Dancing on the “Bleeding Edge”

Once again, the Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in Glendale, CA, was the place to be for genre gold, this time for the launch party and signing for the new horror anthology, The Bleeding Edge. Published by Cycatrix Press,  this collection of 19 tales by modern masters of the macabre, edited by Jason V Brock and William F. Nolan, received a lavish send-off by a host of its contributors. The book itself is a handsomely mounted volume, printed in a limited edition of 400 and an extremely limited deluxe signed edition of 75.

As usual, hosts and proprietors Malcolm and Christine Bell managed the moiling mobs of fans with courtesy and aplomb, showing how one should run the last standing brick-and-mortar genre bookstore in America’s second-largest city.

Jason Brock took a moment from the busy event to speak with FM.

“I was annoyed with the current crop of horror authors and magazines and thought them too cliquish. James Beach and I publish Dark Discoveries magazine, and I told James I wanted to do a real book; James is a brand-new father and with that on his mind, pointed out that a book would be a BIG project. That didn’t deter me; I’ve worked on many graphic novels and my wife Sunni and I have already made two documentary films. One’s about the great Twilight Zone writer Charles Beaumont and the other is about Forry Ackerman. That’s how I met many of these people.

“Now, William Nolan and I had worked together on the new graphic novel adaptation of Logan’s Run, and he’s been a mentor to me in so many ways. We agreed to collaborate on an anthology of short stories and between us we assembled a stellar group of contributors. Bill had lots of connections with other writers, and I had many contacts as a result of the documentaries. We worked out what material was available, and insisted that all stories be new or unpublished, and editable.

“Out of 70 stories we accepted only 22, and the open call for submissions placed only 2 stories in the final collection. We started getting the shape of the book as the stories came in, and its shape was dark and edgy. The first story we bought was that of James Robert Smith; we said to each other, ‘If every story is as good as this one, we’re gold!’ It was a very short development cycle — we sent out our first feelers in December 2008, and it was sent to the printers December 2009. We didn’t let anyone see the thing until publication.

“We knew right away we wanted the book to be a hardcover edition, artistically striking and full of remarkable fonts (I admit it — I’m a fonthound). We worked  hard to lay out the material in ways that evoked their original contexts: pulp-magazine columns, screenplay formatting, quick drafts. We also wanted to break up the layout with sketches, photos and border artwork.  The very talented Kris Kuksi did the cover art and it turned out really well. Each individual story also received its own signature page for the author. That’s a printing feature that’s rarely been done.”

The Bleeding Edge

Edited by William F. Nolan and Jason V Brock.

Signed by 23 contributors. Separate signature page for each author.

Handcrafted Deluxe Hardcover with dust jacket; cover and interior art by Kris Kuksi.

Foreword by S. T. Joshi.

A landmark anthology; contains original, never before published works by:

Ray Bradbury, Gary A. Braunbeck, Jason V Brock, Christopher Conlon, Norman Corwin, Cody Goodfellow, Earl Hamner, George Clayton Johnson, Nancy Kilpatrick, Joe R. Lansdale, Richard Matheson, Richard Christian Matheson, Lisa Morton, Kurt Newton, William F. Nolan, Dan O’Bannon, Frank M. Robinson, John Shirley, James Robert Smith, Steve Rasnic Tem, and John Tomerlin.

Both editions feature opaque vellum pages, printed with 100% vegetable inks using windpower; printed and bound in the USA.

Trade Hardcover: 400 copies

Deluxe Hardcover: 75 numbered copies