Shakespeare Sunday: Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu, partial table of contents

Readers anxiously awaiting the arrival of Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu in bookstores later this year will be pleased to hear that I have already received eight out of the fifteen stories that will be appearing within the pages of the anthology, along with the bonus short story that will be going out to backers. The majority of those stories are at the revision stage, or have already been passed as final, which is not bad considering that the deadline for the delivery of the stories isn't until the end of the month.

The completed tales that will be appearing inside the anthology include...

Something Rotten

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Exit, Pursued By...?

by James Lovegrove

#Tempest

by Jan Siegel

A Tiger's Heart, A Player's Hide

by Josh Reynolds

Star Crossed Lovers

by Jonathan Oliver

A Madness Most Discreet

by Michael Carroll

Something Wicked This Way Comes

by Graham McNeill

All future potential BFS Award winners, I'm sure you'll agree. And if you don't, Cthulhu will be having words with you...

... probably along the lines of ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Short Story Saturday: The British Fantasy Awards 2016

Just to let you know that voting for the British Fantasy Awards closes at the end of the month, which is Monday. You can see the suggestions list of eligible titles here, and if you peruse that list you'll notice that both my short stories anthologies SHARKPUNK and GAME OVER are there in the Best Anthology category, while the short stories that appear within in them are in the Best Short Story category.

You are eligible to vote what makes it through the the shortlist if you're:

a) a BFS member
b) attended FantasyCon 2015
c) are attending FantasyCon 2016.

But after that, it's over to the juries; if they decide there's been an egregious omission they'll add it to the list, then deliberate (as happened with YOU ARE THE HERO last year).

If you're eligible, please vote if you can. Not necessarily for any of the above (although that would be nice) but just to make sure you have your say. As Simon Bestwick, whose story The Face of the Deep from GAME OVER is eligible in the Best Short Story category, says, "Take part. The more people do, the fairer the selection process will be, and the more meaningful the award."

Short Story Saturday: Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu and the BFS Awards 2016

22 days from now, the Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu Kickstarter will conclude at 1.00pm GMT on Monday 1st February.

We are currently £1,400 from the initial funding goal, with 120+ backers, but, as they say, the more the merrier!* Once we reach the initial goal we will then unlock the first of the Stretch Goals, which will be to produce some awesome artwork for the book.

Over 400 people backed my first successful Kickstarter. Over 200 backed Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland. Seeing as this is going to be a book featuring mash-ups of Shakespeare's greatest plays and H P Lovecraft's most terrifying creations, I would hope we could attract more backers than those two other projects put together, but it relies on people helping to spread the word and let other potential backers know that the project is currently live on Kickstarter.

In other short story news, the British Fantasy Awards 2016 are currently seeking suggestions for the long lists. If you look, you will notice that both SHARKPUNK and GAME OVER are on the list for Best Anthology, and that the short stories featured within all feature under the Best Short Story category.**

Whether any of them get any further than the long list remains to be seen, so watch this space...

* The same goes for Amazon reviews!

** Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland also appears under the Best Fantasy Novel, but I doubt it will get any further than that. There isn't a category for Best Adventure Gamebook. Maybe there should be...

The BFS Awards 2015

I suppose I should have guessed how today was going to go when I was refused breakfast for wearing jeans...

Anyway, leaving London I headed to Nottingham by train, to attend the last day of FantasyCon and, more particularly, the BFS Awards. I usually drive to such events, but this time I thought I would get the train, so that I could do some work on the journey and enjoy a drink with friends at FCon after the awards. Next time I'll drive.

Screaming toddlers are not conducive to a productive working atmosphere and as it turned out, the event was a very sober one for me, so I may as well have driven after all. At least that way I could have got back home earlier and seen the family, rather than have to wait at Nottingham station for my allotted train.

As I understand it, FantasyCon 2015 was a resounding success and people had a great time. I was not one of them. All I'll say is, it was a long way to go to not win an award and then not catch up with anybody in the bar afterwards.

The trouble was I arrived at 1.45pm, in time for the BFS Awards but not in time to register, as it turned out. With registration closed there was no way of getting hold of my attendee badge. It also turned out that guest goodie bags had run out the day before. I had paid for a Sunday day pass (although there was no one on duty to check that I had) so there should have been bags left for people who couldn't turn up until the Sunday.

I'll admit it - I was disappointed that YOU ARE THE HERO didn't win in the Best Non-Fiction category. (Thanks to everyone who gave a whoop when it was read out on the shortlist, though.) I didn't really expect it to, but then a part of you starts to wonder, "What if?" and so you psyche yourself up, in case you do win, and then have to deal with the comedown when you don't. And I would have been annoyed if I'd been nominated, not attended, and then won.

That aside, I was looking forward to catching up with various people afterwards but it turned out that many had left before the awards and the rest left pretty promptly afterwards. Deciding to make the best of the situation and get some work done, I was then asked to leave the convention centre as they were closing because FCon was over. It was just one of those days, I guess.

Congratulations to all the winners - especially SHARKPUNK and GAME OVER contributor Laurel Sills who, along with Lucy Smee, won the award for Best Magazine for Holdfast Magazine.

But have no fear, I'll bounce back. After all, next year both SHARKPUNK and GAME OVER will be eligible to be nominated in the Best Anthology category, and all the stories that featured within them will be eligible for the Best Short Story award.

So, watch this space...

YOU ARE THE HERO makes the shortlist for the British Fantasy Awards 2015!

Having spent the day exploring the land of the Vikings, I was delighted to return to the Information Age this evening to discover that YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks has made the shortlist for the British Fantasy Awards 2015.

It's also great to see how many of m'colleagues have been nominated in various categories, including FF artist Les Edwards, SHARKPUNK contributors Gary McMahon, Ian Whates, Laurel Sills and Den Patrick, and of course Lavie Tidhar - and in more than one category!

In other news, the guys at Starburst Magazine have uploaded an interview I did with them about Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, as well as the podcast I recorded with Ed Fortune, Adrian Tchaikovksy, Producer Al and an audience of... half a dozen, at Edge-Lit 4, and Alex Davis (the organiser of Edge-Lit) also has a guest post on his blog from me today.

And last of all, Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland now has less than £1,000 to raise to achieve funding.