BENEATH THE SURFACE

Tonight's 'guest' in the dungeon hails from Toronto, Canada a city he vowed never to leave, except he plans to launch his first collection, Beneath the Surface at FantasyCon next month, perhaps an evil cult or deranged indvidual will change his mind, so to speak... ladies and gentlemen Simon Strantzas

It seems like forever since I announced the thing, and in that time some good things have happened (I've a story in BEST NEW HORROR) and some not so good (someone put out an anthology called BENEATH THE SURFACE??)

Nonetheless, the time is almost here, and I for one couldn't be more excited. The book contains, I'd like to think, some of my stories with a more philosophical bent, and are definitely more inspired by Lovecraft and Ligotti than ever before.

These aren't mere pastiches, though. Rather, new things with some old toys.

My fiction tends to eschew traditional tropes anyway (like vampires, zombies, etc.) so no one should come away feeling as though it's all been done before, but there may be some old ones in the thing doing different things than ever before.

The official table of contents... You'll notice only half the contents have appeared previously in print, but rest assured those tales have been revised and rewritten (in some cases extensively) for their appearance here. I've left some of the youthful folly in, for sure, as you can't white-wash your past, but I don't think those transgressions hurt things at all. In fact, in some cases they only serve to make the tales more interesting.

Anyway, enough of my blather, here's the info...

Introduction by Mark Samuels
A Shadow in God's Eye (unpublished)
It Runs Beneath the Surface (originally appeared in All Hallows 44)
The Constant Encroaching of a Tumultuous Sea (unpublished)
Behind Glass (originally appeared in Bare Bone 8)
A Thing of Love (originally appeared in Nocturne 4)
In the Air (unpublished)
You Are Here (originally appeared in Supernatural Tales 10)
The Wound So Deep (unpublished)
Something New (originally appeared in All Hallows 42)
The Autumnal City (originally appeared in Wicked Hollow 9)
Thoughtless (unpublished)
Drowned Deep Inside of Me (unpublished)

The book can be pre-ordered from Humdrumming right now. Its official release will be at the British Fantasy Convention this September in Nottingham, where I intend to be to sign copies, kiss babies, and make a general fool of myself. I'll see all who intend on attending there, otherwise please send your hard-earned money to the pleasant folks at Humdrumming, and if you can find me, I'll be happy to put my scribble in your copy.