You do NOT have to be a BFS member to be a juror at the British Fantasy Awards. REPEAT: You DO NOT have to be a member! If you've got a love of scifi, fantasy and/or horror in its various forms (books, art and audio, mainly), please do consider nominating yourself.

My weird sci-fi novel, The Owl Men of Shanidar, released one year ago today! Mybook.to/OwlMen

There's got to be something occult about the fact this announcement features the third Dave of the event... But we're super excited to welcome @davebjeffery.bsky.social to the crew, bringing with him a side-helping of occult detective fiction chops as he chats with Dave Brzeski. 🧵⬇️

Starting the week with the best kind of mail - book mail! Galleys are in for Forged in FIYAH edited by @davaun.bsky.social!🤩 A celebration of Black speculative fiction unlike anything seen before, featuring the masterful prose of some of today's most accomplished writers.

Good session at @britishlibrary.bsky.social today. Not quite as long as I’d planned (one day I’ll get there in the morning!!) but a solid 5-6 hours delving into the murky worlds of the Victorian occult. Much narrative swirling in the brain as I head home on a Northern line with severe delays 😩

Ok, I’m sending up the HELP flare: I have one last spot to fill for Writing the Occult: Seekers on 30 May (virtual event) and I am struggling to find someone who can do it. **I need a UFO / UAP expert, please.** Where are they all hiding?! Have they been abducted?

This sounds like a good 'un - adding to the list!

Ok, I’m sending up the HELP flare: I have one last spot to fill for Writing the Occult: Seekers on 30 May (virtual event) and I am struggling to find someone who can do it. **I need a UFO / UAP expert, please.** Where are they all hiding?! Have they been abducted?

Film you’ve watched more than 6 times with a gif Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli (Hey, it was my comfort watch for a looooong time during the quarter-life crisis.)

Who you gonna call? (Sorry, couldn't help it...) It's time to introduce our very own Writing the Occult ghost hunter: author and paranormal enthusiast Rosie O'Carroll will join the seekers on 30 May to tell us the "how" and "why" of going on a ghost investigation 👻 🧵⬇️

What do you get when you put the occult into a traditional detective story? Obviously it's an occult detective, and as co-editor of Occult Detective Magazine, our next guest knows all about 'em. Meet Dave Brzeski ⬇️

As (arguably) dark fiction's most famous author nears his 80th birthday, author and critical theorist Rafe McGregor looks back on the writing and career of Stephen King. britishfantasysociety.org/stephen-king...

A millennia ago, a few of us pulled together a drabble and micro markets spreadsheet. It definitely needs a refresh, and I'm calling on you all for help. Please could you look through and let me know what's changed/open/shut? Pls share widely! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Here comes the sun 😍

Hey, it's @worldanvil.com's own Janet Forbes!

When you're writing a guide to subgenres, you inevitably end up becoming an expert on the weirdest things. Enter: @vallescurarule.bsky.social, who's joining our Writing the Occult search party on 30 May to share what he's learned about Near Death Experiences. Follow the white light and meet Val ⬇️

Happy book birthday to this legend ⬇️🥳

In a world where "AI" submissions are a plague, human-written stories are the cure for an editor's breaking heart. Don't let the flood discourage you from sending your work out there. You are better, no what the hype of the moment says. We want your stories. Not the slop-infested noise.

Yep, this Saturday session is designed to give you the confidence to set up your website, and is split into two handy sessions to cover the techie stuff and what on earth you can put in a site to get the best of it. Click the link in the quoted post to see more!

They might not be FBI agents, but the Winchester brothers are definitely hunters - and @davidgreenwriter.bsky.social joins our party of seekers to talk about how Supernatural handles the search for monsters (and meaning) on multiple levels. 🧵⬇️

Top guide to authenticity/sensitivity reading from Han Noss for the BFS

Watched this and am now in an Interpol YouTube rabbit hole. I am not complaining. youtu.be/R0FcyCpUNnI?...

Thank you! No specific book to promote this week. But if you fancy checking out Tradwife, Saltblood, Hummingbird and the rest - they're all here, at the Nefarious Bat cave payhip.com/NefariousBat... #HorrorWritersChat

One of the best things about the British Fantasy Awards is that the publicly-voted shortlist goes to a panel of peers for final decision-making. But that means we need volunteers to be jurors! Nominate yourself to be a juror for the British Fantasy Awards here: forms.gle/Kv1JTHBeSXaJ... 🧵⬇️

Time to get into some seeker specifics for our 30 May expedition, which means it's time for fan fave @unheimlichmanvr.bsky.social to return with tales from the front. 🧵⬇️

Explains my entire singledom 😂🫣

What's an occult search party without a paranormal researcher? Here's ours, for Writing the Occult: Seekers on 30 May: @malcschofield.bsky.social is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Derby, where he teaches Parapsychology, amongst other things. His research interests span... 🧵⬇️

🚨 New BFS column for the weirdest of the weird music alert!

