Fantasycon 2011 - Our Schedule

Good morning/afternoon

As some of you folk will be aware, this weekend sees Fantasycon 2011 taking over Brighton, well a hotel in Brighton. Myself our PR wizard, Michael Molcher, and desk editor, Jenni Hill, will be in attendance, and if you too are at this splendid event, why not buy us beer and lavish us with praise? Anyway, our schedule at said event is the following:

FRIDAY

General mingling, come find us and say 'hi' and

2pm-3pm - Fitzherbert - Abaddon's Scott Andrews will be taking part in a panel on How to Maintain Your Online presence, alongside Lee Harris, Stephen Hunt, Adam Christopher and Adele Wearing.

3pm-4pm - Fitzherbert - Hell Train author, Christopher Fowler, and Loss of Separation author, Conrad Williams, will be taking part in a panel on Making a Living as a Writer alongside Guy Adams, Lisa Tuttle and Tony Lee.

4pm-5pm - Fitzherbert - It's that Gary McMahon again, this time on the panel Has Crossover Overtaken Genre? Alongside Gary will be Suzanne McLeod, Mike Carey, Steve Mosby and Sarah Pinborough.

9-9.30pm - Room 134 - Lou Morgan, author of the forthcoming Blood and Feathers, will be reading a sample from her brilliant novel.

10.30-11pm - Room 134 - Concrete Grove author, Gary McMahon, will be doing a reading.

SATURDAY

10am-11am - Russel Room - Hadrumal Crisis author, Juliet McKenna, joins Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tom Lloyd, and Joe Abercrombie to talk about trends in fantasy fiction.

10am-11am - Fitzherbert - Desdaemona and Concrete Grove trilogy cover artist, Vincent Chong, will be on a panel about, strangely enough, book covers with Les Edwards, Steve Upham, Ben Baldwin and Marc Gascoigne

1pm-2pm - Fitzherbert - Pantheon and Redlaw series author, James Lovegrove, will be chatting about What's Next in SF alongside Christopher Priest, Brian Aldiss, Ian R. Macleod and Dan Abnett

1pm - Reading Room 134 - Jonathan Oliver will be reading his story 'The Ruby Nipples of Jugulon' for the entertainment of anybody who turns up. This was written for the occasion of Jared Shurin of Pornokitsch's birthday, and has only been read/heard by a handful of the select. Now you can become one of those select and enjoy Jon's tribute to Dungeons & Dragons and smutty humour.

2pm - The Big Solaris Book Event - Regency Lounge

We will be giving away, yes giving away, a selection of our titles and giving you the chance to meet some of our authors and have a drink on us. How good does that sound? Free books, booze and literary repartee. Join us for the biggest book event of the convention.

5pm-6pm - Dealing with Agents and Editors panel - Fitzherbert

Jonathan Oliver will be moderating a panel in which we discuss the role of the agent and the editor in publishing. Joining Jon will be Jo Fletcher, John Berlyne, Meg Davis and Dorothy Lumley.

8pm-9pm - Fitzherbert - Stronghold author, Paul Finch, will be joining Stephen Volk, Pete Atkins, and Stephen Gallagher to chat about Script Writing and Improv.

9pm-1opm - Fitzherbert - Join Regicide author, Nicholas Royle and Robert Shearman, Jasper Kent, Gwyneth Jones and Peter Crowther to hear them talk about their favourite books.

1opm-11pm - Fitzherbert - School's Out author, Scott Andrews, is back to moderate a panel on Tie-in Fiction featuring Simon R. Green, Guy Adams, Mark Morris and Cath Trechman

SUNDAY

10am - How to Market Your Novel panel - Fitzherbert

Michael Molcher will be joining Ian Whates, Jon Weir, Colleen Anderson and Gary McMahon to discuss the role of marketing and PR in genre fiction. A must-attend to those who want to know the best way to promote their novel.

1pm-4pm - Fantasycon Banquet and Awards Ceremony.

Jon and Mike will attend the prestigious Fantasycon banquet and will then attend the awards ceremony. Jon's anthology, The End of The Line, is up for Best Anthology with one short story from the collection, The Lure by Nicholas Royle, being up for Best Short Story.

Anyway, hope to see you all there.

House of Fear Launch!

On Tuesday the 27th of September, something scary will be haunting Foyles book shop on Charing Cross Road, London... us! The writers and editors of the upcoming House of Fear anthology of haunted house stories will be celebrating its launch and we'd like you to join us.

You can RSVP and spot who'll be there at the public facebook page, but don't forget to reserve your free ticket through the Foyles website!

House of Fear is an anthology of haunted house stories featuring terrifying tales by nineteen scribes of terror: Lisa Tuttle, Stephen Volk, Terry Lamsley, Adam L.G. Nevill, Weston Ochse, Rebecca Levene, Garry Kilworth, Chaz Brenchley, Robert Shearman, Nina Allan, Christopher Fowler, Sarah Pinborough, Paul Meloy, Christopher Priest, Jonathan Green, Nicholas Royle, Eric Brown, Tim Lebbon and Joe R. Lansdale.

