On Wednesday 22nd September 2010* from around 7pm:
Charlie Butler (University of the West of England) and Farah Mendlesohn (University of Middlesex) will discuss the work of DIANA WYNNE JONES. 

(Note change from originally advertised guest.  We hope to bring Matt Brooker as guest in 2011.)

(Note also that Diana Wynne Jones will not herself be present.)

Venue:
Upstairs Room
The Antelope Tavern
22, Eaton Terrace
Belgravia
London
SW1W 8EZ

Nearest Tube: Sloane Square (District/Circle)
Map: here.
All welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.)
Discussion will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5).
There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.

FUTURE EVENTS:

28th October 2010 – N.K. JEMISIN interviewed by Niall Harrison**
24th November 2010 – COLIN HARVEY interviewed by Dave Mansfield

(No meeting in December)

26 January 2011 – FRANCES HARDINGE interviewed by Farah Mendlesohn

* Note that this is a month with five Wednesdays.  The meeting will be on the fourth, not the last, Wednesday of the month.

** Please note the change from the originally advertised guest.  Colin Harvey will now come in November 2010.

The British Science Fiction Association and the Science Fiction Foundation invite you to attend their Mini-Convention and Annual General Meeting, with guests Malcolm Edwards and Rob Shearman.

Held at The Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House (map), London on Saturday 19th June 2010, 09:30-16:00.

Programme:

9:30 — Doors Open
10:00 — Welcome
10:05 — SFF panel: “How do we understand TV as a literary medium?” - Simon Bradshaw (moderator), Una McCormack, Adam Roberts, Rob Shearman
11:00 — SFF guest: Rob Shearman interviewed by Jane Killick
12:00 — BSFA AGM - Agenda and documents here
12:30 — Lunch
13:30 — SFF AGM
14:00 — BSFA guest: Malcolm Edwards interviewed by Graham Sleight
15:00 — BSFA Panel: “Is fandom a valuable support for genre publishing or merely a pleasant diversion?” - Ian Whates (moderator), Malcolm Edwards, Caroline Mullan, Ian Watson
16.00 — Close

 
On Wednesday 26th May 2010 from around 7pm

There will be a book launch for The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who (edited by Anthony S. Burdge, Jessica Burke and Kristine Larsen), and a panel featuring contibutors to the book, Melissa Beattie, Simon Guerrier, and Colin B. Harvey.

This volume of essays examines the abundant mythological elements underpinning the 46-year-run (and many more!) of popular BBC television series

Doctor Who.  Contributors include a well known Doctor Who

novelist, an organizer of one of the largest Doctor Who online communities, plus several university scholars and founders of the American Northeast Tolkien Society. Explore the universe of The Doctor as seen through the eyes of myth and legend.

Venue:
Upstairs Room
The Antelope Tavern
22, Eaton Terrace
Belgravia
London
SW1W 8EZ

Nearest Tube: Sloane Square (District/Circle)

Map: here.

All welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.)

Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5).

There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.

FUTURE EVENTS:

Saturday 19th June 2010 – BSFA/SFF Joint AGM, Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, 10:00-16:00.  Guests: Malcolm Edwards (BSFA) and Robert Shearman (SFF).

30th June 2010 – Eric Brown interviewed by Ian Whates *

28th July 2010 – Frances Hardinge interviewed by Farah Mendlesohn

25th August 2010 - Dan Abnett: interviewer TBC.

* Note that this meeting is on the fifth Wednesday 

 Courtesy of Lynsey Dalladay, Transworld Publishers

Sir Terry Pratchett and Transworld Publishers are proud to launch a new award for aspiring debut novelists, The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize. Transworld will offer the winning author a publishing contract with a £20,000 advance.

The award will be judged by the esteemed Sir Terry Pratchett, the wise Tony Robinson, the savvy Mike Rowley from Waterstone’s and two members of the editorial team at Transworld Publishers.

Sir Terry Pratchett had this to say:  “Anywhere but here, anywhen but now. Which means we are after stories set on Earth, although it may be an Earth that might have been, or might yet be, one that has gone down a different leg of the famous trousers of time (see the illustration in almost every book about quantum theory).

