Robert Dunbar's Blog - Posts Tagged "anthology"
YOUR SOUL ...
“Your soul is a dark forest.”
~ Marcel Proust
When it was released as an ebook, my novella WOOD made a considerable critical impact, but a lot of hardcore “physical books only” people complained about its not being available in other formats. Trust me – these are not folks you want to provoke. (Writers have been maimed.) So I began thinking in terms of a suitable anthology to showcase it.
The critics about WOOD:
“A dark literary masterpiece.”
~ FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND
“A downright joy to read.”
~ NIGHTS & WEEKENDS
“Literary horror at its best.”
~ LAYERS OF THOUGHT
“Mesmerizing … unnerving.”
~ LITERARY MAYHEM
“Wonderful … flows with an eerie pace.”
~ MORE-2-READ
“Horror as it should be.”
~ TO-THE-BONE REVIEWS
“Creepy… frightening… thought provoking.”
~ NAMELESS DIGEST
“Honest-to-God terrifying.”
~ HORROR WORLD
DARK FOREST is what I came up with. As is so often the case with a really good project, it quickly started to take on a life of its own.
Something deadly lurks among the shadows… and the trees themselves seethe with menace.
Never believe you are safe. No one is safe.
I chose classic stories of the malignant wilderness by authors like Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Machen, E. Nesbit, and H. G. Wells, among many others, and had great fun orchestrating them. Tales like THE WILLOWS, A VINE ON A HOUSE and THE PAVILION combine to create an atmosphere of inhuman malignity.
Then I had this really inspired thought. I contacted a group of colleagues (all people I admire and respect) and asked each of them to choose one of the stories and share their impressions. In the finished volume, each tale is introduced and annotated by a contemporary author, and the insights and observations of people like Paul G. Bens, Ramsey Campbell, Sandy DeLuca, James Everington, Greg F. Gifune, Kevin Lucia, Ronald Malfi, Lisa Mannetti, Elizabeth Massie, and B. E. Scully only deepen the experience.
DARK FOREST
For instance, sample Ramsey Campbell's thoughts about Algernon Blackwood:
"No writer of supernatural horror conveys awe – the highest pitch of terror – more often or more powerfully than Algernon Blackwood, and even he rarely achieved the uncanny poignancy of..."
I was fascinated, and it worked beautifully. Throughout the book, major talents offer extraordinary (and illuminating) observations. I'm very proud of this volume and of the kind of response it's gotten.
"The monsters may, or may not, be real, but the terror… brings the intangible nightmares into our reality ... Bizarre, disturbing, and darkly fascinating. Dunbar is a skilled editor, and his selections reflect a thoughtful, carefully-planned storyboard around the larger theme... an excellent dark fiction Gothic anthology. These are some of dark fiction’s best voices. Highly recommended."
~ HELL NOTES
From the Introduction:
The dark is where we live. The dark is all there is.
We fear darkness. We fear eyes that watch from the foliage. Sometimes we fear the foliage.
Perhaps we should.
Long before haunted houses existed, haunted forests circled the globe. Homer knew it. The Brothers Grimm knew it. In legend, all the great mythic quests of self-discovery begin with a hero entering a forsaken wood.
Some journeys also end there…
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Forest-Rob...
“You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path.”
~ Joseph Campbell
~ Marcel Proust
When it was released as an ebook, my novella WOOD made a considerable critical impact, but a lot of hardcore “physical books only” people complained about its not being available in other formats. Trust me – these are not folks you want to provoke. (Writers have been maimed.) So I began thinking in terms of a suitable anthology to showcase it.
The critics about WOOD:
“A dark literary masterpiece.”
~ FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND
“A downright joy to read.”
~ NIGHTS & WEEKENDS
“Literary horror at its best.”
~ LAYERS OF THOUGHT
“Mesmerizing … unnerving.”
~ LITERARY MAYHEM
“Wonderful … flows with an eerie pace.”
~ MORE-2-READ
“Horror as it should be.”
~ TO-THE-BONE REVIEWS
“Creepy… frightening… thought provoking.”