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Juliet E. McKenna Speaks Out in SFX

Juliet E. McKenna has written a fascinating article over at the SFX Magazine website, entitled 'Everyone Can Promote Equality in Genre Writing'.


Juliet talks about some of the barriers facing women writing science fiction, fantasy and horror novels, and the sometimes subconscious biases that people carry. She says that a survey conducted by Strange Horizons magazine revealed that even though slightly more SFF and horror books were being written by men (55% vs. 45%), across a wide range of genre publications the proportion of books being reviewed was 70% by men vs 30% by women...

Head over there and read the article, and get involved the the debate going on in the comments! It's interesting stufff...

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Eric Brown interviewed

After looking at his inspirations and influences, Civilian Reader is continuing its chat with Solaris author Eric Brown. As well as discussing his new project for our sister imprint, Abaddon, Eric discusses life as a writer and what makes him get to his writing desk every day.

"Writing is really the only full-time job I’ve ever done, at least from the age of twenty-two. Of course in the early years I wasn’t paid for doing it, but I worked on the assumption that if I worked hard I’d get better and eventually find a publisher. It took a lot longer than I thought it would – I had a lot of rubbish to get out of my system before I learned how to tell a tale. Working within the publishing industry? Well, it’s got to be done. I’ve had horrible experiences in publishing, which I’d rather not talk about, and some wonderful ones. I’m having the latter now with my current publisher Solaris, who are a great bunch to work with."

Do check it out...

Announcing our READ ANYTHING eBook campaign

READ ANYTHING

Ever wanted to read something different but didn’t want the world to judge you by the cover of the book?

Spaceships, wizards, hooded swordsman – we love them all. But it’s not the cover, it’s the insides that matter. So, Solaris and Abaddon books are here to tell you that you can READ ANYTHING.

The revolution in eReaders gives you, the reader, the freedom to read whatever you want – fantasy, science-fiction, horror, urban fantasy, Steampunk, historical action, ANYTHING. They’re perfect to explore genre fiction you never knew even existed!

The READ ANYTHING campaign from Solaris and Abaddon Books aims to do away with judging a book, or rather its reader, by its cover. At last, content shall be king with whole new worlds of genre publishing opening up to readers.

Solaris and Abaddon Books are two of the freshest genre publishers in the UK today, producing books that transcend lazy genre clichés. Explore the Steampunk world of Pax Britannia on your iPad, the terrifying sink estate of The Concrete Grove on your Kindle, or soaring SF epics such as The Recollection and The Kings of Eternity.

Solaris and Abaddon don’t just release eBooks – we want to provide new and exciting material for readers. Both imprints will:
• publish every new book as an eBook on multiple platforms on the same day as it sees prints
• publish the first chapter of every new book online, for free, ahead of publication
• publish selected future titles exclusively as eBooks
• introduce new ways to share eBooks with your friends and family.

“The world of genre fiction is as rich and rewarding as anything produced by the publishers of ‘literature’,” says Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of both Solaris and Abaddon Books. “At Solaris and Abaddon we are committed to providing great fiction in a format to suit the reader. Now with the READ ANYTHING campaign you can jump into the world of genre without worrying what your fellow commuters will think.”

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Influences & Inspirations: Eric Brown

Earlier this year, Solaris published The Kings of Eternity - a book that took author Eric Brown ten years to complete. Vast in scope but emotionally powerful, The Kings of Eternity has been one of our stand-out titles this year and something we really do recommend you pick up.

With the book being such a significant personal undertaking for Eric, it's interesting to read about his influences and inspirations in this great post from Civilian Reader, in which he discusses his earliest experiences of reading...

"I came upon the works of H.G. Wells and Robert Silverberg at the same time, and if I’d found Christie revelatory, then you can imagine what these writers did to my head. I read all Wells’s scientific romances (and was bitterly disappointed when I finished them and tried to read his social novels) and began collecting Silverberg. Over the years, the latter was a great influence."

Enjoy.

Recollecting the launch of The Recollection...

Bristol on a late summer’s night. Steam drifted from the doorways of the busy bars and the Wills Tower soared high above the Triangle in Clifton. A place known for its nightlife, a place known for its past: the place to launch The Recollection.

Gareth Powell’s time-travelling space opera was always bound to cause a stir amongst the high-life and literary crowd in the city that launched the ship that discovered North America (ref. John Cabot) and gave the world Trip Hop.

At 6pm the crowds were gathering among the bookstacks at Forbidden Planet. Then Powell, a very approachable man with a far-seeing look in his eye, took to the floor and conversation stopped as he read the opening passages of his novel. Despite this being his debut novel from a mainstream publisher Gareth sold only a whisker’s fewer books than Iain Banks in the same venue.

Supported by the active Bristol SF community and new readers Gareth signed for queue of fans before celebrating the launch at the bar conveniently found next door. Already booked for the Bristol SF convention Bristol-con Gareth is sure to be in demand on the convention scene as one of the most talented up and coming authors on the British SF scene.

That night’s lucky readers with their signed first editions should make sure they keep tight hold of those for the future.