BFS Online - Special Guest Interview with Dean Koontz
Jan
21
7:00 PM19:00

BFS Online - Special Guest Interview with Dean Koontz

The British Fantasy Society brings you a special guest interview with multiple best-selling author Dean Koontz. Interview conducted by BFS Chair Shona Kinsella, Wednesday 21st June 2026, 7pm (GMT).

Book your ticket here: BFS Online: Special Guest Interview, Dean Koontz – The British Fantasy Society

“Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler.” — The Times

Dean Koontz (he/him): The author of over 120 novels, Dean Koontz is published in 38 countries and has sold an incredible 500 million copies to date. His masterful suspense thrillers which blend science fiction, horror, crime and comedy have earned him worldwide acclaim – and 14 hardback #1 NYT bestsellers – and have inspired countless younger novelists.

Dean won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition when he was a senior in college and has been writing ever since. Fourteen of his novels have risen to number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow Street), making him one of only a dozen writers ever to have achieved that milestone. Sixteen of his books have risen to the number one position in paperback. His books have also been major bestsellers in countries as diverse as Japan and Sweden. Many of his books have been made into films.

Dean lives in Southern California with Gerda and their golden retriever, Elsa. Dean and Gerda share a deep love of dogs. The New York Times has called his writing “psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying.”

Dean’s latest book, The Friend of the Family, releases on 20th January 2026. 

A girl liberated from a carnival sideshow discoverd her mysterious purpose in a moving fable about family, sacrifice, and transcendent love by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.

The human ‘oddities’ in the Museum of the Strange are less wondrous than the gawking rubes had been promised. But Alida is something else. The real thing. Travelling Depression-era America from carnival midways to speakeasies, Alida is resigned to an exploited and lonely life on the road as the museum’s golden ticket. Until she’s rescued by two compassionate strangers. Franklin and Loretta Fairchild see in Alida a gifted and uncannily well-read girl in need of a loving touch and a family. With the openhearted couple and their three precociously imaginative children, Alida finds exactly that. Yet despite everyone’s overwhelming generosity and acceptance, Alida knows she is still a very different kind of girl. Her dreams bear that out. They’re vivid, unsettling, and threatening. Alida fears that they’re also warnings. And that it’s the Fairchilds who may need rescue from a bad, bad world. Alida will do anything to help those she now holds nearest and dearest. Empowered with a purpose to vanquish evil, she will not fail her family.

Find out more about Dean on his website. Or follow him on Instagram or Twitter. Pre-order your copy of The Friend of the Family here.

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Presenting Sauuti Terrors at Waterstones Argyle Street
Feb
3
7:00 PM19:00

Presenting Sauuti Terrors at Waterstones Argyle Street

Waterstones and the British Fantasy Society are delighted to present Sauúti Terrors Short Stories! We are joined by co-editors Eugen Bacon, Stephen Embleton and Cheryl S. Ntumy in a discussion chaired by BFS Chair Shona Kinsella.

Sauúti Terrors Short Stories brings together a powerful and haunting collection of short stories from the groundbreaking Sauútiverse. Sauúti Terrors tells of the doomed, the damned, the shunned, the cunning, the destroyers, the noxious, and more, in the worlds of the living, the in-between and the dead, written by African and African diaspora writers. The editors will be discussing the process of working on a collection in a shared world, the process of selecting stories and authors to include, and the joys of bringing this shared world into a new genre, before signing copies of the book.

Book your tickets here: Presenting Sauúti Terrors with the BFS | Events at Waterstones Bookshops

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Fantasycon 2026
Oct
9
to Oct 11

Fantasycon 2026

This year, I will be running Fantasycon on behalf of the BFS. We’re running in the Crowne Plaza, Glasgow from 9th-11th October

Fantasycon is the annual convention of the British Fantasy Society. Join us for three days of panels, readings, interviews, workshops and talks, as well as the British Fantasy Awards ceremony. Attendees include authors, editors, agents, readers, reviewers, artists, podcasters and gamers. If you love Fantasy, Sci-Fi or Horror, then this is the place for you.

Find out more and book your tickets here: Fantasycon 2026 – The British Fantasy Society

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BFS Online - The Creative Fix: Social Justice Through Writing
Jan
10
10:00 AM10:00

BFS Online - The Creative Fix: Social Justice Through Writing

As part of the next BFS Online event day, I’ll be interviewing renowned author Philip Reeve at 12:15pm on January 10th. Tickets get you access to the full day’s events so do check out the schedule below and book your ticket here: BFS Online: The Creative Fix: Social Justice Through Writing – The British Fantasy Society

What kind of power to words truly have? The answer is nuanced and complex; in short, a lot. Writing can be powerful, even if its broader effects aren’t apparent yet. The right words and a dedicated group of people can change the world – it’s the only thing that ever has. Join the BFS for a day of events focused on writing and social justice.

