New WEIRD newsletter now out

Urban Fantasist is now publishing an occasional newsletter for readers of the Urban Fantasist and Grievous Angel webzines. The first one – WEIRD#1 – was published at the end of last week and, in case you missed it (see sign-up details below), here are its main points...

* Grievous Angel is launching a new Page-to-Podcast science fiction/urban fantasy flash fiction competition with cash prizes + publication + the winning entry will also be recorded and be included in an upcoming episode of the new Urban Fantasist Weird Tales internet radio & podcast show. There will be NO charge for entering this competition. Full details to follow in the next issue of WEIRD.

* And talking of the Urban Fantasist Weird Tales Show, this new fortnightly podcast (it launched in September 2017), is hosted by Charles Christian, has a radio magazine format and each episode covers a variety of topics from the realms of urban myths, folklore, legends, ghosts, geeks, magick, and the just plain weird. The podcasts are free to download and we are already working on some major enhancements in 2018. We are also always looking for suitable people to interview, including authors of SFF&H books. So don't be shy, please get in touch via urbanfantasist@icloud.com. You can find links to all the episodes to-date here https://www.urbanfantasist.com/digital-radio-show

* Elsewhere, the Urban Fantasist webzine is continuing to attract ever growing numbers of readers as it continues on its mission to inform and entertain you with news and comment on weird tales, geek stuff, tech, urban myths, and folklore. We are now averaging over 3750 page views daily and 110,000 page views a month plus over 5000 unique visitors each week. Visit https://www.urbanfantasist.com

* Urban Fantasist also hosts the Grievous Angel science fiction and fantasy, poetry and flash fiction webzine. Changes in 2018 include: we have increased the maximum wordcount for flash to 750 words (we continue to pay a "pro" rate of 6 cents a word) + we have introduced a new Drabble-length category of 90-to-125 words for which we will pay $10 + a new micro fiction category of 300-to-350 words for $20. We continue to accept poetry, scifaiku and haiga at the usual rate. If this were not enough, we have also increased our budget for contributors in 2018 so we can publish more of your work. AND we do not charge any submission or readership fees - no pay-to-play here thank you. Visit https://www.urbanfantasist.com/grievous-angel

In other news...

* Urban Fantasist editor Charles Christian is a member of the judging panel for the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award 2018 for Best Science Fiction Novel. He also served on the judging panel last year.

* The Sci-Fi-London 48 Hour Flash Fiction Challenge will be back later this year. Full details to follow in the next issue of WEIRD.

* Charles Christian's creative writing guide Writing Genre Fiction: Creating Imaginary Worlds - The 12 Rules has just completed its 178th consecutive week in Amazon's writing reference books Top 20 best sellers list. Visit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MELTC84 & https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MELTC84

WEIRD will be back in about 8 weeks time on 2nd March 2018 - to be added to the mailing list just email urbanfantasist@icloud.com and include WEIRD Subscription in the header