As the editor of the anthology series The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (Prime Books) I am now reading for the 2015 edition which will include material published in 2014.
I am looking for stories of dark fantasy—they might be simply unsettling or perhaps eerie. Dark fantasy can be revelatory or baffling. It can be simply a story or a small glimpse of life seen “through a glass, darkly.” Or, in more literary terms (all of which are debatable) it might be any number of things: weird fiction (new or old), supernatural fiction, magical realism, surrealism, the fantastique, dark epic fantasy, or the ever-ambiguous horror fiction (which need not have a supernatural element but can crossover into other genres). And yes, dark SF is certainly part of the horror mix.
You can get an idea of what I am looking for from the first four volumes of the series; the fifth (covering 2013) will be published in July of this year. Or by reading the introduction to the first volume: What the Hell Do You Mean by Dark Fantasy and Horror?” or last year’s introduction: Instructions for Use.
This is a REPRINT anthology so I am only reading material published during the calendar year of 2014.
READERS: I appreciate your recommendations. Email paula@prime-books.com.
PUBLISHERS: I prefer email submissions of Word documents, RTF, or PDF rather than hard copies if available. It saves you the postage and I can keep track of things better this way. If you must send galleys, magazines, or books, see the address below. If your publication appears on the Web only, please make me aware of it. Send to: darkecho@darkecho.com
WRITERS: Please ask the publisher of your collection or of periodicals and/or anthologies you appear in to send me copies of their publications. Please do not send me your individual story or stories unless I request such from you.
Please post and/or pass this on to others.
DEADLINE for 2014 materials: December 1, 2014. If your work/publication is being published in December, please try to get it to me in some form by that date. Overall: the earlier I get the material the better.
—Paula Guran
Mailing Address:
Paula Guran
YBDF&H
87 S Meadowcroft Dr
Akron OH 44313-7266