- British Fantasy Society
The British Fantasy Society (BFS) began in 1971 as the British Weird Fantasy Society, an offshoot of the
British Science Fiction Association . The society is dedicated to promoting the best in thefantasy ,science fiction and horrorgenre s.In 2000, the BFS won the Special Award: Non-Professional at the
World Fantasy Award s. The society also has its own awards, the annualBritish Fantasy Award s, created in 1971 at the suggestion of its president, the authorRamsey Campbell . It held its first convention in 1975.The current British Fantasy Society has no direct connection with the earlier science fiction group using the same name from 1942 to 1946.
Publications
The BFS currently publishes three magazines. "Prism", published four times a year, features news, reviews and columns. "Dark Horizons", published twice a year, features fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and has enjoyed the patronage of many established authors, artists, critics and journalists. "New Horizons", to be issued twice a year from 2008, publishes fiction and articles, but not poetry.
The society continues to produce a remarkable series of publications, including numbered
chapbook s of works byWilliam Hope Hodgson ,Michael Moorcock ,Ramsey Campbell ,Peter Tremayne ,August Derleth , andM. R. James . Magazines previously published include "Winter Chills" (later re-named "Chills"), edited byPeter Coleborn , and "Mystique: Tales Of Wonder", edited byMike Chinn . Both these magazines were independent publications, but linked to the BFS, and in the case of "Mystique", absorbed into "Dark Horizons" after a few issues. Paperback titles include some authored byClive Barker , "Mythmaker for the Millennium" bySuzanne J Barbieri , and "Annabel Says", a modern ghost story bySimon Clark andStephen Laws . In 2007 it published "HP Lovecraft in Britain: a Monograph", written by Stephen Jones and illustrated byLes Edwards .Dark Horizons
Dark Horizons, the journal of the British Fantasy Society, has been published since 1971. Its contents and subject matter have varied, according to the tastes of the editors and the contents of the other magazines being published by the BFS at the same time, but generally include some combination of fantasy, science-fiction and horror-related fiction, articles, poetry and artwork.
Its editors have included:
*Rosemary Pardoe, issues 1-4, 1971-72
*Adrian Cole, issues ?-6, 1973-?
*Adrian Cole and David A Sutton, issues 7-?
*Stephen Jones
*Mike Chinn and John Merritt, issues 19–22, 1979–1981
*David A Sutton, issues 23–29, 1981-?
*David J. Howe
*Peter Coleborn,Mike Chinn and Phil Williams, issue 37, 1998
*Peter Coleborn andMike Chinn , issue 38, 1999
*Debbie Bennett, issues 39–46, 2001-2004
*Marie O'Regan, issue 47, 2005
*Marie O'Regan and Jenny Barber, issues 48-49, 2005-2006
*Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards, issues 50–52, 2006–2008
*Stephen Theaker, issues 53–present, 2008-presentMembers
Another notable member of the British Fantasy Society is the author
Stephen Gallagher .External links
* [http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/ British Fantasy Society]
* [http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/awards.html British Fantasy Society Awards]References
* Peter Roberts, "British Fantasy Society", The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, ed. by John Clute and Peter Nicholls (New York: St Martin's Press, 1995), p. 159
* David A Sutton, “When Dark Horizons Turned Magenta”, Dark Horizons 50 (2007), pp. 4–5
* Debbie Bennett, “21st Century Horizons”, Dark Horizons 50 (2007), p. 72
* Mike Chinn, “From Dinosaurs to Disks: Fifty Issues of Dark Horizons”, Dark Horizons 50 (2007), pp. 88–89, 2007
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