We know.
We know you’ve all waited years—quite literally, a decade—for this next volume of the Borderlands anthology series1. But since we aren’t a cheap date, keeping you waiting has, it is hoped, made you want us even more.
A lot has changed since last we read for this anthology—not much of it matters, but a couple things do. First off, Olivia (one of the collective “we”) is the newest editor for the Borderlands series—we like to keep it in the family—omertà and all that. Elizabeth decided to leave the small press stuff to us, which would probably explain why now your books are being shipped with three packing peanuts, as opposed to being wrapped in delicate tissue and sealed with a ribbon—what can we say?
We’ve been reading for this anthology intermittently for a couple years, but we had to postpone things until we got the right stories. Once we knew we had enough of them, the book came together in about a weekend, as do most things in our lives.
That said, you should probably put this book down if you love stories about vampires, zombies, apparitions, ghouls, slashers, and the rest of the usual horror staples that show up on a regular basis. Don’t get us wrong, we love a lot of the above tropes and icons, but we aren’t buying any of it for our series. We’d rather fill our pages with supremely weird tales, the ones concerned with things you don’t conjure in your most disturbing nightmares. We search out stories with original ideas and unique ways of examining them. Concept and execution. Offering you something you’ve never read before defines the nature of a true Borderlands story.
It’s been a really beautiful thing. We received so many stories from so many really talented writers that the winnowing process became our greatest, most joyful challenge. Even though most submissions were rejected (as is the way of the publishing world), we always appreciated knowing so many people out there thought of us and wanted to be part of this award-winning series.
In this sixth volume, we are pleased to showcase very new writers, solid veterans, graduates from the Borderlands Press Writers Boot Camp2, and of course some genre legends like Braunbeck, Ketchum, and Morrell.
We loved putting this anthology together for a very special audience—not just for people who read, but for those who search out truly imaginative fiction and when they read it, they get it. In other words, this book is for all you mutants. And you know who you are.
Now get to work . . . .
—Olivia & Tom Monteleone
Baltimore, February 2016
1 We would be terribly remiss if we didn’t tell you that the first five volumes of this historic series are all now available as e-books on Amazon. If you haven’t read them, they await for less than the price of a Big Mac . . . and they will stay with you a lot longer. So what are you waiting for?
2 If you don’t know about it, you probably should check it out at www.borderlandspress.com