a bunch of us went to Priya Sharma's reading, which was excellent, and confirmed what I already knew: that I need to read more of her work. I think it was just after Priya's reading that I said hello to Laura Mauro for the first time, another writer who I know online but was glad to meet in person. (Nearly all horror authors turn out to be lovely people, in my experience.) Then myself and Mark bumped into Andrew David Barker, whose novel Dead Leaves was being launched at the con. Andrew's a great guy but very modest and he couldn't have looked more abashed as me and Mark praised his book to heaven and back...

Then I went to see the Weirdness, Darkness & Madness panel, which was obviously right up my street. It was moderated by Terry Grimwood and featured Mark West, Kim Lakin Smith, Helen Marshall, Deborah Walker and Timothy J Jarvis. It was a great panel, one of the best I've seen at a convention.

Outside, we gathered in the foyer for one of the most important parts of any con - curry. Before setting off I had a quick chat with Timothy Jarvis - some of what he had said on the panel had been really interesting, and he gave me a copy of his book. He had a reading later, which I said I'd attend after the curry - after all we had nearly three hours, so what could possible stop me?

Unfortunately it wasn't to be - despite having booked, when so many of us turned up at the restaurant they were woefully unprepared. It was nearly 90mins before starters arrived, never mind the main course. (To be fair, my food was great.) So with the 20min walk either way, we were gone for hours, meaning I missed both Timothy's reading and the Undertow launch of Skein & Bone and Aickman's Heirs. Still, during the loooooong meal I was introduced to Simon Clark and had some good chats with Phil, Dean, Jay Eales & Selina Lock and Benedict Jones.

Paul Woodward, Phil Sloman, Stephen Bacon, Mark West, Alison Littlewood, Jim McLeod, me, Gavin Williams (front)

I had a late night reading slot (11.30) and I was thinking that at that time hardly anyone would turn up, especially as it clashed with the infamous Fcon disco (where I'm reliably informed Mark owned the dance floor for the second year running). But there must have been 20, 25 people there and I read part of my story The Man Dogs Hated which seemed to go down really well - I sold a number of copies of Falling Over afterwards with one person even turning straight to the story to see how it ended. My reading was followed by one by Kit Power (and his flamboyant trousers) which was really enjoyable. Outside, not fancying the sounds of the Timewarp bellowing from the dance floor I sat and had a few beers with Steve and Laura & Peter Watkinson, Stephen King (not that one) and Katina Bill.

I only attended one event on the Sunday, but it was a corker: a reading by Helen Marshall. Like all her work the story was simultaneously funny and moving. I saw a lot of great readings this year, but against tough competition Helen's was the best. I then perused the Dealers Room, having a chat with Terry Grimwood and then the boys from the Sinister Horror table. And then after a few more beers it was time for goodbyes. It took about an hour to say goodbye to everyone there at that point. 

Reading back, somehow I've not even mentioned meeting Ruth Booth, Gary Couzans, KT Davies, Paul Holmes, Fiona Ní Éalaighthe (and her ear!), Andrew Hook, Carole Johnstone, Tom Johnstone, fellow Outsider Rosanne Rabinowitz, John Travis, Tim Major, Ren Warom (we'll have a proper chat next time!) or Paul Woodward. Which just about sums FantasyCon up - there's so many great people there, so many friendships to forge or renew that's it's impossible to remember it all.

A special mention must go to Adele Wearing though, who I didn't manage to see all weekend, despite the fact that she apparently waved at me on a few occasions. That's my professional networking skills for you - completely blanking an award winning publisher (Fox Spirit deservedly won this year's Small Press award) even when she beckoned me over... 

There was a nice coda to the convention when myself and Phil headed into Nottingham to have some food and a few pints before his train. Phil had never been to Nottingham before, so I took him to The Broadway cinema (largely on the basis it has The Shining quotes on one window) and then, of course, to Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem (or 'The Trip' as everyone in Nottingham calls it) which is meant to be the oldest pub in the UK, and is built into the cliffs under the castle. We had a great chat about our hopes for our writing in the future and then Phil left to get his train and it was all over...

I got home, dumped my bag... and later that night logged on and order my ticket for FantasyCon 2016.

FantasyCon 2015 - Before...

I've never been important enough to have an actual 'schedule' for a convention before. I'm still not important, but here's the things I'm involved in at this year's FantasyCon 2015, in my home town of Nottingham in just over a week:

Friday 23rd
2pm, the bar: not an official event this, but an hour before FantasyCon formally starts there is going to be a launch of the Masks anthology from KnightWatch Press, which features my story Porcelain. I believe I'll be doing a reading but details are still to be confirmed.

Saturday 24th
3pm, Conference Theatre: I'll be moderating the British Horror Present & Future panel, with an all star cast of panelists: Nina Allan, Cate Gardner, Alison Littlewood, Adam Nevill, Simon Kurt Unsworth and Stephen Jones. I've never moderated a panel before, so it's certainly in at the deep-end given how much I admire all of the panelists' work. Should be fun/terrifying.

11.30pm, somewhere: I'll be doing a reading slot during the graveyard shift; not sure exactly what I'll pick to read yet. Any requests?

Other than that, I'll likely be in the bar/attending some of the excellent book launches, panels & readings/eating curry/meeting up with friends old and new. Hope to see a few of you there!

Porcelain

Very pleased to say my story 'Porcelain' will be appearing in the forthcoming anthology Masks from Knightwatch Press. Edited by Dean M Drinkel, the book will be launched at Fantasycon 2015. Full lineup and the cover art from James Powell below. (Pleased to see my friend Phil Sloman in the lineup as well.)

