Welcome to the UK SF Book News Network! Our aim is to be the UK’s go-to website for regularly-updated Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror book news, Comics & Graphic Novel news and more; with a definite focus on UK authors, writers, publishers and creators.
Please see the News Submission page for details of how to submit news items to the site.
Our twenty most recent stories [click to view the item or scroll the page for a summary]
08/05/2007: Richard Morgan signing, FP London, May 17th
07/05/2007: Books Received Mar 30th – May 7th 2007
06/05/2007: Ian Watson visiting Birmingham SF Group, May 11th
03/05/2007: Arthur Machen Celebration: evening event, Caerleon, July 5th
03/05/2007: Arthur C. Clarke Award 2007: Winner Announced
02/05/2007: Headline launches online campaign for Simon Spurrier’s ‘Contract’
01/05/2007: PS Publishing unveils 2007 Postscripts line-ups
01/05/2007: Dr Who authors signing FP London, May 5th
30/04/2007: BFS extends 2007 Awards recommendations deadline
30/04/2007: German author’s YA pirate trilogy to hit UK shores in May
29/04/2007: Dalek I Loved You author interviewed by Cyberman
29/04/2007: Noctem Aeternus mag launching Jan ‘08, seeking submissions
26/04/2007: John Clute on The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror
24/04/2007: Guy Gavriel Kay on Ysabel Extras
22/04/2007: JJLA welcomes new client: Mark Morris
21/04/2007: Update: Stephen Gallagher Short Story Airs Tuesday April 24th
20/04/2007: New six-book UK & US deal for Raymond E. Feist
19/04/2007: Terry Pratchett & Vadim Jeam, FP London, April 23rd
19/04/2007: Interzone #210 out in May from TTA Press
18/04/2007: Alt.Fiction II, Derby Assembly Rooms, April 28th
New material has been added to the story since it was first posted.
Richard Morgan signing, FP London, May 17th
This just in from London’s premiere specialist SF retailer, Forbidden Planet: “Forbidden Planet is pleased to announce a signing by Richard K Morgan to promote his new novel Black Man [Amazon]. He will be at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, on Thursday 17th May from 6.00 to 7.00 p.m.
Posted by Ariel on May 8th, 2007 at 10:58 in Events, Science Fiction, Book Signings
A long overdue round-up of books received over the past six weeks or so.
New titles from the likes of Steven Erikson, Ed Gorman, Conrad Williams, Simon Spurrier, Garry Kilworth, Sara Douglass, Robert Edric, Brian Lumley, Tony Ballantyne, Derek M. Fox, Stephenie Meyer, Cameron Rogers, David Gunn, David Devereux, Ramsey Campbell, Kai Meyer, Richard Parks, Emily Gee and more, as well as mass-market paperback editions of titles by, among others, Alan Campbell, David & Leigh Eddings, James Clemens and R. Scott Bakker,
As always, many thanks to the publishers concerned for bringing these titles to our attention.
Posted by Ariel on May 7th, 2007 at 21:48 in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Comics & GNs, Indy Press, Film & TV, Book News, Forthcoming Titles, Books Received, Short Fiction
This just in from the Birmingham SF Group: “Apologies for late notice – new event just announced! Ian Watson will be talking to the Birmingham SF Group about ‘Artificial Intelligence and Storytelling’ on Friday 11th May at 7.45 to 8.00 p.m.”
The talk will take place at the usual venue: the Britannia Hotel (2nd floor), New Street, Birmingham. Tickets are £3 to BSFG members, £4 to non-members. Please address email queries to the BSFG secretary at [email protected].
The BSFG says of the author: “Born in England in 1943, Ian Watson’s first novel The Embedding appeared in 1973, placing second in the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and winning the French Prix Apollo.
“It’s the first SF novel to take modern psycholinguistics as its theme, and a lot of Ian’s novels have centred around themes of communication and consciousness, altered perceptions, the evolution of mind, the nature of alien intelligences (including whales and dolphins), and the codes and customs and cultural concoctions by which we structure our lives.
“Alchemy, perfumery, costume, cosmology, cake decoration, the history of lighting, the Renaissance art of memory – all is grist for his thirty-odd novels and hundred and fifty or so stories.
“A full-time author since 1976, Ian has produced over 30 novels and 9 collections of short stories, the most recent of these collections being The Butterflies of Memory (PS Publishing, 2006). Full details of his life and work are on www.ianwatson.info, which he cordially invites you to visit.
Posted by Ariel on May 6th, 2007 at 22:09 in Events, Science Fiction, Book Signings
Arthur Machen Celebration: evening event, Caerleon, July 5th
Via the latest British Fantasy Society newsfeed e-bulletin, we learn that the Institute of Welsh Affairs Gwent branch and Academi (the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Authors) is hosting an evening in celebration of “Arthur Machen: Master of Holy Terrors” at University of Wales Caerleon, Newport, on July 5th, 2007 as part of the Caerleon Arts Festival.
Posted by Ariel on May 3rd, 2007 at 12:35 in Events, Fantasy, Horror
‘Nova Swing’ by M. John Harrison – Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukHot off the Clarke Award presses: “Nova Swing by M. John Harrison, published by Gollancz in the UK, is the winner of this year’s Arthur C. Clarke Award, the UK’s premier prize for science fiction literature.
The announcement was made at the award’s official ceremony held in London, Piccadilly on the evening of Wednesday 2nd May as part of an exclusive event in partnership with the opening of this year’s Sci-Fi-London Film Festival.
Posted by Ariel on May 3rd, 2007 at 6:46 in Science Fiction, Awards
Headline launches online campaign for Simon Spurrier’s ‘Contract’
‘Contract’ by Simon Spurrier – Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.ukBecky Fincham, publicist with Headline Books has been in touch with some information about a new marketing campaign they’ve launched to support the new novel by regular 2000AD writer Simon Spurrier, Contract.
Becky tells us: “Headline Publishing Group is proud to announce a bold move into online publishing. From 24th May, in six weekly instalments, Headline will publish Contract, by Simon Spurrier, online, to download for free from dedicated website www.itsallaboutthemoney.co.uk. Whilst Science Fiction imprints such as Orbit have published novels online in the past few years, Headline is the first mainstream commercial UK publisher to enter this field.
Posted by Ariel on May 2nd, 2007 at 7:09 in Publishing, Online, Book News, Forthcoming Titles, Crime / Thriller