Fantasycon 2012

Fantasycon is amazing. I may have mentioned this once or twice before. If you don’t know about the event, I wax lyrical about how amazing it is here. The best thing is grabbing a drink and a seat and waiting to see all the familiar faces come into the room, when much shrieking and hugging ensues! Writing can be a solitary occupation, but for three days in Brighton it becomes a big rowdy happy family, and I love it. Here’s a round-up of some of the highlights, in pictures:

Meeting Muriel Gray. What an amazing lady! Muriel was an absolutely awesome guest of honour – she had so much enthusiasm, I never saw her without a big grin on her face. I’m lucky enough to be in the anthologies The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women and Carnivale of Horror with her – here we are at a signing.

Another superstar and a lovely, lovely man – here I am at the James Herbert signing. He was kind enough to wish me luck with my work – overwhelming.

At the risk of name-dropping, here’s Mark Gatiss – every bit as charming as you would imagine! This is at his masterclass on writing for TV.

The Ghost Stories signing – chatting with the lovely Nina Allen. Sarah Pinborough and the talented editor, Marie O’Regan, are on the right.

And here’s the Hauntings anthology signing, with Paul Kane and Adrian Tchaikovsky to the right, and myself and Mark West looking like the kids in naughty corner on the left!

The signing hat! Everyone who did a reading added their squiggle.

Some dear friends – seated are Simon Bestwick and Cate Gardner – the loved-up couple of Fcon 2012! – and Simon Kurt Unsworth, with Fergus standing at the back.

The PS Publishing launch – left to right are Ramsey Campbell and editor Peter Crowther, with guest of honour Joe R. Lansdale seated in front.

The amazing Stephen Volk, presenting a British Fantasy Award with Joe R. Lansdale. The only thing scarier than his Ghostwatch was definitely that shirt… 🙂

The Black Static clan! Roy Gray, who introduced me to my publisher, and Black Static events man, had just collected the award for Best Magazine for the second consecutive year. Congratulations!! Here are some of the contributors – left to right, Victoria Leslie, Conrad Williams, me, cover artist Ben Baldwin and Ray Cluley.

And the sun sets on another Fantasycon. The bad news is, there is no Fantasycon next year – the good news is, instead there will be the hugely exciting World Fantasy 2013!

A Cold Silence

A Cold Silence

Acapulcalypse Now

Acapulcalypse Now

The Unquiet House

The Unquiet House

Path of Needles

Path of Needles

A Cold Season

A Cold Season