Kevin J. Anderson's WordFire Blog

I normally think of myself as a writer rather than an editor, but I have worn that other hat several times. My three STAR WARS anthologies -- TALES FROM THE MOS EISLEY CANTINA, TALES FROM JABBA'S PALACE, and TALES OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS -- are the three best-selling science fiction anthologies of all time. Several stories from the fourth anthology I edited, WAR OF THE WORLDS: GLOBAL DISPATCHES, won major awards in the field.

I have just delivered my fifth anthology, this time a project I helmed for the Horror Writers Association, BLOOD LITE -- a collection of humorous horror stories from some of the top writers in the field. I've been working on this book since early last summer, and all the pieces are now in place and the book is in production from Pocket, which will release BLOOD LITE as a trade paperback in October. The anthology contains 21 all original stories by Kelley Armstrong, Joe Lansdale, J.A. Konrath & F. Paul Wilson, Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Mike Resnick, Nancy Holder, Sharyn McCrumb, Jim Butcher, and twelve others.

Editing an anthology is a completely different process from writing a novel -- contacting and cajoling colleagues, reading slushpile submissions, asking for revisions, keeping track of contracts and details. Nevertheless, BLOOD LITE turned out extremely well, exceeding even our already high expectations. I'll post the cover art here as soon as I have it.

-- KJA