It has been an exciting year! SO many writing projects on the go. Let me start with the most obvious.

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As you may know, I am one-quarter of the creative force behind ID Press Publishing. Last year we published our first anthology, Purgatorium: The Element of Horror.

So what? You say? Everybody is pumping out anthologies? Well, yes, I guess that may be true to a certain extent but ours is different. Let us go back to the beginning…

ID Press came from a group of horror writers sitting together at a writer’s breakfast. Mark Leslie Lefebvre was the speaker that day. We were, as writers do when they get together, bemoaning our various stages of writing. Some that were actively pitching to agents/publishers, or as we call it, throwing their needle into the haystack, some in final edits stage, and some in the midst of the creative process.

Mark spoke about how he and some of his friends had stories that just didn’t fit the cookie mold. Good stories. So they decided to pool their stories and publish them as a collection.

Connie DiPietro had a light bulb moment. To her, how were we, at that table, the “loud table” in the back corner, any different than Mark and his friends? We were writers. We had stories. After a hushed conversation with Tobin Elliott, ID Press took its first baby steps.

To make a long story short, the logistics of organizing a group of writers and creating something that readers would actually want to read, was bigger than expected. That’s when Pat Flewwelling and myself entered the picture. We were part of the initial group and in editing and organizing and to streamline the process, ID Press was born. Less cooks equals better broth.

So, you say, how are you any different? Well, like Mark Leslie, our stories were different. We liked that idea. A lot. Genre was too restricting. Write for the story first. And that set us to thinking, what would a horror story written by an author that has never written horror look like? What would their take on it be?

Well we were shocked. What a wonderful surprise to read stories written by Romance writers that fully embraced the Gothic. Young Adult authors bouncing in the sinisterly creepy. Historical writers weaving ghost tales that chilled even our horror steeped bones.

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There was our hook. And to add a cherry to the top of that creeptastic sundae, the authors enjoyed the push out of their comfort-zone. It is our belief that a writer, worth their salt, is a writer that is constantly pushing themselves. Stepping outside the box to see what other tools they can find that might improve their style. And it gives a greater appreciation of the other genres. Because, let’s face it, even in writing, there are some lines drawn. We want to rub those lines out.

So Purgatorium was born. We made mistakes and owned them, learned from them and moved on. We were bruised both of spirit and of wallet, but the end result was well worth the pain.

But we didn’t stop there. We moved on to the next anthology. We wanted to build a Periodic Table of Writing Elements. The Particles of Fiction. Our next anthology is called Allucinor: The Element of Romance. Yes, you guessed it, a romance anthology. But wait! This isn’t your mother’s or your grandmother’s romance. This is a collection of stories with love as the central element. Stories written be writers that don’t normally write romance and some that do. These are stories that push the boundaries of the genre. Stories that play fast and loose with the perceived rules.

Ever wondered what a romance story written by a horror writer looked like? Or a Science Fiction writer? Or Fantasy writer? Boy did they deliver.

As the back cover says, Allucinor delivers stories of unique, if unconventional romance.

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Both books will be available November 25th at Bookapalooza, 1604 Champlain Ave., Whitby, Ontario.

An official launch will be announced soon.

And finally, we are already at work on our third anthology. Stay tuned.

As always, keep your pen on the paper and your head in the clouds.

Dale.