Winners of the British Fantasy Awards 2013

So what better way to kick off than to announce the winners of the British Fantasy Awards 2013, as announced on Sunday, 3 November 2013, at the awards banquet at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton:

Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award): Some Kind of Fairy Tale, Graham Joyce (Gollancz)

Best Horror Novel (the August Derleth Award): Last Days, Adam Nevill (Macmillan)

Best Novella: The Nine Deaths of Dr Valentine, John Llewellyn Probert (Spectral Press)

Best Short Story: Shark! Shark!, Ray Cluley (Black Static #29) (TTA Press)

Best Collection: Remember Why You Fear Me, Robert Shearman (ChiZine Publications)

Best Anthology: Magic: an Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane, Jonathan Oliver (ed.) (Solaris)

Best Small Press (the PS Publishing Independent Press Award): ChiZine Publications (Brett Alexander Savory and Sandra Kasturi)

Best Non-Fiction: Pornokitsch, Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin (eds)

Best Magazine/Periodical: Interzone, Andy Cox (ed.) (TTA Press)

Best Artist: Sean Phillips

Best Comic/Graphic Novel: Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image Comics)

Best Screenplay: The Cabin in the Woods, Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard

Best Newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Award): Helen Marshall, for Hair Side, Flesh Side (ChiZine Publications)

Special Award (the Karl Edward Wagner Award): Iain Banks / Iain M. Banks

Welcome to Knifesedge Indie Horror Blog

Welcome!

As I seem to get so much news from the Indie Horror community I thought it was time to share some of it, to introduce people to some outstanding books that they might be missing.

This is not a review site, there are plenty of those. The reviews I edit will continue to appear on http://www.britishfantasysociety.co.uk/ but this is purely my own venture to do something different, focussing just on news from the Indie Horror market, mostly in the UK.

So, if you're a fan, then please add the blog to your feed. If you're an author or publisher, feel free to send any and all information about your current and forthcoming horror releases to bfsreviews@gmail.com. This does NOT replace the BFS news service so to be featured on that site, please continue to send your news to news@britishfantasysociety.org 

Neverwinter - Masquerade of Liars Event

Neverwinter have released a very interesting event for the Halloween season. Running from 10th October to 4th November it consists mostly of collecting tokens to convert to cosmetic gear with a Skeleton Warrior companion up for grabs for the most dedicated of grinders.

What impressed me most about the event though, is the makeover they've given to the main city hub.

Introducing Pinestro of Landroval

Recently I read on Lotroplayers that there will be a Hobbit Warden 21 spear salute in honour of Pineleaf, a veteran player on several Lotro servers, including my own, Windfola.

Pineleaf, if you're not aware, has written a number of excellent skirmish guides for CSTM which you should definately check out. As part of the start of this years Fellowship Walk, a charity event on the roleplay server, Landroval, there will be a gathering of hobbit wardens to line up and salute in her honour.

So I rolled another toon...

Pinestro of Landroval, a distant cousin of Jestro, has taken up spear and shield and become a warden to join the festivities! My original intention was to get to minimum level required to get through the intro but it's been so long since I played in the Shire, I got hooked in. I decided I would take my time, do all the quests and deeds in the zone before moving on, I even had my eye on the Undying title, a deed for surviving to level 20 without dying.

 I went AFK at level 16 in Bindpole Wood and you can guess the rest.

Not put off though, I intend to continue levelling him. It's refreshing to be on an RP server and as much as I love my kinnies on Windfola, it's nice to be able to play from scratch without the backup a ton of crafting alts affords.

Ode to Skyrim

Oh Skyrim, how I love thee, and how you frustrate the hell out of me.

I have now been playing Skyrim on the PS3 for over a year. Access to the PS is limited compared to PC games, so it's slow going, but sometimes I get so frustrated with a quest, I don't touch it for months at a time, despite it being an amazingly beautiful game.

To me, Skyrim is an MMO without having to deal with other players. Questing, crafting, levelling all standard fayre for an MMO player but allowing you to not only go at your own pace but not being forced to group to complete content. On the downside, get stuck and you're on your own (unless you can be bothered to confer with the million and one walkthroughs online)

My character, a kind of warrior mage (gotta love those self heals in the middle of a combat) has just hit 25 and I finally got through the maddening part of the main storyline quests, to find the Elder Scroll. I am so satisfied now I've completed that quest, I am keen to throw myself back into the game as much as I can. 

LOTRO - Running content with the Kin

Over the last few weeks we have, as a kinship (Defenders of the Right, that is) set aside Friday evenings/nights as 85 group night. We rarely get more than three show up, which is fine but now we are getting more to 85 the interest in increasing.

Tonight I was reminded of why I love the group aspect of Lotro which I have missed for so long. We started as three hunters (Jestro, Canas and Swiftflight) which was awesome in itself, failing Ford of Bruinen then triumphantly burning through Danneglor. Then we were joined by our resident minstrel, Celestirrh so I hopped to my (albeit rusty) Tank, Saxlang.

As there is no 4 man content we ran a six man skirmish, Thievery and mischief, and managed to clear everything only to fail at the final boss's ( three of them)

Despite our failure, we had done incredibly well, and bonded further as a unit (Swift is a new 85 so this was her first adventure with us) and it makes me look forward to more fun runs hopefully with a few more kinnies along for the ride!

Inifinite Crisis Beta is a blast (and now I can talk about it!)

The NDA has now been lifted so I can now reveal that I've been a part of the Beta testing for Turbine's new MOBA, Infinite Crisis.

Set in the DC Multiverse, it takes characters from every corner of DC and pits them together in teams to PVP it out. 

Now I'm not a huge fan of MOBA's having played DOTA 2 and still am not sure I understand this one but the IP is enough to keep me interested, even though every battle I join I feel like the weakest link.

My clear favourite champion, just based on looks as I still haven't a clue how to play him well, is Gaslight Batman.

Founder Packs have just gone on sale the Basic Pack ($19.99) also gives you three Champions (Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern), a buddy key for a friend, and $10 worth of Crisis Coins (the in-game currency).

The Standard Pack ($49.99) gives you all of that, plus three more Champions (The Flash, Gaslight Batman, Poison Ivy), a second buddy key for a friend, an exclusive costume for Gaslight Batman, and $35 worth of Crisis Coins.

The Elite Pack ($99.99) gives you all of the above, plus guaranteed early access to the next map (Gotham Divided), four buddy keys for friends (enough to form a full team of five), an additional six Champions (Gaslight Catwoman, Gaslight Joker, Cyborg, Nightmare Batman, Shazam, Zatanna), an exclusive costume for Batman, and $80 worth of Crisis Coins.

For more info: http://www.infinitecrisis.com/en/news/announcing-founders-pack