News from around the office

We’ve got more balls in the air than a juggler on crack right now. Leona Wisoker’s new novel, Guardians of the Desert, is available in independent bookstores everywhere, as well as on Amazon.  B&N seems to have gotten a case of the hiccups while transitioning the book from pre-order to available and the system can’t [...]

Read Full Post »

Artist Aaron Miller on the cover for Leona Wisoker’s next book

We’ve been working with artist Aaron Miller on development of the cover for Guardians of the Desert. It’s so exciting to work with a concept artist who is interested in reading and responding to the tale the writer tells. I think Aaron’s enjoying the process, too; today he posted a bit about the development of the Guardians cover on his blog.

Read Full Post »

Reason #471 Why We Love Ed Morris

As you may have heard earlier, Edward Morris’s stunning “Lotophagi” was selected for inclusion in this year’s edition of The Year’s Best Horror. Contributor copies went out this week–and Ed decided to use one of his to pay it forward: donated a copy to his local library. That’s way cool–but the coolest part is that [...]

Read Full Post »

Angela’s at it again

Further hilarity from Goddess of Slush Angela Still on Celebrities in Disgrace: “GLAMLOVE: Adam Lambert, What Have You Done to Me?”. All this writing she’s been doing is clearly the reason she has turned in her “Intern” badge and is just reading the slush. Yeah, that and the MFA, and the day job… I won’t [...]

Read Full Post »

All hail Angela, Goddess of Slush!

As anybody who has something cooling its heels in our submission process knows, we’ve been behind on reading submissions, both of the unsolicited and requested varieties. I am delighted to report that we now have a partial solution: Intern Angela Still has taken on the daunting task of reading slush and routing it appropriately. You [...]

Read Full Post »

Some days, this doesn’t even seem like work.

Leona Wisoker called this afternoon. No, I’m not really working this weekend, but one of the perqs of small press is having your editor’s home phone number. I recognized her via caller ID, of course, and just answered, “Hey!” All she said was “Heeeeeeeeee!!! Heeeeeee!!!” Her ARC of Secrets of the Sands had just been [...]

Read Full Post »

ARCs: the quest for perfection

Today, after altogether too much time waiting for the boxes to arrive from the printer, I took delivery of several cases of ARCs of Leona Wisoker’s Secrets of the Sands. (ARCs, just in case you have forgotten, are Advance Reading Copies. I’ve heard other interpretations of those letters, but they all boil down to the [...]

Read Full Post »

Ed reports from Lovecraft Film Festival/CthulhuCon

Ed sent out this blast this morning: I’m going to go read my story “Jihad Over Innsmouth” at 1:30 back to back with Laird Barron, then mod the panel on Lovecraft’s Contributions to SF at 5. The Colour Out Of Spaghetti, or rather Dario Argento Out Of Space, or whatever the hell I sat through [...]

Read Full Post »

Gift of the Magus

I mean, look at this: Ed Morris has sent me Art, right through the U.S. Mail. You should have heard me laughing myself silly at the mailbox, but they’re used to me over there. I find it very difficult to contemplate opening this collector’s piece, even though I already know (roughly speaking) what treasure lies inside: a CD of recordings Ed promised to send.

Read Full Post »

Reading our editorial tea leaves

I’m looking for works that, while they ultimately boil down to SF or F, read like the good kind of literary fiction: stuff that feels *grounded* rather than displaying the usual SFF (F in particular) tone of high drama. Naturally I want it to *get* dramatic, but the difference between true drama and melodrama–in both tone and content–is 90% of the difference between what will move me and what won’t. I want to *believe* it, without tossing my disbelief out the window: I want the writer to make me feel it’s real.

Read Full Post »