We’d love to shine a light on the volunteers who help keep the British Fantasy Society running—and this month, we’re starting at the top. Here’s our President, Juliet Mushens.
Name, including preferred pronouns
Juliet Mushens, she/her
Which region are you based in?
Essex
Your role on the BFS committee is:
President
Juliet will run a BFS workshop on finding an agent on 25 November; get the details and book tickets here, or use the form at the bottom of this page.
Your work with the BFS
Why did you join the BFS committee?
I’d been attending FantasyCon for over ten years when I was approached about standing – I love the genre community and have been embedded in it since I started in publishing so was excited to formalise that!
Tell us more about your role – what do you do?
My role is largely ambassadorial – outreach to authors and publishers and helping to organise and publicise the organisation.
What does this mean in practical terms for members?
Access to more authors and editors and workshops and meet-ups!
Why should others get more involved with the BFS?
We’re volunteer run so the more volunteers we have, the easier it is to deliver a great experience to our members – and the more ideas the better.
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 parents’ house is called Lorien and my childhood guinea-pigs were Merry and Pippin so it’s safe to say that genre was a huge part of my life – each year we would listen to the unabridged full cast recording of Lord of the Rings in full whilst driving to Italy. Allegedly I hated nursery school because the other kids didn’t know what hobbits were!
How does that early influence show up in your work now?
One of my first jobs was editorial assistant at HarperVoyager and now I’m an agent I represent a lot of genre authors, working with many of the imprints and publishers I grew up reading.
The quickfire round
Sci-fi, fantasy or horror?
Fantasy
Quiet or loud?
Loud
Dark or light?
Dark
Strict lines or genre blend?
Genre blend
Awards or bestseller?
Both, ideally!
(Pictured left: some of the bestsellers from the Mushens Entertainment stable)
Fiction or non-fiction?
Fiction
Poetry or prose?
Prose
Reading or listening?
Reading
Favourite SFFH book of all time?
The whole Liveship Traders trilogy is a perennial fave. Kindred by Octavia Butler is one I go back to time and again.
Last book you read?
Matthew Perry’s memoir. (Pictured right)
Any SFFH author on auto-buy?
Naomi Novik
The home stretch
Time to plug your stuff! Where can we find you and your work? What have you got coming up? Consider this your advertising space.
You can visit the Mushens Entertainment website to read our submission guidelines and see if I would be a good fit for your work! Next year sees: new trilogies from bestselling clients of mine Saara El-Arifi, Taran Matharu, and Andrea Stewart; new YA horror from bestseller Laura Purcell; and new novels from Stephen Aryan, Hannah Kaner, LR Lam, and Jen Williams.
Visit us at www.mushens-entertainment.com
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