[New Release] Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling

“This compendium of literary undercutting and rebuilding is both enjoyable to read and an incisive work of commentary on the genre.”

— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Now Available!

Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling is an anthology of short stories, poetry, and essays edited by Monica Valentinelli and Jaym Gates. Over two dozen authors, ranging from NYT-bestsellers and award winners to debut writers, chose a tired trope or cliche to challenge and surprise readers through their work.

Read stories inspired by tropes such as the Chainmaille Bikini, Love at First Sight, Damsels in Distress, Yellow Peril, The Black Man Dies First, The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood, The Singularity Will Cause the Apocalypse, and many more…then discover what these tropes mean to each author to find out what inspired them.

Join Maurice Broaddus, Adam Troy-Castro, Delilah S. Dawson, Shanna Germain, Sara M. Harvey, John Hornor Jacobs, Rahul Kanakia, Alethea Kontis, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Haralmbi Markov, Sunil Patel, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Ferrett Steinmetz, Anton Strout, Michael Underwood, Alyssa Wong and many other authors as they take well-worn tropes and cliches and flip them upside down.

CONTENTS

Introduction — Jerry Gordon

SECTION I: INVERTING THE TROPES

On Loving Bad Boys: A Villanelle — Valya Dudycz Lupescu

Single, Singularity — John Hornor Jacobs

Lazzrus — Nisi Shawl

Seeking Truth — Elsa Sjunneson-Henry

Thwock — Michelle Muenzler

Can You Tell Me How to Get to Paprika Place? — Michael R. Underwood

Chosen — Anton Strout

The White Dragon — Alyssa Wong

Her Curse, How Gently It Comes Undone — Haralambi Markov

Burning Bright — Shanna Germain

Santa CIS (Episode 1: No Saint) — Alethea Kontis

Requiem for a Manic Pixie Dream — Katy Harrad & Greg Stolze

The Refrigerator in the Girlfriend — Adam-Troy Castro

The First Blood of Poppy Dupree — Delilah S. Dawson

Red Light — Sara M. Harvey

Until There Is Only Hunger — Michael Matheson

Super Duper Fly — Maurice Broaddus

Drafty as a Chain Mail Bikini — Kat Richardson

Swan Song — Michelle Lyons-McFarland

Those Who Leave — Michael Choi

Nouns of Nouns: A Mini Epic — Alex Shvartsman

Excess Light — Rahul Kanakia

The Origin of Terror — Sunil Patel

The Tangled Web — Ferrett Steinmetz

Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa, Tfu, Tfu, Tfu. — Alisa Schreibman

Real Women Are Dangerous — Rati Mehrotra

SECTION II: DISCUSSING THE TROPES

I’m Pretty Sure I’ve Read This Before … — Patrick Hester

Fractured Souls — Lucy A. Snyder

Into the Labyrinth: The Heroine’s Journey — A.C. Wise

Escaping the Hall of Mirrors — Victor Raymond

Tropes as Erasers: A Transgender Perspective — Keffy R.M. Kehrli

SECTION III: DEFINING THE TROPES

Afterword — Monica Valentinelli & Jaym Gates

Trope Definitions/Index of Tropes

SECTION IV: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND ADDITIONAL BIOS

Book Details:

Cover artist Galen Dara

TPB ISBN: 978-1-937009-44-1

HC ISBN: 978-1-937009-46-5

366 Pages

Monica Valentinelli is an editor, writer, and game developer who lurks in the dark. Her work includes stories, games, and comics for her original settings as well as media/tie-in properties such as the Firefly TV show, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, and Vampire: The Masquerade. Her nonfiction includes reference materials such as Firefly: The Gorramn Shiniest Language Guide and Dictionary in the ‘Verse, and essays in books like For Exposure: The Life and Times of a Small Press Publisher. For more about Monica, visit www.booksofm.com.

Jaym Gates is an editor, author, and communications manager. She’s the editor of the Rigor Amortis, War Stories, Exalted, and Genius Loci anthologies, as well as a published author in fiction, academic nonfiction, and RPGs.