[New Release] Tales of the Dark Eras Anthology

Tales of the Dark Eras

Today, I am pleased to announce that Tales of the Dark Eras, a collection of alternate history stories inspired by Dark Eras, is now available. I wrote a Hunter: The Vigil story set in the early 1690s called “Suffering of the Unchosen”, about a distraught father who has accused the local hunters of killing his wife and child near Salem Village. Motivated by his grief and anger, the local farmer intersects with the Knights of Saint George to bring his family’s murderers to justice…or so it seems.

Walk through the ages…

As a companion to Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras this anthology reveals secrets of the mystics, whispers rumors of the dead, and shines a light into the darkest corners of the world.

Tales of the Dark Eras includes historical stories based within the shadowed past of Vampire: The Requiem, Mage: The Awakening, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Changeling: The Lost, and other Chronicles of Darkness settings.

In the Chronicles of Darkness…

Explore the shadows with tales by Howard Ingham, Malcolm Sheppard, Pete Woodworth, Renee Ritchie, Jess Hartley, Monica Valentinelli, Danielle Harper, Matthew McFarland, Mike Tomasek, Eric Zawadski, Meghan Fitzgerald, and Dennis Detwiller.

Tales of the Dark Eras is now available in print and digital!

August 10, 2016
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Announcing the Final List of Contributors and Tropes for Upside Down

Less than 48 hours to go, and I couldn’t be happier with the way the Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling Kickstarter has gone. We have over 1,000 backers, and today I am happy to announce the final list of contributors. I’ve contacted everyone on the short list that I had contact info for, so if you do not have a response please let me know and I’ll be happy to follow up. Jaym and I are concerned about ensuring all of our authors are treated well; the caliber and quality of stories we received was nothing short of fantastic, and our decisions were very difficult to make.

Short Story & Poetry Contributors

Kat Richardson, Maurice Broaddus, Michael Underwood, Anton Strout, Shanna Germain, Ferrett Steinmetz, Haralambi Markov, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Alyssa Wong, Nisi Shawl, Sunil Patel, Rahul Kanakia, Sara Harvey, John Hornor Jacobs, Delilah Dawson, Adam-Troy Castro, Alethea Kontis, Katy Harrad & Greg Stolze, Alisa Schreibman, Alex Shvartsman, Rati Mehrotra, Elsa S. Henry, Michelle Lyons-McFarland, Michael Choi, Michelle Muenzler, and Michael Matheson

Tropes Examined

Asian Scientist, Blind People are Magic, Chainmaille Bikini, Chosen One, Damsels in Distress, Epic Fantasy, First Period Panic, Gendericide, Girlfriend in the Refrigerator, Guys Smash, Girls Shoot, Heroine Loves a Bad Man, Jewish Magic, Love at First Sight, Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Prostitute with a Heart of Gold, Retired Pro’s “Last” Job, The Black Man Dies First, The City Planet, The Magical Negro, The Power of Names, The Singularity will Cause the Apocalypse, The Super Soldier, The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood, World Ends/Sets/Reboots, and Yellow Peril

Essayists

Patrick Hester, Lucy Snyder, A.C. Wise, Victor Raymond, and Keffy Kehrli

Essay Topics

Are Tropes Bad?, an examination of Detta/Odetta from The Dark Tower series and how it relates to the gothic trope Jekyll and Hyde, the differences between the hero’s journey and the heroine’s journey using Labyrinth as an example, tropes from a queer (LGBTQA+) perspective, and the intersection of race and culture with respect to tropes and cliches.

March 24, 2016
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Announcing our Kickstarter for a Trope-Smashing Anthology

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Today, Hugo-nominated Apex Book Company is pleased to announce the launch of a Kickstarter for Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling. The anthology’s concept highlights the long-standing tradition of writers who tackle tired tropes or clichés prevalent in popular media and twist them to tell fresh and interesting stories.

Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling is edited by Monica Valentinelli and Jaym Gates. Each author in this collection has examined a specific trope or cliché that includes: Chainmaille Bikini, The Black Man Dies First, Superhero Had a Crappy Childhood, Yellow Peril, and The Chosen One.

The anthology features cover art by award-winning artist Galen Dara, and includes speculative stories from Maurice Broaddus, Anton Strout, Shanna Germain, Sara Harvey, Delilah Dawson, John Hornor Jacobs, Rahul Kanakia, Alethea Kontis, Haralambi Markov, Sunil Patel, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Alyssa Wong, and many others.

In addition to fiction, planned stretch goals will further enhance the collection’s theme and presentation by adding essays about tropes and clichés. Backers may also add additional books and a subscription to Apex Magazine to further support Apex Book Company and ensure the success of this unique collection.

To find out more about Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling, be sure to watch for milestone-related updates from the editors on the Kickstarter at Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling Kickstarter or on the Apex Book Company website at www.apexbookcompany.com.

February 26, 2016
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Update on Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling

Hello dear readers!

Today, I’d like to update you on the collection I’m editing with Jaym Gates. Our anthology, which is titled Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling, is now open for submissions. The guidelines are listed on the Apex Book Company blog, and the deadline for submissions is December 31, 2015.

If you’d like to read more about this anthology, here are some links for you to read:

At the moment, we are working on wrapping up the details for the core of this collection ahead of the Kickstarter. We want to make sure that all of the details are taken care of before launch, and we’re super-excited! Until next time…

November 16, 2015
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Read a Preview of Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling



Hello dear Readers! Jaym Gates and I are hard at work wrapping up the cover design, initial Table of Contents, and the submission guidelines for our upcoming anthology titled Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling for Apex Book Company. We’ll be launching a Kickstarter for this anthology, and I’ll be sharing more details about that soon.

Today, I wanted to share with you a preview of what this anthology is all about. Maurice Broaddus has written a story titled “Super Duper Fly” which appears in the October 2015 issue of Apex Magazine. Follow the link and you can read it on the company website!

In his own words, Maurice talks about the trope he wanted to tackle and why.

THE MAGICAL NEGRO—It’s easy to believe that this trope came from a good place or at least rose out of benign neglect. After all, a white writer is “writing what they know” or appealing to their target demographic, which is typically people like them, but they want a more diverse world. So the easy solution is to put an “other” at a critical place in their hero’s journey to help them along. The Magical Negro is one such other (see also: Magical Native American, Magical Asian, etc). One sees The Magical Negro in such movies as Ghost, The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Family Man, and Bruce Almighty. Or in an unusual amount of Stephen King novels/movie adaptations such as The Stand, The Talisman (written with Peter Straub), The Shining, and the ultimate ode to The Magical Negro, The Green Mile.- Maurice Broaddus

In the upcoming Upside Down, you will find tropes and clichés that writers chose to tackle and examine through the lends of their stories. These range from race-based tropes like the Magical Negro to others grounded in genre, like the City Planet. Our submission guidelines, which will be posted shortly, will include a wish list of the types of tropes and clichés we’d like to see. This will help us ensure we’ve got a good mix of stories that’ll cover a broad range of tropes for the reader.

Hope you’re as excited about this collection as I am!

October 15, 2015
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