Undertow Publications’ Editor-In-Chief Michael Kelly is here to talk about the press’s Weird Fiction offerings, including award-winning anthologies, collections, Weird Horror magazine, the inaugural volume of The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, and more!
Here’s a quick intro:
“Undertow Publications is a celebrated independent press in Canada dedicated to publishing original and unique genre fiction of exceptional literary merit. Since 2009 we’ve been publishing anthologies, collections, (the occasional novel), and novellas in hardcover, trade paperback, and eBook formats. Our books have won the Shirley Jackson Award, and the British Fantasy Award. We’re the recipient of the World Fantasy Award, and the Horror Writers Association Specialty Press Award. We are endearingly weird, and proud of it.”
Huge thanks to Michael for answering my questions!
Myna: Tell us about Undertow Publications! What do you publish? Are there any specific styles or subject matter you especially like?
Michael: Hello Myna! I’m delighted to be here. Thank you for having me.
Undertow Publications celebrates the short story, especially the strange, the eerie, the macabre, the fabulist, and the esoteric. We believe the short story is a perfect art form. We began in 2009 with the publication of our first anthology, Apparitions, which was a Shirley Jackson Award Finalist. Since then, we’ve published a number of single-author collections, anthologies, and magazine issues.
In the broadest sense we publish, and are partial to, Weird Fiction, which can encompass all genre fiction, but can be boiled down to what writer Robert Aickman termed simply “strange tales.” Another apt descriptor would be from writer Jean Muno’s short story ‘The Ghoul’—which I reprinted in The Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 2—“Stories clawed and fanged; stories that feed on blood.”
Myna: Undertow’s books always look fantastic, both inside and out. How do you choose cover art? Do you work with a designer for the exterior and interior?
Michael: Thank you! The cover is a potential reader’s first impression of not only the book, but of the press’s particular aesthetic, so we strive to make a good first impression.
In general, and with help from our Art Director, Vince Haig, I simply search various artist sites and resources for a striking piece of art that evokes the mood and tone of the specific book or project I am working on. On occasion I have commissioned artwork, but it’s rare. After artwork has been licensed, Vince employs his enormous talent to design the final cover image. Vince Haig is our secret weapon. And I can’t overstate how much his work has shaped our vision.
I do the interior layouts. I aim for a simple, elegant look. A text that is easily readable.
Myna: How do you support your projects after publication?
Michael: Much in the same way as pre-publication: review copies; targeted ad placements, etc. But post-publication we also ensure we send our titles to all the various award jurors and we continue to use our newsletter and social media to make readers aware of any specific news and to also highlight our backlist.
Myna: Tell us about Undertow’s awards, nominations, & other accomplishments!
Michael: We’ve been truly blessed to receive a number of accolades and awards. Our books, and the press as a whole, have garnered the World Fantasy Award; the Shirley Jackson Award; the British Fantasy Award; the H.W.A. Specialty Press Award; and the This is Horror Award. We’ve also been finalists for the Ignyte, Locus, and Aurora Awards. And several stories from our collections, anthologies, and magazines have been selected for various ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies. When I started this journey in 2009 I never envisioned any kind of critical or financial success, so it’s a bit overwhelming, and I continually pinch myself to see if it’s real. We are eternally grateful for the support from readers, reviewers, jurors, critics, et al.
Myna: If your press had a theme song, what would it be?
Michael: “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” by Tom Petty.
Myna: What are you looking for when choosing projects? How do you acquire your projects? What’s the process like? Do you have any advice for writers hoping to publish with you?
Michael: We’re looking for literary genre work with a unique sensibility and voice. (What most indie presses crave, I imagine.) Our particular niche, broadly, as mentioned above, is weird fiction. So our projects, which are almost exclusively short fiction—anthologies; collections; and Weird Horror magazine—fit that remit.
The process varies. We’ve acquired titles from open call submissions, from writer and agent queries, and, for the most part, from me reaching out to writers whose work has piqued my interest. Writers that share a similar aesthetic to what we publish.
