The British Fantasy Society

The British Fantasy Society exists to promote and enjoy the genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror in all its forms.

The British Weird Fantasy Society began in 1971 as an off-shoot of the British Science Fiction Association. The ‘Weird’ was soon dropped and the BFS was born. Dedicated to the promotion of all that is best in the Fantasy and Horror genres, the BFS is both influential and well respected among genre publishers in the UK and America and have many well known authors as members, not least our president Ramsey Campbell.

We celebrated our 30th anniversary in 2001 and in 2000 won the Special Award: Non-Professional at the World Fantasy Awards.

The BFS has enjoyed the patronage of many established authors, artists, critics and journalists. The BFS' own publications are regularly looked to by editors when selecting material for ‘Best Of’ anthologies and numerous members have gone on to become published authors in their own right.

"This is an invitation to you...
...to join the community of the fantastic. Many years ago, when I was a struggling writer and a vociferous fan, I tried to convince people that we admirers of fantasy needed a society to bring us together for fun and for sharing our ideas, and I don't know of a better such organisation than the British Fantasy Society.

Some of us are for the dark and macabre, some for the heroic and the mythic, but we all agree that the imagination is one of the most precious of the elements that make us human.

Our society includes writers and artists and musicians and folk involved in film, but nobody is more important than the audience.

I hope you will derive as much pleasure and inspiration from contact with our members as I do, and I hope to meet you personally at one of our conventions soon."

• First Prize £50.00 and your winning entry published by the BFS.
• Runner-up prize of £25.00 and publication by the BFS.
• Deadline: 31st August 2008.

If you are a budding writer, having had no more than three pieces of fiction previously published, and are keen on horror, fantasy or science fiction, the BFS Short Story Competition is for you. The rules are straightforward and are outlined below.

The deadline for entries in this year’s BFS Short Story Competition is 31st August 2008. The stories will be read by a panel of judges with expertise in genre writing and editing, and the winner will receive a prize of £50.00, plus their story will be published in the BFS journal, Dark Horizons or New Horizons. The runner-up will receive £25.00 and publication in Dark Horizons or New Horizons. The competition is open to members and non-members of the society, but non-members must pay a £5.00 administrative fee to qualify for entry. The full rules of entry can be found HERE

In which you can recommend and then vote for your favourite books, short fiction, collections, anthologies, artists and small press publications first published in 2007.

Nominations and voting in the BFS awards is open to members only. Details of membership can be found HERE

You can either make your nominations online HERE or download a form and mail in your nominations. The download is available HERE