From the Editor's Desk, March 2013

Happy birthday to us! This month marks the one year anniversary of the launch of World Weaver Press -- and we've got so much to celebrate:

It's a bit hard for me to believe it's already been a year since we brought out our first title, Cursed: Wickedly Fun Stories, a short collection with a delightfully creepy sense of humor by Susan Abel Sullivan. Seems like we released Cursed, and the next thing I knew it was summer and we were publishing our first novel, a beautiful second-world fantasy with a strong, believable heroine, Shards of History, by Rebecca Roland, a novel Good Choice Reading described as "remind[ing] us of why we love books in the first place."

Fall brought with it the release of Specter Spectacular: 13 Ghostly Tales our first anthology: a Night Owl Reviews top pick and a spooky little read to pass a dark autumn evening. Two of the stories within even made Tangent's 2012 Recommended Reading List alongside the biggest and best pro-markets publishing short spec fic. In fact, we had so much fun with this anthology, that come May 1, we'll be reading for volume two:  Specter Spectacular II: 13 Deathly Tales. 

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The shift from ghostly to deathly is a slight one, but we're not looking to do a repeat of the first anthology; rather we hope to expand on the content and story tropes while still holding onto the eerie and enthralling feeling. While the final anthology will likely include some stories of ghosts and hauntings, we hope to feature psychopomps (someone who conducts spirits or souls to the other world, such as Charon, the Valkyries  the Grim Reaper, etc.) and tales of crossing over ... and back ... and perhaps over and back again. I'm really looking forward to the possibilities.

I had such fun in this first year embracing so much fairy tale fiction -- I love it! The gorgeous, lyrical retwisting of Snow White, Opal, by Kristina Wojtaszek, and the devastatingly beautiful fairy tale collection by the Sisters Grimm sisters Amanda C. Davis and Megan Engelhardt, Wolves and Witches. Coming in April is Beyond the Glass Slipper: Ten Neglected Fairy Tales to Fall in Love With, with introduction and annotations by Enchanted Conversation editor and publisher Kate Wolford. The release of Beyond the Glass Slipper will also mark the start of our spring Fairy Tale Festival -- something fans of fairy and folklore won't want to miss! (If you have a fairy tale related non-fiction article or essay you'd like to submit to the festival, send a query to submissions[at]worldweaverpress[dot]com by the end of March.)

But what thrills me the most when I look back on the past twelve months, is the start of two new novel series. The Cleo Tidwell Paranormal Mystery Series began this fall with The Haunted Housewives of Allister, Alabama, by Susan Abel Sullivan, and has gained absolutely glowing reviews from critics. Cleo Tidwell is a fab heroine that put me in mind of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum the moment I met her on the page. Cleo's spunky, with a quirky family and a whole heap of paranormal trouble that seems to follow her everywhere. We'll hopefully be seeing more of Cleo very soon. And coming out this month, almost exactly a year after our first publication, is Forged by Fate,  the first book in Amalia Dillin's Fate of the Gods Trilogy. A beautiful epic romance -- epic love triangle, even better! -- that spans centuries and continents.

So break out the streamers and party hats -- we've got a lot to celebrate! And a great second year to look forward to: more novels, returning characters, a second horror anthology, a three-month summer open reading period, and the addition of some science fiction to our ever-growing list of titles. I hope you're as excited as I am!