The shortlisted works across all 13 categories of the British Fantasy Awards have been announced! Find out who’s in the mix over on our blog. Winners announced at Fantasycon in October.
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Announcement:
Meet Alethea Lyons
Every Friday, we meet a member of the BFS and peer deep into their soul (or, at least, a form they filled out). Want to be featured? Email us: online@britishfantasysociety.org
Name, including preferred pronouns:
Alethea Lyons (ze/she), but you can call me Thea
Which region are you based in?
Manchester
If you write, which genre:
Mainly fantasy but with sci-fi, dystopia, and horror elements
If you don’t write, what do you do?
This question isn’t meant for me because I do write, but it still triggered some kind of existential dread. If I don’t write, what do I do?!?!
Are you drawn to any specific SFFH sub-genres?
I particularly love folklore and/or science-fantasy. I’m fascinated by delving into the magic of the past and how that shaped our thoughts today, and what magic and folklore could look like in the future.
Your influences
Tell us about the book/film/thing that got you into SFFH: What was it? How old were you? What impact did it have on you?
There was no single thing. My parents are SFF fans, so I grew up on Star Trek, Narnia, Middle Earth, and fairy folk. They also got me into folk music, but that was when I was older considering the content of a lot of those songs! It meant that SFF was never a niche area, it was a normal part of fiction.
Having a child of my own now, fantasy particularly is a huge part of picture book and early years literature, and it’s like society sometimes wants us to grow out of that. I’m glad I lived in a house where we had lots of genres at all ages.
A few other books that stand out in my memory from infant and junior school age that have definitely influenced my adult writing: The Little White Horse, Northern Lights, The Princess and the Goblin, The Little Princess, and The Black Cauldron. It’s been 30 years, and I don’t know how well they’ve aged, but the whimsy, vibes, and folklore elements have always stayed with me. I sometimes describe my novel The Hiding as ‘Lyra’s Oxford, but make it York because I’m a Northerner.’
I’ll also throw Little Women in there. I don’t write in that style at all, but it was one of the books that gave me permission to write.
How does that early influence show up for you (in life/writing/agenting/publishing/editing/reading) now?
I kind of answered this in the previous, I think? But it felt like it all went together, unless I’ve done it really wrong.
Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?
As I mentioned previously, a lot of folklore and old stories from a time when there was more mystery and more connection with the world. Also from scientific breakthroughs and research, then asking ‘what if’ with a fantasy mindset. I also love to travel and learn new stories about new places.
Sometimes it’s little things that plant the seeds of stories. There’s a story in my novel Reawakening that’s based on a typo, and another is based on the idea that medieval monks were often bad at drawing creatures. I wrote a story once that was inspired by a billboard for lipstick. There are stories in everything if you twist the world a little sideways.
Who do you look to as a genre hero? Why?
I have many favourites, and love authors who are pushing boundaries of culture, faith, and social commentary—so picking one to label a ‘genre hero’ is difficult, especially as I don’t usually do research on an author’s actions outside their books unless they’re a huge Red Flag.
I’m glad this is a written interview not a live spoken one as I had to go away and think for a while. In the end, I’ve decided on Ursula Le Guin because she’s not only an incredible writer and part of the foundations of modern SFF, but also someone who believed in the power of words and actions in society. She was an activist, in and out of her books.
Your Work
You’re stuck in an elevator for 60 seconds with that hero, and they want you to describe your work. Give us the pitch.
[In thoughts]: Oh f***, oh f***, oh f***.
I write fantasy based on folklore and current events. Some parts are the way I wish they were—like my worlds are always queernormative and I always seem to end up with featuring adoption somehow—and other parts highlight things that scare me, like isolationism, privilege, and climate change. I like taking the world of magic, and the stories our ancestors told, and bringing them into the modern day or even the future. Also: witches, snarky demons, music, trauma, and places as characters.
What are you working on right now?
I’m currently writing the fourth and final book in my supernatural dark fantasy series. It’s going fairly well. I know what needs to happen, it’s just persuading my characters to go through the possibly painful middle bit that’s tricky. Book 3 came out in March, so I have this weird overlap where that’s the focus to the outside world, and what I’m mostly talking about, but internally my brain has moved on.
