Anthologies

When I began submitting stories to lit mags in 2016, I noticed a few calls for submissions to anthologies. Some contests published print anthologies of the longlisted stories. Other anthologies were not open to submissions. Instead, they contained stories the editors had hand-picked for their collection.

I wondered if my work would ever be good enough to submit to an anthology, never mind have a story invited for inclusion.

As these things go, there are varying levels of anthologies. My hardcover Norton Anthology text in 1974 at the University of Victoria would be one level. I did not aim quite that high, but I did offer my work to a few and over time, others asked to include stories I had written.

My stories (18 in total) have been in 16 anthologies. I am not as active in pursuing them as I was, but I still greatly respect the form and enjoy being included in an eclectic and far-flung grouping of authors.

Here’s my printed anthology publication list, to date:

Best of Fiction on the Web: 1976-2017, 2017, U.K.
The Machinery: Fauna, 2017, India
Just Words Vol. 2, 2018, Canada
The Immigrants, 2018, U.S.
We Refugees, 2019, U.S.
The Best Short Stories from the MOON, 2019, U.S.
A Fork in the Road, 2020, U.S.
Just Voices, 2020, Canada
Anthology of Short Stories Summer 2021, 2021, U.K.
This Will Only Take a Minute, 2022, Canada
Small Shifts: Short Stories of Fantastical Transformation, 2022, Canada
Framework of the Human Body, 2022, Canada
I Used to be an Animal Lover, 2023, Australia
Hardboiled and Loaded with Sin, 2023, U.S.
Prine Primed, 2024, U.S.
Nona Heaslip (Exile) Best Canadian Short Stories, 2024 (forthcoming), Canada

I hope to continue to contribute to excellent collections like these. Every time I work with an editor, I find I improve as a writer and my work benefits with some lustre or refinement that it might have otherwise missed.

I have been nominated four times for the renowned Pushcart Prize Best of the Small Presses Anthology but so far, no room under that prestigious umbrella for me—so there’s still a lot to aspire to.