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 Jim P. Ballard
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:
Jim Ballard (he/him)
Which region are you based in?
Worcester, West Midlands
If you write, which genre:
Sci-fi for flash fiction; fantasy for long form
If you don’t write, what do you do?
I also cycle, travel widely (65 countries so far), and am an amateur actor and public speaker.
Are you drawn to any specific SFFH sub-genres?
I read a wide variety of subgenres as I search for interesting ideas and unique personalities with distinct voices. However, I was surprised to find how dark and gritty my own writing is.
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?
My mother read me the Hobbit when I was 9 or 10 years old, then my parents opened a shop selling roleplaying games and my fate was sealed.
How does that early influence show up for you (in life / writing / agenting / publishing / editing / reading) now?
With over forty years of roleplaying as people other than myself, I’m adept at conjuring a wide variety of characters with distinctive personalities. When I write them, I experience the world through their eyes, literally ‘becoming’ them for a moment in time.
I’ve also often been the Games Master for several different groups of friends. That has taught me to create stories by crafting scenes that will interest the other players. It is a joy to challenge, surprise and delight them. But those scenes must be part of a greater narrative to allow the characters to grow and ensure the players eagerly return week after week, year after year. In roleplaying games it is called a campaign, in literature we’d call it a novel, or even a series. The medium is very different, but the world building, plot development and character realisation are quite similar, at least in my work.
Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?
When I inhabit my characters the story writes itself.
Who do you look to as a genre hero? Why?
It’s hard to forget your first, so it’s got to be JRR. I also respect the professional risk he (and CS Lewis) took as an Oxford academic in writing such stories, which were seen as childish at the time.
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.
Blend together Smeagol and Boromir in the body of a female half-orc blacksmith: kindness and violence, duty and temptation, Valkora is a true nobledark hero.
What are you working on right now?
Rage Reforged, a gritty nobledark epic fantasy novel about Valkora’s first adventure in a world where magic is powered by souls, yours or another’s, willing or not. It explores issues of forging your own identity, violence, and taking responsibility for your actions and place in the world.
Thinking about all the stories/work you’ve done, what sticks out most in your mind? Why?
Enjoying the writing itself. Crafting the marketing copy is tricky, but creating and telling the story has always been a joy.
Where and when do you create/are you at your most creative?
My body goes out on long cycles down peaceful lanes in the Worcestershire countryside. Meanwhile, my mind relaxes allowing my imagination to freely experience the tale, moving from character to character and revealing what they would do and say.
(Pictured: the books where it all began for Jim.)
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
I’ve listened to a lot of advice, a lot: several books, over 600 YouTube videos and ten beta-readers and editors. I’ve taken it all on board and am doing my best to put it into practice regarding the prose, the marketing and the publishing process. But to be honest I’ve never heard an issue with creativity, so maybe that’s where I can help others.
What’s your writing soundtrack?
Silence. I’m a one thing at a time person, any sound distracts me from the scene in my head.
The Quick Fire Round
Sci-fi, fantasy or horror?
Fantasy (& Sci-fi)
Quiet or loud?
Silence to create, loud to perform
Dark or light?
Dark
Strict lines or genre blend?
Blend
Awards or bestseller?
Bestseller, I want to share my stories
Fiction or non-fiction?
Fiction
Poetry or prose?
Prose
Plotter or pantser?
Plot the scene entry and objective, but let the characters pants how it occurs
Reading or listening?
Listening
Notebook or computer?
Computer
Favourite SFFH book of all time?
Ready Player One
Last book you read?
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Any SFFH author on auto-buy?
Nope, I like variety
Favourite podcast?
More or Less (Turning fantasy into reality)
The Home Stretch
What’s the best thing about being part of the SFFH community?
The kindness and helpfulness of the whole community has been amazing. But a special thanks to Jon Cronshaw who has been guiding me as part of the BFS Mentorship Programme.
Time to plug your stuff! Where can we find you and your work? What have you got coming up? Consider this your advertising space.
Rage Reforged
Every town wants a smith, but none want a berserker.
Valkora Lostwolf is both: a skilled blacksmith plagued by a lethal rage she cannot control. Half‑orc, half‑human, and desperate to belong, she is forever the outsider.
When an ambush on a heavily guarded caravan goes catastrophically wrong, Valkora escapes with the prize that every faction is willing to kill for: the solid, sentient Essence of the long‑dead tyrant Atramenta Vox.
In a world where magic is fuelled by the soul’s Essence—yours or another’s, willing or not—war is brewing, and a simple smith now carries the soul of a nation.
Can Valkora resist Atramenta’s honeyed whispers and claim the peace she craves, or will she be forged into the monster the world already believes her to be?
Reader Advisory: This novel is a gritty, character‑driven dark fantasy containing visceral violence, major character deaths, and morally ambiguous choices. True heroism is always forged in sacrifice and paid for in blood.
Cover image by Alejandro Colucci.
Coming 16 September 2026, from Ravenswood Press. Download the free prequel ‘First Strike’ at jimpballard.com.