Influenced & Inspired. New stories by Martha Wells, Nisi Shawl, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Theodora Goss, C.S.E. Cooney, Mike Allen, Maya Deane, Andy Duncan, Rocío Rincón Fernández , CL Hellisen, Getty Hesse, Starlene Justice, Amelia Mangan, Michael Yuya Montroy, Marisca Pichette, & KT Wagner. Afterword by Ann VanderMeer.
“Storyteller is a brilliant tapestry of tales, elegantly illuminating and excavating fantastical worlds. The same fire – profoundly profane, yet almost holy – that lit Tanith Lee’s stories burns brightly here. A fitting tribute to the Queen of Word Witches.”—Angela "A.G.” Slatter
Latest Updates from Our Project:
We're Getting Ready for the Sprint!
11 months ago
– Sun, May 18, 2025 at 07:00:45 PM
The release date is getting closer!
In fact, the galley edits and the cover updates have just been completed. Now I'll be pivoting to shipping & fulfillment. We're still aiming for a July 1st publication date. Thank you for your continued support!
Postcards!
After a round-robin signing across about 2,000 miles, the postcards rewards have officially been sent off! Seeing the names, cities, countries, and continents of our supporters was humbling, and also a reflection of the book itself. Our authors come from three different continents, after all.
We'd love to see our postcards out in the world! If you share a pic online, please tag Essential Dreams Press and/or me, Julie C. Day. We miss them!
Two official reviews!
There’s nothing quite like opening your inbox and getting the news that your book has been reviewed, and our team got to experience that TWICE. First, a blurb from the Midwest Book Review(!!!):
And second, a blurb from Publishers Weekly(!!!!):
You can read the entire Publishers Weekly review here.
Three author blurbs!
Three incredible authors have shared their thoughts on Storyteller!
Cadwell Turnbull
J.R. Dawson
Angela A.G. Slatter
More author interviews & excerpts!
Since the last update, Essential Dreams Press Substack run by Intern in Chief and Assistant Editor, Julia, has finished releasing all of the author interviews and book excerpts, which can be found here. If you subscribe to the substack, each Friday you’ll get a link to a free short story by Tanith Lee each available online, and a re-published interview, discussion, remembrance, and more each Sunday.
Thank you so much for helping to carry this project from plan to actual reality!
Your intrepid Editor in Chief,
-Julie
So Much News!
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 12:06:51 PM
Thank you so much! We are heading into the final stretch and it took your help to make it happen!
The State of Storyteller
After months of hard work by our contributors and book designer, I have my first print advanced reader copy (ARC) in hand! The stories have been finalized, the essays are complete, the interior art has been selected, and the book production process has been completed. Now the final step is underway (Amazing!). The Storyteller ARC has been sent to all our contributors for one final review/ copy edit.
While we are currently sprinting to the end, our book production process ran into a number of unexpected technical snags. In order to leave enough lag time to get the ARC out to reviewers, I've had to move the publication date for Storyteller by about six weeks. The publication date is now July 1, 2025. The central mission of this project is to celebrate Tanith Lee's influence on contemporary genre writers; reviews will help spread the news of what is truly a powerhouse of an anthology.
I'm taking full advantage of the additional time. I started sending out the ebook ARC to reviewers about two weeks ago, and with the print version now in hand, I started reaching out to reviewers who require a print version over the weekend. And yes, keeping all the various plates spinning requires so many tracking spreadsheets, at least for me!
Story Excerpts & Contributor Interviews
Interested in a preview of the various stories and/ or interviews with our authors? Essential Dreams Press now has a twice weekly, Substack newsletter run by our Intern in Chief and Assistant Editor, Julia. So far Julia has spotlighted nine of our Storyteller authors!
The Sunday Archive: Ann VanderMeer—An interview from the archive with Ann VanderMeer; plus, an excerpt from her Storyteller Afterword, "With Love and Gratitude."
Storyteller is 382 pages of creative excellence, with sixteen stories (both short stories and novelettes), three essays, and 4 pieces of interior black-and-white art. As an editor and publisher, I poured more into this book than I have with my other (beloved) anthologies.
Thank you, again! This has been wild ride of a project and I couldn't be more excited with how it turned out!
Warmly,
Julie
Julie C. Day Editor in Chief Essential Dreams Press
Our Table of Contents Revealed!
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Jan 15, 2025 at 01:15:38 PM
The Authors Are Here!