Many Happy Returns - Kyle Rader
Trixie - Christopher L Beck
An Absent Host - F.A. Nosić
Variety Night - Russell Proctor
The Silencing Machine - Clockhouse Writers
After The End - Christine Morgan / Lucas Williams
The Face Collector - Stephanie Ellis
The Jar By The Door - Icy Sedgwick
Porcelain - James Everington
The Man Who Fed The Foxes - Phil Sloman
The House Of A Thousand Faces - Chris Stokes
Blood, Gingerbread and Life - David T Griffith
His Last Portrait - Adrian Cole

Fantasycon 2014 - York

This weekend I attended my first Fantasycon convention; I've been to a few cons now but this was the first 'overnighter' and so I was slightly nervous as I am often am in groups of people I don't know. But it helped that I knew good friends from other cons were going to be there, in particular my fellow 'failed to find an Indian restaurant in Birmingham' partners Mark West, Phil Ambler, and Steve Byrne, who I knew could be relied on to draw me out of my shell if needed. (Backup plan: beer.) But any nerves were misplaced for it was one of the most friendly, welcoming events I've been to, and all the people I met or re-met over the course of the weekend made it so.

Some specific highlights:

Book Launch: No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill
What I was saying about people above? Adam Nevill is a case in point - a thoroughly friendly and welcoming guy, and fellow Robert Aickman fan to boot. (Anyone who likes Aickman is alright in my book.) Adam's one of the most successful horror writers out there at the moment, and I'm a big fan of his work, so a chance to get a signed copy of his new book well before release day was too good to pass up.

A Tribute To Joel Lane
Unlike many people present, I never met Joel Lane, but his short stories were always excellent and if it wasn't for his tragically early death he would undoubtedly have been one of the authors I'd have spent ages trying to pluck up the courage to speak to. A number of authors including Simon Bestwick and Ramsey Campbell read from Joel's work and shared some memories of him. Despite the crap acoustics and loud people at the bar behind us, it was a really very special.

Reading: VH Leslie
VH Leslie's short stories are some of the finest I've read this year, a real class act. For this event she read her story Namesake  (you can find it in Best British Horror 2014) and her reading really brought out both the humour and the unease in the tale. I was lucky enough to get the chance to chat with Victoria a couple of times over the weekend; another damn friendly fellow writer.

Book Launch: The Spectral Book of Horror Stories
This was by far the most packed event I attended, and no surprise: the number of authors who were present to sign the book was massive, the signatures & messages in mine not even all fitting onto one page. Here I said hello to online friends Alison Littlewood and Stephen Volk for the first time in person, and finally overcame my stuttering awe to tell Ramsey Campbell what an inspiration he was and is.

Book Launch:The End by Gary McMahon
There was so much going on on the Saturday, but no way was I going to miss the book launch for a new Gary McMahon book. No way. Regular readers will already know how good I think his work is. I also got the chance to buy a copy of his forthcoming chapbook from Knightwatch Press, The Night Just Got Darker directly from Gary in the bar. Given the prices in the con bar, I think it was the cheapest thing I actually purchased in there...

Book Launch: Boo Books/Knightwatch
This was the event where I read from The Place Where It Always Rains from Worms, which seemed to go okay. There were also readings from K.T. Davies (a pleasure to meet, as always), Simon Bestwick (ditto), Allen Ashley, and Reggie Oliver reading Anna Taborksa's stories from Worms.

Food:the weekend also didn't disappoint on this score. Two fabulous pub lunches in The Maltings, which was an nice old fashioned pub (with decoration that included an old sign about where to get treated for VD). A scrumptious evening meal in The Yak & Yeti, apparently Britain's only Gurkha restaurant. And a Saturday curry organised by Phil, where the only thing bigger than the size of the guest-list was the size of the naan breads. Epic naan.

More People: I probably won't remember everyone, but in addition to those above it really was great to chat to Steve Mosby, Jim McLeod, Johnny Mains, Lynda E Rucker, Ruth Booth, Stephen Bacon, Ross Warren, Alex Davis, Terry Grimwood, Paul Holmes, Dion Winton-Polack, Neil Snowden, Sue Moorcroft, Steve Chapman, Neil Williams, Graeme Reynolds, Simon Marshall Jones, Christopher Teague, Robert Shearman, Dave Jeffery, Adele Wearing, Jasper Bark, John Travis...

If I've not mentioned you it's due to my own crapness, don't worry. Or because your pass was on the wrong way round when we spoke, or because you were someone I met exclusively between the hours of 1am and 3am on the Saturday when things were a bit hazy. And speaking of Saturday night:

A Summing Up: The penultimate song at the Fantasycon disco was Elbow's One Day Like This, which finishes with the repeated refrain Throw those curtains wide, One day like this a year would see me right. Which about sums it up - writing can be a lonely business, with the doubts and rejections and long nights, and even the most sympathetic non-writing friend or family member is unlikely to want to talk about our weird stories for more than a few minutes at a time... So chances like this to speak to fellow writers and editors and reviewers feel like something really special to me now, a chance to recharge my creative batteries and go back into the real world all fired up. A chance to remember how lucky I am to be part of a genre I love in some small way.

Okay, the lyrics don't quite fit, but yes: days like this, and all you fab people - you see me right.

Fantasycon 2014 - Reading

It's my first Fantasycon this year, which I'm immensely excited about. And I'm also very pleased to say that as part of it I'll be reading from my story The Place Where It Always Rains as part of a combined launch for Worms, X7, and After The Fall.

It will take place at 7pm on the Saturday, and as well as me they'll also be readings from:

Simon Bestwick
K.T. Davies
Mike Chinn
Anna Taborska

so it should be a great event. Hope to see some of you there, or just about generally over the course of the weekend. I'm shy as heck during these kind of things, so do come over and say hi!

Fantasycon 2014 book launches.