Anthologies

The first anthology of fiction from Gold Dust Magazine

A collection of 14 brand new horror short stories from authors such as Sarah Pinborough, Neil Jones, James Moran, Sarah Ditum, Rosie Fletcher and James Henry. The full story list is: “We’ve Heard This Story Before” by Aliya Whiteley “Just For The Taste Of It” by Chris Farnell “Knowing” by Natasha Duncan-Drake “Bad Dog” by Neil Jones “The Boy Who Cried Fire” by Sarah Ditum “The Lock” by Tom Pollock “Figment” by Joff Brown “The Box” by Clayton Littlewood “Pass It On” by James Moran “The Little Girl And The Tentacles” by Rosie Fletcher “The Night Bus” by Sarah Pinborough “Junk Male” by James Brogden “A History Lesson” by Kit Allen “There’s A Worm At The Bottom Of The Garden” by James Henry Proceeds from the book go to support cancer charities, as part of DenOfGeek.com's Geeks Vs Cancer appeal. Each story deals with the theme of urban legends. And they're best not read before bedtime...

Inside, you’ll find a wealth of short stories featuring iron-willed heroines, soul-shredding monsters and hilariously misguided buffoons. Despite the vast differences in plot, circumstance and voice, our main characters all share one feature: they are women – mothers and daughters, sisters, midwives and waitresses, heroines and traitors, cold-hearted huntswomen and decadent goddesses. Inside these pages, you’ll find some of the very best writers of weird fiction, including Merrie Haskell, J.S. Breukelaar, Nicole Cushing, Sandra McDonald, Janett L. Grady, Victoria Hooper, Tantra Bensko, Rachel Kendall, Roberta Chloe Verdant, Amelia Mangan, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Michele Lee, Deb Hoag, Janis Butler Holm, Nancy Collins, Sarah A.D. Shaw, Lorraine H McGuire, Nikki Guerlain, Peggy A. Wheeler, Aliya Whiteley and Charie D. La Marr.

Killing it SoftlyThe Best by Women in HorrorSuzie Lockhart and Digital Horror Fiction are thrilled to present 32 chilling tales of terror from some of the best authors in horror. Killing It Softly includes stories from New York Times best selling authors Nancy Holder and Elaine Cunningham, together with more shocking short nightmares from the finest award winning female writers in the genre.Your heart won’t stop pounding as you dig into the pages of this book; from the moment you immerse yourself in the first tale, about a women waking to find herself inside a coffin, buried alive, until the last, a coming of age story about a sixteen-year-old’s journey of self-discovery amidst all hell breaking loose. You’ll find your proof that women can, indeed, do a wicked dance between science fiction and horror as they penetrate your darkest thoughts, to bring forth stories promising to leave you with a lingering anxiety you can’t seem to shake. Any romantic notions of vampires will be crushed, and dark and twisted plots will confirm definitively that females can even write about zombies. We dare you to read stories that will leave you deeply disturbed, and some that will slice into your very soul. It wouldn’t be horror if there wasn’t an ode to Edgar Allen Poe…we have two masterfully written tales. There are stories off the odd and unusual, stories that take a perilous dive into worlds of disturbing shadows, and there’s even an exorcism—in a tale that daringly addresses the heartbreaking disease that is alcoholism.Enter at your own risk...Featuring: Rebecca Snow, H.R. Boldwood, Christine Lucas, Gerri Leen, Tracie McBride, Rie Sheridan Rose, Aliya Whiteley, Marion Pitman, Jenner Michaud, Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert, Carole Gill, Tina Rath, Airika Sneve, Carson Buckingham, Chantal Boudreau, Eleanor R. Wood, Nidhi Singh, Rebecca J. Allred, Rebecca Fraser, Jo-Anne Russell, K. S. Dearsley, Amanda Northrup Mays, M.J. Sydney, Rose Blackthorn, Annie Neugebauer, Elaine Cunningham, Sandra Kasturi, Jess Landry, Sarah Hans, Lillian Csernica, Tory Hoke, and Nancy HolderKilling It SoftlyPresented by Digital Fiction Publishing Corp.DigitalFictionPub.comTable of Contents:Torn Asunder—Rebecca SnowLambent Lights—H.R. BoldwoodNosophoros—Christine LucasWhat the Rain Brings—Gerri LeenTaking it for The Team—Tracie McBrideHere We Go Round—Rie Sheridan RoseSongs for Dead Children—Aliya WhiteleyMusic in the Bone—Marion PitmanAll of a Heap—Jenner MichaudTraitorous, Lying, Little Star—Suzanne Reynolds-AlpertTruth Hurts—Carole GillA Trick of the Dark—Tina RathAbysmoira—Airika SneveSkin Deep—Carson BuckinghamOrbs—Chantal BoudreauRule of Five—Eleanor R. WoodGuilty by Chance—Nidhi SinghEcdysis—Rebecca J. AllredCoralesque—Rebecca FraserThe Funhouse—Jo-Anne RussellGraffiti—K. S. DearsleyComplete—Amanda Northrup MaysEllensburg Blue—M.J. SydneyAbandoned—Rose BlackthornThe Call of the House of Usher—Annie NeugebauerRavens—Elaine CunninghamFoxford—Sandra KasturiThe Root—Jess LandryLong Time, No See—Sarah HansSaving Grace—Lillian CsernicaMillie's Hammock—Tory HokeChanged—Nancy Holder

