Thanks to Charlotte Bond, Lucy Hounsom (who writes as Times Bestseller author Lucy Holland), and Megan Leigh, the team at Breaking the Glass Slipper for having me on their show. We talked about families in horror fiction and my new story (“The Ghost of a Flea”) which appears in Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous, edited by Ellen Datlow, out from Tor Nightfire on June 7th.
In dozens of anthologies published over the last thirty years, the words “edited by” have been followed by a singularly reassuring name: Ellen Datlow. For countless readers (and writers), Datlow’s name has served as a virtual guarantee of quality. Each of her many anthologies, whatever its specific nature, reflects a high degree of taste, intelligence, and professional judgment. As Gary K. Wolfe notes in his excellent introduction, her work has received “an almost unprecedented string of honors.” Honors and awards are fine, of course, but it’s the stories that ultimately matter. And Datlow has ushered more good stories into the world than any editor in living memory. The book you are currently holding stands as a testament to that fact.
Edited By is a thoroughgoing attempt to reflect both the quality and infinite variety of the fiction she has championed in the course of her career. The stories gathered here come from all over the literary map. There are SF, fantasy, and horror stories, often in unique combinations. There are household names among the contributors, such as Neil Gaiman, whose screenplay/story “Eaten (Scenes from a Moving Picture)” is a chilling account of eater and eaten, predator and prey. There are newer, lesser known figures as well, among them Nathan Ballingrud, whose “Monsters of Heaven” is an achingly beautiful story of grief, loss, and strange encounters. And there are many award-winning writers included, among them Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link, Lucius Shepard, Ted Chiang, and Jeffrey Ford, to name just a few. Their contributions are among the many highlights of this book.
From publisher Subterranean Press.
Edited By is now out in hardback. It can be bought directly from Subterranean Press, Amazon UK, Amazon US, your local bookshop, among others.
I am delighted to be included in such a special book. “The Crow Palace” was first published in Ellen Datlow’s Black Feather: Dark Avian Tales in 2017.
Table of Contents:
Introduction by Gary K. Wolfe (not signing), Home by the Sea by Pat Cadigan, The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change by Kij Johnson, The Bedroom Light by Jeffrey Ford, The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven by Laird Barron, The Crow Palace by Priya Sharma, Some Strange Desire by Ian McDonald, The Lepidopterist by Lucius Shepard, Bird Count by Jane Yolen, Anamorphosis by Caitlín R. Kiernan, The Hortlak by Kelly Link, In the Month of Athyr by Elizabeth Hand,Precious by Nalo Hopkinson, Daniel’s Theory About Dolls by Stephen Graham Jones, The Mysteries by Livia Llewellyn, Dancing Men by Glen Hirshberg, The Office of Doom by Richard Bowes, Black Nightgown by K. W. Jeter, A Delicate Architecture Catherynne M. Valente, The Goosle by Margo Lanagan, Eaten (Scenes from a Moving Picture) by Neil Gaiman, Teratisms by Kathe Koja, The Monsters of Heaven by Nathan Ballingrud, That Old School Tie by Jack Womack, Love and Sex Among the Invertebrates by Pat Murphy, Overlooking by Carol Emshwille, Sonny Liston Takes the Fall by Elizabeth Bear, Technicolor by John Langan, The Sawing Boys by Howard Waldrop, Shay Corsham Worsted by Garth Nix, Seventy-Two Letters by Ted Chiang, Interview with Ellen Datlow by Gwenda Bond
Edited By is an anthology of a selection of stories edited by Ellen Datlow over her stellar career.
This beautiful book is available to pre-order from Subterranean Press and will be published in September 2020.
The trade edition is a fully cloth bound hardback ($45) and there’s 250 copies of the limited edition signed by most of the contributers ($125).
Dust jacket illustration by Anna & Elana Balbusso.
I feel very honoured to have worked with Ellen Datlow and to be included in this volume with “The Crow Palace”, a story that appeared Black Feather: Dark Avian Tales, her bird themed horror anthology (2017).
Edited By is a thoroughgoing attempt to reflect both the quality and infinite variety of the fiction she has championed in the course of her career. The stories gathered here come from all over the literary map. There are SF, fantasy, and horror stories, often in unique combinations. There are household names among the contributors, such as Neil Gaiman, whose screenplay/story “Eaten (Scenes from a Moving Picture)” is a chilling account of eater and eaten, predator and prey. There are newer, lesser known figures as well, among them Nathan Ballingrud, whose “Monsters of Heaven” is an achingly beautiful story of grief, loss, and strange encounters. And there are many award-winning writers included, among them Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link, Lucius Shepard, Ted Chiang, and Jeffrey Ford, to name just a few. Their contributions are among the many highlights of this book.
