anthology | Author, editor, caffeine-addict, wannabe ninja

First, I want to give a shout-out to all the authors who subbed to SNAFU: Dead or Alive. *SHOUT-OUT TO ALL THE AUTHORS!*

Penning a story is an accomplishment in and of itself, and something for which you should be immensely proud. Sending said story out in the world can sometimes be a terrifying thing, but send it out you did and I am truly thankful for having read some great stories. But as is the way with slush, cuts need to be made. The first round of rejections have started going out, and if you’re on the receiving end of one of those, know that I read your story in full and appreciated the effort and time that went into sending us your work. Thank you. Thank you for showcasing the talents of the authors in this writing community. Keep up the amazing work!

Which brings me to the next round of the slush process: longlist.

Over the next week or so, all stories that have made it through to the longlist will be read again, and from this a shortlist will be made. While this may seem like a tedious process, it’s the process that works for me. It’s a lot of reading, it’s a lot of note-taking, it’s a lot of angst. Stories don’t just have to grab me by my ear and drag me in but curating an anthology requires stories to work together to make a kick-arse whole, and I don’t take this responsibility lightly.

As I move through the longlist-to-shortlist, the process does become quicker as the stories cement in my mind and the ToC starts to take shape.

Part of this process does mean that I’ll have to reject excellent stories, and that’s always a difficult and painful part of curating anthologies. It really is the shittest of shittest parts of the process—every editor will tell you the same.

So if you find yourself on the receiving end of a rejection, please know you wrote a great story, and keep on putting pen to paper… or fingers to keyboard. You are the reason publications can keep putting out anthologies.

For those of you who have moved through to the longlist, bear with me as I work through—you haven’t made this easy!

Thanks again to all the authors who subbed to Cohesion Press. You rock!

SNAFU: An anthology of Military Horror is out in the world! This massive tome, put out by independent Australian publisher, Cohesion Press, is the first in an annual military-themed antho. When owner and editor in chief, Geoff Brown, got in touch and asked if I’d like to be involved, I responded with a hearty HELL YES.

It’s been a good couple of years since I’d worked on an anthology (the last being Midnight Echo Issue 8) and I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed working with a slew of authors to weave a theme through their stories. And what a kick-arse bunch of stories they are. While I was only involved on the editing side of SNAFU, with over a thousand submissions, Geoff Brown has done a remarkable job in his choices for the anthology, and the stories within are a testament to the writers themselves. There are some cracker tales in this book, covering all manner of conflicts, time periods, and monsters. Ooh, we can’t forget the monsters! There’s a plethora of ghosties and ghoulies, born right out of your nightmares.

With a veritable who’s who of the genre, there are stories from best-selling authors Greig Beck and Wes Ochse, plus a gritty Joe Ledger story from the master Jonathan Mayberry, and if you’re a fan of James A Moore (that’d be me), there’s a new Jonathan Crowley novella inside. But it’s not just about the big names, the stories from all the authors in this anthology are fantastic and I had a great time working with them and their tales – it was real pleasure, and if this is the mark of authors moving through the ranks, then the publishing and reading worlds are the real winners here.

The ToC is below, and if you’re looking for a great read, you really can’t go past SNAFU:

Blackwater – Neal F Litherland
Little Johnny Jump-Up – Christine Morgan
Covert Genesis – Brian W Taylor
Bug Hunt – Jonathan Maberry
Special Operations Interview PTO‑14 – Wayland Smith
Cold War Gothic – Weston Ochse
Making Waves – Curtis C Chen
The Fossil – Greig Beck
A Tide of Flesh – Jeff Hewitt
Death at 900 Meters – Tyson Mauermann
Holding the Line – Eric S Brown
Thela Hun Gingeet – WD Gagliani and David Benton
The Shrine – David Amendola
Ptearing All Before Us – Steve Ruthenbeck
A Time of Blood – Kirsten Cross
Blank White Page – James A Moore

And for those of you wanting to write some military-based horror? Keep your eyes on Cohesion Press for the next call for submissions.