Fifteen predictions, seventy years in the future. By 2084 the world we know is gone. These are stories from our world seven decades later. In 1948 George Orwell looked at the world around him and his response was 1984, now a classic dystopian novel. Here eleven writers asked themselves the same question as Orwell did – where are we going, and what is our future? Visit the dark corners of the future metropolis, trek the wastelands of all that remains. See the world through the eyes of drones. Put humanity on trial as the oceans rise. Say goodbye to your body as humanity merges with technology. Warnings or prophesies? Paradise or destruction? Will we be proud of what we have achieved, in 2084? Our future unfolds before us.

Editor Donna Scott has selected the very best short fiction by British authors published during 2017. Twenty-two stories, from established names and rising stars. Introduction – Donna Scott Blinders – Tyler Keevil In the Night of the Comet – Adam Roberts The Walls of Tithonium Chasma – Tim Major 3.8 Missions – Katie Gray Over You – Jaine Fenn The Ghosts of Europa Will Keep You Trapped in a Prison You Make for Yourself – Matt Dovey Uniquo – Aliya Whiteley Looking for Laika – Laura Mauro A Good Citizen – Anne Charnock Mercury Teardrops – Jeff Noon The Nightingales in Plàtres – Natalia Theodoridou The Road to the Sea – Lavie Tidhar When I Close My Eyes – Chris Barnham Targets – Eric Brown London Calling – Philip A. Suggars The Last Word – Ken MacLeod After the Atrocity – Ian Creasey Voicemail – Karen McCreedy Green Boughs Will Cover Thee – Sarah Byrne Airless – N.J. Ramsden Product Recall – Robert Bagnall The Endling Market – E. J. Swift About the Authors

The booth juts at an angle from the sand, the canvas taut beneath the weight of the drifting dunes. Janet almost passes it by. But it’s the sign that snags her attention. Painted in rust-red onto three pieces of driftwood, the sun-bleached planks lashed together with lengths of twisted blond twine, it looks surprisingly fresh. Enter the Shadow Booth, it says, and you will never be the same again. Welcome to The Shadow Booth, a journal of weird and eerie fiction edited by Dan Coxon. Drawing its inspiration from the likes of Thomas Ligotti and Robert Aickman, The Shadow Booth explores that dark, murky hinterland between mainstream horror and literary fiction. Volume 2 contains stories by: Chikodili Emelumadu, Dan Grace, Kirsty Logan, Johnny Mains, Ralph Robert Moore, Mark Morris, Gareth E. Rees, Giovanna Repetto, George Sandison, Anna Vaught and Aliya Whiteley.