~ NAMELESS DIGEST
“Honest-to-God terrifying.”
~ HORROR WORLD
DARK FOREST is what I came up with. As is so often the case with a really good project, it quickly started to take on a life of its own.
Something deadly lurks among the shadows… and the trees themselves seethe with menace.
Never believe you are safe. No one is safe.
I chose classic stories of the malignant wilderness by authors like Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Machen, E. Nesbit, and H. G. Wells, among many others, and had great fun orchestrating them. Tales like THE WILLOWS, A VINE ON A HOUSE and THE PAVILION combine to create an atmosphere of inhuman malignity.
Then I had this really inspired thought. I contacted a group of colleagues (all people I admire and respect) and asked each of them to choose one of the stories and share their impressions. In the finished volume, each tale is introduced and annotated by a contemporary author, and the insights and observations of people like Paul G. Bens, Ramsey Campbell, Sandy DeLuca, James Everington, Greg F. Gifune, Kevin Lucia, Ronald Malfi, Lisa Mannetti, Elizabeth Massie, and B. E. Scully only deepen the experience.
DARK FOREST
For instance, sample Ramsey Campbell's thoughts about Algernon Blackwood:
"No writer of supernatural horror conveys awe – the highest pitch of terror – more often or more powerfully than Algernon Blackwood, and even he rarely achieved the uncanny poignancy of..."
I was fascinated, and it worked beautifully. Throughout the book, major talents offer extraordinary (and illuminating) observations. I'm very proud of this volume and of the kind of response it's gotten.
"The monsters may, or may not, be real, but the terror… brings the intangible nightmares into our reality ... Bizarre, disturbing, and darkly fascinating. Dunbar is a skilled editor, and his selections reflect a thoughtful, carefully-planned storyboard around the larger theme... an excellent dark fiction Gothic anthology. These are some of dark fiction’s best voices. Highly recommended."
~ HELL NOTES
From the Introduction:
The dark is where we live. The dark is all there is.
We fear darkness. We fear eyes that watch from the foliage. Sometimes we fear the foliage.
Perhaps we should.
Long before haunted houses existed, haunted forests circled the globe. Homer knew it. The Brothers Grimm knew it. In legend, all the great mythic quests of self-discovery begin with a hero entering a forsaken wood.
Some journeys also end there…
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Forest-Rob...
“You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path.”
~ Joseph Campbell
Haunted Dawn: A Literary Horror Anthology
It was a dark and stormy morning…
Traditional ghosts fade with the dawn. The fears that haunt our dreams evaporate by first light, but there are worse things, worse specters. Far more fearsome are those spirits that do not flee the daybreak.
They stay with us. And torment us. They blight our lives, plague our minds. They linger.
They become part of us.
Each of the authors presented here understands this fact … only too well.
“HAUNTED DAWN: A Literary Horror Anthology” features work by Paul G. Bens, Jr., Lisa von Biela, Justin Bogdanovitch, Chesya Burke, Kealan P. Burke, Nickolas Cook, P.D. Cacek, Jameson Currier, Keith Deininger, Sandy DeLuca, Robert Dunbar, James Everington, Greg F. Gifune, John Grover, Gerard Houarner, Lauren James, Kevin Lucia, Ronald Malfi, Lisa Mannetti, Elizabeth Massie, and B.E. Sculy.
Does horror have to be the same old thing? Over and over?
So many books seem like variants on a theme. Seriously? How many “totally new twists” on zombies or werewolves could there be? Maybe a vampire romance? Or -- I know -- how about some more stories “inspired” by Lovecraft?
Oh please.
Wouldn’t you like to read something… different? For a change? Something original? Here’s a radical idea – how about cutting-edge authors who have already invested their considerable talents in pushing the boundaries of the genre? How about literary artistry, creative intelligence … and transcendent chills?
How about paying the writers?
(Now there’s a concept.)
Here’s your chance to help Haunted Dawn see the light of day.
* * *
I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that the Kickstarter project for Haunted Dawn is up and running. Please do what you can to help promote it. Thanks!
Rob
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
