Book of Shadows

I received my contributor copy of the Book of Shadows Volume 1 yesterday. Dang, it's good.

You know it's not your usual Aussie Spec Fic Ghetto piece before you even open the package. It's the right frigging size. I'm sure there are some good reasons for the small press to print books in the bigger size (cost being a major one, I imagine), and the quality of many of those works is still top-notch, but nothing screams SMALL PRESS like that bigger size of book. This baby presents itself with the best (well, paperback anyway). The cover art is appropriately ominous, and not distinct. It just gives you a feeling, not an object to focus on. That works for me. I'm the type of guy that reads through an antho wondering which story includes that chainsaw wielding cow I saw on the cover.

The stories? Well, you read Shadowed Realms don't you? Almost all of the stories are taken from SR's first year(it includes my little story Moving Dad from SR #6). The difference here is that you can read them all in one sitting, and what amazed me was that no recurring themes or styles came up. No editorial obsession with one topic, no underlying "If it ain't new wierd, it ain't fiction" bigotry, just damned good stories. Some are creepy some are poignant, all are dark.

The future is looking good for Aussie Dark Fic. Onward and upward, Brimstone.