CHIC FESTIVALS are pleased to announce the full line-up for SFW X PART 1 in Sheffield!

It may be cold, bleak, wet or windy, but this is a momentous year for all SFW Warriors with 2 special weekends to make the 10th Anniversary something extra special, so grab a drink and free your mind into this “bumper adventure” for March.

GUESTS PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED:

JOINING OUR ALREADY CONFIRMED GUESTS … we are delighted to announce the follow author guests:

GEORGE MANN is a Sunday Times bestselling novelist and scriptwriter.

He’s the author of the Newbury & Hobbes Victorian mystery series, as well as four novels about a 1920s vigilante known as The Ghost. He’s also written bestselling Doctor Who novels, new adventures for Sherlock Holmes and the supernatural crime series, Wychwood.

His comic writing includes extensive work on Doctor Who, Dark Souls, Warhammer 40,000 and a creator-owned series based on Newbury & Hobbes, as well Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for younger readers.

He’s written audio scripts for Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Sherlock Holmes, Warhammer 40,000 and more.

As Editor he’s assembled four anthologies of original Sherlock Holmes fiction, as well as multiple volumes of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction and The Solaris Book of New Fantasy.

His website is at www.george-mann.com

THANA NIVEAU (Saturday Only) is the author of the short story collections Octoberland, Unquiet Waters, and From Hell to Eternity, as well as the novel House of Frozen Screams. Her work has been reprinted in Best New Horror and Best British Horror. She has twice been nominated for the British Fantasy award – for her debut collection From Hell to Eternity and her story “Death Walks En Pointe”.

She shares her life with fellow horror scribe John Llewellyn Probert, in a crumbling gothic tower filled with arcane books and curiosities. And toy dinosaurs.

JOHN LLEWELLYN PROBERT (Saturday Only) is the British Fantasy Award-winning author of the Dr Valentine series, the omnibus edition of which (The Compleat Valentine) has just been published by Black Shuck Books. He won the Dracula Society’s Children of the Night Award for his first book, The Faculty of Terror, in 2006.

Since then he has published fifteen volumes of horror fiction, including six short story collections. His latest novels are The Lovecraft Squad: All Hallows Horror (Pegasus Books) and The Last Temptation of Dr Valentine (Black Shuck Books). His non-fiction publications include a book on his favourite film, Theatre of Blood (Electric Dreamhouse) and he regularly writes about new movie releases at his online review site, House of Mortal Cinema. He lives in a gothic mansion in deepest Somerset with his wife, the author Thana Niveau. He doesn’t sleep much because there’s just too much scary fun to be had.

MICHAEL ROWLEY is a professional Fiction Editor and Consultant based in the North West of England with a unique blend of experience in publishing and the retail book trade.

While Editorial Director of Del Rey at Penguin Random House UK he commissioned and published many exciting writers including Andy Weir, author of the Sunday Times bestselling The Martian, the award-winning Kameron Hurley, Mark Hodder, E. J. Swift, epic fantasy writer Django Wexler and more.

Michael now works as Consultant Commissioning Editor at Rebellion Publishing across the Solaris and Abaddon Books Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror imprints.

Before running Del Rey, he worked for Waterstones booksellers for 15 years, first as a Bookseller, then as a Head Office Fiction Buyer. He held various positions from Fiction Core Range Buyer, where he managed the whole fiction backlist for the company, to Science Fiction, Manga and Graphic Novels Buyer and Genre Fiction Campaign Buyer. In particular, he specialised in genre fiction across SF & Fantasy, Crime Fiction, Thrillers, Romance, Westerns, Graphic Novels and Manga.

Other attending authors on programme are: ROBERT HARKESS, FI ANGWIN, LAUREN FLEMING and PETER SUTTON.

AUTHOR CENTRAL will be holding a host of signings for all attending authors run by TELOS PUBLISHING with SAM STONE and DAVID J HOWE.