Introduction & Welcome (10am–10:10am)

Panel 1 (10:10am–11:10am): Mirror Worlds. Fiction has always held up a mirror to reality, but how do you build a secondary world that accurately reflects what you want it to? When you create a new world, you decide what’s normal. Join moderator Lorraine Wilson and panellists Alexandra Beaumont, Georgia Cook, and Ian Green as they discuss how their beliefs and experiences craft the mirror worlds they write. Find out more about our panel here.

Readings (11:15am–11:45am): Carl Bayley (11:15am–11:30am), Anna Tizard (11:30am–11:45am)

Break (11:45am–12:10pm)

Author Interview (12:15pm–1:15pm): BFS Chair Shona Kinsella and international bestselling author Philip Reeve chat about writing, illustrating and musical comedy. Find out more about our chair and interviewee here.

Readings (1:20pm–1:35pm): Stephen Frame

Lunch (1:35pm–2:10pm)

Reading (2:15pm–2:30pm): Ayida Shonibar

Panel 2 (2:30pm–3:30pm): Solarpunk & the Counter-Narrative. Solarpunk is the space where the speculative meets real-world activism from a hopeful perspective, and its utopian tones imagine a better world. But how do you imagine a fairer society when our seems so prejudiced? Are the solutions to our global challenges in the pages of our books? Join moderator Yen Ooi and panellists Renan Bernardo, BrightFlame, Wren James, and Francesco Verso as they discuss the creative and optimistic world of solarpunk. Find out more about our panellists here.

Reading (3:35pm–3:50pm): Yvonne Battle-Felton

Break (3:50pm–4pm)

Panel 3 (4pm–5pm): Writing as Activism. Examining social justice isn’t new for many writers, but what impact does this have? How can SFFH support activist ideals? What is needed for writers to motivate communities and highlight the intersectionality between people across the world? Join moderator Justin Lee Anderson and panellists Joseph Elliott-Coleman, Malka Older, and Stephen Oram for a discussion on writing as activism. Find out more about our panellists here.

Reading (5:05pm–5:20pm): Somto Ihezue

Find more information on our fabulous readers and where to buy their books by clicking here.

Open mic (5:20pm6pm): A chance to chat with the BFS community or discuss your favourite parts of the day. Or, if you’re feeling brave, share your WIP and do a mini reading. Please ask your host if you need a breakout room.

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Nov
25
7:00 PM19:00

In Conversation with Rafael Torrubia

Join Shona Kinsella & Rafael Torrubia on Tuesday 25th November at 7pm as they chat to Ann Landmann about their haunting, fantastical tales deeply rooted in Scottish folklore, Daughters of Nicnevin and The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver.

Daughters of Nicnevin by Shona Kinsella:

Mairead and Constance, two powerful witches, meet in the early days of the 1745 Jacobite uprising. While the men of the village are away fighting, the villagers face threats from both the Black Watch and raiders, and the women are confronted with their vulnerability. They enlist the help of Nicnevin, fae queen of witches, to bring men made of earth to life to help protect their village. But just who do they need protection from? And what will happen when the village men return?

The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver by Rafael Torrubia:

No one remembers the calamity that killed the gods and stole the names of their people. Now Shipwright and Shroudweaver are known only by their professions.
She's a master of magical shipbuilding. He's a maker of the gilded gods that fuel their sails, stitched from the souls of dead sailors.
When a chance to save their world calls the veterans back to shore, they decide they'll stop at nothing to vanquish the ultimate evil, embarking on a deadly race against time to beat the grief-wracked sorceress known as Crowkisser to the notorious mountain kingdom in the legend-infested north before she unleashes the ancient power entombed at its heart - the one waiting to finish what it started.

Book your tickets here: An Evening with Shona Kinsella & Rafael Torrubia | Events at Waterstones Bookshops

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In Conversation with Sam K Horton - Waterstones Argyle Street
Nov
20
7:00 PM19:00

In Conversation with Sam K Horton - Waterstones Argyle Street

Join Shona Kinsella and Sam K. Horton in conversation as they launch their new books, both powerful stories of history and the supernatural.

Ragwort continues the story begun in Gorse, a tense historical folk-horror tinged tale of the fey, while Daughters of Nicnevin sees a very different kind of fae stalking its pages. Sam and Shona will be discussing the different ways they use history in their books, the inspirations for their different interpretations of the Fair Folk, and more, in conversation with Meg MacDonald, before signing copies of their books.

Click the link below to book your ticket, with or without a copy of the books.

Sam K. Horton and Shona Kinsella In Conversation | Events at Waterstones Bookshops

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Book Party at BFS Online: Something Monstrous
Oct
4
10:00 AM10:00

Book Party at BFS Online: Something Monstrous

Daughters of Nicnevin will be having its very first book party during the BFS Online event, Something Monstrous. I’ll be interviewed by the lovely David Green about Jacobites, witches, and community coming together to face external threats.

Tickets are free for members of the BFS and £5 for everyone else, and get you access to the full day of events, from panels to interviews to readings. These events are always a whole lot of fun and there’s so much going on.

Check out the full schedule and book your ticket here

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