Editor Interview: Darkhouse Books

Curated Anthologies

Magazines and journals that are well-edited, such as, Isaac Asimov Science Fiction Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, Tin House, The Sun, Eckleberg, Untreed Reads.
We are not a copy and paste operation. Our editors read and critique each story selected, offering suggestions, corrections, and suggestions on how the story may be improved. Authors are not required to take our suggestions and corrections, but neither are we obliged to publish a story if we cannot come to agreement on a sticking point. So far we have had a 100% success rate in authors accepting our suggestions and corrections.

We trend toward writers who enjoy language and who can employ humor in the darkest of stories, and find pathos and true emotion in the most humorous. Personal favorites include, PG Wodehouse, Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein, Bill Pronzini, Edward D. Hoch, Rex Stout, Craig Rice, Agatha Christie.

We steer clear of extreme violence, language, and sex. We also work with the authors to ensure their stories are the best they can be before publishing. We publish in all major ebook formats as well as in paperback from both CreateSpace so that Amazon customers can receive their order fast, and Ingram/Spark so that bookstores and libraries can order them with traditional terms and discounts.

Read the submission request carefully. When in doubt, query our editors.

A four to six thousand word story that has great characters and setting and leaves the reader wanting to read more about them. Additionally, great opening and closing lines will make it more likely your story will be selected.

To our surprise, we receive gritty, dark crime stories for cozy anthologies, stories set in modern day for historical anthologies, and the occasional novel for a short story collection.

We try not to remember what was said of the story or the writer's credentials until after the story is selected. We believe the story should stand on its own, not rest on the writer's reputation. Once a story has been accepted, then we make use of biographical details and publishing history. Of importance also, after the story is selected, is the how, when, and why of the story.

We read every story from beginning to end but - it's not difficult to know the result ahead of time if the opening is weak. Short stories need great openings.

Each anthology develops its own narrative voice from the stories accepted. Sometimes a story will not make the cut because the story's voice doesn't work with the other stories, or has too much in kind with another, stronger story.
Every story rejected receives feedback on why it did not make the cut, sometimes with suggestions on how to make it stronger, sometimes with suggestions of markets more appropriate.

We read and discuss stories during the selection process, reading up to a half-dozen in a single setting. We assign every story a score between zero and one hundred. Those scores often bump up or down with each subsequent reading as we try to winnow the submissions down to our target number, usually between twelve and twenty stories for an anthology, depending on overall length.