Long term readers of Sci-Fi Bulletin will be well acquainted with Christopher Golden’s work. Together with fellow authors James A. Moore and Haverhill House publisher John McIlveen, he is preparing a new anthology, The Twisted Book of Shadows, which has attracted a great deal of attention, not just because of the totally blind way in which the stories will be chosen and the editors’ encouragement of voices that aren’t heard enough in the genre, but also its funding model, using GoFundMe rather than going the Kickstarter route. With three weeks to go, he answered questions on email from Paul Simpson.

What was the initial catalyst for The Twisted Book of Shadows ?

I’ve edited a ton of anthologies over the years, but I’ve always wanted to do one that was open to anyone. To sell one to a mainstream publisher these days, you have really curate your list of contributors. I’ve done a lot of great anthologies that way, if I do say so myself. But I know so many talented or promising writers who can’t find markets that pay pro rates, never mind royalties. So many pay a nominal fee, and many of those don’t pay royalties at all. That’s why we went with crowdfunding.

We’re inspired by so many of the anthologies we read when we were young, but we wanted to take it one step further. Zero slots in this book are being reserved for marquee names. Better than that, we won’t even know who the authors are. It’s a totally level playing field. We want authors to send us their very best, the greatest horror stories they have in them, no matter who they are. We just want the best.

And why did you decide to do it now?

Honestly, we’d been talking about it for a few years, and we just figured if we didn’t do it now, we’d never do it.

What do you think the effect of the lack of this sort of anthology has been on the genre scene? Do you think people have missed it?

Writers get discouraged. I see it all the time. The frustration. Or, worse, the acceptance of the idea that it’s okay for someone to pay you $25 for a story, and zero royalties if the book actually manages to do well. It’s not okay. Honestly, I think that has a diminishing effect on the ambitions of many writers. Some will keep writing, but not striving to improve, because when you start to think you might always be writing for a tiny audience and for little or no money, it’s depressing as hell. There are a lot of authors who have it in them to write something great, and they see mainstream anthology markets full of writers who have already found a certain level of success and try to figure out how to crack that market.

I’m not saying what we’re paying is much—it isn’t, in the scheme of things—but it’s a pro rate, and we pay standard royalties. More importantly, to your question… because we’re doing blind submissions, anyone whose story is selected will know their story was chosen because it was one of the best we received. And anyone who buys this anthology will be able to have confidence in the same.

The editorial process for the selection of the stories to be contained in TBS has changed quite considerably from the first announcement to now – can you talk through how and what happened, and what effect you hope this might have?

Jim and John and I know that as white, straight, cisgender guys, we come to the table with a certain inherent, unconscious bias. Even trying to read more widely, to keep an open mind, we can’t be assured that we won’t miss something that should have gotten a second or third look. To that end, we decided to assemble an editorial committee of writers to read along with us, a group of incredibly talented people in their own right, who also happen to represent a pool of diversity that Jim, John, and I can’t lay claim to. People of color, or members of the LGBT community, yes, but first and foremost people whose work has earned them the respect of their peers. They’re going to be reading along with us, helping us choose, and God, what an incredible group. Billy Martin, Nadia Bulkin, Rachel Autumn Deering, Lee Thomas, Lamar Giles, KL Pereira, Gabino Iglesias, and this year’s HWA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Linda Addison. Our hope is that our call for submissions will reach writers in marginalized communities who have an interest in horror, and that the presence of this editorial committee will give those writers the confidence that their voices will be heard, that their stories will be reviewed from many angles, and that no unconscious bias will prevent them from shining. We want diverse voices in this book.

Why did you decide to go the GoFundMe route rather than, say, Kickstarter?

We debated, but honestly, I was never in favor of Kickstarter for this. I had zero interest in coming up with a dozen or so reward levels for this. I know that might inspire more people to donate, but we wanted to keep this very simple, and very much about this book and the stories we hope to receive. I also didn’t want people to donate money that we’d then have to spend on shipping their rewards. It probably would’ve been easier to raise the money, but this way we are focused completely on this book. The simplicity of that, the pure focus of it, is worth us having to work harder to raise the funds.

Apart from the pleasure derived from helping to birth the collection, what do contributors to the fund get?

The book will be available in all formats, but if you donate at least $25, you’ll get a digital copy for free. And you’ll get the best horror stories that the collective community of horror authors can muster!

For those who want to apply, what’s the procedure?

On the evening of January 31st, we’ll post the email address for submission on the book’s Facebook page.  Submissions will be open throughout the month of February. Our submissions manager will receive the stories, scrub the author’s name and any other identifying material from the submission, and then forward it to the entire editorial group. And then… we read. I can’t say enough how much we encourage authors to submit. We want your absolute best!

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