Shadows & Tall Trees

I’m very pleased to report that I’ll be publishing an annual journal devoted to literary horror and dark fantasy. Shadows & Tall Trees will showcase literate, thought-provoking, and entertaining stories that straddle genre lines and blur the boundaries of fantasy and horror. Below, you’ll find a rough mock-up. The design and fonts will change, but the artwork, Winter Silence, a photograph taken in Skopje by Mitat Seferi, will adorn our first cover. Our feature fiction is:

The Ghost Days of Melody Brown, by Geordie Flantz

Stone Head, by Adam Golaski

The Coming of Ghosts, by Sandra Kasturi

Crow’s Nest, by Joel Lane

The Blue Notebooks, by Nicholas Royle

Everything Floats, by Simon Strantzas

Very pleased to report that Gemma Files’ “The Jacaranda Smile,” and Steve Duffy’s “Certain Death For a Known Person” will be reprinted in ‘The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2010″ edited by Paula Guran.

Congratulations Gemma and Steve!

“Apparitions,” has been voted a 2009 Shirley Jackson Awards nominee in the category of Edited Anthology. It is truly a tremendous honour to be in such august company, and to also even be mentioned alongside the late, great Shirley Jackson. It’s an extremely impressive ballot. I am verily stunned.

As well, Gemma Files’ story from “Apparitions,” ‘The Jacaranda Smile,’ has been voted a nominee in the Short Story category. Incredible. Congratulations, Gemma.

2009 Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees

Boston, MA (April 2010) — In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, the Shirley Jackson Awards have been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.

The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics, with input from a Board of Advisors. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, “The Lottery.” Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work.

The Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented at Readercon 21, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Burlington, Massachusetts. Nalo Hopkinson, Readercon Guest of Honor, will act as host.

NOVEL

* Big Machine, Victor LaValle (Speigel & Grau)
* Last Days, Brian Evenson (Underland Press)
* The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters (Riverhead)
* The Owl Killers, Karen Maitland (Delacorte Press)
* The Red Tree, Caitlin R. Kiernan (Roc)
* White is for Witching, Helen Oyeyemi (Nan A. Talese)

NOVELLA

* The Language of Dying, Sarah Pinborough, (PS Publishing)
* Midnight Picnic, Nick Antosca (Word Riot Press)
* “Sea-Hearts,” Margo Lanagan (X6, coeur de lion)
* Shrike, Quentin Crisp (PS Publishing)
* Vardøger, Stephen Volk (Gray Friar Press)
* The Witnesses are Gone, Joel Lane (PS Publishing)

NOVELETTE

* “Catch Hell,” Laird Barron (Lovecraft Unbound, Dark Horse)
* “Each Thing I Show You Is a Piece of My Death,” Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer, (Clockwork Phoenix 2, Norilana Books)
* “Lonegan’s Luck,” Stephen Graham Jones (New Genre 6)
* “Morality,” Stephen King (Esquire)
* The Night Cache, Andy Duncan (PS Publishing)

SHORT STORY

* “The Crevasse,” by Dale Bailey and Nathan Ballingrud (Lovecraft Unbound, Dark Horse)
* “Faces,” Aimee Bender (The Paris Review, Issue 191, Winter 2009)
* “The Jacaranda Smile,” Gemma Files (Apparitions, Undertow Publications)
* “The Pelican Bar,” Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse 3, Night Shade)
* “Procedure in Plain Air,” Jonathan Lethem (The New Yorker, April 5, 2010)
* “Strappado,” Laird Barron (Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, Solaris)

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

* Everland and Other Stories, Paul Witcover (PS Publishing)
* Fugue State, Brian Evenson (Coffee House Press)
* Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical, Robert Shearman (Big Finish Productions)
* There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Penguin)
* Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, Kevin Wilson (Harper Perennial)
* Zoo, Otsuichi (Haikasoru/VIZ Media)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

* Apparitions, edited by Michael Kelly (Undertow Publications)
* British Invasion, edited by Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon, and James A. Moore (Cemetery Dance)
* Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations, edited by Danel Olson (Ash Tree Press)
* Lovecraft Unbound, edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse)
* Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris)

Editor Ellen Datlow has posted her list of Honorable Mentions and I’m very pleased to see that 5 stories from “Apparitions” made the list. The writers honorably mentioned are:

Simon Bestwick for the “The Suicide Chairs”
Steve Duffy for “Certain Death For a Known Person”
Gemma Files for “The Jacaranda Smile”
Paul Finch for “Men of Old”
Gary McMahon for “Proof”

I’d like to thank the writers for their wonderful stories and also Ms. Datlow for the mentions. Thank you.