AS WELL AS THESE AMAZING GUESTS … There will also be a huge range of day and evening entertainment provided by the fabulous AREA 51.

CABARET

THE DARK ROOM
I mean – how could we not?! Everyone should know this by now. You walk into a dark room, you get abused, you love it, no one gets out…

…but if they do they get £10K! John Robertson presents a true tour-de-force of perfectly crafted adult geekery.

POP UP PUPPET CINEMA
Ever popular, SFW wouldn’t be the same without em. Showing a mix of your fav nerdy movies but in puppet form – this time including Flash Gordon of course, I wonder whether Sam will join in?

MMORPG

D&D Live but so much more. Can we do better then a flying ceramic cock(rel) raining bananas…. seriously that’s what happened last year. A mighty fine show from the creators of Knightmare Live.

IMAGINARIUM
Cabaret night from AREA 51… what strangeness comes your way this time? All will be revealed on Friday night – home of the Professor and your gateway to entertainment for a truly wild weekend!

BANDS

DR AND THE MEDICS
Dr and the Medics were created almost at the dawn of the 80’s, in 1982 by The Rev Dr. Clive Thomas Jackson.

The band has had a very colourful and successful career as both recording artists and performers. Undoubtedly they are been best known for their massive 1986 No 1 “Spirit in the Sky,” which sold over 24 Million copies world wide and was number 1 in 23 countries!! They are also recognized as a great live act, NME once referring to them as “THE live band of the year.”

JOLLYBOAT
DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND! Jollyboat is a British musical comedy double act. They are known for their Pirate Pop Songs and Keyboard Love Song. In 2011, Jollyboat won the Musical Comedy Awards, and perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year – All Aboard!!

BLUES HARVEST
Blues Harvest have built up a cult following through their diverse song choices from the world of movies, TV and a few guilty pleasures along the way. With set highlights including music from Star Wars, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Guardians of the Galaxy and many more, Blues Harvest is the perfect cantina band to celebrate the sci-fi, comics and fantasy genres. “Magnificent!” – Mark Hamill

FLESH TETRIS
Pop music for unpopular people. Retro SciFi Eurotrash armed to the teeth with barbed pop hooks and weaponised synths. So uncool they’re cool.. we are sooo looking forwards to this!

PROFESSOR ELEMENTAL
An extraordinarily talented Hip-Hop artist, hailing from Brighton, our very own Professor will be joining us for our 10th birthday for a nice cup of brown joy… and maybe something stronger!

HATS OFF GENTLEMEN IT’S ADEQUATE!
Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate have been developing a cult reputation. Their music deliciously mixes progressive rock, classic rock, acoustic, blues, metal, folk, funk, minimalism, and electronica, and explores scientific and philosophical themes.

OTHER MUSIC

LEVEL UP LEROY

Grab a drink, get to the dance floor and experience why level up Leroy is THE best Nerd DJ on the planet – no question! (like you didn’t know that already)

EXPERIMENTAL SONIC MACHINES
Need some chill time? Grab a drink and enjoy some home-made music. No…really, everything used on stage is completely fully homemade. Bonkers and truly brilliant

PANAOKE
You know him well as the Pan Man. Did you also know that not only does he DJ… he now does Karaoke too? Well you do now!

AND…

RETRO GAMING MUSEUM
A huge selection ranging from the 1970s to the late 1990s – with iconic systems such as the Sega Dreamcast, SNES, N64, Atari 2600 – not to mention our cherished C64’s and Spectrum. Revisit your childhood – or introduce your kids to birth of gaming.

ALSO

SFW wouldn’t be SFW without a little extra glitz and glam from AREA 51, and Cosplay will be back of course with a few special guests and our famously extravagant Cosplay competition (is yours ready yet?!)

The event is Sold Out, it’s looking to be an incredible Part 1. Get planning, we can’t wait to share Cycle X with you this March! Any questions or hotel add ons for extra nights, ring Charlotte on 0207 193 1865