What is Here Be Monsters?

Some of you may be wondering what Here Be Monsters is. It is an anthology of short stories by Vincent Mackay, Alex Newcombe, and Duane Burry. The stories themselves were created because the three of us wanted to write for fun. We met every week or so and wrote story ideas, bits of dialogue, and characters on scraps of paper. Each of us would reach into the pile, pick one up, and write a part of a story using what we were given. We eventually decided that completed stories would be more fun than snippets done in a single evening and that was the impetus for Here Be Monsters.

This first issue is called “No Room on the Life Raft”. It has one story from each author in it. The stories are independent, but they all follow characters diving into the weird and fantastic. We have posted a preview for “The Stone of El-Al-Fey” already; the previews of the other two stories will be coming soon. We hope these give you a sense of the style and setting for each piece.

We’re busy assembling the book and preparing to distribute it. We are doing everything except for the printing, which is being done locally at Répro-UQAM. Once it is printed and distributed, we’ll let everyone know where it can be bought. If you live outside of Montréal and want a copy, contact one of us and we will get it to you. The price of the book isn’t set yet, but we are aiming to have it lower than $8.00. This money offsets the cost of the production; we’re not looking to quit our day jobs for this yet.

We already have grand plans for the next issue, which will be out early next year. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to post them here or contact us through e-mail.

Thanks for your support!