Alex Davis, the organiser of Derby’s annual Alt.Fiction event, has recently announced two additions to the Alt.Fiction calendar:

Alt-Fiction Writing Weekend

Alex tells us: “Alt.Fiction is proud to present its first writing weekend, set in the stunning hills of the Peak District. Join guest authors Conrad Williams and Kim Lakin-Smith for a weekend of writing workshops, discussions and free writing time- the ideal retreat for anyone interested in horror and dark fantasy.

“Weekend rates (including two nights stay, all meals and soft drinks) at £150. For further information, or to book your place, contact Alex on 07768 635293 or at alexdavisevents@hotmail.co.uk”

Sounds like an ideal opportunity for all the aspiring sf / fantasy / horror writers out there to hone your skills and learn your craft. And judging by the volume of enquiries we receive in the Orbit inbox every month, we know there are a fair few of you around.

Alt-Fiction 2009

Alex has also confirmed the date, and a venue-change, for the fourth main Alt.Fiction event:

“The fourth Alt:Fiction will move from being a one-day event to being a weekend-long festival on Friday 24th to Sunday 26th April. The extension will allow programme development and will offer the opportunity for the festival to offer greater content and value for money.

“The festival will also change venue, from Derby’s Assembly Rooms to QUAD, the city’s new centre for art and film, to allow organisers to develop an added element of quality genre cinema to the festival offer.”

More information on the line-up and programming will be released in due course, but if the last three events were anything to go by, then it should be a lively, interesting and author-packed event indeed.

In the meantime, check out our coverage of Orbit authors Philip Palmer, Brian Ruckley, Charles Stross and Mike Carey reading from their latest works at this year’s Alt.Fiction event, for a flavour of what the weekend will be all about.

Jennifer Says:

The Wolfblade Trilogy is about power, about love and about politics and how hard it is to separate the three. But it is also a prequel to the Demon Child Trilogy that I did not originally plan to write. So when I set to work creating the Wolfblade Trilogy (Wolfblade, Warrior and Warlord) it nearly made my head explode, writing a story that seamlessly fit the other series.

Because I had to create so many new characters who didn’t appear in the Demon Child Trilogy, but whose absence in the other series needed to be explained, for almost a year and a half on the whiteboard in my office was a list entitled “These People Must Die” with the names of all the characters I had to get rid of by the end of Warlord to explain why they never turned up in the Demon Child Trilogy.

On the upside, when my air-conditioner broke down, and the repairman came to fix it, he saw the “These People Must Die” list – a number of which had been crossed out by then – on the whiteboard and assured me nervously: ‘Don’t worry, ma’am. I’ll fix it real good. I’m not going to end up on your list.’

I hope you enjoy the Wolfblade Trilogy. And as you read it, if you’ve already read the Demon Child Trilogy, see if you can spot who was on the list other than the air-conditioning guy…

The first two instalments in Jennifer Fallon‘s Wolfblade Trilogy, Wolfblade and Warrior are out now from Orbit UK. The conclusion to the series, Warlord will be published in September 2008.

Find out more about Jennifer Fallon and her writing over at her official website, www.jenniferfallon.com and keep up with all the latest news on her regularly-updated blog.

Calling all Facebook users: we’re running another ‘Sign up as a Fan’ competition through August, this time offering a chance to win one of a dozen signed paperback copies of Philip Palmer‘s wonderfully brain-mashing debut space opera Debatable Space [UK / US], which is officially out today in the UK and will be published in the US on September 1st (click here to read an extract).

The rules of the competition are simple: there will be four draws, taking place at lunchtime-ish (UK time) on Friday 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th August, with three copies of the book to be won in each draw. You’ll be entered for the draw if you’re a fully signed-up and confirmed Fan of Philip Palmer’s Debatable Space Page on Facebook at the time the draw takes place.

So there’s an obvious early-mover advantage to be had here: sign up as a Fan before tomorrow lunchtime’s draw and you’ll be entered in all four (which is also the case if you’re already a Fan, of course!)

Full rules, regs etc. (not that there’s really much more to add) can be found here.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for a chance to win!