Fantastycon 2012 Guest announcments

We are proud to announce our first three Guests who will be attending next year’s FantasyCon 2012, which is being held in the historic seaside town of Brighton, Sussex, over September 27-30, 2012.

Our first author Guest of Honour is legendary Texas “Mojo Story Writer” JOE R. LANSDALE. With more than thirty books in various genres to his credit, Joe is the Champion Mojo Storyteller. He’s been called “an immense talent” by Booklist; “a born storyteller” by Robert Bloch, and The New York Times Book Review declares he has “a folklorist’s eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur’s sense of pace”. He’s won umpty-ump awards, including eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Grand Master Award from the World Horror Convention, a British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, the Horror Critics Award, the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature, the “Shot in the Dark” International Crime Writer’s Award, the Golden Lion Award, the Booklist Editor’s Award, the Critic’s Choice Award, and a New York Times Notable Book Award. Joe has also written numerous comic books, graphic novels and animated TV series; his novella Bubba Ho-Tep was made into a cult favourite movie by director Don Coscarelli in 2002, and his story ‘Incident On and Off a Mountain Road’ was filmed for Showtime Network’s Masters of Horror series. You can read more about Joe at: www.fantasycon2012.org/joelansdale.htm.

We are delighted to welcome legendary anthology editor MARY DANBY as our Special Editor Guest. Mary was the fiction editor at Fontana Books from 1969-72, where she edited thirteen volumes of The Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories and twelve volumes of the Armada Ghost Book for children. Her other titles include Nightmares, Frighteners, Realms of Darkness, 65 Great Spine Chillers, 65 Great Tales of the Supernatural and Great Murder Mysteries. Mary has also been a fiction writer and her debut collection, Party Pieces: The Horror Fiction of Mary Danby, will be launched at FantasyCon 2012. For more information about Mary, go to: www.fantasycon2012.org/marydanby.htm

When we were faced with following this year’s Master of Ceremonies, Sarah Pinborough, with someone with equally powerful lungs, it made sense to look towards the Welsh Valleys. The only obvious choice was the very shouty TIM LEBBON. Tim is a New York Times best-selling horror and fantasy writer. He has had more than twenty novels published to date, as well as dozens of novellas and hundreds of short stories, including numerous appearances in “Year’s Best” anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic. He has won four British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award and a Scribe Award, and he has been a frequent finalist for International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy Awards. He has also written several original screenplays that are at varying stages of development. You can find out more about Tim at: www.fantasycon2012.org/timlebbon.htm

This is just the beginning, and in coming months we will be announcing more Guests of Honour to add to our already distinguished line-up.

If you have not joined up yet, do so now! Prices go up again on DECEMBER 31, 2011. All you have to do is go to the “How to Join” page on the website: www.fantasycon2012.org/join.php, submit the form with your details and then pay via the PayPal buttons. Alternately, you can print out the form and mail it with a cheque to the address given. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO JOIN WITH CASH OR CHEQUE AT THE BFS CHRISTMAS OPEN NIGHT IN LONDON ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9.

A list of those who have already joined is available at: www.fantasycon2012.org/membership.htm

After the huge success of this year’s event, the convention will be returning to the Royal Albion Hotel. For those who require a little more luxury, then we also have a limited number of rooms available at the nearby Queens Hotel. Booking information for both hotels can be found on the website at: www.fantasycon2012.org/hotel.htm

Once again, we will be hosting a terrific Dealers’ Room over the weekend. Everybody who had dealer’s tables this year will be contacted in the next week or so, or details can be found now at: www.fantasycon2012.org/dealers.htm

Contact information for specific Committee members are now available at: www.fantasycon2012.org/committee.htm or, if you have a more general enquiry, please contact: info@fantasycon2012.org

Over the coming months we will be adding more information to the website. Keep checking online, and we look forward to seeing you all again in Brighton next year!