Postscripts to Darkness

The very fine and very kind Derek Newman-Stille of Speculating Canada recently reviewed Postscripts to Darkness Volume 3. Here’s some of what he had to say:

This will be the third Postscripts to Darkness volume that I have reviewed, and it is the best so far. The quality of the writing and artwork is even more impressive than the first two volumes. The stories in Postscripts continue to show their willingness to interrogate the dark, to go to places where other narratives shy away from. Along with monsters, conjurings, altered perceptions, gruesome creations, and horrifying deaths, Postscripts is willing to cast its dark light upon issues like alcoholism, drug addiction, family violence, incest, the death penalty, and other areas that are relegated to the dark or ignored because mainstream society doesn’t want to deal with them or finds them unsavory. Postscripts casts a particularly enlightening form of darkness upon the vision of those who seek to avoid the realities that serve as an undercurrent to their reality, and this particular flavour of horror is well suited for casting readers into a darkness they resist dealing with in their everyday lives.

You can read the full review here.

(Cover design subject to change.)

For such an early incarnation of our press, Postscripts to Darkness Volume 2 sure is The Little Issue that Could. We already boasted about how Chris Willard’s “What a Picture Doesn’t Say” was selected for Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing, while Ranylt Richildis’s “Long After the Greeks” earned an honourable mention. Now we learn that Daniel Lalonde’s “St. Gertrude’s Boys’ Choir” found its way onto Ellen Datlow’s long-list for The Best Horror of the Year Volume 5. We could not be happier for Danny, erstwhile contributor and current PstD designer. Three PstD 2 tales given such accolades? We blush.

We’re also delighted that several other PstD contributors earned a spot on Datlow’s venerable list for work that appeared in other publications last year. Helen Marshall, Stephen McQuiggan, and Ralph Robert Moore earned a nod, as did two yet-to-be-named Volume 5 contributors (they know who they are). Our poetry editor, Dominik Parisien, got a nod, as well. Good show, folks. Enjoy rubbing elbows with Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Stephen King, and Joe Hill.

Lastly, warm congrats to friends of PstD and canny editors Amal El-Mohtar (Goblin Fruit) and Michael Kelly (Shadows & Tall Trees), who first published work that Datlow will include in The Best Horror of the Year Volume 5. Thanks for bringing such lovely lays to light.

Our cup runneth over: Postscripts to Darkness has been honoured four times over by ChiZine Publications‘ Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. First, Christopher Willard’s “What a Picture Doesn’t Say” made the Table of Contents as one of the best tales of 2012, which appeared in PstD Volume 2. Our founding editor, Sean Moreland, earned an honourable mention for “Unrah, Late of Old Vegas,” which appeared in The Peter F. Yacht Club. Our poetry editor, Dominik Parisien (whose work is sweeping the anthologies this year) has two poems in the Table of Contents and three honourable mentions. And our newest story editor, Ranylt Richildis, earned an honourable mention for “Long After the Greeks,” published in PstD Volume 2 before she joined our staff. Congratulations everyone, and much gratitude to ChiZine Publications and Imaginarium 2013‘s editors for the love.

Treat yourself to a copy of Imaginarium 2013 when it’s released next month; these collections have become an annual event in speculative fiction, and dearly prized by readers and writers alike.