Description:
In the first volume of the In the City anthology series, editors R.B. Wood and Anna Koon bring you new tales from eighteen authors both established and debut, including Sam Rebelein, Sarah Read, Bracken MacLeod, Gwendolyn Kiste, and more.
The city.
Noisy, crowded, and ever in motion, the city can be more than a setting--it can be a character, as nuanced and as fickle as a human being, with as many traits and quirks as the best mapped-out characters. The city can be the ever-present and constant companion (or foe) to the protagonist and antagonist alike.
Winter in the City: A Collection of Dark Speculative Fiction is an anthology of dark speculative fiction tales set in 18 cities around the world during the bleak--sometimes harsh--season of winter.
- In Paris, a vagrant artist confronts a terrible truth while traveling across a frozen Seine and the well-walked paths of l'empire de la Mort...
- Children depart on a mystical quest to find their parents among the icy tombs of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem...
- In the snow-begotten slums of Manila, a young fighter must disobey her family and society to finally find freedom...
- The white-out conditions in Brooklyn are not nearly as dangerous as deals made in blood and bone...
Featuring new stories by Anjum Noor Choudhury, Sarah Read, Lily Childs, Brian Evenson, Tim Lees, Jonathan Papernick, Nick Mamatas, Katherine Traylor, Richard Kadrey, Rich Larson, Christian Fiachra Stevens, Mike Allen, Xan van Rooyen, Sam Rebelein, Gwendolyn Kiste, Mars Abian, Matt Hollingsworth, and Bracken MacLeod with a foreword by Bram Stoker Award-winning author Mercedes M. Yardley.
Review Quotes:
"I loved the premise and the stories are rich, stark and sinister, much like the season they depict. From stranded gods seeking a way home in Anjum Noor Choudhury's 'Dhaka' and cursed artworks à la Dorian Grey in Sarah Read's 'Paris' to stories etched in bone in Richard Kadrey's 'Brooklyn' and a losing battle against ravenous ghosts in Xan van Rooyen's 'Helsinki, ' winter in these tales is often bleak, yet somehow beautiful. Characters keep awful secrets and make treacherous journeys, seek truth--or hide from it--and break their own hearts as well as the reader's. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the souls of these cities. The fact that each story is named after the city it's set in means the cities take on identities of their own and become characters in their own right."
--Cheryl S. Ntumy, author of They Made Us Blood and Fury
"What a delightful take on the season. This very atmospheric title brought the best of so many authors to the forefront. My reading list just doubled. It was poignant and spooky and the perfect curl-up-and-read title."
--Holly Gillum, Librarian