-Gary K. Wolfe
Table of Contents:
I am very proud to be included in Paula Guran’s Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2018 with “The Crow Palace”. This story originally appeared in Black Feathers, a horror of avian anthology, edited by Ellen Datlow.
Buy from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon .com, Barnes & Noble
ToC:
“Sunflower Junction,” Simon Avery (Black Static #57)
“Swift to Chase,” Laird Barron (Adam’s Ladder: An Anthology of Dark Science Fiction)
“Fallow,” Ashley Blooms (Shimmer #37)
“Children of Thorns, Children of Water,” Aliette de Bodard (Exclusive for The House of Binding Thorns preorders/Uncanny #17)
“On Highway 18,” Rebecca Campbell (F&SF 9-10/17)
“Witch Hazel,” Jeffrey Ford (Haunted Nights, eds. Ellen Datlow & Lisa Morton)
“The Bride in Sea-Green Velvet,” Robin Furth (F&SF 7-8/17)
“Little Digs,” Lisa L. Hannett (The Dark #20)
“The Thule Stowaway,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Uncanny #14)
“The Eyes Are White and Quiet,” Carole Johnstone (New Fears, ed. Mark Morris)
Mapping the Interior, Stephen Graham Jones (Tor.com)
“Don’t Turn on the Lights,” Cassandra Khaw (Nightmare #61)
“The Dinosaur Tourist,” Caitlín R. Kiernan (Sirenia Digest #139)
“Survival Strategies,” Helen Marshall (Black Static #60)
“Red Bark and Ambergris,” Kate Marshall (Beneath Ceaseless Skies #232)
“Skins Smooth as Plantain, Hearts Soft as Mango,” Ian Muneshwar (The Dark #27)
“Everything Beautiful Is Terrifying,” M. Rickert (Shadows & Tall Trees, ed. Michael Kelly)
“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™,” Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex #99)
“Graverobbing Negress Seeks Employment,” Eden Royce (Fiyah #2)
“Moon Blood-Red, Tide Turning,” Mark Samuels (Terror Tales of Cornwall, ed. Paul Finch)
“The Crow Palace,” Priya Sharma (Black Feathers, ed. Ellen Datlow)
“The Swimming Pool Party,” Robert Shearman (Shadows & Tall Trees 7, ed. Michael Kelly)
“The Little Mermaid, in Passing,” Angela Slatter (Review of Australian Fiction, Vol.22, #1)
“Secret Keeper,” Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Nightmare #61)
“The Long Fade into Evening Steve,” Steve Rasnic Tem (Darker Companions, eds. Scott David Aniolowski & Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)
“Moon and Memory and Muchness,” Katherine Vaz (Mad Hatters and March Hares, ed. Ellen Datlow)
“Exceeding Bitter,” Kaaron Warren (Evil Is a Matter of Perspective, eds Adrian Collins & Mike Myers)
“Succulents,” Conrad Williams (New Fears, ed. Mark Morris)
“The Lamentation of Their Women,” Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com 8.24.17)
Paula Guran has announced the table of contents for Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2018.
I am absolutely delighted to be included with “The Crow Palace”, which originally appeared in “Black Feathers” (edited by Ellen Datlow).
