FantasyCon 2011 goes to the seaside at the historic Victorian seaside city of Brighton – filled with restaurants, wine bars and clubs, as well as Antiquarian shopping precinct The Lanes, the Sea Life Centre and the world-famous Royal Pavilion, all within easy walking distance. Attending membership is currently £45 (£40 to British Fantasy Society members), but will rise periodically in the run up to the Convention.
The first Guest of Honour to be announced for FantasyCon 2011 is fantasy author Gwyneth Jones. Jones, writer and critic of science fiction and fantasy, is the author of many novels for teenagers, mostly horror and thrillers, using the name Ann Halam, and several highly regarded sf novels for adults. Her critical essays and reviews are collected in Deconstructing The Starships, 1999 and Imagination/Space 2009. Among other honours, several of her novels have been nominated for the Arthur C Clarke award, the latest being Spirit, 2009.
Swedish horror author John Ajvide Lindqvist is the convention’s second Guest of Honour. Best known for the hugely successful Let The Right One In (filmed in Sweden and now the U.S.), Lindqvist’s latest novel, Harbour, is out now.
And the Mistress of Ceremonies will be Sarah Pinborough, author of six horror novels. Her first thriller, A Matter of Blood, was released by Gollancz in March 2010, and is the first of The Dog-Faced Gods trilogy which has now been optioned for a television series. Her first YA novel, The Double-Edged Sword, was released under the name Sarah Silverwood from Gollancz in September 2010 and is the first of The Nowhere Chronicles. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies including Hellbound Hearts (ed Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan), Zombie Apocalypse (ed. Stephen Jones) and The Mammoth book of Best New Horror 2009 (ed. Stephen Jones).
Sarah was the 2009 winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story, and has three times been short-listed for Best Novel. She has also been short-listed for a World Fantasy Award. Her novella, The Language of Dying (PS Publishing) was short-listed for the Shirley Jackson Award and is currently short-listed for a British Fantasy Award.