We will be looking for books set at any time, perhaps today, perhaps in the Rome of today but in a world where 2000 years ago the crowd shouted for Jesus Christ to be spared, or where in 1962, John F Kennedy's game of chicken with the Russians went horribly wrong. It might be one day in the life of an ordinary person. It could be a love story, an old story, a war story, a story set in a world where Leonardo da Vinci turned out to be a lot better at Aeronautics. But it won’t be a story about being in an alternate Earth because the people in an alternate Earth don’t know that they are; after all, you don’t.

But this might just be the start. The wonderful Peter Dickinson once wrote a book that could convince you that flying dragons might have existed on Earth. Perhaps in the seething mass of alternate worlds humanity didn't survive, or never evolved -- but other things did, and they would have seen the world in a different way. The possibilities are literally endless, but remember, it’s all on Earth. Maybe the continents will be different and the climate unfamiliar, but the physics will be the same as ours. What goes up must come down, ants are ant-sized because if they were any bigger their legs wouldn't carry them. In short, the story must be theoretically possible on some version of the past, present or future of a planet Earth.”

The deadline for submissions will be 31 December 2010 and a shortlist of six entries will be announced on the 31 March 2011. The winner will be announced by the end May 2011.

Entrants must be over 18, have no previous published full-length works of fiction and live in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth. Submissions should be emailed to:

pratchettprize@transworld-publishers.co.uk

For full terms and conditions visit www.terrypratchett.co.uk

 The London Bubble Theatre Company (based in Rotherhithe and operating across South-East London) are an internationally acclaimed theatre company who are currently adapting Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel 'The Sirens of Titan' for a unique series of 'promenade style' performances in South-London Parks this summer.

The performances take place at:

-          Sydenham Wells Park (24-27 July)

-          Southwark Park (29 July- 1st August)

-          Oxleas Woods (3rd August- 9th August)

-          Hilly Fields Park (11-14th August)

http://www.londonbubble.org.uk/fanmadetheatre

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io9's February bookclub meeting will be discussing Paolo Bacigalupi's "Windup Girl". To help with the discussion the publisher Night Shade Books are offering a free ebook (pdf) version of the novel. Simply email Night Shade Books at I09Windup@nightshadebooks.com requesting a copy*.

The bookclub meeting begins on Tuesday 23rd Feb over at the io9 website.

*You will be signed up for Night Shade Books' email newsletter when you get the free PDF - you can unsubscribe later if you don't like it

There’s a campaign afoot (pun not entirely unintended) to gain celebrated SF author John Wyndham a star on Birmingham’s Walk of Stars in the city’s Broad Street.

Born in Knowle, Warwickshire, Wyndham spent most of his childhood years in Edgbaston, yet there is little or nothing commemorating the author’s links to the city.  To date, the Walk of Fame has selected mainly people from the worlds of sport and music, with five for the former and three for the latter from the first dozen awarded.  None for any literary figures (let alone genre).

To help support this campaign, all that’s required is a visit to http://www.walkofstars.net/?page_id=20

Once there, please:
1) Put John Wyndham in the ‘name of star’ field
2) Enter your name and email address.
4) Click submit.
It’s as simple as that.

Many thanks to Andy Sawyer for first bringing this to our attention.

Lizzy Mitchell from Warwick Conferences has been in touch to tell us about one of the UK’s largest celebrations of Japanese culture, which they staged at the University of Warwick over a weekend in September.

More than 1,200 colourfully dressed enthusiasts paid tribute to Japanese comic book, animation and pop music characters to celebrate the sixth Ayacon festival at the conference and events arm of the University of Warwick.

Activities included an introduction to the Kimono, Taiko drumming workshops and the extravagant masquerade, which brought a fitting climax to the spectacle, with attendees donning make-up, wigs and an outlandish array of costumes to replicate Japanese cult heroes.

There were Samurai Warriors as well as iconic anime characters, including Princess Mononoke and Kenshin. In keeping with the far eastern theme, the venue’s chefs also brought a taste of Tokyo to attendees by specially preparing a selection of tasty Asian delicacies.

Rachael Bartlett, head of sales and marketing at Warwick Conferences, said: “We’ve worked with Ayacon for several years and we always challenge ourselves of improving the client experience at each subsequent event.”

Here’s to Ayacon 2010!