As you may have guessed, we have very dark roots at Yellow Horse and are huge fans of all things black and scary. We certainly would never have entered into the publishing arena if we were easily frightened! So, of course, getting some encouragement, albeit indirectly, from a favourite horror magazine was, well, encouraging.

In an article in the commemorative 100th “Black” edition of Rue Morgue Magazine entitled “Five Trends in Fright Fiction”, trend number 2 is “Print-on-Demand and the Rise of Indie Publishing”:

“As the Internet came of age, so did print-on-demand services–essentially companies that would produce small runs of novels for small presses and individuals alike. This allowing aspiring authors, much like independent bands before them, to release professional-looking works without being beholden to a publisher. Furthermore, with home computers now powerful enough to run high-end graphics and layout software, almost anyone can start their own small press. While this undoubtedly resulted in a certain amount of unedited crap, it also gave several up-and-coming scribes their first break, such as David Moody, who published his horror novel Hater through his own imprint and subsequently sold the film rights to it within months of its release.”

–Monica S. Kuebler, Rue Morgue Managing Editor

Well then, there you have it. Word from one of horror’s most respected magazines, one with an international reach, and who has recently launched Rue Morgue Cinema, their own film production company. Managing Editor, Monica Kuebler, in fact, has put her money where her mouth is and established Burning Effigy Press to bring her own brand of dark spookiness to horror readers.

Moving on to other dark and horrific book-related news, Horrid Henry, published by independent publisher Sourcebooks (which was launched out of an upstairs bedroom in 1987) comes to the big 3D screen; Dostoevsky has been labeled depressing in shock news from Russia; LosingLibraries.org shows the big (awful) picture of libraries having their staff and budgets cut or entire branches closed down US-wide; and Michael Jackson’s mom is self-publishing a photo book about her son. I’ll leave it to you whether you find that heart-warming or horrifying.