The BBR Directory: June 1998

NEWS

Can you write good clean escapist fun? Do you have a thrilling tale that needs to be told? If so, the PULP FICTIONS CREATIVE COMPETITION wants to see synopses or sample chapters of not more that 5,000 words, or samples of artwork on transparency, no later than 31 January 1999. The lucky winners will receive an exclusive commission and a holiday for two at a recommended pulp destination; second and third place will receive complimentary copies of Pulp Fictions for two years and one year respectively. Send your entries to Pulp Fictions, P.O. Box 144, Polegate, East Sussex BN26 6NW.

BBR #23 contributor PETER FINCH, poet, performer, critic, and author of many columns on books and writing, is to head up The Academi Agency, a new body funded by the Welsh Arts Council to promote Welsh literature. The Academi Agency aims to provide a variety of services for writers and readers, including a Writers on Tour Scheme, developing writers groups, and organising literary festivals. To publicise its activities, the Agency will be establishing a website and publishing a regular information magazine. Authors, publishers and editors are encouraged to keep in touch by sending press releases, review copies and news of planned activity to Peter Finch, The Academi Agency, 3rd Floor, Mount Stuart House, Mount Stewart Square, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff CF1 6DQ.

A new magazine of supernatural ghost and horror stories, ENIGMATIC TALES wants fiction of any length "with believable characters, realistic dialogue and a strong story line". Issue #1 is due in June 1998, price £2:50 (4/£8) – full guidelines and further information are available from Mick Sims, 1 Gibbs Field, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 4EY.

ROADWORKS is a new horror, dark fantasy and slipstream magazine seeking stories up to 3,000 words "that are intelligent as well as scary; that leave an impression with the reader that lingers". Issue #1 is anticipated for July/August 1998, price £2:50 (4/£9:50 or 4/£9 if ordered before the debut issue appears. For contributors' guidelines and further information contact Trevor Denyer, 7 Mountview, Church Lane West, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 3LN (e-mail: tdenyer@aol.com).

Horror novellist BEN LEECH will be running a course on 'Genre Writing: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi' from 26-31 October 1998 at the Indian King Arts Centre in Cornwall. Combining basic creative writing skills with specialised genre techniques, the course will include topics such as defining genres and subgenres; looking at motifs, traditions and stereotypes; the usefulness of overlap areas; and chasing the dragon's tail – the genre market today. There will be a range of activities to stimulate and extend writing skills, plus opportunities to discuss ideas or work-in-progress in small groups or on a one-to-one basis. For details of price and accommodation contact The Indian King Arts Centre, Fore Street, Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9PG (tel: 01840 212111; e-mail: indiking@btinternet.com).

AABYE'S BABY is a brand new poetry ezine showcasing 52 international poets, both new and well-known names. Contributors to the first issue include Shanta Acharya, Ruth Bidgood, Andy Brown, Gregory Gilbert Gumbs, Jean Jorgensen, Pauline Kirk, Thomas Kretz, Khan Singh Kumar, Giovanni Malito, Stephen Oliver, Estill Pollock, K.V. Skene, Florentin Smarandache, Laura Vacenau, Maureen Weldon, and Mason West. Aabye's Baby can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/9091.

Darren Floyd of RAW NERVE magazine is organising NERVOUS?, a one-day convention for anyone interested in the horror small press and horror writing in general. Confirmed guests include Ramsey Cambell, Simon Clark and Pete Crowther, and the convention takes place on Saturday 31 October 1998 at Cardiff University Union. Registration is £10, payable to "RazorBlade Press", from 186 Railway Street, Splott, Cardiff CF2 2NH (e-mail: darren.floyd@virgin.net; http://freespace.virgin.net/ana.k/rawsite.htm).

CHANGES OF ADDRESS

SIERRA HEAVEN and Alex Bardy have moved to 13 Stanley Road, Bulphan, Essex RM14 3RX.

ARGONOTE #1, A4, 4pp, enquire to Argo Press, P.O. Box 4201, Austin, TX 78765-4201, USA (e-mail: mikeargo@flash.net; http://www.eden.com/~carlos/noctet). Promotional newsletter plugging Argo's latest book, Albert J. Manachino's acclaimed collection Noctet: Tales of Madonna-Moloch, plus news of the latest successes of past contributors to Argonaut magazine.

AUREALIS #20/21, A5, 200pp p/b, Aus$13:95 (4/Aus$28; r.o.w. air 4/Aus$43; r.o.w. surface 4/Aus$35) from Chimaera Publications, P.O. Box 2164, Mt Waverley, Victoria 3149, Australia (http://www.aurealis.hl.net). Special 'Vend-a-Nation' double issue exploring the Australian Republic with stories from Simon Brown, Robert Hood, Sean McMullen, Dirk Strasser, Hoa Pham, Geoffrey Maloney, Terry Dowling, Sue Isle, Russell Blackford, and Michael Pryor, and including The Australian SF Writers' News.

