From Joseph D'Lacey
Without revealing the table of
contents, I did want to say little about the anatomy of Splinters.
Ever
since Cadenza Magazine accepted the first story I wrote in 2001, I’ve been
dying to put together a collection. Without self-publishing, however, it became
obvious as time went by that such a project was a big ask.
I’ve
tested the water with two or three publishers over the years but they didn’t dig
my work. Additionally, the short story ‘market’ is a tough one. People don’t
buy anthologies the way they did when I was a young, voracious reader and you
rarely see them prominently displayed in bookshops.
Because
it seemed an unrealistic expectation, I stopped giving the idea of a collection
any real energy a long time ago. Isn’t it funny how sometimes, when you stop
pushing, things just fall into your lap? Unbeknownst to me, Simon Key created
Timeline Books and had me on his hit list. A few months ago, he got in touch
with a proposition. The rest is interactive publishing history.
Or,
at least, it will be after we release the book…
I
was concerned about the selection process, I have to say. If we didn’t see eye
to eye on what we liked and what worked best, where would it leave us?
I
sent Simon about forty tales in batches of three or more and when he’d read
them all we met and discussed his responses. Of the ones he chose, some are
previously published, others have never been seen. Some are satirical. Some are
bleak. Some are funny. Some are gruesome. All of them are tales I’m proud to
have written and I’m relieved to say that Simon has chosen the best of my short
fiction from the last eleven years.
For
the moment, that’s all I can tell you but I sincerely hope you love them. Every
single one.
Splinters is available to pre-order here