Disturbing the Beast is a collection of weird fiction stories by some of the best women writers in the UK, featuring Kirsty Logan and Aliya Whiteley. It features fictional tales that explore lesser talked about female centred topics including sexual abuse, pregnancy issues and body image. The anthology unearths these subjects in a healthy and respectful way, something that we feel is not often considered in mainstream, contemporary literature. It's a collection of short stories in the weird fiction genre, from UK based women with breath-taking prose and thought-provoking plots. Featured authors, are: Kirsty Logan - , Jane Alexander, Rosie Garland, Lorraine Wilson, Aliya Whiteley, Cheryl Powell, Carolyn Jess-Cooke, Caroline Steed and Sam Mills. This debut collection is from new, independent publisher, Boudicca Press, who celebrate the strength, courage and literary talents of women. They publish weird, literary and relationship fiction by women in the UK.

This is the tale of a town on the fringes of fear, of ordinary people and everyday objects transformed by terror and madness, a microcosm of the world where nothing is ever quite what it seems. This is a world where the unreal is real, where the familiar and friendly lure and deceive. On the outskirts of civilisation sits this solitary town. Home to the unhinged. Oblivion to outsiders. Shallow Creek contains twenty-one original horror stories by a chilling cast of contemporary writers, including stories by Sarah Lotz, Richard Thomas, Adrian J Walker, and Aliya Whitely. Told through a series of interconnected narratives, Shallow Creek is an epic anthology that exposes the raw human emotion and heart-pounding thrills at the genre's core. Welcome to Shallow Creek!

The very best fantasy stories by British and British-based authors. More than twenty stories of the strange and fantastic, written by an exciting blend of established names and newer voices, ranging from traditional sword and sorcery to contemporary fantasy. A book packed with mermaids, impossible quizzes, magic swords, towering monsters, ghostly lovers, tricksters, numerous apocalypses, a particularly irritating local councillor... and bees.

Twenty-six stories that represent some of the best SF published anywhere in 2018; dreamlike glimpses of pristine worlds that will destroy us before we destroy them; stories of work-based friendships, mistrust and isolation; of alienation and othering; stories of slavery given an acceptable face through beautiful voice and the ever-present need to keep fighting injustice; stories of bodily choice being made a crime; stories of rebellions we thought we’d already had but need to have again. We have another end to childhood. And we have the murder of story itself, involving an AI… Full contents: Introduction by Donna Scott Providence – Alastair Reynolds Talking to Ghosts at the Edge of the World – Lavie Tidhar The Miracle Lambs of Minane – Finbarr O'Reilly Territory Blank – Aliya Whiteley Throw Caution – Tim Major Golgotha – Dave Hutchinson Salvation – Dave Bradley Waterbirds – G.V. Anderson Buddy System – Mike Morgan Do No Harm – Anna Ibbotson A Change of Heart – Hannah Tougher Birnam Platoon – Natalia Theodoridou Good – Sunyi Dean Hard Times in Nuovo Genova – Chris Barnham The Escape Hatch – Matthew de Abaitua P.Q. – James Warner The Purpose of the Dodo is to be Extinct – Malcolm Devlin Cat and Mouse – David Tallerman Before They Left – Colin Greenland Harry's Shiver – Esme Carpenter The Whisperer – J.K. Fulton Death of the Grapevine – Teika Marija Smits Rainsticks – Matt Thompson The Veilonaut's Dream – Henry Szabranski Doomed Youth – Fiona Moore F Sharp 4 – Tim Pieraccini About the Authors

