EVENT: Reading and Signing from Chris Beckett

A long time ago, before this blog kept a (irregular) chronicle of the book club's opinions and activities we read Turing Test by Chris Beckett. A collection of short stories with a great cover which went on to win the Edge Hill Prize for short fiction. We all loved the book and ate up the stories.

This is what one of the judges of the prize said:

‘I suspect Chris Beckett winning the Edge Hill Prize will be seen as a surprise in the world of books. In fact, though, it was also a bit of surprise to the judges, none of whom knew they were science fiction fans beforehand. Yet, once the judging process started, it soon became clear that The Turing Test was the book that we'd all been impressed by, and enjoyed, the most - and one by one we admitted it.

'This was a very strong shortlist, including one Booker Prize winner in Anne Enright, and two authors who've been Booker shortlisted in Ali Smith and Shena Mackay. Even so, it was Beckett who seemed to us to have written the most imaginative and endlessly inventive stories, fizzing with ideas and complete with strong characters and big contemporary themes. We also appreciated the sheer zest of his story-telling and the obvious pleasure he had taken in creating his fiction.'

Now, I'm happy to announce that Chris Beckett will be coming to Liverpool to promote his newest novel, the dystopian Dark Eden. He will be reading from his work and signing copies of the book which has already received rave reviews in The Guardian and Sunday Telegraph amongst others.

Don't miss this opportunity to meet the author being described as a "latter-day Orwell", and of course get your copy of Turing Test signed. We will also be discussing Chris's The Holy Machine in the bookclub, although not until May, so you might want to buy your copy early and get that signed too - as well as a copy of Dark Eden of course...

(Facebook link for event)
FRIDAY 2nd MARCH, 6pm

NEW EVENT: Richard (K.) Morgan signing

It's been a while since I've had a science fiction or fantasy specific event which I've been able to bring to your attention and then two come along at once (more on the second one when the details are ironed out - but its a doozy!).

First off is a signing with award winning Richard Morgan, signing in store on October 19th at 12.30pm:

Remember The Steel Remains? We read it wa-ay back in October 2009 so I don't blame you if you're a bit hazy, indeed many of you weren't even with us so long ago. Anyway, go read it if you haven't already - it's a brilliantly dark, gritty fantasy that sits on the boundary between science fiction and fantasy inspired by stuff like Moorcock's Elric and the Howard Conan stories (not the naff film...).

Richard made a name for himself with hard hitting, excitingly dark science fiction such as the Takeshi Kovacs books (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies) and his Arthur C. Clarke award winning Black Man, before moving over to Fantasy and writing the utterly superb and gritty The Steel Remains in 2008.

His new novel, The Cold Commands continues the adventures begun in The Steel Remains and is a hotly anticipated addition to the genre. If you're a fan of George R. R. Martin's brand of fantasy, or Joe Abercrombie, then you'll absolutely love these books. 

Richard has also written graphic novels, such as Black Widow: Homecoming, and was lead writer for the blockbuster videogame Crysis 2. 

So don't miss this opportunity to meet one of the top names in science fiction and fantasy, come along and get some books signed! 

See also - the official Richard Morgan website

- If you can't make the signing please contact the store and we can arrange for a reservation to be made and your book to be signed in absentia.

Official Facebook event <-- invite your friends!

NEW EVENT: Adam Roberts Evening

Hi all,

Remember when I started out with the book club and I moaned about the lack of genre-events we were getting as a store? Well that seems to be turning around at a good pace and the latest author to enter our store is Adam Roberts. We read his Yellow Blue Tibia back in July and it got largely impressive comments and a very healthy score of 8/10. He's also written the introduction for books like The Inverted World, as well as reviews and academic papers and books on a plethora of other science fiction and fantasy titles and topics.

He's in Liverpool for the academic conference I've organised (full details here if you're interested enough to pay the £30 fee), and was gracious enough to agree to do an event in store the night before. Here are the details:

An Evening With Adam Roberts

Friday 17th June, 6-7.30pm

Waterstone's Liverpool One

Tickets £2, redeemable against any Adam Roberts book bought on the night

Official facebook event (for those who can)

Hope to see plenty of you there!

NEW EVENT: Twisted Tales Hosts China Miéville's Embassytown Book Launch

Yes you read that right. I've arranged for author of The City and The City, which we read, to come into store to do some readings, answer some questions, and sign some books! All in the name of promoting his newest release Embassytown, a science fiction novel.

For full details and more information, I refer you to the Twisted Tales website. I thought you'd want to know....

Embassytown Book Launch

Waterstone’s Liverpool One

6-8pm, Friday May 13th

Tickets £2

Events Reminder

Hi all,

I know, I know - I haven't been as good to this blog as it deserves and there are far too many [coming soon] sections dotted around. But I hope you're all well and looking forward to the next discussion session on Feb 7th.

Before then I have two pieces of event news to pass along which I thought would be relevant.

First off - FRIDAY 28th JANUARY (that's this Friday) is Twisted Tales #3. Horror readings by great published authors. What makes this one notable for you guys though is that the headline act is Conrad Williams, winner of the 2010 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel - and that novel is One, the next book on our reading list. If you want to come along, hear him read a short story, ask some questions about One, or anything else, and get your book(s) signed then by all means come along. Tickets are £2 each but that includes entry to a prize draw to win some pretty brilliant prizes, plus anything you buy on the night you get £2 off (thus making your money back instantly - bargain). The event starts at 6pm.

Hope to see you all there.

The second event is a signing by Joe Abercrombie on WEDNESDAY 2nd FEBRUARY. Joe's fiction is gritty fantasy in a similar vein to The Steel Remains which we read way back in November 2009. A friend of mine who is somewhat of an expert in these things (he's doing his PhD in Fantasy Literature) cites Joe Abercrombie as 'the natural successor to Gemmell... just with a little more grit, moral ambiguity and believable military.' So if that sounds like your cup of tea, or something you might be interested in then you should come along. He'll be signing copies of his new book The Heroes which is the first in a new series so a nice place to start with his fiction. However he'll also be happy to sign anything you bring from his back catalogue too so go crazy and buy the lot! The signing starts at 12.30 and will go on for as long as it can.

Reminder

I don't like to double post about the same thing but if reading Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes for the session on Monday has got you into the mood for chilling tales of darkness and the macabre then you may be glad I reminded you that this Friday we've got the Twisted Tales Event in store.

From 6-8pm there will be readings from Fantasy / Horror authors Tom Fletcher, Nicholas Royle, Conrad Williams, and Ramsey Campbell. The event has already attracted quite a buzz and tickets have sold well (though there are still some available), it's even been mentioned on the British Fantasy Society page, University of Sterling's Gothic Imagination (the biggest website for studies of the Gothic in the world) and Horror magazine Black Static's "Things To Do At Halloween".

If we get as strong a turnout as I'm hoping we will, I plan to commission a series of such readings across the coming year. Not just horror, but science fiction and fantasy as well. I've already got a few authors lined up for the first sequel, and I'll be announcing the details for the first time at the event.

So come along and meet some of the biggest names in British Horror fiction working today. Hear them read their own stories, ask them questions, and get them to sign books.

Twisted Tales
Friday 29th October
6-8pm
Tickets cost £2
For more information, or to reserve tickets, call 0151 709 9820.

Wirral Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction Event

Hi all, just a little shout out for a reading that will be going on as part of the annual Wirral Bookfest. I'll be going and I thought you might like to hear about it too:

Parallel Dimensions returns for its second year to bring together some of the UK's strongest emerging writers of the Fantasy, Horror and Science-Fiction genres.

 

Colin P Davies, Adele Cosgrove-Bray, Carol Falaki and Adrienne Odasso will share new fiction with their audience. Last year's lively Q&A session, which followed the readings, proved very popular.

 

Colin has seen over forty of his short stories published in anthologies and magazines. He is the author of "The Bookmole", a novel whose sequel is due out soon. His illustrations have also appeared in international genre magazines.

 

Adele Cosgrove-Bray's short stories appear in various anthologies published by Hadley Rille Books and Dark Moon Press. Her non-fiction writings have been featured in Prediction Magazine and Your Future. She is currently writing her forth in a series of Dark Fantasy novels set in Wirral and Liverpool.

 

Carol Falaki's first novel, "Birth in Suburbia" draws on her professional experience as a midwife. She has also enjoyed publishing success with her poetry.

 

Almost fifty of Adrienne Odasso's poems have been published in a wide variety of magazines, chapbooks and anthologies. Her six published short stories have also aded to her growing reputation as a talented writer.

 

Tickets are already on sale from all Wirral Libraries. Entry costs just £3 and includes refreshments.

 

Parallel Dimensions takes place on Saturday, October 16th, 2010 at West Kirby Library, Wirral. Doors open at 2pm. Be early to ensure a seat, as last year's event was very well attended.

Sister Book Club Forming: Coffee and Comics

I'm happy to announce that the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club has a baby sister!

I'm founding a new book club to read and discuss comic books / graphic novels / manga (call it what you want) under the name "Coffee and Comics."* We're going to meet at 6pm on the third Monday of every month, meaning that in theory it will smack in the middle between sessions of the Sci-fi/Fantasy Book Club.
The first meeting is on Monday October 18th.

Because I don't know what kind of people will turn up, I've selected two very different books for the first session and we'll discuss which ever one most people have read, hopefully we'll be able to say something about both of them. The books are the brilliant and touching Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and the exciting and infamous Hard Goodbye, the first volume of Sin City by Frank Miller. The aim was to pick two books that had commonalities but which were also very different. I also wanted self contained stories which were relatively inexpensive (as graphic novels go).Read one, both, or neither, then come along and chat.

There will be a few common sense rules, at least at first, the comics will have to reasonably cheap - not £30 hardbacks for example, and be able to stand alone as a single book even if they're a part of a series. Other than that, anything goes and all are welcome to attend.

If you're worried about this taking time away from my work with the Sci-fi/Fantasy Book Club (or even my studies) then worry not because thinking about this very possibility I've enlisted a sidekick for Coffee and Comics to help me run it and take over on occasions when I'm over stretched. It'd be great to see some familiar faces there so if anyone fancies coming along you'd be more than welcome. Same place, same time, different date. No doubt if it takes off there will be a sister blog too.


Hope to see you there!

*Drinking coffee is not required.

EVENT: Twisted Tales - Horror Readings

I could let the flyer talk for itself, but that's not my style.

On Friday 29th October 2010, at 6pm you can come and hear Horror short stories being read by real published Horror authors. Tom Fletcher's first novel The Leaping came out earlier this year and pits young graduates from Manchester against an evil in the Cumbrian Fells. Nicholas Royle's book Antwerp follows a brutal and mysteriously fascinating killer, Nick also runs Nightjar Press, a horror specialist small press. Conrad Williams, you may remember, was in store recently. On Saturday it was announced that he'd won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel 2010 for his novel One, which will be going up as one of my suggestions for this group's future reading by the way. Ramsey Campbell is a Liverpool native and is listed in the Oxford Companion to English Literature as "Britain's most respected living horror writer", amongst his many awards he has 4 World Fantasy Awards and no less than 13 British Fantasy Awards!

The authors will each be reading a work of short fiction, signing and (time permitting) answering any questions. If I can wade through the paperwork we'll also be selling exclusive copies of books that are now out of print or previously unavailable.

Even if you're not a horror fan this is an event worth attending, and the perfect way to mark Halloween 2010!

Twisted Tales

Friday 29^th October at 6pm – 8pm

Ticket’s £2

Waterstone’s Liverpool One

12 College Lane

Liverpool L1 3DL

Tel: 0151 709 9820

E-mail: manager@liverpoolone.waterstones.com

EVENT: Conrad Williams Signing

Hey guys! New event news!

Conrad Williams is an author based in Manchester who will be coming into Waterstone's Liverpool One to do a signing to promote his newest release: Blonde on a Stick. Blonde is his first crime novel and features a substantial section set in our very own Liverpool. If that doesn't appeal to you (and you may be asking what it's doing on this blog) then you may be interested to know that Conrad's previous books are of the Horror genre.

He is a past recipient of the Littlewood Arc Prize, and the International Horror Guild Award. He was awarded the British Fantasy Society (BFS) Award for best newcomer in 1993, and best novella in 2008 for The Scalding Rooms. His last novel One was been nominated for the BFS best novel this year. Conrad Williams is definitely on the up and if you want to get in on the action now and be able to tell your friends in years to come that you'd read Conrad Williams ages ago and even have some signed editions then come along and meet him, buy a book or two and get them signed.

The event is on Friday 20th August, 2pm. If you can't make it down I can always reserve some books for you. Even if Blonde on a Stick isn't your style, I've got plenty of copies of One and some of his other novels all waiting. Come along, you might regret it in the future if you don't.

Besides, the majority of authors who come to our store are non-genre so we should do all we can to encourage Liverpool One as a must-stop location for genre authors increasing our odds of being selected to host big names in the future (unfortunately as it stands Manchester Deansgate is the "must stop" location in the North West and we follow in second place).



Conrad's Blog and His Twitter Page

Event News: Wednesday, 17 March 2010, 12:30PM

I felt I should say that again, it's so rare a pairing of words with regards to the little corner of fiction which I call home: Event News!

Yes folks, that rare thing - a genre book signing is about to happen at Waterstone's Liverpool One.

The author who is gracing our store is Mr. Joe Hill. If that doesn't ring any bells then I'm not massively surprised, he's a young American author just beginning what I'm sure will be an epic journey. At the moment you can pluck such works as short story anthology 20th Century Ghosts and debut novel Heart-shaped Box off the horror shelves, or the superbly gothic Locke and Key, winner of the 2009 Eisner award from the graphic novel section. Other than the Eisner award, other accolades he's collected include Bram Stoker awards for Horror and British Fantasy Awards. He's a New York Times bestselling author, which although it's a phrase we see a lot on dust jackets, is quite a big deal for a genre writer outside of crime fiction.

Obviously he's not just popping in for a chat but to promote his newest release which is a novel called Horns, due out 18th March this year in Hardback.

If none of this has piqued your interest then I advise you to go flick through Locke and Key, have a read of some of the short stories in 20th Century Ghosts ("Voluntary Committal" and the titular "20th Century Ghost" are particularly good). Failing that, if none of the above intrigues you then perhaps the knowledge that this man's full name is Joseph Hillstrom King, yes son of Stephen King.

You can see his wikipedia page here it offers a slightly more detailed rundown of his work than I've managed to provide here. Just over here you can find his official website and blog which I'm sure will be mentioning this same event in the very near future.

So whaddya say? Will I see you there? Tell your friends.

WATERSTONE'S LIVERPOOL ONE
Wednesday, 17 March 2010, 12:30PM

P.S. Whilst I'm on a horror event theme, let me just say that I went to see a play at the Liverpool PLayhouse (under the Radio City Tower) called Ghost Stories and it was superb. If you happen to be able to get a ticket (£10 each) then I urge you to go - it's scary yet satisfying stuff and will be in Liverpool until 20th February.