ToC
“Sunflower Junction,” Simon Avery (Black Static #57)
“Swift to Chase,” Laird Barron (Adam’s Ladder: An Anthology of Dark Science Fiction)
“Fallow,” Ashley Blooms (Shimmer #37)
“Children of Thorns, Children of Water,” Aliette de Bodard (Exclusive for The House of Binding Thorns preorders/Uncanny #17)
“On Highway 18,” Rebecca Campbell (F&SF 9-10/17)
“Witch Hazel,” Jeffrey Ford (Haunted Nights, eds. Ellen Datlow & Lisa Morton)
“The Bride in Sea-Green Velvet,” Robin Furth (F&SF 7-8/17)
“Little Digs,” Lisa L. Hannett (The Dark #20)
“The Thule Stowaway,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Uncanny #14)
“The Eyes Are White and Quiet,” Carole Johnstone (New Fears, ed. Mark Morris)
Mapping the Interior, Stephen Graham Jones (Tor.com)
“Don’t Turn on the Lights,” Cassandra Khaw (Nightmare #61)
“The Dinosaur Tourist,” Caitlín R. Kiernan (Sirenia Digest #139)
“Survival Strategies,” Helen Marshall (Black Static #60)
“Red Bark and Ambergris,” Kate Marshall (Beneath Ceaseless Skies #232)
“Skins Smooth as Plantain, Hearts Soft as Mango,” Ian Muneshwar (The Dark #27)
“Everything Beautiful Is Terrifying,” M. Rickert (Shadows & Tall Trees, ed. Michael Kelly)
“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™,” Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex #99)
“Graverobbing Negress Seeks Employment,” Eden Royce (Fiyah #2)
“Moon Blood-Red, Tide Turning,” Mark Samuels (Terror Tales of Cornwall, ed. Paul Finch)
“The Crow Palace,” Priya Sharma (Black Feathers, ed. Ellen Datlow)
“The Swimming Pool Party,” Robert Shearman (Shadows & Tall Trees 7, ed. Michael Kelly)
“The Little Mermaid, in Passing,” Angela Slatter (Review of Australian Fiction, Vol.22, #1)
“Secret Keeper,” Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Nightmare #61)
“The Long Fade into Evening Steve,” Steve Rasnic Tem (Darker Companions, eds. Scott David Aniolowski & Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)
“Moon and Memory and Muchness,” Katherine Vaz (Mad Hatters and March Hares, ed. Ellen Datlow)
“Exceeding Bitter,” Kaaron Warren (Evil Is a Matter of Perspective, eds Adrian Collins & Mike Myers)
“Succulents,” Conrad Williams (New Fears, ed. Mark Morris)
“The Lamentation of Their Women,” Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com 8.24.17)
Thanks to Sean Wallace for including me in Issue 37 of The Dark with a reprint of “The Crow Palace”.
This story originally appeared in “Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales”, edited by Ellen Datlow.
“Each month The Dark brings you the best in dark fantasy and horror! Edited by award winning editors Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Sean Wallace and brought to you by Prime Books, this issue includes two all-new stories and two reprints.”
Contents:
Purchase a copy Amazon US, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Weightless Books
“Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales” is now out in paperback and is available from Amazon UK (currently £10.99), Amazon US (currently $15.95) and Barnes & Noble.
With stories by Joyce Carol Oates, Seanan McGuire, Pat Cadigan, Richard Bowes, Paul Tremblay, A. C. Wise, Usman T. Malik, Jeffrey Ford, Sandra Kasturi, Mike O’Driscoll, Priya Sharma, Alison Littlewood, M. John Harrison, Nicholas Royle, Livia Llewellyn, and Stephen Graham Jones.
Voting closes at 12:01am GMT on Monday 26 February 2018.
Birds may be the theme for the excellent Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales, but it is human interaction with our feathered friends (and enemies) that provides the darkness as well as the diversity in these 15 stories (13 original, two republished) and one poem. Not surprisingly, corvidae—traditional birds of ill omen and intermediaries between life and death—tend to turn up more than other phyla, but that does nothing to diminish the variety of the tales.
It is difficult to single out the best stories. All are well written and imaginative; favorites may depend, at least in part, on personal preference…Priya Sharma closes the volume with one of the strongest stories, “The Crow Palace.” After her father’s death, Julie returns home to handle the usual post-mortem consequences plus deciding the future care of her twin sister, Pippa, who has cerebral palsy. Julie, who found her mother’s suicided body at a young age, is cold and emotionless, although she loves her sister. Birds play a supernaturally sinister role in this cinematic and truly terrifying tale. Paula Guran for Locus
As its title suggests, the stories in Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales, Ellen Datlow’s strong new anthology, take place at the darker end of the literary spectrum. In these stories, birds are both symbols and plot devices, figures for the characters’ interior states, and mechanisms by which those states are realized. These birds are the literary descendants of those who fly through Daphne du Maurier’s, familiar creatures rendered strange and terrible. The result is a flock of stories among the year’s most memorable and disturbing. John Langan for Locus
Black Feathers is out now from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
Goodreads are giving away 10 copies of Black Feathers. Enter here by 6th March 2017.
At the end, eerie is the word that best describes the sensation of reading Black Feathers. Eerie people, eerie situations, eerie landscapes, and most of all eerie birds to haunt imaginations and trouble dreams.
Highly recommended.
-Michael R.Collings for Hellnotes (full review)
priya sharma fiction 