Michael Kelly's Blog, page 15

Sale

Sale! The eBook of Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 2 is on sale at Amazon for a paltry $2.98.

http://amzn.to/1Wx70mN

“No finer ‘Year’s Best’ was published in 2015.” – Jeff VanderMeer

Undertow T-shirt

Are you weird? Endearingly weird? Then you’ll want to grab one of these beautiful chocolate-brown

Tees from Skurvy Ink. Artwork by the brilliant Vince Haig.

 

Undertow Publications shirt

Cover wrap for ‘Singing With All My Skin and Bone’

Praise for Year’s Best Weird Fiction 2

“The most refreshing aspects of Year’s Best Weird Fiction: Volume Two are the same as for the other year’s-best compilations – the overwhelming majority of its contributors are writers who have come to editor and reader attention mostly within the past decade, and the quality of the work they are publishing in books and magazines that are predominantly niche markets is indisputable.”


-Stefan Dziemanowicz


 


“The anthology reflects Kathe Koja’s aesthetic and contains good to great material across the register. Consistency is a solid virtue and more difficult to achieve than readers might guess. Year’s Best Weird Fiction Volume 2 does what any year’s best can be tasked to do – represent a snapshot of the field at a given moment, and succeeds admirably. Weird fiction’s roots dig deep into history. It’s the plexus that knits together fantasy and horror and creates an ever-changing whole, remarkable for its very mutability. Long may Michael Kelly’s series persist in preserving these snapshots of a splendid and vital branch of the canon.


–Laird Barron

Submissions

Regarding submissions to the Year’s Best Weird Fiction:

 

Just a couple quick notes regarding submissions for Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 4: We are reading 2016 material. Please do not send 2015 material!!


 


One of the most time-consuming aspects of compiling the volume is actually getting material from publishers and editors. In many, many cases I’ve had to ask 5, 6 times for the book, anthology, etc. (And I only want a digital file). This year I will do a follow-up query to my initial request, but after that I am moving on. I may miss out on some books, but at least I will keep what little remaining sanity I have.

Five Dark Reads Not to Miss

Eric Schaller’s “Meet Me in the Middle of the Air,” makes Tor’s list of ‘Five Dark Reads Not to Miss.’ He’s in good company with Brian Evenson and Livia Llewellyn. http://www.tor.com/2016/04/04/lifting...

Starred review

Well, look at this! A starred review from Publisher’s Weekly for Eric Schaller‘s “Meet Me in the Middle of the Air.”

http://publishersweekly.com/978-0-993...

Almost Insentient, Almost Divine

Announcing the contents of DP Watt’s ‘Almost Insentient, Almost Divine.’ It includes a wonderful introduction by Timothy Jarvis.


 


The Terrible Foolish Wisdom of the Puppet: A Preface


Timothy J. Jarvis


 


With Gravity, Grace


 


A Delicate Craft


 


Shallabalah


 


Myself/Thyself


 


Mr Egare


 


A Hive of Pain


 


Mors Janua Vitae


 


Honey Moon


 


At the Sign of the Burning Leaf


 


In Comes I


 


The Man we all Imagined I might have been


 


The Mechanised Eccentric


 


The Pornographer’s Calendar


 


The Usher


 


Archontes Ascendant


 


Lotska


 


‘Mors Janua Vitae’, ‘The Pornographer’s Calendar’ and ‘Lotska’ are original to this publication.

New shop

What does one do when they are up before 6 a.m. on a holiday Friday? Well, they revamp their website, of course. I’ve streamlined the “Shop” page at Undertow. So, you know, go and shop.

http://www.undertowbooks.com/shop/

Call for Submissions – YBWF4

Call for Submissions 2016 – Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 4.


 


Each volume of the Year’s Best Weird Fiction will feature a different Guest Editor. Laird Barron guest-edited Vol. 1, and Kathe Koja was guest editor for Vol. 2. Simon Strantzas guest-edited Vol. 3, and Helen Marshall is guest-editing Vol. 4


 


This is a reprint fiction anthology, to be published in 2016. Series Editor Michael Kelly, and Guest Editor Helen Marshall are seeking material first published this year only, 2016. To be clear, only weird fiction published in 2016 is eligible for inclusion in Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 4.


 


This is for 2016 material only!


 


Our remit includes ghost stories, the strange and macabre, the supernatural, fantasy, myth, philosophical ontology, ambiguity, and featuring a helping of the outré. Weird fiction, at its best, is an intersecting of themes and ideas that explore and subvert the laws of Nature. It counts among its proponents older and newer writers alike: Robert Aickman, Laird Barron, Charles Beaumont, Ambrose Bierce, Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury, Angela Carter, Neil Gaiman, Shirley Jackson, Kathe Koja, John Langan, Thomas Ligotti, Kelly Link, H. P. Lovecraft, Simon Strantzas, and many others.


 


Please send electronic or digital copies only, please! PDFs are preferred, but will also accept text files (Word), Mobi, or ePub. Publishers and editors only are encouraged to send their books, journals, magazines to:


 


bestweirdfiction@gmail.com


 


Deadline for all material is December 15, 2016, no exceptions, but sooner (much sooner) is better. Late submissions may not receive proper consideration, especially if we receive a majority of the material at deadline.


 


Writers: Please do not send unsolicited material. Urge your publisher or editor to send in any relevant work. Feel free to query with any questions or recommendations.


 


Please note: Only writers whose work is selected for the volume will be contacted.


 


I am afraid we are not considering any self-published work.


 


Thank you!


 


Michael Kelly & Helen Marshall


Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 4