Horror Reanimated… the home of Bloody Books

Joseph D’Lacey wins British Fantasy Society Best Newcomer Award and while we’re at it, let’s get metaphysical…

September 25th, 2009

FantasyCon 2009 was one of the best weekends of my life.

I rubbed shoulders with many creators and purveyors of fantastic fiction and art. Some of them have appeared on Horror Reanimated already, others I hope to see here soon. Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror are arteries in the body of the world’s imagination and you can be assured these arteries are healthy and well supplied, pulsing with magical blood.

Among the heroes of the world’s imagination whose hands I shook, and in no particular order, were the following:

Graham Joyce, Simon Bestwick, Conrad Williams, Marc Gascoigne, Lee Harris, Carole Johnstone, Gary McMahon, Tim Lebbon, Mark Morris, Ramsey Campbell, Sarah Pinborough, Mark Deniz, Guy Adams, Chaz Brenchley, Adam Nevill, Allyson Bird, Andrew Hook, Peter Crowther, Mathew F. Riley, John Lenahan, Lee Thompson, Rio Youers, Andy Remic, Raymond Russell, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Andy Barker, David Flint, Geoff Nelder, Raven Dane, Vincent Chong, Peter May, Alex Davis and several others I can’t remember on account of being variously over-stimulated.

I was nervous about attending the convention even though I wasn’t taking part in any panels or readings. I shouldn’t have been. The warmth of the atmosphere and the obvious camaraderie that goes back generations was a welcome embrace. Like an orphan reunited with its family, I relished every second of it.

There were so many stories about young or inexperienced authors (now renowned) receiving invaluable help and support from those who have gone before them. Similar expressions of gratitude came from established authors who still need the encouragement of their peers to stay on course. It’s so easy to go around thinking about yourself, worrying about your own work and career or the lack thereof. But at Fantasycon, you meet publishers whose sole passion and mission is to bring small voices like your own to the fore, even though it means they will never be wealthy. You meet authors who will write until they die – published or not – because there’s a fire inside them which cannot be extinguished.

All this both humbled and inspired me. The most humbling thing of all, however, was the beautiful shock of winning The Sydney J Bounds Best Newcomer Award. When you consider that my BFS membership had lapsed and that, having had a superb curry instead of attending the deadly banquet, I was half intending to nip to the cinema to see District 9, it’s a wonder I was even there to accept it! But friends in the know steered me to the double doors of the banqueting hall and there we stood, watching the awards ceremony from afar, sometimes barely able to hear the nominations. I remember little of what happened after I heard my own name announced, merely the heart thumping overload as I walked to the stage and made a few stumbling remarks of gratitude. You can see the moment for yourself right here.

And here’s Tim Lebbon winning the award for Best Novella (The Reach of Children)

Not to mention Allyson Bird scooping the award for Best Collection (Bull Running for Girls)

And William Heaney/Graham Joyce accepting the award for Best Novel (Memoirs of a Master Forger)

Whether I’d won an award or not wouldn’t have changed the impact FantasyCon had on me. I discovered something far greater than myself (no mean feat when your ego’s the size of Jupiter), something worth giving to not just for my own sake but for that of others. In our rush to be discovered, get deals, be on the shelf – something writers enjoy – to get bigger deals and to advance, it’s easy to forget what writing is for.

Writing is for magic. Writing is magic. I can’t pretend to understand how or why but I know that much about it.

Whether we’re just starting out, languishing in a slump or at the top of our game writing will always be our attempt to reach out to something greater than ourselves. And there are few pleasures in this world as lasting or as true as knowing you’ve grasped a tiny thread of the beyond and brought it back for others to touch.

This suits me because, in essence, I function on a mystical level. When writing, I am certain of nothing from one day to the next. What was true yesterday may no longer be true today. Mostly, I take my cues from the mythic voice of nature. No path, artistic or otherwise, leads anywhere worth visiting save that path which appears from direct contact with the mystical, with the unknown and the unseen.  Writing is a way of stretching into the abyss. Somehow, The British Fantasy Society works in exactly the same way.

I hope therefore, having found my spiritual kin within the ranks of the BFS, that I will be able to give something back to the society, something that will bring value and richness to its many members.

Or perhaps I can just buy everyone a drink. Like this one…

Joseph D'Lacey celebrating with a very nice cocktail

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