The World Fantasy Convention 2013 is almost here! And as this highlight of the annual fantasy calendar is nearly upon us, I thought I’d do a quick run-down of what Tor UK and our authors will be up to at World Fantasy Con in Brighton, starting on Thursday. We also have authors up for various awards, with more on this too below. Tor UK authors going are Adam Nevill, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Charles Stross, Frank Tallis, John Gwynne, Liz de Jager, Juliet Marillier, Mark Charan Newton, Paul Cornell, Peter F. Hamilton and Rjurik Davidson. Here’s the full WFC programme, and details of all author appearances here. We list highlights from us and our authors below.
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THURSDAY 31ST OCTOBER
15:00-16:00 Panel event: Mark Charan Newton on Living in the Past: Writing Historical Fantasy. When writing historical fantasy, how important is it to stick to the facts, or is the past fair game for authors of fantastic fiction to manipulate how they wish? Aidan Harte, Helen Marshall (mod.), Sophia McDougall, Mark Charan Newton, Tim Powers, Kari Sperring (Oxford suite)
15:30 – 16:00 Reading: Charles Stross, author of our Merchant Princes series, amongst many other SF/F novels, will be reading in Hall 8A
16.00 - 17:00 Panel event ‘Machen@150′ The Landscape of the Fantastic. This includes our Adam Nevill, moderating. The landscape of country and city is such an overwhelming presence in Arthur Machen’s work they almost become characters in their own right. The author’s love of his Welsh Homeland and the City of London mingle together in a unique manner in his stories. How have other authors managed the same themes, and is Machen’s approach perhaps a practical model for the modern author? Ramsey Campbell, Jay Lake, Alison Littlewood, Adam Nevill (mod.), Samantha Shannon, Simon Kurt Unsworth (Cambridge suite).
17.00 - 18:00 Publisher Kaffeeklatsches: Julie Crisp and Bella Pagan will be talking about their roles as editors at Tor, what they do and what they are currently looking for. This will be in the library, just off lobby, and the event is now sold out.
17.00 - 18:00 Panel event - Buddy, Can You Spare an E-Reader? (Hall 4) This includes Tor US’s Patrick Neilsen Hayden. Is it actually possible to make money out of e-books? Susana Arroyo, Claire Deslandes, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Dana Hayward (mod.), Darren Nash, Adam Nevill (Hall 4).
17.00 – 18.00 Panel event: Does Anybody Still Read Genre Poetry? Hal Duncan and other panellists below. Outside an ever-dwindling circle, does anybody really care about genre poetry in the 21st century? Is it an art form that as had its time, or is there still an audience out there for people scribbling away in their garrets? Panel includes Shimon Adaf, Alan Ashley (mod.), Jenny Blackford, Hal Duncan, Jo Fletcher (Cambridge).
20:00 Gemmell Awards and Legends Anthology launch (Oxford suite): We have two brilliant books up for the awards! STORMDANCER by Jay Kristoff and MALICE by John Gwynne. Jay Kristoff’s Stormdancer has been nominated in *all three categories*, so for the Legend Award (Best Novel), Morningstar Award (Best Debut) and Ravenheart Award (Best cover art). Also, John Gwynne’s Malice is up for the Morningstar Award for Best Debut. You can also see info on the full shortlists here on the David Gemmell Legend Award site. Also, Adrian Tchaikovsky has a short story in the Legends Anthology, launched alongside the awards.
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FRIDAY 1st NOVEMBER
12:00 Book Launch - Alchemy Press launches their Urban Mythic anthology and our Adrian Tchaikovsky has a short story in this volume. His story is Family Business, a pleasant little story of fallen gods, murder and London.
14.00 – 15.00 Panel event: The End is Now - Peter F. Hamilton is speaking on this one. Apocalyptic stories have been around since the beginning of science fiction and fantasy. However, in recent years these themes have seen a resurgence in popularity-not least in young adult fiction-helped by the rise of the zombie culture and young heroines fighting for survival in dystopian futures. Why are we so obsessed with downbeat tomorrows, and are there still any new ways to end the future with a bang? Kathleen Ann Goonan, Peter F. Hamilton (mod.), William F. Nolan, Samantha Shannon, S.M. Stirling, Tricia Sullivan (Oxford).
15.00 – 16.00 Panel event: ‘Machen@150′ Arthur Machen and Modern Horror: includes our Adam Nevill. Contemporary British horror writers talk about the influence that Machen has had upon their careers and read some short illustrative extracts from their own work. Ramsey Campbell, Paul Finch, Michael Kelly (mod.), Tim Lebbon, Adam Nevill, Thana Niveau (Cambridge).
15:30 – 15:30 Reading: John Gwynne will be reading in hall 8A.
16.00 – 17.00 Panel event: Not in Front of the Children: How Far Should You Go in Young Adult Fiction? Pan Macmillan Children’s Frances Hardinge is on this one. They discuss sex, drugs and violence where it appears in YA novels. They ask if this really what we should be teaching the younger generation, or is there an argument to be made that the earlier they are exposed to what were once considered adult themes then the better they will be able to deal with them? Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Frances Hardinge, Garth Nix, Chris Priestley, Chris Wooding (Oxford).
17:00 Launch event: Adam Nevill and Mark Charan Newton will be launching their new books House of Small Shadows and Drakenfeld in the walkway of Hall 8, just next to the Art Show in the Durham Gallery. This is a chance to come and meet both authors, have a drink and get a book signed.
20:00-10:00 Mass Signing: authors attending the convention will be signing their books for fans (Cambridge).
