Death Be Not Proud: Collected Short Fiction on War
Around the world and across centuries, wars have, perhaps to their sole credit, given rise to a pantheon of soul-shaking literature unique to a specific kind of emotion: hopelessness. The underlying theme of this anthology will strive to lay bare this emotion through the short fiction of some of the finest writers in the world, and some lesser known ones. While some of the works in this proposed anthology will show an insider’s point of view, some others will tear open similar wounds from the pens of civilians. These selected stories of war and warriors will include Stephen Crane’s uncanny analytical vision and his depiction of the ‘beauty of war’ and Emile Zola’s brutal obsession with the essence of battles – courage, carnage, and carcass. It will include Tolstoy’s photographic portrayal of war as he saw it, revealing in its undertones, his subsequent pacifism. It hopes to include HH Munro, whose voluntary enlistment to serve the army in World War I led to many poignant prose-poetry extravaganzas in his body of fiction. Along with other unforgettable war writers like John Galsworthy, Willa Cather, and Rudyard Kipling, this anthology will strive to showcase a blend of writers and writing styles that bring out the hopelessness of manmade strife.

Fiction Is Stranger: An Anthology of Mystery Stories
Weird or logical, supernatural or thrilling, few things get the adrenalin going like a good mystery. Having developed over the past two centuries, mystery fiction is amongst the youngest themes in fiction literature. Urbanisation and the Industrial Revolution saw a shift in populations that brought droves of people into cities, increasing urban population and bringing about a need for an organised police force. It is believed that this, along with the increasing aspiration and need for formal education, led to mystery quickly becoming the go-to genre for writers and readers alike. While no anthology of mystery stories can overlook the obvious charms and accomplishments of Arthur Conan Doyle or Edgar Allan Poe, this collection will strive to include mystery for and from all ages. It will include the writing of Edward Stratemeyer, the man who made a huge contribution to the beginnings of juvenile fiction with the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series. It will also strive to include Nikolai Gogol’s spectacular and startling universe; Wilkie Collins’s mastery of form and formula-perfect recipes for suspense; Bret Harte’s racy renditions of the California Gold Rush; and the literary skill and terrifying imagination of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Monsters, Ink: A Gallery of Monsters in Short Fiction
Man’s fascination with death, the afterlife and everything inexplicable that lies in-between has launched many a thrilling monster in literature. From Frankenstein’s terrifying yet poignant monster to the chilling imagery of Dracula, prolific writers over the centuries have ensured sleepless nights for avid readers of horror fiction. This anthology aims to include chilling monsters and their stories, written by some of the best horror writers over the centuries. While the anthology will strive to bring out the often distressing circumstances of misunderstood “monsters”, it will also include the cocky irreverence of Saki’s just-evil creations to the supernatural darkness of Ambrose Bierce’s creatures. It will include the dark often poignant horror of Gothic fiction writers like Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, and Theophile Gautier. Edith Nesbit, although known best for her children’s fiction, had a lesser known mastery of the supernatural tale, which hopes to find a place in this collection. No compilation of literary monsters is complete without HP Lovecraft’s cosmic horror of the unknown, best represented through the half-man, half-dragon, half-octopus – Cthulhu. The collection will also include the witty, macabre creatures of HH Munro’s horror fiction and the powerfully subtle tone-and-effect horror of Sheridan Le Fanu.