The best advice I can give writers wishing to publish with us is to simply read what we have published. It’s clear from the majority of queries I receive that many writers are unfamiliar with our specific needs.
Myna: You will publish the inaugural volume of The Best Weird Fiction of the Year this November. What can readers expect? Will this new anthology follow the footsteps of your previous anthology series, Year’s Best Weird Fiction? Or will this be something completely different? How can fans support the book?
Michael: Readers can expect a volume that showcases the diverse and vast scope and breadth of weird fiction—that nebulous and enigmatic mode or genre. Pretty much the same modus operandi of the first iteration of this series, the Year’s Best Weird Fiction. There are many, many exemplary stories falling through genre cracks, and this volume will shine on a light on some of them. So, in a sense, it will follow in the footsteps of its sibling predecessor. But this is a much more scaled back version of that series. I will not employ any Series Editors this go-around, and there likely aren’t resources to acquire reprints from any of the big 5 publishers, should I want. That was a major expense last time—dealing with large publishing houses and also author estates and agents.
Readers can support the book (and future volumes) by pre-ordering here.
We should be able to announce the final table of contents in August.
Myna: Tell us about your role. What takes the most time? What is your favorite part of this job?
Michael: As owner of a small indie press, my role encompasses pretty much everything: acquisitions; editing; administration; payroll; marketing and promotion, et al. My amazing partner, Carolyn, does proofreading and bookkeeping, and, more importantly, supports my efforts and keeps me sane.
Promotion and marketing seem to take an inordinate amount of time, energy, and finances. It takes real effort to try and make our voice heard. There are so many publishers, large and small, clamoring for our attention, for our patronage and support.
My absolute favorite part of the job is reading that unique and visionary manuscript before anyone else, and knowing that I get to share it with readers worldwide, and hope that some of them connect with it the way I did.
Myna: Were there any surprises or problems along the route to establishing your press? What sorts of ongoing challenges do you face?
Michael: As mentioned, when I started the press, I never really anticipated any real successes. So I’m still surprised and delighted every time we publish a title, that it finds its audience.
There are always challenges—the biggest being the seemingly attempted erasure (or dismissal) of independent presses by Amazon and the large publishing conglomerates. We need indie presses more than ever.
Myna: Tell us about your career trajectory. How did you get here?
Michael: I was an occasional writer, and still am, but there were, I thought, only a few venues publishing the type of short fiction I liked to read. So I simply started the press in 2009 with an anthology of weird and ghostly fiction, with the aim to publish weird horror fiction that I wanted to see more of, that I hoped, perhaps vainly, others would like. That anthology was very well received, earned our first Shirley Jackson Award nod, and it gave me the courage to continue.
Myna: Tell us about your own writing. What sorts of stories or themes do you explore? Where can we read your work?
Michael: I tend to write “quiet horror” that explores themes of family, identity, and death. My stories have appeared in Best New Horror, Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Nightmare Magazine, The Dark, etc. I have 4 stories up at The Dark.
Myna: Do you have a pet or other hobby/activity? Show us a picture!
Michael: I play guitar, badly.
Myna: What’s next for you?
Michael: Issue 11 of Weird Horror Magazine is out in August. Then September sees the release of a title we are very excited about—Thomas Ha’s brilliant debut collection Uncertain Sons and Other Stories. This one has advance praise from luminaries Kelly Link, Brian Evenson, Premee Mohamed, and Jeffrey Ford. After that, November sees the release of the inaugural The Best Weird Fiction of the Year. I’m still currently reading and finalizing the Table of Contents for that, but I can already say it’s going to be a unique and hopefully fascinating overview of the current state of Weird Fiction.
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Carlos Osorio for The Globe and Mail
Michael Kelly is the former Series Editor for the Year’s Best Weird Fiction. He’s a World Fantasy Award, Shirley Jackson Award, and British Fantasy Award-winning editor. His fiction has appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, including Best New Horror, Black Static, Nightmare Magazine, The Dark, and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror; and has been previously collected in Scratching the Surface, Undertow & Other Laments, and All the Things We Never See. He is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Undertow Publications; editor of The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, and Weird Horror magazine.
Myna Chang 