Latest news and updates

Putting together a good program for a convention is not an easy task. During the last decade, I have been Head of Programming for Fantasycon 2017,2018, 2021 and 2023. During that time, I have also written programming tracks for a variety of computer game events and other conventions. To begin with, gauging the level of…

Lyrical fantasy is very much in the ‘I know what it is when I read’ it category, but as we’ve made it a theme for this convention I’ll at least have a stab at defining and illustrating it and then you can all tell me I’m wrong and why. A lyric poem, is one that…

The World Fantasy Awards will be presented on Sunday 2nd November, in the afternoon following the banquet, at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton. The British Fantasy Awards will be presented on Saturday 1st November, in the evening, at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton. The shortlists for this can be found on the BFS…

Nancy Kilpatrick – 1st January 1946 – 31st March 2025 Nancy, known as the Canadian Queen of Vampires, was a Guest of Honour at Fantasycon 2017, in Peterborough. Award-winning author, Nancy Kilpatrick, had a wide catalogue of publications including 23 novels, over 250 short stories and novellas, 7 collections of her stories, as well as…

The World Fantasy Awards are presented at the World Fantasy Convention. In 2025 this will be after the lunch time banquet on Sunday 2nd November. The current World Fantasy Award statue was produced by award-winning sculptor and artist Vincent Villafranca (www.villafrancasculpture.com) and first awarded at the 2017 WFC in San Antonio, Texas. The Process A…

Patrice Hawkes-Reed, 15th September 1953 – 14th November 2024 Our saddest moment of 2024 was the loss of Pat. Pat was a longstanding Redcloak volunteer for Fantasycon and no doubt would have been involved with WFC 2025, even if she could not have attended. She was also a regular at Bristolcon. She was usually on…

Brian M. Stableford (January 25, 1948 – February 24, 2024) was a British science fiction author, academic, and critic. Stableford began publishing in 1965 with the story “Beyond Time’s Aegis,” published under the name Brian Craig and co-written with his friend Craig Mackintosh. Stableford would eventually expand the story to novel length, publishing it as Firefly: A…

British author Christopher Priest (b.1943) died on February 2. Priest began publishing short stories in fanzines in 1963 with “Going Native” and made his first professional sale, “The Run” to Impulse in 1966. Many of his earliest stories were reprinted in 2008 in his collected Ersatz Wines—Instructive Short Stories. His first novel, Indoctrinaire was published…

There are lots of Writing and genre related events in the UK and we plan to be at some of then to promote World Fantasy Convention 2025. We hope to see some of you at them, do come and say Hi! There is a list of dates and links at the bottom of the post,…