We are so excited to announce our first anthology project, OBSOLESCENCE: A Dark Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Anthology.

This project will be edited by Shortwave founder Alan Lastufka and 84th Street Press founder Kristina Horner!

Some Quick Facts…

• You can sign up now for a special newsletter if you want to receive news and updates. This newsletter will contain updates for both readers who want the book, and writers who want to be published in the book!
• We will run a Kickstarter with backer exclusives (like Kickstarter-only hardcover editions, a companion zine, and more) in August! Sign up to the newsletter to hear about the Kickstarter launch first!
• Want to be involved in the book? Open submissions will be happening right around the corner, so start getting your stories ready!

What stories? What’s the anthology about?

All leaps in technology are scary. Mysterious. Misunderstood. Until they slowly creep into our daily lives and become impossible to get rid of. Like an evolving parasite.

OBSOLESCENCE is a new collection of short stories about horrifying or fantastical interactions with technology.

The broken cell phone that can only text with your dead husband. The backyard tire swing that becomes a portal to another world. The Radio Shack Walkie-Talkies that pick up an alien GPS…

In OBSOLESCENCE, technology gets repurposed, subverted, and redefined.

Who’s going to be in the anthology?

OBSOLESCENCE will feature a special foreword by American Horror Story‘s Naomi Grossman.

And we have a dozen Featured Authors already signed on to the project…

• Kealan Patrick Burke is a five-time Bram Stoker Award-nominee who won the award for his coming-of-age novella The Turtle Boy. Burke is also the author of Sour Candy, Kin, Blanky, The House on Abigail Lane, and many other titles.
• Adam Cesare is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Clown in a Cornfield, Tribesmen, Video Night, and more. Adam is “an author who knows how to make us afraid.” – Clive Barker
• Clay McLeod Chapman is the author of Ghost Eaters, Whisper Down the Lane, The Remaking, and more. He is currently working on Unknown, a psychological horror anthology television series at Kilter Films and Amazon Studios.
• Johnny Compton‘s short stories have appeared in several publications including Pseudopod, Strange Horizons, and The No Sleep Podcast. His debut novel, The Spite House, will be out in February from Tor Nightfire.
• Rob Hart is the Anthony Award-nominated author of The Paradox Hotel, as well as The Warehouse, which sold in more than 20 languages and was optioned for film by Ron Howard. Rob is also the current class director at LitReactor.
• Laurel Hightower is the author of Below, Crossroads, and Whispers in the Dark. Crossroads won the This Is Horror Award for Novella of the Year.
• Gabino Iglesias‘s work has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award and the Locus Award, and won the Wonderland Book Award. He is the author of The Devil Takes You Home, Zero Saints, and Coyote Songs.
• Ai Jiang is a Pushcart Award-nominated author of many short stories, including “Give Me English”, published recently in F&SF magazine. Her work has appeared in F&SF, The Dark, Uncanny, Prairie Fire, Hobart Pulp, and The Masters Review, among others.
• Eric LaRocca is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, We Can Never Leave This Place, and more.
• Christi Nogle is the author of the novel Beulah and the forthcoming collection The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future. Her short fiction has appeared in over fifty publications.
• Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of No Gods for Drowning, Queen of Teeth, Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing, The Worm and His Kings, and more.
• Sara Tantlinger is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Devil’s Dreamland: Poetry Inspired by H.H. Holmes. She is also the author of the novella To Be Devoured, the anthology Not All Monsters, and more.

But, also, hopefully YOU!

An open submissions period will launch in August, when anyone and everyone is encouraged to submit a story. Stories will be in the sci-fi, fantasy, or horror genres, and should be between 2,000-5,000 words. Payment for these stories will be $.06/word, a bit above the Horror Writers Association’s pro rate. 

You can view the full Submission Guidelines here.

When will the anthology be released?

May 2023. But, Kickstarter backers will receive their copies of the anthology three months early, in February 2023. Kickstarter backers will also have the opportunity to pick up exclusive hardcover editions of OBSOLESCENCE during the Kickstarter period only, along with some other really cool perks (like the companion zine).

If you don’t want to miss the launch of the Kickstarter, or any other news, sign up for our newsletter now.

Who’s putting this all together?

Alan Lastufka and Kristina Horner are co-editing the anthology. We are reaching out to Featured Authors whose past stories have blown us away. We are reading every submission and making the difficult choices about accepting or rejecting stories. And we are designing and publishing the book.

Kristina’s published two anthologies already alongside her team at 84th Street Press, with a third in the works now.

While this will be Alan’s first anthology, he published his debut novel, Face the Night, earlier this year. Face the Night has already won the Hoffer Award for Best Commercial Fiction, has been a finalist for numerous other awards, and received a starred review from Kirkus.

We’re confident we will put together a high quality, darkly satisfying anthology filled with unique, independent voices. We’d be honored if you’d trust us with your support, and maybe your story!

Check out the official website to sign-up for the OBSOLESCENCE newsletter, see the most up-to-date list of Featured Authors, and get the Kickstarter link as soon as it launches.