One of the delights of the Bristol Comics Expo was discovering that our friend Simon Gurr had a new comics project he was launching. What is more, it has a BristolCon connection. Some of you will already be aware of The Scarifyers, a series of audio plays in which Professor Dunning and Inspector Lionheart investigate uncanny goings on in 1930s Britain. The stories have been on Radio 4 Extra, and are available from publisher, Cosmic Hobo. Well, writer Simon Barnard was looking for someone to illustrate a Scarifyers comic, and last year he happened upon the art show at BristolCon. Seeing Mr. Gurr’s samples from his Brunel Story comic, Mr. Barnard knew that he had found his man. Issue #1 of the comic is now available. We wish both Simons all the best with their new venture.

Two of our good friends will be appearing on Bristol Community Radio on Monday. 2012 guest of Honour, Gareth L. Powell, and award-winning science writer, Jon Turney, will be guests on the Love and Science show due to air at 5:00pm on May 14th. As is usual with BCFM, the show will be podcast in the week following it going on air. For more details about the show, and how to listen, click here.

Update: See comment from Gareth below. We’ll remind you closer to the 28th.

The Bristol Comic Expo takes place this weekend. As well as the dealers’ area in the Passenger Shed at Temple Meads, there will be panel discussions and the like in the Ramada. There’s a full list of the events here. Friends of BristolCon who will feature on panels include Paul Cornell, Mark Buckingham, Mike Carey, Tim Maughan, Jennie Gyllblad and Cheryl Morgan.

Our friends at Toppings in Bath have excelled themselves for June with two exciting events.

First up, all the way from California, Kim Stanley Robinson will be talking about and signing his new book, 2312. This one is already being talked about as a likely Hugo nominee next year. The event is on Friday 8th and booking details are here.

In addition, on Monday 25th, top British comic fantasy author, Ben Aaronovitch will be presenting his latest Peter Grant novel, Whispers Under Ground. If you loved Rivers of London and Moon over Soho this event is for you. Booking details are here.

Both events are being run in conjunction with the mighty SFX Magazine.

Our friend Harriet Castor will be hosting a Tudor evening at Toppings in Bath on Friday (11th) to promote her book, VIII. Further details and booking instructions can be found here.

The Festival of ideas has three Angela Carter events at the Watershed this month. They are as follows:

Angela Carter on Film (1) Watershed, Bristol, 12 May 2012, 13.00-17.20 Price: £12.00 / £10.00 Screenings of The Holy Family Album, a controversial television documentary written and narrated by Carter that treats representations of Christ in Western art as if they are photographs in God’s photo album; the BAFTA Award-winning film Angela Carter’s Curious Room; and the 1987 film based on Carter’s novel The Magic Toyshop. Speakers at the event will include John Ellis, Kim Evans and Charlotte Crofts. Further details here.

Angela Carter on Film (2) Watershed, Bristol, 14 May 2012, 20.00-22.00 Price: £8.00 / £6.50 A screening of the film of Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves. Introduction and Q&A by producer Stephen Woolley. Further details here.

Angela Carter Evening Watershed, Bristol, 18 May 2012, 18.00-19.00 lecture; 19.30-21.00 panel discussion Price: £10.00 / £8.00 A two-part event comprising a specially commissioned lecture, The Angela Carter I Knew, by Sir Christopher Frayling followed by a panel discussion of Carter’s life and legacy when Frayling is joined by Bidisha, Charlotte Crofts and Susannah Clapp. Further details here.

Starting Saturday the Arnolfini will be showing an exhibition titled: Superpower: Africa in Science Fiction. Entry is free, and it will run until July 1st. It is mainly a film exhibit. As well as the very obvious Neill Blomkamp (District 9, South Africa) the exhibition includes material from Mali, Angola, Senegal and Kenya.

There will be a discussion event about the exhibition on Saturday at 2:00pm.

Well the Festival of Ideas has an event for you. On May 29th Stephen Cave will talk about his new book, Immortality, at Foyles between 18.00 and 19.00. The event is free, but you do need to book in advance. See here for details.

For those of you not based in Bristol, the event is part of Julian Baggini’s excellent microphilsophy podcast series. You’ll be able to download the podcast a few days after the event.

Sam Lemberg has kindly sent us a few thoughts on the film he made from Colin Harvey’s story, “Chameleon”.

I’m an avid science fiction reader and a filmmaker always looking for good material. When I finished reading “Chameleon” I knew it was dynamite. I literally emailed the publisher within minutes. He put me in touch with Colin’s widow, Kate, who was extremely generous in giving me the rights to the story.

The story works so well because the scenario is so ridiculously easy to relate to — a husband and wife reuniting. Sci-fi is most entertaining when it makes us believe that the world it creates is real. You don’t accomplish that by simply showing the audience a photorealistic alien invasion, you accomplish it by giving them characters who react to an alien invasion the same as we would. It was that authenticity of the characters, especially their dialogue, that made me want to do the film. Hopefully I did Colin’s work justice.

Here are a couple of photos of the film in production.

Our good friend Emma Newman will be signing her book, 20 Years Later, in Waterstones in the Galleries this Saturday (14th) between 11:00am and 3:00pm. Some of us will be there. Hopefully some of you will be too.