Coachella is trying to wipe all of the footage of The Strokes protest set so I’m gonna post it here. The last images on the screen made me cry.

More Writing the Occult news? Sure: Next in our party of Seekers assembling virtually on 30 May is @memorieschild.bsky.social, whose research explores how fans create content, built communities, and navigate ethical dilemmas around the media. 🧵⬇️

Ready to see who's joining our party of seekers for the forthcoming edition of Writing the Occult? Here comes our first wave of announcements... writingtheoccult.carrd.co

I've had a running list of "my fun stuff for 2026" getting moved over to the next week's to-do list every damn week this year and haven't even started to think about any of it because burnout is too fucking real and I'm too busy avoiding all responsibilities 😩

Another great reflection here from Mr @davidgreenwriter.bsky.social, who's out here campaigning for real neurodivergent representation in fiction 💪🏻

Do you live in the UK? Are you registered to vote in next month's elections? If not, you'd better get a move on, as tomorrow is the last day you can register. Fortunately, it's easy to do online. www.gov.uk/register-to-... 🗳️

I turned 16 in 1980 so I remember the 80s and 90s clearly. And they were pretty shit (aside from music, the music was good—but the music of your teens is *always* good). Choking air pollution, smoking in public spaces, ambient sexism, homophobia and racism everywhere. And fucking THATCHER.

No Fortean event would be complete without the unexplained and uncanny spontaneous discharge of a Conway Hall fire extinguisher... I was there and know what I saw. #StrangeCentral

I bloody love FROM and you absolutely should be watching it.

Summer can still be the perfect time for folk horror, and this year we'll be marking the season with the fourth running of DARKNESS IN THE FIELDS: MIDSUMMER! www.eventbrite.com/e/darkness-i... #folkhorror #folklore #horror #writing #writers #authors #fiction #books #novels

Whenever at @conwayhall.bsky.social, must give regards to Mr L’s great uncle Hector, whose legacy is all over this place!

I’m thrilled at the thought of the SF novel covers that are going to riff on this. It’s an incredible image that represents an amazing knot of concepts

Super cute tiny cafe near @conwayhall.bsky.social has provided this Aussie with a frickin’ LAMINGTON for lunch today 🤘🇦🇺🦘🐨 (Sorry, @deborahhyde.bsky.social - I got sidetracked by homesickness 😂)

Ok, made it to @conwayhall.bsky.social for the @forteanlondon.bsky.social’s Strange Central: Mysteries, Monsters, Ghosts & UFOs. I love these lecture days - so much intrigue and creative inspiration! Threading the talks here for those interested…

Off into the big smoke for today’s @forteanlondon.bsky.social day of weird goodness and of course I’m running late because I am clinically incapable of getting to central London on time for anything before lunch these days 😩 (Mothman is displeased with me)

IT’S HERE! Nature sprites, magical blooms, holy and unholy trees, wild men of the woods, numinous forests, dying-and-reviving deities. 👉🏼 Pre-orders for The Green Issue are now open worldwide! helleborezine.com/products/the-green-issue

Writers of the dark! @davidgreenwriter.bsky.social is after your recommendations for gothic fantasy. What have you got for him? Bring him the good stuff 🖤

We're almost 6 weeks til go-time, til D-Day, til we head out seeking the TRUTH. So yes, the speaker details are imminent... Keep an eye on here over the coming days to find out who's going to enlighten us at Writing the Occult: Seekers on 30 May. writingtheoccult.carrd.co

Sooooo for the first time I get to say: HEY! I have something eligible for this year's British Fantasy Awards! I'm even shameless enough to put a little video of me reading part of the story at the anthology's launch on the social graphic, which must be worth a vote, surely? 🧵⬇️

Get some Dolly on the stereo and get ready to meet @bronterowan.bsky.social!

In light of recent acquisitions announcements (inc. @gen-dimova.bsky.social and @davegoodman.bsky.social !) we thought now would be a good time to remind you of our Solaris authors starter pack, where you can find all of the wonderful authors who have made it over to the Blue Side all in one place!