SHINING STAR REVIEWS likes Ellen Datlow’s forthcoming anthology NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR.

There is an offering here for everyone. Out of the 23, there was only one story I didn’t care for at all. The rest were really good. There is something for everyone here from serial killers, to zombies, to demons to shape shifters.

My favorite was Lonegan’s Luck, which stayed with me a week later and I felt was so good I held my mother hostage and told her all about it. It’s a good example of what happens when you can get caught up in a routine and get too cocky and confident.  Best story of the whole book in my opinion.

Ellen Datlow (credit: THIS IS HORROR)

SFFWORLD interviews Ellen Datlow.

A working life spent reading SF,  Fantasy, and horror short stories sounds like a dream come true.  Are there down sides to being an editor? Do you have any advice for aspiring editors?

ED:  I’ve always loved short stories, so working in the short fiction field is indeed the perfect job for me.

It’s hard to find time to read outside the genres in which I’m currently working. I mostly read short fiction for work, so picking novels that I hope I’ll enjoy is the challenge. They usually have to be dark/horror so I can cover them in my annual Best Horror of the Year. The administration is a pain: sending out contracts, paying royalties to a hundred writers is onerous (even with Paypal).  But everything else is great. I love the whole editing process, from soliciting new stories that would not exist except for me asking; working with my authors on story revision (if necessary); and even the line edit.

Advice: Read. Read slush. If you don’t love reading, you have no reason to be an editor.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

ED: Read widely. Don’t only read in the genre that you want to write in. Short stories are a great way to experiment and also keep your name out there while you’re writing a novel. Don’t be so desperate to be published that you’ll allow just anyone to publish your work. You deserve to be paid for your writing. Be patient and keep writing and keep submitting. If a story has been submitted everywhere and you can’t sell it, put it aside and then go back to it in a few months and reread it. If it doesn’t work, cannibalize it. Never throw a story out.

Datlow will be part of the second annual Archon Authors Science Fiction Panel in Saint Louis, MO on September 29.

Left Bank Books, Archon, and the Brentwood Public Library present the second annual Archon Authors Science Fiction Panel featuring Ellen Datlow, Bradley Denton & Ann Leckie, moderated by Mark Tiedemann!

<snip>

Thursday, September 29, 2016 – 7:00pm
Brentwood Rec Center
2505 S Brentwood Blvd.
Saint Louis, MO 63144

For more info about NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Nihil

Design by Elizabeth Story