| Author | Message | ||
     Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.166.73 |
An example of a Freudian typo, I think. I've spent a lot of time in the last year reading up on the R101 airship disaster; the airship was first commissioned by Ramsey MacDonald's first Labour Government and... etc, etc. But am I the only one thinking this would be a great idea for an anthology? A government of horror writers? Would there be a Ministry of Lovecraftian Affairs, maybe? Just a thought. Any would-be editors, feel free to pick up this ball...  } | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
No, Simon, it's not a great anthology idea as one really good story could cover it. However, it is a great story idea. You know what to do... Note to editors: too many theme anthologies drain the energy from great ideas by effectively getting twenty people to write the same story. Keep your theme SIMPLE so each story is different and able to surprise the reader. 'The Festival' would have had minimal impact in an anthology called Yuletide Celebrations Where Worms Imitate People. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
I'd love to see one where you just give a title to the writers and leave the rest up to them - so you get 20 stories all with the same title but by vastly different writers. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.158.58.16 |
I did that with CONE ZERO, Weber. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I'm not a fan of themed anthologies as I like the surprise factor of not knowing what's coming next. I make an exception with Cthulhu Mythos anthos or those in which geographic location is the link and I also own 'The Cold Embrace' - an interesting early example featuring only female authors. In all of these the surprise factor still counts. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.158.58.16 |
I think some themes have the double benefit of allowing individual surprises as well as unifying the book. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 2.24.7.228 |
Weber, there are at least two other examples: The Piano Player has No Fingers ed. Jeff Vandermeer (special issue of Leviathan) and Alsiso ed. Andrew Hook. Both are seriously offbeat. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.158.58.16 |
I had two stories in THE PIANO PLAYER HAS NO FINGERS. One correction. This, in 1996, was part of Wayne Edwards' PALACE CORBIE series of books, not JV's LEVIATHAN. Here is my real-time rteview of Andrew Elastic Press's ALSISO anthology: http://nullimmortalis.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/the-alsiso-project/ | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Thanks, Des – and apologies for my crap memory. TPPHNF was half of a double issue – the other half included an early Joe Hill story, very fine but probably judged too grim and realistic for his first collection. |