22:00 – 00:00 Tor UK Tenth Anniversary Party – we shall be celebrating ten years of Tor UK in Bar 106. All welcome!
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SATURDAY 2nd NOVEMBER
10:00 – 11:00 Panel Event – The Next Big Thing: Tom Doherty, founder and head of Tor US is on this panel with Julie Crisp, Editorial Director for Tor UK. They are discussing with others the next big trends in genre publishing. Also on the panel are Hajnalka Bata, Jennifer Brehl, Tom Doherty, Kate Eltham and Michael Rowley (Hall 4).
10:00 – 11:00 Panel event: Best of all Possible Worlds panel, featuring Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hal Duncan and others below. So you’ve come up with a cool plot, you’ve created some characters that the reader will really empathise with, and now you’re ready to put it all together in a location of your imagination. Edgar Rice Burroughs had his Barsoom, J.R.R. Tolkien had his Middle-Earth, H.P. Lovecraft had his Innsmouth and J.K. Rowling had her Hogwarts. So just how do you go about creating a believable milieu with its own history, culture and politics? A panel of world-builders will tell you how it’s done… Hal Duncan, Robin Hobb, Ellen Kushner (mod.), Patrick Rothfuss, Robert Silverberg, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Cambridge).
12:00 – 13:00 Panel Event: ‘Machen@150‘ The Little People: When the Fairies Come Out to Play – This features our Pan Macmillan Children’s author Jana Oliver. Arthur Machen lived in a golden age for stories regarding fairies, but his repulsive Little People are a million miles away from those of Peter Pan. In modern times Tessa Farmer has created her own malevolent fairy creations. The panel looks at how Machen and other authors and artists have used folklore, the landscape, science and literature to create stories of the faerie otherworld. Tessa Farmer, Alison Littlewood, Emma Newman, Jana Oliver (mod.), Rosanne Rabinowitz (Cambridge).
14:00 – 15:00 Panel Event: A Book by Any Other Name? Includes Irene Gallo, the head of Tor.com and Tor US’s Art Director. Are reports of the death of print media premature? As the no. of electronic platforms/readers continue to multiply, and e-books are becoming increasing popular and more important to publishers’ profits, how is the growth of electronic publishing affecting the literature and is there still a place for the printed volume in the modern world? Irene Gallo, Marc Gascoigne, Stéphane Marsan, Darren Nash (mod.), Duncan Proudfoot, Jürgen Snoeren (Hall 4).
14:30 – 15:00 Reading: Peter F. Hamilton, one of the UK’s bestselling SF writers, and also now a children’s fantasy author, will be reading in Hall 8A
15:00 – 16:00 Panel Event – What Else Have You Got? Bella Pagan, Senior Commissioning Editor at Tor UK, and others talk about what editors and publishers never want to see again. Also on the panel are Jo Fletcher, Gordon Van Gelder, Lee Harris (mod.), Gillian Redfearn and Simon Taylor (Hall 4).
17:00 - 18:00 Panel event: The Stars Their Destinations: Does Science Fiction Have a Future? Peter F. Hamilton speaks on a subject close to his heart! We’ve come a long way from Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Or even Robert A. Heinlein and John Wyndham, for that matter. The future is now-we are already living in the second decade of Arthur C. Clarke’s 21st century, and advances in science and technology regularly surpass what science fiction authors used to predict. So what are the prospects for scientific extrapolation? Will there always be new worlds to conquer, new frontiers to explore, or are audiences’ growing hunger for all things fantasy and horror a sign that there is nowhere left for science to boldly go in genre fiction…? Brian W. Aldiss, Stephen Baxter, Jaine Fenn (mod.), Joe Haldeman, Peter F. Hamilton, Paul McAuley (Cambridge).
17:00 - 17:30 Reading: Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Shadows of the Apt series, will be reading in Hall 8A.
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SUNDAY 3rd NOVEMBER
10:00 – Book launch - Tales of Eve launch — Fox Spirit launching their collection of the same name, featuring Adrian Tchaikovsky’s story Fragile Creations.
10:00 – 11:00 Panel event: ‘The Next Generation’ Haunters of the Dark: When Did H. P. Lovecraft Become a Franchise? (Cambridge) Charles Stross speaks on this panel. Howard Philips Lovecraft was probably the most important and influential author of supernatural fiction in the 20th century. Many of his tales are set in the fear-haunted towns of an imaginary area of Massachusetts, or in the cosmic vistas that exist beyond space and time. Although he has always had his imitators, in recent years his relatively small body of work has spawned a world-wide industry of anthologies, sequels, tie-ins, games and movies based on his concepts. How relevant are these new works to Lovecraft’s original cosmic vision, and what would he think of this new breed of imitators? Martin Andersson, Ramsey Campbell, S.T. Joshi, Steve Saffel (mod.), Darrell Schweitzer, Charles Stross (Cambridge).
13:00 Awards Banquet: Team Tor will be rounding off the weekend by feasting a toasting our authors at the Awards banquet in the Oxford Suite. And here is the shortlist for the World Fantasy Awards this year, with winners to be announced at the banquet. The British Fantasy Award winners will also be revealed at this event, with that shortlist here. (Oxford suite).
We have RAILSEA by China Miéville nominated in their Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award) category. And we also have Adam Nevill nominated for Best Horror Novel (the August Derleth Award). Finally, two of our authors have work in the Best Comic/Graphic Novel category. China Miéville is again nominated, here with Mateus Santolouco, David Lapham and Riccardo Burchielli for Dial H (DC Comics). And Robert Kirkman is nominated with Charlie Adlard for The Walking Dead graphic novel (Skybound Entertainment/Image Comics).
Have fun and hope to see you there!
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