The Inevitable 'What I'm Doing At Fantasycon' Post For Anyone Who Missed It On Facebook

Last year's FCon, with Priya Sharma, Lynda E. Rucker and Sean Hogan/

My Fantasycon 2018 Schedule: I'm a little on the busy side this year.

Friday
5.00 pm
Panel: Writing The Immortal Enemy
Simon Bestwick (m), Powder, Ren Warom, Clint Wastling, Den Patrick
A panel tribute to those villains who refuse to submit, lay down and die. Maybe you wrote an evildoer and you couldn’t let go? Maybe you’re a fan of one that we all know? Our panel talks about those recurring nemesii who we all love and hate.
 
7.00 pm
Readings (Horror)
Stephen Laws, Simon Bestwick, Tina Rath
Stephen and Tina are both ace writers. I don't know what they'll be sharing with the audience, but I'll be reading one of the tales from Singing Back The Dark.

Saturday
1.00 pm
Black Shuck Books Launch
Black Shuck's FCon releases include John Llewellyn Probert's The Last Temptation of Dr Valentine, Colleen Anderson's A Body Of Work, and Great British Horror #3: For Those In Peril. This sea-themed anthology of horror fiction includes my story 'The Bells Of Rainey.' So I'll be there.

7.00 pm
Writing Warfare
Simon Bestwick (m), Danie Ware, Andy Remic, Anna Stephens, Anna Smith Spark
From Homer to Warmaster Horus, the battle scene has been a mainstay of epic fantasy and space opera science fiction. Our panel discussion battle scenes, whether up close and personal, from a tactical  perspective or looking down from the god’s eye.

Sunday
12.30pm
Dead Bodies
Simon Bestwick (m), Steve Toase, GV Anderson, James Brogden, Simon Clark
Many good stories involve a mystery. Whether the case at hand has remained unsolved for hundreds of years, or happened in the first chapter of the book, a good puzzle provides the writer with an opportunity to engage the reader’s brain in finding the answer. Our panelists discuss unsolved conundrums, consider the role of accurate research, and look at a range of tools that are at the writer’s disposal to create intriigue for the curious reader. 

The Lowdown with...Stephen Laws

Stephen Laws is a full-time novelist, born in Newcastle upon Tyne. Married, with three children, he lives and works in his birthplace. The author of 11 novels, numerous short stories, (collected in THE MIDNIGHT MAN) columnist, reviewer, film-festival interviewer, pianist and recipient of a number of awards, Stephen Laws recently wrote and starred in the short horror movie THE SECRET.

1. Tell us three things about yourself.

(a) I'm a horror novelist/writer;
(b) I'm a Geordie; and
(c) horror actress Barbara Shelley likes to eat bowls of crisps on our family sofa while watching 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

2. What was the first thing you had published?

If you mean the first thing I was paid for, then it was my first novel GHOST TRAIN. Prior to that I'd had a couple of stories in community magazines - then won a newspaper competition prize (no cash, but the prize was an electric typewriter) and also a BBC Rediffusion award for a story broadcast on radio called 'Yesterday I Flew with the Birds' (no cash - no prize).

3. Which piece of writing are you proudest of?

Impossible to choose. The old cliche applies here about not being able to choose a favourite child from a large family of children. But I'd been aiming towards a horror epic for many years - and was pleased with the way that CHASM turned out (now in its complete and unexpurgated form in ebook via Samhain). That's not choosing it above the others, though!

4. …and which makes you cringe?

Fortunately, no one's seen the drawers full of material that I wrote before first being published. I haven't the heart to throw it away, but it won't see the light of day.

5. What’s a normal writing day like?

These days it's 9.00am to 12 noon. Two until four. Ten to midnight and beyond depending on domestic family circumstances. But that can vary if a deadline is approaching.

6. Which piece of writing should someone who’s never read you before pick up first?

Read my short story collection THE MIDNIGHT MAN - then read each of the
novels in order.

7. What are you working on now?

I'm working on a transcription of 25 years worth of interviews with horror, fantasy and science fiction genre figures (many undertaken as a host interviewer at the Manchester Festival of Fantastic Films), interspersed with personal anecdotes and reminiscences - entitled LAWS OF HORROR.