Join Sarah Maria Griffin, Alexandra Christo & Lesley Glaister, chaired by Eris Young, as they discuss the mythical creatures and figures in their fantasy. Sarah-Maria Griffin is the author of Spare and Found Parts, as well as Other Words for Smoke. Alexandra Christo is the author of the dark Little Mermaid retelling To Kill a Kingdom and the upcoming Into the Crooked Palace. Lesley Glaister is the author of several books, most recently the Chimera trilogy, which begins with Aphra’s Child.

Find out more about: Sarah Maria Griffin, Alexandra Christo and Lesley Glaister!

Unfortunately Sarah Maria Griffin is no longer able to attend this year’s festival. The event will go ahead with Alexandra Christo and Lesley Glaister. If you would like a refund for your ticket, please let us know.

Chaired by Eris Young

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £8/ £6 concession

Venue: Lomond Room

Why did the chicken cross the road? TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!

The city of Aberdeen is being terrorised by giant robot chickens who want to peck out every last sign of human resistance. The streets are empty, the adults have vanished — and those left behind are fighting for survival. Jesse and his friends are desperate to save their families and stop the feathered fiends. They hatch a master plan...but can a gang of kids REALLY defeat an army of angry robot chickens?

Alex McCall grew up in Aberdeen and has degree in Filmmaking and Screenwriting from the University of the West of Scotland. He has been published in several poetry and short story anthologies, and he is the winner of the 2013 Kelpies Prize for his debut novel. Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens is his first children's book.

Find out more about: Alex McCall!

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £5 (no concession)

The ticket for this event includes admission for one child and one guardian.

Venue: Pentland Room

Modern horror is about more than just things that go bump in the night…

Louis Greenberg is an author and editor. His latest novel, Green Valley, is set in a world that has rejected modern surveillance and tracking technology, but follows a small group that still lives within the virtual reality of Green Valley.

Sarah Lotz is a screenwriter and novelist. Her latest novel sees a young man’s brush with death go viral. In The White Road, she explores the lengths we’ll go for five minutes more of fame.

D. A. Watson is a Glasgow-based writer of Horror. In his novel, In the Devil’s Name, a group of local boys find out that the local legend of the haunted cliffs is more than just a ghost story to give the tourists a thrill.

Find out more about: Louis Greenberg, Sarah Lotz and D. A. Watson!

Chaired by Jim McLeod from the #1 Horror Blog, Ginger Nuts of Horror

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £8/ £6 concession

Venue: Upper Hall

Writing doesn’t always have to be about galaxy-spanning, twenty volume space operas and other longer works. Short fiction can contain whole worlds in only a few pages.

Marian Womack is a bilingual author and postgraduate researcher at the Anglia Ruskin Centre for Science Fiction and Fantasy. Her writing is concerned with loss, nostalgia and nature, and these themes are explored in Lost Objects.

Oliver Langmead is an Edinburgh-born and Glasgow-based writer of science fiction. He has held a writer’s residency at the European Astronaut Centre is Cologne and is published by Unsung Stories.

Vicki Jarrett is an Edinburgh-based novelist and short fiction writer. Her first speculative fiction book will be published this summer by Unsung Stories.

Find out more about: Marian Womack, Oliver Langmead and Vicki Jarrett!

Running Time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £8/ £6 concession

Venue: Bar

Philip Caveney's first novel was published in 1977. Since then, he has published many novels for adults and several series for children that have sold all over the world. In addition to the Sebastian Darke series and the Alec Devlin Mysteries, he has written the Crow Boy trilogy for Fledgling Press. Philip also writes as Danny Weston and won the Scottish Book Trust Teen Award 2016 for his book, The Piper. In his most recent book The Slithers, a young boy discovers an ancient evil that lives underground…

*Please note that Dawn Finch unfortunately has had to cancel her appearance at #Cymera19. The event is going ahead with Philip Caveney. Please contact us if you’d like to request a refund for your ticket for this event.

Find out more about: Philip Caveney and Dawn Finch!

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £8/ £6 concession

Venue: Lomond Room

Take a dive into the darker side of fantasy…

Cameron Johnston is a Glasgow-based writer of fantasy and horror. His debut novel, The Traitor God, has been described as a dark and gripping tale set in a believable world that doesn’t shy away from its more brutal aspects. His follow-up, The God of Broken Things, will be released in June 2019.

Anna Stephens describes herself as an author of epic-y, gritty, grimdark-y fantasy. Stephens’ Godblind trilogy (so far consisting of Godblind and Darksoul) is concerned with the human relationships of her characters, who are trapped in a war between humanity and dark, bloodthirsty gods. The conclusion to her trilogy, Bloodchild, will be released later this year.

Find out more about: Cameron Johnston and Anna Stephens!

Chaired by Peter Sutton

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £8/ £6 concession

Venue: Upper Hall