I’m also querying a cyberfae novel, which means occasional bursts of self-doubt and revisions.
Thinking about all the stories/work you’ve done, what sticks out most in your mind? Why?
My mind immediately went blank. And then tried to think of everything I’ve ever written in a big rush. Which I guess means there’s no one thing that sticks out for me. They each have their own meaning.
I guess if I was absolutely forced to pick, the characters that are noisiest in my head are the couple of my shelved techno-romantasy (incidentally, my mum’s favourite book I’ve written), and Fionn, the cat-shifter MMC from the Seer of York books. I seem to favour my most traumatised characters.
Where and when do you create/are you at your most creative?
I’m at my most creative when I have a blank wall, some big sheets of paper, multi-coloured pens, and a lot of post-it notes. That or a pot of tea and nothing else happening that day so I can lose my mind to writing.
Unfortunately, life is a thing. Most of my creating used to happen when my son was asleep or at nursery. Then I’d plonk myself down at my computer and try to get into the zone enough to write something decently atmospheric, while still listening for him or my alarm clock.
I’ve been back at work for almost six months now, and actually I do way more writing on my office days than when I’m working from home or at weekends. If I’m home, I’m Mum. At the office, I’m not looking after anyone else. I get in half an hour early as well as using my lunch break to write. Sometimes I go to the library after work for a bit.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
It doesn’t have to be perfect every time. There will be times when you’re tired, rushed, or just can’t get into the right frame of mind. Sometimes you need to write through it. You can tidy it up later.
What’s your writing soundtrack?
It depends what I’m writing. For the Seer of York it’s things like Loreena McKennit, Lindsey Stirling, Iza Moon, or some general dark fantasy atmospheric music. For the cyberfae novel, Legend of the Bard, it’s mostly 1970s folk rock but also some cyberpunk music mixed in. Most of the time, it’s silence so I don’t wake the small child.
The Quick Fire Round
Sci-fi, fantasy or horror?
Fantasy
Quiet or loud?
Quiet
Dark or light?
Dark
Strict lines or genre blend?
Genre blend
Awards or bestseller?
Bestseller
Fiction or non-fiction?
Fiction
Poetry or prose?
Prose
Plotter or pantser?
Pantser
Reading or listening?
Reading
Notebook or computer?
Computer
Favourite SFFH book of all time?
Too many for a quickfire round.
Last book you read?
The Reflections of Lilje Damselfly by Natalie Kelda.
Any SFFH author on auto-buy?
So many! I refer you to that post on fave books in 2025.
Favourite podcast?
I have a terrible attention span when it comes to listening; I much prefer to read, so I rarely tune into podcasts. My favourite one that I’ve been a guest on was Alternate Stories.
The Home Stretch
What’s the best thing about being part of the SFFH community?
That we all love the same thing. Our journeys are all slightly different, like meandering paths that criss-cross and swirl around each other, but we’re all walking in the same woods. There’s always someone to enthuse at about your latest read, or someone to answer a question about publishing, or read something for you and critique it, etc… Everyone looks out for everyone else.
Time to plug your stuff! Where can we find you and your work? What have you got coming up? Consider this your advertising space.
Readers, if you like creepy supernatural urban fantasy with found family and diversity, please check out the Seer of Yorkbooks. Book 3, The Dreamwalker, came out on 3 March 2026. All links are here, or you can ask your local indie store about any of my books. Here’s the series pitch:
An illegal witch assembles a multi-faith Scooby gang to stop an arcane killer, but the deeper they go, the more it seems like they’re on the wrong side.
If there happens to be an agent or publisher reading this, I’d like to present to you my cyberpunk fantasy (cyberfae) novel, Legend of the Bard. It was due to be published in June 2026, but is back in the query trenches after my publisher closed their SFF section. It focuses on the way technology dependency causes creativity and empathy to atrophy. Here’s the pitch:
A depressed human bard and an outcast elf hacker are all that stand between Virtual-obsessed humanity and a slow death by war and pollution. Their weapons—a song and a cup of tea.
In general, you can find me on Instagram under @AletheaRLyons (and other SM, but I’m most active there), and you can find my website, newsletter, short stories, etc, here. Please do stop by to chat!
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