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Golden Blasters 2011
Octocon, the Irish National Science Fiction Convention (15-16 October, 2011), has announced details of this year’s Golden Blasters Short Film and Short Script Festival. The Golden Blasters Short Film competition is now open to short film submissions from filmmakers from anywhere in the world. The science fiction, fantasy or horror films should be 12-15 minutes long, and can be live action, animation or a mixture of media. The shorts can be filmed on 35mm, 16 mm or video but entries must must be on DVD. Two copies will be required. A short-list of films will be selected prior to Octocon and will be screened for the attendees of the festival.…
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Black Static 17
Black Static, issue 17, has been sent to the printers, and you can expect to see it around June 11th. The cover is by Ben Baldwin. The first group of ten winners from the Campaign for Real Fear will be published in this issue: ‘Copy Degradation’ by Gemma Files ‘The Rude Little Girl’ by Kaaron Warren ‘Nice One, Truly’ by Alan Morgan ‘On The Beaten Path’ by Janos Honkonken ‘In The Night Supermarket’ by James Burt ‘Shades of Blue’ by Catherine MacLeod ‘This Is Mung’ by Christine Emmett ‘The Price’ by Jennifer Williams ‘The Flinchfield Dance’ by Mary Elizabeth Burroughs ‘Sanctuary’ by Katherine Hughes As well as the following stories:…
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ghost runner up
CZP has announced the winner of its Cities of Night photograph contest: the evocative “Dark Passenger” by Ania Bibulowicz. The image was shot in Queens, New York City. My photo “Soho Ghost” was selected as one of the three runners-up, so I’ll still get a trade paperback of the book. Plus, author Philip Nutman liked all the images so much he wrote a a piece of flash fiction for each of the top ten entries.
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Soho Ghost finalist
I can now mention that my photograph, entitled “Soho Ghost”, is a top ten finalist in the Cities of Night contest, being run by ChiZine Publications. The contest was created to celebrate the release of Philip Nutman’s short story collection Cities of Night, and the brief was to supply a subtle, creepy, evocative photo of a city at night. Since May 6 CZP began announcing the finalists, one per day, and my photo “Soho Ghost” went up last night. The overall winner will be announced on May 15, Cities of Night‘s official launch date. The winner receives: A free, signed, limited edition hardcover copy of Cities of Night Twenty-five postcards…
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The Campaign for Real Fear: the top twenty
Christopher Fowler and I have announced the winning stories in the Campaign for Real Fear. It’s been a great deal of work, but we were determined to select the winners in a timely fashion. Due to the large number of entries, and the high calibre of the final group of submissions, Chris and I have decided to select twenty winning stories. You will be able to read the first batch of ten stories in the June issue (#17) of Black Static followed by the second batch of ten stories in the August issue (#18), and they will be podcast by Action Audio. Top Twenty ‘Copy Degradation’ by Gemma Files; Canada…
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Golden Blasters 2010
The Irish national science fiction convention, Octocon (October 16-17), has issued a call for scripts for its inaugural short script competition. It’s looking for fantasy, science fiction or horror short scripts, less than twenty pages, and in the usual format. The fees for the competition are on a sliding scale depending on when the script is submitted: May 31, 2010Earlybird Deadline €10.00 July 31, 2010Regular Deadline €15.00 August 31, 2010Late Deadline €20.00 It has also issued a call for submissions for fantasy, science fiction and horror short films (under 15 minutes) for its second Short Film Competition. The films that are short-listed will be screened at this year’s convention, and…
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give us your fear
Chris and I are already receiving submissions for the Campaign for Real Fear, so keep them coming! We say: “Give us your terror, your fear,Your horrid tales yearning to alarm,The wretched stories of your teeming brain.Send these, the disturbed, nightmare-tossed to us,We lift our laptops to behold their forms!” With homage to Emma Lazarus and The New Colossus. Also, it pleases me no end that the Australian Horror Writers Association has announced its finalists for the 2009 Shadows Awards and three out of the five entries in the Long Fiction Award are women. There are also three women out of five in the short fiction category, and two women co-editors…
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Campaign for Real Fear
Christopher Fowler and I have launched the Campaign for Real Fear: a horror short story competition. Send us your best 500-word story that explores horror in the 21st century. We want diversity of characters and themes, and beginner or pro can enter. The top ten stories will be published in Black Static, and podcast by Action Audio. The deadline for entry is 5pm GMT, on Friday the 16th of April. If you want change, you better write it. Information on how to enter is available on the Campaign for Real Fear web site.
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vote for your favourite Irish book
Irish readers should be interested to know that voting is now open in the Irish Book Awards. Select your favourite book in each of the ten categories, and you’re added to a draw where three winners will receive €250 of National Book Tokens. That’s a prize I would love to win! Voting closes on May 1st 2009. Not that I’m trying to influence your vote or anything, but I’ll note that Dublin-based writer, Michael Scott, is nominated in the Dublin Airport Authority Irish Children’s Book of the Year – Senior Category, for his young adult urban fantasy novel, The Magician. It’s part of an on-going series called The Secrets of…
