An old review referenced on Wikipedia!

I was surprised to find that one of my reviews from 1990 was referenced in a Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusalka_(book)

Writing – Market – British Fantasy Society short story competition

Wikipedia commons - Durian-Sintel wallpaper

The British Fantasy Society (BFS) began in 1971, as an offshoot of the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA). The society is dedicated to promoting the best in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres.
 
1st prize: £100, a year’s membership of the BFS, and publication in the BFS Journal.

2nd prize:£50, a year’s membership of the BFS, and publication in the BFS Journal.

3rd prize: £20, and publication in the BFS Journal.

Closing date 30 June 2015

See the website for full details,

http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/the-bfs-short-story-competition-2015/

but here is an extract:

Rules

• Stories must be written in English.
• Any kind of fantastical story is welcome. For example: fantasy, science fiction, horror, supernatural, fabulation, magic realism, slipstream, etc, or indeed any combination of those genres.
• The competition is open to members and non-members of the society, but non-members must pay a £5 entry fee.
• Stories must not exceed 5,000 words.
• Stories must be your own original work. We are not looking for translations, Shared World, use of copyrighted characters or similar. Also, we are not looking for children’s stories or “Young Adult” fiction.
• Stories must be previously unpublished in any form. This means they must not have been published in books, magazines, newspapers, on websites, phone apps, or have been broadcast on TV, radio, podcasts, etc.
• Stories must not be under consideration elsewhere.

Documents should be formatted as follows:

• Double-spaced text
• Left and right hand margins of at least 2cm
• 12pt font
• First line of paragraphs indented
• Pages numbered.
• Section breaks should be indicated by a single hash mark (#) or asterisk (*)
• Please put title and author name in the header for each page.
• Please include a word count.
• Stories should be saved in “Rich Text Format” or an older version of “MS Word”. Preferably not “Doc.x”.

Failure to submit manuscripts in this manner may lead to disqualification. Stories that exceed 5000 words will not be read but you may still be charged.

Good luck!

 

PS - If you’re into Fantasy, then the BFS might be worth joining. The BFS currently publishes two periodicals: BFS Horizons is a paperback journal of fiction, poetry and art; BFS Journal is devoted to non-fiction: interviews, articles, reviews and features. My story 'The House of Aunty Berenice' and my article 'Barsoom Revisited' appeared in an earlier form of the magazine, then titled Dark Horizons.  See my blog:
http://nik-writealot.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/saturdeay-story-house-of-aunty-berenice.html

Book list-1965

For many years now, I’ve kept a list of the books I’ve read.  In the 1980s, I used to review books for the British Science Fiction Association, and in the 1990s also for my semi-pro magazine Auguries. Then when I discovered the Internet, I continued to write reviews on Amazon. Looking back, it seems I started in 1965.

Then, I simply listed the book. Now, I show the book, the author and the date read.

I won’t present a full list, which might become tedious, but show a few selected titles, just for interest.

1965

Fittingly, I read Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End in October, 1965 on the fourteen-hour train journey to join the Royal Navy. That same year, I also read Len Deighton’s Horse Under Water, which began at HMS Vernon, the naval diving school. My first draft in the following year after training was to HMS St. Vincent, in Gosport, across the water from Vernon.

 

I enjoyed E.V. Cunningham’s Sylvia, actually written by Howard Fast, an excellent suspense novel that deserves to be reprinted; it was the first in an unconnected series, save that all the books had women’s names, such as Shirley, Phyllis, Lydia etc.

 

Winston Graham’s Marnie was much better than the Hitchcock film; his characters are always believable. Since then, I’ve read most of the Poldark novels and many of his suspense novels; he never disappoints.

I read a few true wartime exploit books too – The White Rabbit (Bruce Marshall, writing the exploits of Yeo-Thomas), Boldness be my Friend (Richard Pape) and The Colditz Story (P.R. Reid) – all excellent books about real heroes.

 

Some years earlier I’d read quite a few similar titles, such as Odette, Carve Her Name With Pride, the Cockleshell Heroes, the Dambusters et al. Richard Pape wrote an espionage novel Arm Me Audacity, which reads as though it was true, not fiction. Of additional interest is this thread:

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?68113-quot-Boldness-Be-My-friend-quot-by-Richard-Pape-a-pack-of-lies

I particularly enjoyed Ray Bradbury’s The Silver Locusts, alternatively titled The Martian Chronicles; a visionary and a poet at work. I still possess all his paperbacks, most of them the 1960s Corgi versions.

I was – and still am – a fan of Victor Canning, and his The Limbo Line didn’t disappoint. In those days I bought and read a lot of espionage thrillers – there seemed to be a great many around. One series I enjoyed featured Commander Shaw, by Philip McCutcheon, and in this year I read his Bluebolt 1 adventure.

 

For a few years prior to this, I’d discovered Dennis Wheatley, first his Duke de Richleau series (a few years earlier, my first foray was, prophetically, Vendetta in Spain), then Gregory Sallust; in this year, I read The Forbidden Territory and The Devil Rides Out, both landmark books for Wheatley.

 

The Forbidden Territory was Wheatley’s first published novel (1933) and introduced his modern trinity of musketeers in the epicurean Duke de Richleau, financier Simon Aron, and the wealthy young American, Rex Van Ryn. Happily, Bloomsbury is reprinting all of Wheatley’s books – www.bloomsbury.com/DennisWheatley

The Devil Rides Out (1934) was his second Richleau tale and his first black magic novel, which has become a classic of its kind (the recently released Kindle version is currently #1 in Horror and Occult categories, and #2 for Fiction Classics).

Wheatley’s point of view was generally omniscient when it suited the scene or third person when emotional conflict was necessary; though when the story called for it, he used first person narrative too (notably The Haunting of Toby Jugg). These books are two of his best adventures. The emphasis is on ‘adventure’; he wrote no-nonsense yet thoroughly researched thrillers with heaps of tension.

Another time, I’ll take a look at some books I read in 1966 – almost half a century ago!

Dear Editor-02

 

Although I don't believe in such things, maybe this will strike a chord for some writers!

Dear Editor-01

Quite a while ago, I wrote and drew a monthly comic strip for the British Science Fiction Society's Matrix (when it was a print magazine!). The basic concept is obvious and it was hijacked from Snoopy sitting on top of his kennel, typing. Mine, however, is an alien who fancies himself as a writer... They might strike a chord.

From time to time I'll feature another sample script.