BristolCon

Bristolcon Fringe: June 2014 - Q&A

Finally our readers are subjected to the usual interrogation. There are quite a few matters arising.

When Pete mentions that Jo writes Grimdark he is, of course, referring to our own Joanne Hall, not that Abercrombie fellow who doesn't have nearly the same body count.

David makes mention of something called BRP. That's Chaosium's Basic Role Playing system, which formed the core of all of the rule sets they produced back in the day.

If you'd like to know more about David's work with the Cthulhu mythos, he has a guest post about it on Pete's blog.

The deadly Call of Cthulhu scenario that David refers to is "Roots" by Simon Brake which appears in the collection, Things We Leave Behind from Stygian Fox.

And finally, Wikipedia has little to say about alternative versions of the magpie song, other than to confirm Pete's assertion that the version he is using is older than the one used by the TV programme.

Bristolcon Fringe: June 2014 - Pete Sutton

Our second June reader, Pete Sutton, works for a French company and once wrote a play — but asks that you don’t hold that against him. He sits in his not so secret lair in the wilds of Fishponds, Bristol and dreams up stories, many of which are about magpies. He’s had some stuff published, although he’s convinced that was by mistake, and currently has a pile of words that one day may possibly be a novel, or at least an approximation of one. You can find him all over social media, sometimes even as himself. He can be found on Twitter as @suttope and his Bristol Book Blog is here & he’s one of the editors of Far Horizons e-magazine which can be found here.

BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For details of future events, see our website.

Bristolcon Fringe: June 2014 - David J. Rodger

Our first reader for June was David J. Rodger. David is a Bristol based author of science fiction dark fantasy with eight novels under his belt. Themes include thrillers, horror and action adventure. He is also the creator of Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur, an RPG that blends Cthulhu Mythos and Cyberpunk themes into a post-apocalyptic setting. His books cross many boundaries to deliver a new and exciting fusion of ideas and genres. Each book is stand-alone and can be read in any order, but occupy a shared universe allowing you to build a deeper knowledge with every story. He has written for SFX and had short stories published in the UK, US and Canada.

BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For details of future events, see our website.

Bristolcon Fringe: May 2014 - Q&A

Finally we have our traditional Q&A session with the readers. Cheryl reveals her obsession with superhero fiction, and Cavan tells us a little more about the Omega League and the fate of the Cabot Circus shopping centre. There is, as usual, discussion of the writing process. And Jonathan L. Howard tells us a little more about the world of his Goon Squad stories.

BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For details of future events, see our website.

Bristolcon Fringe: May 2014 - Cavan Scott

Our second reader for May was Sunday Times Bestselling Author Cavan Scott. He has written numerous books, audio dramas and comics based on popular cult series as Doctor Who, Blake ‘s 7, Highlander and The Tomorrow People.

He specialises in writing licenced fiction for children, and recently has been writing a line of horror stories for teenage reluctant readers. He’s edited magazines in many different markets from Countryfile to Disney Girl, and writes Roger the Dodger, Bananaman and Minnie the Minx for the Beano.

BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For details of future events, see our website.

Bristolcon Fringe: May 2014 - Justin Newland

Our first reader for May was Justin Newland.

Justin lives in Somerset with his girlfriend and writes historical, fantasy and speculative fiction with a supernatural bent. Excerpts of his work have entertained listeners at various events in the Bristol area. He published a short story in an anthology entitled Hidden Bristol and appeared as a panellist at last year’s Bristol Con.

Justin has been a member of writers’ groups in Bath and Bristol. He is currently, he is writing the first novel of his magnum opus, a pre-apocalyptic trilogy entitled The Genes of Isis.

Regular podcast listeners will know Justin as “the man who asks questions”. This month we get to turn the tables.

BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For details of future events, see our website.

Fringe in a Flash - Q&A

Our final podcast from the April BristolCon Fringe event featured a discussion with all of the writers who kindly read their flash fiction for us. As seems to be the fashion, it turned into a discussion about writing: in particular how and why one would write flash as opposed to any other length of fiction.

BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For details of future events, see our website.

Fringe in a Flash - Part 2

This is the second half of the April BristolCon Fringe event, which was devoted to flash fiction.

Louise Gethin read us a story about the secret lives of garden gnomes.

Cheryl Morgan took us to the very end of the universe.

Justin Newland explained why people end up in hell.

And Pete Sutton made us feel very nervous about little brothers.

BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For details of future events, see our website.

Fringe in a Flash - Part 1

This is the first half of the April BristolCon Fringe event, which was devoted to flash fiction.

Pauline Masurel entertained us with a couple of cosmologically-themed stored, including one involving Professor Brian Cox doing something he has never done before.

Jonathan Pinnock has a very disturbing tale involving collecting an unusual order from a butcher.

Jonathan L. Howard read a story from his GOON SQUAD series of stories about Mancunian superheroes.

And finally Kevlin Henney treated us to the true story of Little Red Riding Hood.

BristolCon Fringe is a monthly reading series produced by the BristolCon Foundation. For details of future events, see our website.

Airship Ball - Artifice Perdu

This recording is a dramatisation of Peter Sutton's story, "Artifice Perdu", from Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion. The cast is as follows:

• The narrator: Peter Sutton
  
• Mr. John Loughborough Pearson: Duncan
  
• Mr. George Merryweather: Scott Lewis
  
• A sailor: Claire Hutt
  
• A rude labourer: Ken Shinn
  

The dramatisation is by Peter Sutton & Roz Clarke.

The presentation took place at the Airship Ball held in Bristol to celebrate the launch of Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion.