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For all things fantasy, horror, and speculative fiction
Announcement:
Our Committee
Committee
Chair – Shona Kinsella
Shona Kinsella is the author of epic fantasy, The Vessel of KalaDene series, dark Scottish fantasy Petra MacDonald and the Queen of the Fae and British Fantasy Award shortlisted industrial fantasy The Flame and the Flood as well as the non-fiction Outlander and the Real Jacobites: Scotland’s Fight for Freedom. She was editor of the British Fantasy Society’s fiction publication BFS Horizons for four years and is now Chair of the British Fantasy Society.
Shona is an avid reader with a love for language and is most often to be found with her nose in a book. She has worked in varied industries, from acting to the civil service, and has a degree in law from the University of Strathclyde.
President – Juliet Mushens
Juliet Mushens is the President of the British Fantasy Society where she acts as an ambassador amongst the genre community. In her day job she runs literary agency Mushens Entertainment, where she represents a host of bestselling authors across the genres, ranging from Richard Osman and Jessie Burton to Hannah Kaner, Jen Williams and Taran Matharu.
Treasurer – Stewart Hotston
Stewart Hotston lives in Reading, UK. With a Celtic-Indian mother and a father of North African/Roma descent, Stewart is a second-generation immigrant living in the UK. His writing concerns those whose voices are more than capable but too frequently marginalised and how they build hope, connection and live in the worlds in which they find themselves.
Secretary – David Green
David Green is a NEURODIVERSE writer of the epic and the urban, the fantastical and the mysterious.
With his character-driven dark fantasy series Empire Of Ruin, or urban fantasy noir HELL IN HAVEN, David takes readers on emotional, action-packed thrill rides.
Hailing from the north-west of England, David now lives in County Galway on the west coast of Ireland with his wife and train-obsessed son.
When not writing, David can be found wondering why he chooses to live in places where it constantly rains.
BFS Horizons Editor – Pete Sutton
Pete W Sutton is a writer and editor.
His two short story collections – A Tiding of Magpies and The Museum for Forgetting – were shortlisted for Best Collection in the British Fantasy Awards in 2017 & 2022 respectively. His novel – Seven Deadly Swords – was published by Grimbold Books.
He has edited several short story anthologies and is the editor for the British Fantasy Society Horizons fiction magazine.
(Picture by TomShot Photography)
Promotions & Marketing – Lauren McMenemy
Lauren McMenemy wears many hats: Editor-in-Chief at Trembling With Fear for horrortree.com; PR and marketing for the British Fantasy Society; founder of the Society of Ink Slingers; curator of the Writing the Occult virtual events. With 25+ years as a professional writer across journalism, marketing, and communications, Lauren also works as a coach to writers looking to achieve goals, get accountability, or get support with their marketing efforts. You’ll find her around various events stepping up as a host, interviewer, moderator and general cheerleader. She writes gothic and folk horror stories for her own amusement, and is currently working on a novel set in the world of the Victorian occult. You’ll find Lauren haunting south London, where she lives with her Doctor Who-obsessed husband, the ghost of their aged black house rabbit, and the entity that lives in the walls.
(Photo by Nicolas Laborie)
BFS Journal Editor – Dr Kevan Manwaring
A lifetime lover of Fantasy, wanderer between worlds, and wordsmith, Dr Kevan Manwaring is the MA Creative Writing course leader at Arts University Bournemouth. He is the author of The Windsmith Elegy series (Awen), Desiring Dragons: creativity, imagination, and the writer’s quest (Compass Books), Writing Ecofiction: navigating the challenges of environmental narrative (Palgrave Macmillan), and editor of Heavy Weather: tempestuous tales of stranger climes (British Library), Ballad Tales: traditional British ballads retold (The History Press), and other anthologies. He has contributed articles to The Bottle Imp, English Review, Revenant and Gothic Nature. He was an academic consultant for BBC 4’s The Secret Life of Books, and is a panellist on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking. He is also a member of the Climate Fiction Writers League. He is currently working on a book for Routledge exploring environmental aspects of Fantasy. https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/
Reviews Editor – Sarah Deeming
Sarah has been a reviewer for the BFS for six years and the editor for three of those. Her role requires a huge amount of self-control as all the review books come to her, and she can’t hoard them for herself. She has to send them to the other reviewers. Horror is her favourite genre, and is always on the look out for her next terrifying read.”
Poetry Editor – Ian Hunter
Poetry editor, Ian Hunter, has been a member of the British Fantasy Society since 1988 when he joined as a very small child. He is a children’s author, short story writer, editor and poet, and his work has appeared in places like “New Writing Scotland”, “Unsung Stories”, “Dreich”, “Shoreline of Infinity”, “Occult Detective Monthly”, “Visual Verse”, “Dreams and Nightmares”, “Star*Line”, and many other magazines and anthologies in the UK, USA and Canada. He is also a member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle, and the Horror Writers Association. He has twice been a writer-in residence and was a director of the Scottish writer’s collective, Read Raw, and still looks after Read Raw Press. He reviews for the BFS, Shoreline of Infinity, and the website Concatenation, where his reports about Fantasycon also appear. He is the proud owner of 1000 trees in Korup rain forest in Cameroon, and has adopted a polar bear called Svetlana who writes regularly and says she is looking forward to eating – no – meeting Jessie, Ian’s black labrador.
Short Story Competition Lead Judge – Steven Poore
Steven Poore is a published and award-nominated Epic Fantasist, based in the dark hills of Sheffield. He administers the annual Short Story Competition from a scarlet throne in a magnificent Book Cellar, where even the cat fears to tread.
Webmaster – E.M. Faulds
E.M. Faulds is an Australian who now calls Scotland home.
She has published short stories in Shoreline of Infinity and Strange Horizons magazine, and Under the Moon: Collected Speculative Fiction won the British Fantasy Award 2023 for Best Collection.
Find her websites and social links at https://linktr.ee/bethkesh
Archivist and Stockholder – Karen Fishwick
Karen has a professional background in volunteer management and community projects having worked in this area for over 15 years.
She is currently writing education modules for Mindful Business Services.
She has been running the logistics side of events with HWS for a number of years, including UK Fantasycon and an annual computer games convention.
Karen is the Chair of World Fantasy Convention 2025.
She has volunteered with a number of World Fantasy Conventions and is currently volunteering with WFC 23, Eastercon 23 and Eastercon 24.
She loves to read genre books, does a little proof reading and writes an occasional review.
Karen is a disabled woman who is passionate about access and supporting marginalised voices.
Webhost – John Stabler
Information coming soon.
Social Media Officer
Information coming soon.
Awards Admin – Katherine Fowler
Information coming soon.
Events Team
In-person Events Officer
Information coming soon.
Online Events Officer – PS Livingstone
PS Livingstone writes epic contemporary fantasy with lots of romance. She is a Page Turner Award finalist and the author of Awakening, as well as numerous short stories.
Suiting her reputation as a renowned grammar fiend, Pamela works as a ghostwriter and editor.
Pamela lives in Glasgow with her partner and three cats, and can often be found in her allotment, usually covered in mud.
Events Officer – Becky James
Information coming soon.
Need to speak to any of the committee? Check out our contact us page.