And, as publisher of this anthology, I’m obliged to say, yes, there are still a few copies available for purchase.

Just wanted to share with you what Ms. Datlow says in her summation in Best Horror of the Year, Volume 2.

“Apparitions edited by Michael Kelly (Undertow Publications) is a very good anthology from a new imprint created by Kelly. While some of the thirteen original stories don’t actually have enough story for my taste, there are some excellent tales by Simon Bestwick, Paul Finch, Gemma Files, Steve Duffy, and Gary McMahon.”

Wow, it’s been a long time since I visited this site, hasn’t it?

So, it’s been almost 4 months since Apparitions was published. It’s been a crazy time. There have been some things in my personal life that have slowed down my writing and editing. While some of those issues aren’t gone, I am pushing forward.

Apparitions seems to have been fairly well-received. It’s hard to say, really. I sent out a number of review copies, but only counted a few reviews, all positive. Readers and contributors seemed to enjoy the anthology. And I know that 2 of the stories came very close to making it into Best Horror of the Year. All very gratifying. Sales haven’t been great, but I knew that going into the venture. And that cover art! Everyone loves the cover art.

Some of you have been asking about Apparitions 2.

There’s unlikely to be an Apparitions 2. At least not this year. I do see the anthology as a continuing venue for supernatural fiction, though, so I am likely to revisit it sometime down the road.

Why not this year? Why not an annual Apparitions anthology?

I don’t have the time (or resources) this year. See, along with trying to promote Apparitions, I have 2 other books out right now that I’d like to devote some promotion time to: Ouroboros (the novel I co-wrote with Carol Weekes) and my second collection of short stories, Undertow and Other Laments. As well, I’ve sold another anthology to a Canadian publisher, which we envision as a yearly anthology of Canadian horror fiction, along the lines of the late, lamented Northern Frights series. And, instead of doing another Apparitions anthology under the aegis of my imprint, Undertow Publications, I will be doing a smaller periodical, a literary journal with dark undertones.

Plus, you know, I’d like to get some writing done, too.

All this to say that, no, there won’t be an Apparitions 2 this year. But I’m sure there is another volume in my future, sometime.

Apparitions will be in my hands very shortly. Thanks very much to all of you have ordered the book. I’m extending the free North American shipping offer until this Friday, October, 9. Details below.

October is the perfect month to curl up with this book.

If  anyone in North America is interested in reserving a copy of Apparitions before the publication on Halloween, I’m taking reservations (but no money, yet), and I will ship the book free of charge, a $5 savings.  Once the book is in hand, sometime mid-October, I will contact you via e-mail with PayPal (or alternate) payment instructions.

Unfortunately, shipping costs overseas are quite prohibitive and I cannot make the same offer to overseas customers.  Sorry.  You can still reserve the title now, though, with no prepayment.  And I hope you will, of course.

The book is priced as follows:

$14.95 U.S customers (free shipping with reservation)

$16.95 Canadian customers (free shipping with reservation)

$14.95 (in U. S. Funds) for U. K. and overseas customers + $10 shipping.

To reserve a copy of the title, please send an e-mail to undertowbooks@gmail.com with RESERVE in the subject field.

Thanks very much for all the support.  I really do appreciate it.

Best

-Michael

Here, in alphabetical order, are the talented contributors to Apparitions. Erin S. Wells did the cover art, and Steve Upham did the design.

Simon Bestwick – The Suicide Chairs

Gary A. Braunbeck – Coming Soon

Michael Colangelo – Behind the Black

Christopher Conlon – A Certain Slant of Light

Steve Duffy – Certain Death For a Known Person

Patricia Esposito – Finishing the Dig

Gemma Files – The Jacaranda Smile

Paul Finch – Men of Old

Joel Lane – High Water

Gary McMahon – Proof

Jessica Reisman – Incantation

Iain Rowan – There Stood the Dead

Barbara Roden – Home on the Range