YOU ARE THE HERO and the BFS Awards 2015

You may remember that earlier this year YOU ARE THE HERO made the shortlist for the British Fantasy Awards in the Best Non-Fiction category.

So, dutifully, yesterday I strapped on my sword belt, filled my backpack with rations, and set off for Firetop Mountain... I mean the East Midlands Conference Centre, and the British Fantasy Society Awards.

To cut a long story short, YOU ARE THE HERO didn't win. Letters to Arkham: The Letters of Ramsey Campbell and August Derleth, 1961–1971, ed. S.T. Joshi (PS Publishing) did. But at least we were nominated* and even got a cheer when we were read out on the shortlist. And no one can take the UK Games Expo Award from us ;-)

I prepared a speech, just in case the book did win**, and even though it didn't, it still seems appropriate to post it here, now.


Fighting Fantasy is why I'm here, and I don't just mean today. I expect some of you are also here, in part, because of Fighting Fantasy.

Fighting Fantasy was what set me on the path to becoming an author, which has ultimately brought me here today.

There are lots of people I have to thank... Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone for creating Fighting Fantasy in the first place, Marc Gascoigne for giving me my big break, Snowbooks for publishing YOU ARE THE HERO, everyone who agreed to be interviewed for the book (some of whom are here today), but most of all, everyone who backed the original Kickstarter. I couldn't have done it without you!


* And I don't think a Fighting Fantasy-related book had been nominated for a BFS Award before.

** Because if you fail to plan you plan to fail.