As I mentioned in my last blog, before a couple of weeks ago it had been seven years since I’d last updated my website, during which time I’ve fulfilled a long-standing ambition of mine, which was to edit a long-running series of annual non-themed horror anthologies.
The reason I’ve long harboured this ambition is because I grew up reading the Pan and Fontana books of Horror and Ghost Stories, in which you never quite knew what kinds of stories to expect. Additionally I was influenced by several excellent non-themed horror anthologies of the 1980s, namely Dark Forces edited by Kirby McCauley, New Terrors Omnibus edited by Ramsey Campbell, Cutting Edge edited by Dennis Etchison, and Prime Evil edited by Douglas E. Winter.
I’d tried to fulfil this ambition twice before, first with Spectral Press (The Spectral Book of Horror Stories) and then with Titan Books (New Fears), but on each occasion the series had stalled at volume two. Then in 2019 I had lunch with Nick Wells, head honcho of Flame Tree Press, and the following year saw publication of the first volume of what has now become known as The ABC of Horror series.
The name comes from the fact that the titles of the series are alphabetical. The first volume, After Sundown, begins with the letter A, the second, Beyond the Veil, begins with B, and so on. In this way each volume can seem like a standalone anthology whilst still being part of the series. In a market where numbered volumes are these days considered problematical, it’s the best of both worlds.
Each volume of the ABC of Horror consists of 20 stories, 16 of which are normally commissioned from well-known writers and the remaining 4 selected from the hundreds of stories that flood in during a two-week open submissions window in October.
To date, six volumes of the series have been published, with volume 7, Ghost Lights, due out in hardback, paperback and as a Kindle edition, on October 20. The series is a showcase of the very best short fiction that the modern horror genre can offer, and to date has featured stories from a variety of genre luminaries.
For more details, check out the ‘As Editor’ page in the ‘Work’ section of this website. There you’ll find book covers, lists of contributors and links where you can buy copies of each volume.
In my opinion, short fiction is the very lifeblood of the horror genre, and hopefully, with your support, this series can continue for many years to come. And who knows, if you’re a short story writer yourself, maybe one day one of your stories will appear within the pages of a future volume.