Have you ever wondered what the fairy tales of alien cultures are like? For hundreds of years scholars and writers have collected and retold folk and fairy stories from around our world. They are not alone. On distant planets alien chroniclers have done the same. For just as our world is steeped in legends and half-remembered truths of the mystic and the magical, so are theirs. Now, for the first time, we can share some of these tales with you… 1. Introduction – David Gullen 2. The Little People – Una McCormack 3. Lost in the Rewilding – Paul Di Filippo 4. Goblin Autumn – Adrian Tchaikovksy 5. Myths of Sisyphus – Allen Ashley 6. The Land of Grunts and Squeaks – Chris Beckett 7. The Blood Rose – Susan Oke 8. Starfish – Liz Williams 9. The Raveller’s Tale – Neil Williamson 10. The Tiny Traveller – Aliya Whiteley 11. The Tale of Suyenye the Wise, the Ay, and the People of the Shining Land – Gaie Sebold 12. Wanderlust – Kim Lakin-Smith 13. Pale Sister – Jaine Fenn 14. Alpha42 and the Space Hermits – Stephen Oram 15. The Teller and the Starborn – Peter Sutton 16. The Winternet – Ian Whates 17. The Awakening – Bryony Pearce 18. About the Authors

Thirteen stories that look to the future of the diverse, multi-faceted city that is London. Stories that invite the reader to consider different perspectives; stories that draw you into possible tomorrows and suggest what may lie just beyond the city’s ever-changing skyline. Neal Asher opens the anthology with a high-octane tale set in his Polity Universe, Dave Hutchinson gives us a novelette from his Fractured Universe milieu, Jeremy Szal takes us to the world of his debut novel Stormblood, M.R. Carey, Aliette de Bodard, Geoff Ryman, Aliya Whiteley and a cast of equally talented writers transport us to Londons near and far... Militant A.I.s, virtual realities, augmented realities and alternative realities; a city where murderers stalk the streets, where drug lords rule from the shadows, and where large sections of the population are locked in time stasis, but where tea is still sipped in cafés on the corner and the past still resonates with the future... Contents: 1. Introduction by Ian Whates 2. Skin – Neal Asher 3. The Good Shepherd – Stewart Hotston 4. Infinite Tea in the Demara Café – Ida Keogh 5. War Crimes – M.R. Carey 6. Fog and Pearls at the King’s Cross Junction – Aliya Whiteley 7. Nightingale Floors – Dave Hutchinson 8. Something Went Wrong in Heaven – Geoff Ryman 9. A Visit in Whitechapel – Eugen Bacon 10. Herd Instinct – Fiona Moore 11. Death Aid – Joseph Elliott-Coleman 12. A Dance of Dust and Life – Aliette de Bodard 13. Commute – Andrew Wallace 14. Scream in Blue – Jeremy Szal 15. About the Authors

Beyond the Veil is the second volume in an annual, non-themed horror series of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer, and edited by Mark Morris. This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window. Contents List: THE GOD BAG by Christopher Golden CAKER’S MAN by Matthew Holness THE BEECHFIELD MIRACLES by Priya Sharma CLOCKWORK by Dan Coxon SOAPSTONE by Aliya Whiteley THE DARK BIT by Toby Litt PROVENANCE POND by Josh Malerman FOR ALL THE DEAD by Angeline B. Adams and Remco van Straten THE GIRL IN THE POOL by Bracken MacLeod NURSE VARDEN by Jeremy Dyson IF, THEN by Lisa L. Hannett AQUARIUM WARD by Karter Mycroft A MYSTERY FOR JULIE CHU by Stephen Gallagher AWAY DAY by Lisa Tuttle POLAROID AND SEAWEED by Peter Harness DER GEISTERBAHNHOF by Lynda E. Rucker ARNIE’S ASHES by John Everson A BRIEF TOUR OF THE NIGHT by Nathan Ballingrud THE CARE AND FEEDING OF HOUSEHOLD GODS by Frank J. Oreto YELLOWBACK by Gemma Files FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress.

