Will Mitchell Wins Writers of the Future!

Will Mitchell won first place in the Writers of the Future competition for the third quarter of 2011. His story will appear in the WotF anthology for 2011 with the other 11 winners. In addition, he will be jetting off to Los Angeles in April 2012 to claim his prize and participate in the awards ceremony. Congratulations Will!

If you’re inspired by Will’s success, you can read the rules for the contest here. It runs every quarter and is open to “amateur writers” (see the rules for the definition of this). Winners receive considerable cash prizes, entry is free and entrants retain all publication rights, so what have you got to lose?

Solaris Acquire Babylon Steel Sequel

Jonathan Oliver, commissioning editor of Solaris Books, has acquired Hunter’s Moon by Gaie Sebold, a sequel to Babylon Steel – the opening volume of a fast-moving fantasy series which is published in January 2012, and which bestselling author Mike Carey has characterised as: “Ingenious, gripping and full of pleasures on every level.  Exceptional”.

The agent was John Jarrold, and the deal was for UK/US rights.  Solaris provisionally plan to publish early in 2013.

“Babylon Steel runs the best brothel in Scalentine; a city with gateways to many worlds and a widely varied and occasionally violent populace.  Babylon has also become, somewhat against her will, bodyguard to the controversial new member of the ruling council in the nearby country of Incandress.  Not to mention ‘unofficial Scalentine envoy’ or, to put it more bluntly, ‘spy’.  And while she is trying to protect her charge, avoid clashing with Incandress’s rigid morality laws, and stop the whole country plunging into race massacre and civil war, someone back on Scalentine is killing weres.  The city militia can’t, or won’t, catch them.  And when your lover is the Chief of the city militia, who also happens to be a were, this is more than a little worrying…“

K. D. Grace’s “Lakeland Heatwave” Released

K. D. Grace’s Lakeland Heatwave 1: Body Temperature and Rising is now available in e-book formats, and will be in print in February 2012. The novel is the first of a paranormal erotic romance trilogy, set in the Lake District.

“American transplant to the Lake District, Marie Warren, didn’t know she could unleash demons and enflesh ghosts until a voyeuristic encounter on the fells ends in sex with the charming ghost, Anderson, and night visits from a demon. To help her cope with her embarrassing and dangerous new abilities, Anderson brings her to The Elementals, a coven of witches who practice rare sex magic that temporarily allows needy ghosts access to the pleasures of the flesh.

DEACON, the demon Marie has unleashed, holds an ancient grudge against Tara Stone, coven high priestess, and will stop at nothing to destroy all she holds dear. Marie and her landlord, the reluctant young farmer, Tim Meriwether, are at the top of his list. Marie and Tim must learn to wield coven magic and the numinous power of their lust to stop Deacon’s bloody rampage before the coven is torn apart and more innocent people die.”

T Party in Publishers’ Choice for 2012

Congratulations to Gaie Sebold and Tom Pollock! Their debut novels feature in the Publishers’ Choice for 2012 fantasy books, as reported on the Fantasy Faction website. Babylon Steel is available to order now, and The City’s Son can currently be pre-ordered in hardback and will be released in June.

Will Mitchell in “Something Wicked”

Will Mitchell’s horror story Jiang Shi is now available in the South African magazine Something Wicked (Issue 14, October 2011).  The story is set in nineteenth century China, with a strong Lovecraftian tone to it, and follows one of the British opium traders as he tries to deal with chronic pain by first dipping into his own supply of drugs, then meddling with something even more sinister and dangerous when the drugs stop working.  The magazine is available in Kindle/EPub/pdf formats.

T Party Takeover Fantasycon

Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit, but we’re making a strong showing at Fantasycon in Brighton this year with many of our members giving readings. Here’s our schedule:

FRIDAY:

In Bar Rogue:
3:00 pm – Helen Callaghan will be reading from her multiverse SF adventure Sleepwalker.

3:30 pm  - Tom Pollock will be reading from his forthcoming urban fantasy, The City’s Son, to be published by Jo Fletcher Books.

8:30 pm – Dave Gullen will be reading from his novel The Shopping Trip and also Beyond the Streets We Know.

In Room 134:

3:30 pm – Sarah Townsend will be reading from her forthcoming anthology Soul Screams, to be published by Stumar Press.

4:30 pm – Gary Couzens will be reading from his short stories.

SATURDAY
In Room 134:
10:00 am – Julia Knight will be reading from her novel Ten Ruby Trick, published by Carina Press.

SUNDAY
In Bar Rogue:
10:30 am – Gaie Sebold will be reading from her forthcoming fantasy novel, Babylon Steel, to be published by Solaris.

11:00 am – Rosanne Rabinowitz will be reading from her forthcoming literary fantasy novella, Helen’s Story, to be published by PS Publishing.

For more details: http://www.fantasycon2011.org/readings.htm

Sara-Jayne Townsend’s “Soul Screams”

An anthology of Sara-Jayne Townsend‘s short stories, Soul Screams, will be published by Stumar Press in early 2012.  The book will appear as an ebook and POD.  This new e-publishing company has been launched by Stuart Hughes and Mark West. Anyone who was submitting short stories to the small press in the 1990s, might remember that Stuart Hughes was editor of Peeping Tom magazine. Stumar Press is specializing in horror and dark fantasy, novels and anthologies.

Sara-Jayne says, “I am pleased to be able to announce that my next publishing project is in the pipeline. The collection will contain previously published short stories, as well as some unpublished ones.  They are all horror-themed, but much of my earlier work dealt with psychological horror rather than supernatural horror, and characters in very dark places.  It’s not going to be an uplifting read, put it that way.  Unlike my novels, my short stories rarely end happily. I am very excited about working on it.”