I'm almost ready to send the final files to our book designer! I've been focused for the last few months working with our contributors. Each author in STORYTELLER considers Tanith Lee foundational to their own creative work. Each author was determined their story would honor Tanith Lee and her legacy. Each of these stories is a fabulous and unique creation, and I can't wait for you to read them all! Finally, it's time to reveal the table of contents!
So Much Fiction!
With sixteen authors and over three hundred pages of fiction, STORYTELLER is just fantastic in both the quality of the stories and the breadth of genres covered.
We have authors who created entire secondary fantasy worlds for this project (I see you, Maya Deane and Getty Hesse).
We have various flavors of science fiction from Martha Wells, Mike Allen, Nisi Shawl, and Marisca Pichette.
We have fairy-tale retellings from Theodora Goss and KT Wagner.
Plus we have stories that waver across lines of surrealist, near-future dystopia, absurdist, and/or horror.
Finally, our anthology includes established stars, beloved small press authors, and writers who have moved just a few rungs in their career. We even have the first published (truly fabulous) short story by author Michael Yuya Montroy!
Three Novelettes! (And one lost author)
It's been a long process to put our table of contents together--from the initial invited authors who committed before this Kickstarter even launched to the open call process we ran this past summer. Unfortunately, people's circumstances can change unexpectantly. While Terri Windling was one of our first boosters, participating in our virtual roundtable on Tanith Lee's work and legacy (YouTube link below), for personal reasons she was unable to complete her story. However, lemonade is a favorite of mine. Andy Duncan, Nisi Shawl, and Alaya Dawn Johnson ended up writing full-on novelettes for STORYTELLER and C.S.E. Cooney's story is just 57 words off of novelette status! STORYTELLER is just brimming with complex worlds and immersive stories.
Thank You!
As we work through the last few items before I send the book to our book designer, I want to thank you once again for your support. For months now I've been focused on making sure the quality of this anthology matches Tanith's legacy and your trust. I can't wait to get this book into your hands!
Warmly, Julie
I can't wait to share our final table of contents!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Nov 14, 2024 at 07:50:53 AM
Hello to our amazing Storyteller backers!
The Essential Dreams Press team has been hard at work since we last checked in. I have a few updates we are pleased to share with you all:
Rewards & Add-ons
We sent out most of the Storyteller physical rewards and add-ons to backers at the end of the summer. This included the contributor books, Tanith stickers, and temporary tattoos! If you didn't receive a non-Storyteller reward, feel free to reach out! There are a few left to sort, but most should have reached you.
Storyteller
Behind the scenes, we've been crazy busy working on the book itself.
Our table of contents is almost finalized!
We’ve already accepted EIGHT incredible stories from our open call in July that span science fiction, horror, fantasy, and many other Tanith-worthy blends of genre.
We've received all but one of the stories from our eight invited authors.
Ann Vandermeer's fabulous afterword is both lovely and ready to go.
We have a first draft of John Kaiine's foreword in hand.
With the 26 preorders from our Storyteller preorder site, we are able to fund at least one additional story! We're working on acquiring that story right now!
Developmental edits, copy edits, deciding the order of the table of contents, and more behind the scenes work are all simultaneously under way. My goal is to get the contents to the book designer in December so we'll have advanced reader copies (ARCs) by the end of January.
Thank You
We are committed to making Storyteller the best it can be—which of course wouldn’t be possible without all of your support. Feel free to reach out with any questions or comments. We all appreciate this community so much!
For me, this book a powerful testiment to both Tanith and to the unique strength of each of our authors. This book contains multitudes! As the days get darker, I wish you all moments of peace and joy.
-julie
Getting excited? We are!
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 08:53:53 AM
Hello, our wonderful backers!
Incredibly our first of two open calls starts tomorrow with the second one opening immediately afterward! After spending yet more time setting up the Duosuma submissions manager, and making sure the entire time had a chance to look things over, we are ready. This feels like the true starting line of something special, in fact of many somethings special!
Story Submissions
If your an author planning to submit, this Duosuma link takes you to the public page for both calls.
Call #1 July 16-22 Limited Demographic: We will only be accepting stories from underrepresented and historically marginalized voices including BIPOC, LGBTQAI+, disabled, and neurodiverse writers.
Call #2 July 23-29 Open to all.
Rewards
In other news, the rewards are starting to get sorted. A few boxes of signed books already sit in my home writing nook. We should be on target for mailing them all out, with the exception of signed postcards, in August! If there is any wiggle, I'll let you as soon as I do!
Thank you again! I was at Readercon this weekend and got to chat with a few folks who've backed Storyteller. Your support and that of everyone in this wonderful group is what is carrying this project forward!