Donna Scott has scoured magazines, anthologies, webzines and obscure genre corners to discover the very best science fiction stories by British and British-based authors published during 2021. Two dozen stories, varying greatly in subject matter and style, from superb technological mystery to conflict on very alien worlds, from sweet, sad stories symptomatic of the tense times we have lived through to tales optimistic for better times to come, and even a dash of wry humour here and there for good measure. Donna Scott is a director and recent chair of the BSFA, as well as being a distinguished poet, writer, and stand-up comedian. Donna is also a free-lance editor who has worked behind the scenes for a number of major publishers over the course of several years. Contents Introduction – Donna Scott Distribution – Paul Cornell Stealthcare – Liz Williams Down and Out Under the Tannhauser Gate – David Gullen Me Two – Keith Brooke and Eric Brown The Andraiad – Tim Major Bloodbirds – Martin Sketchley Going Home – Martin Westlake Okamoto’s Lens – A.N. Myers Love in the Age of Operator Errors – Ryan Vance Stone of Sorrow – Peter Sutton Henrietta – T.H. Dray A History of Food Additives in 22nd Century Britain – Emma Levin The Trip – Michael Crouch The Ghosts of Trees – Fiona Moore The Opaque Mirror of Your Face – Russell Hemmell More Sea Creatures to See – Aliya Whiteley The End of All Our Exploring – Gary Couzens How Does My Garden Grow? – David Cleden Girls’ Night Out – Teika Marija Smits Bar Hopping for Astronauts – Leo X. Robertson In Aeturnus – Phillip Irving A Spark in a Flask – Emma Johanna Puranen A Pall of Moondust – Nick Wood About the Authors Acknowledgements

A stunning anthology of fierce and dangerous women, featuring stories from Lauren Groff, Deesha Philyaw, K-Ming Chang, and thirteen other award-winning and bestselling authors A middle-aged Black woman exacts revenge on the aggressively average men she meets on dating sites. A girl buries pieces of herself in a hole beneath an apple tree, hoping to escape her mother’s life of struggle and servitude. A group of teenage girls compete for the title of "Worst Girl in America.” A young woman in Taiwan becomes infatuated with a female scam caller, a fleeting ghost of a love that blossoms from strangeness. And a wealthy woman goes to unconventional, and perhaps not entirely ethical, lengths to find her dream man. In these sixteen stories, we see women at their most monstrous—as con artists and murderers, cutthroats and scalpers, ruled by ambition and grief and spite. Characters for those tired of being told to play nice. Dressed to the nines in morally gray, the stories in this anthology comprise an envelope full of teeth: each one distinct, unsettling, and sharp enough to rip out a throat. List of contributors: Alice Ash, Alicia Elliott, Alison Rumfitt, Aliya Whiteley, Amanda Leduc, Chana Porter, Chantal V. Johnson, Chaya Bhuvaneswar, Deesha Philyaw, K-Ming Chang, Lauren Groff, Maisy Card, Megan Giddings, Sarah Rose Etter, Vanessa Chan, Yah Yah Scholfield

15 brand-new short stories inspired by and in honour of legendary writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Featuring Ann Leckie, Karen Joy Fowler, Charlie Jane Anders, Kelly Link, Ai Jiang and many others. Revolution in the Heart is a collection of 15 brand new stories by a group of celebrated authors, all inspired by one of the iconic figures in all of science fiction and fantasy: the legendary and award-winning Ursula K. Le Guin. From the appearance of her first work of short fiction in 1962 to the publication of the last in 2016, Ursula K. Le Guin was a master storyteller, winning innumerable awards, and achieving both commercial and literary success. She created the beloved stories of Earthsea alongside the urgent and essential stories of the Hain, pushing forward the form and concepts of science fiction and fantasy - reshaping them into forward-thinking genres. This collection honours her legacy with stories from authors she inspired: Ann Leckie Molly Gloss Kelly Link Charlie Jane Anders Sarah Pinsker Chana Porter Ai Jiang Alaya Dawn Johnson S. Qiouyi Lu E. Lily Yu Vandana Singh Aliya Whiteley Premee Mohamed Darice Little Badger Karen Joy Fowler