It’s been a little over two weeks since I got back from Anthrocon, and as usual I had a blast at the con. The writing panels I was on were great, the other panels I got to see were great, and there were lots of writers I know I got to see. All in all, it was a really successful con. Also, while there, besides buying more books to read, I got to see my co-editor for this Dystopian Anthology, Slip Wolf, and we made final decisions on stories. Now that we’ve notified everyone, I’d like to do a small wrap up about the book.

For this anthology, we got a total of 47 submissions from 43 different authors for a total of 338,650 words. We had some really good stuff in here, and I’m impressed with the diversity of work we got. Some of the stories had some really unique takes on the theme that explore a number of different issues. We ended up taking 16 stories for a total of 106,321 words.

To help with the process, we got Thurston Howl to slush with us, and he provided some great suggestions. Out of this, I think we selected a good group of stories. They cover various themes and settings, some being fantastical while others are more realistic. Together I think all the stories are going to make a good anthology. Editing is of course the next step, and we’re going to be working on the book for the rest of the year. While I’ll be doing some writing during the process, my focus is going to be getting this ready to print.

I’ll update more about the book once Slip and I are further along. I can’t wait to share all these amazing stories with you guys.