As you may have noticed, we have added a page to the web site listing all of the events at which BristolCon members can be found through the year. Well we have just added another one. On May 8th the fabulous writers collective, The Write Fantastic, will be celebrating its 5th birthday with a one-day event in Oxford. We are expecting to see all of the Write Fantastic members there, and Juliet E. McKenna tells us that they are also expecting Stephen Deas, Ben Jeapes, Geoff Ryman, Mike Shevdon and Ian Watson. There are plenty of trains from Bristol to Oxford each day (though you may have to change at Didcot or Reading) so if you are local to us you should be able to get to this one.

We are delighted to welcome yet another talented person to the BristolCon line-up. Terry Cooper is an illustrator, author and budding screen writer. Learn more about him on his web site.

We have another author planning to attend BristolCon. You may have seen stories by Stephanie Burgis in Strange Horizons, Black Static, and Future Bristol. However, by the time BristolCon ‘10 comes around she will be an internationally famous author of fantasy novels for most improper young ladies. Find out more on her web site.

We are delighted to announce that author Kim Lakin-Smith is once again planning to attend BristolCon. By November Kim will have two new novellas out from Newcon Press. Also her short story, “Johnny and Emmie-Lou Get Married”, has been shortlisted for a BSFA Award this year. Congratulations, Kim, and good luck!

Paul Cornell tells us that he will be signing at Forbidden Planet in London on Thursday evening. More details on his blog.

We are delighted to announce that local Bristol artist, Simon Gurr, will once again be exhibiting at BristolCon this year.

Our thanks to Paul Cornell and Eugene Byrne for mentioning us on their blogs.

Our thanks to Joe Abercrombie for blogging about us, and to Paul Cornell for tweeting about us.

Paul also points us at the first press release for his medical drama, Pulse. The BBC says:

St Timothy’s is one of the UK’s top teaching hospitals, home to some of the country’s most promising trainee doctors. But beneath its veneer of medical normality lies a secret network of dangerous experiments pushing back the boundaries of science with potentially horrifying consequences

Eeek!

There’s more about the pilot episode, which will be shown on BBC3, here.

Finally we are happy to announce that our good friend Eugene Byrne will once again be attending BristolCon this year.

As you may have noticed, our web site has transformed to give details of BristolCon ‘10. As per our previous announcement, we will be at the Ramada Hotel on November 6th. We have set our membership rates (though we still have a little bureaucracy-wrangling to do before we can take money online). We have some very fine Andy Bigwood artwork (click on the image for a large version). And we have some Guests of Honour.

Paul Cornell was kind enough to attend BristolCon last year, and this time we have brought him back as a Guest of Honour. He will be joined by one of the UK’s finest young fantasy writers, Joe Abercrombie.

In addition to our Guests of Honour we also expect to welcome two good friends of the convention: Colin Harvey and Juliet E. McKenna. And of course there will be the usual, talented BristolCon crew. Our well-known attendees will all be listed on this page.

For further information keep watching this web site, follow us on Twitter, or join the event on Facebook.

BristolCon ‘10 – “It’s bigger on the inside!”

We are delighted to announce that there will be a BristolCon in 2010. Right now all we have is a date and a location. It will be on November 6th, 2010 and it will take place at the Ramada, a hotel that will be familiar to attendees of the Bristol ComicCon. The new hotel is on the route from Temple Meads to the Mercure so it is even easier to get to, and most of you probably walked past in on your way to this year’s convention.

We are planning to run full day rather than just an afternoon. Details of guests and membership rates will follow soon.