MOONGATE DE HOMO SENTIENS Vol.4 #6, A5, 12pp, enquire to Mother Bird Books, 1213 Durango, Silver City, New Mexico 88061, USA. Thoughtful poetry from New Mexico and beyond.

NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION #115 and #116, A4, 24pp, $3:50 each (12/$31; Canada 12/$36; r.o.w. 12/$44) from Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570, USA (http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html). Essays, reviews and topical comment for the SF field from a nine-time Hugo award nominee. In #115, Brian Stableford looks at the past and future of speculative fiction in Europe and America, and Brian Evenson explains what magic realism really means; in #116, Michael Swanwich finds the lost Avram Davidson and Barton Paul Levenson defines the ideology of Robert A. Heinlein.

NOT ONE OF US #19, A5, 52pp, $4:50 (3/$10:50) from John Benson, 12 Curtis Road, Natick, MA 01760, USA. Horror and dark fantasy exploring the concept of 'otherness' from every fictional angle. Issue #19 is a 'Skeleton in the Closets' special, with stories by Stefano Donati, S. Lawrence Parrish, Steve Eller, James Lecky, Kurt Newton, Jeff Hufford, David Price, Dave Eisenstark, and Elisabeth Perrin.

PENNY DREADFUL #4, A5, 32pp, #5, A5, 40pp, and #6, A5, 44pp, enquire to Penny Dreadful, 407 West 50th St #16, Hell's Kitchen, NY 10019, USA. Literary poetry and short fiction in the tradition of Poe, M.R. James, Shelley and LeFanu, by the likes of Scott Thomas, Bobbi Sinha-Morey, Douglas M. Stokes, Karen R. Porter, Steve Gans, Nancy Bennett, and Mark Antony Rossi.

RAW NERVE #6, A4, 44pp, £2:50 (7/£15) from Darren Floyd, 186 Railway Street, Splott, Cardiff CF2 2NH (e-mail: darren.floyd@virgin.net; http://freespace.virgin.net/ana.k/rawsite.htm). More stories of decadent lust, razor blades and extreme hedonism from Paul Chidgey, Jane Fell, Gary Greenwood, Mark Collins, Pamela Stuart, T.G. Iswan, Brian Willis, Andrew Campbell, and Julia Jones, plus an interview with Rob Grant.

SCAVENGER'S NEWSLETTER #171, A5, 28pp, $2:50 (12/$17; Canada 12/$20; r.o.w. air 12/$26; r.o.w. surface 12/$17) from Janet Fox, 519 Ellinwood, Osage City, KS 66523-1329, USA (e-mail: foxscav1@jc.net; http://www.cza.com/scav/index.htm). Monthly newsletter for SF/F/H/mystery writers and artists with an interest in the small press. Market news, letters and reviews from USA, UK and elsewhere, plus an interview with Jeff VanderMeer.

SPACE AND TIME #88, A4, 52pp, $5 (2/$10; outside USA 2/$11) from Space and Time, 138 W. 70th Street (4B), New York, NY 10023-4468, USA (http://www.bway.net/~natalia/space&time.htm). A rich mixture of fiction and poetry covering all aspects of the fantasy genre – science fiction, supernatural horror, swords and sorcery, and the unclassifiable – from Jeffrey Thomas, William Meikle, Lorraine Schein, Barbara Melenky, Betty Nolley, Mario Milosevic and others.

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE AND OTHER STORIES by Edgar Allan Poe, ISBN 1-902058-02-X, 319pp p/b, £4:99 from Pulp Fictions, P.O. Box 144, Polegate, East Sussex BN26 6NW. Eight ripping yarns by the grandfather of horror and detective fiction, including 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 'The Pit and the Pendulum', and 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'.

LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM by Bram Stoker, ISBN 1-902058-01-1, 191pp p/b, £4:99 from Pulp Fictions, P.O. Box 144, Polegate, East Sussex BN26 6NW. Originally published in 1911 and out of print for many years, this camp slice of gothic horror is now republished in an affordable no-frills edition evocative of the original pulps.

GRAVITY'S ANGELS edited by Gary Couzens, Trevor Denyer, Sarah Ellender, Trevor Mendham, and Martin Owton, ISBN 0-9532949-0-0, A5, 100pp p/b, £4:95 from T Party Writers' Group, Flat 2, 123 St Michael's Road, Aldershot, Hampshire GU12 4JW (e-mail: tparty@fnapf.demon.co.uk; http://www.fnapf.demon.co.uk/t-party). From the past to the present day, to the future and the never was, Gravity's Angels is a collection of 14 stories of horror, fantasy, SF and slipstream from authors including Mark Leon Collins, Maria Contos, Gary Couzens, David Gullen, D.F. Lewis, Trevor Mendham, and Martin Owton.