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POC horror anthology Death in the Mouth has funded on Kickstarter

POC horror anthology Death in the Mouth has funded on Kickstarter
Image: Sloane Leong

A new horror anthology is set to feature BIPOC and ethnically marginalized writers from all over the world: Death in the Mouth. The project is currently funding on Kickstarter, and just surpassed its funding goal of $35,000.

The anthology will be edited by cartoonist Sloane Leong (editor of Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales: Oceania Edition) and author/editor Cassie Hart (Tales for Canterbury). The book is a “BIPOC led project, curated and edited by BIPOC from a variety of narrative traditions who have an appreciation for the weird, the tender and the experimental,” and will feature twenty short stories and illustrations that will explore “new and unique manifestations of horror.”

The authors included in the anthology thus far include C. Pam Zhang, Darcie Little Badger, Jewelle Gomez, An Owomoyela, Karin Lowachee, Jahra Wasasala, K-Ming Chang, Alice Sola Kim, and more. Artists will include Michael DeForge, Joy San, Jabari Weathers, Makoto Chi, Allissa Chan, Natalie Hall, Alicia Feng, and Angie Wang.

The editors are also soliciting submissions to round out the book’s contents (and pay a rate of 8 cents per word) starting in September and running through November: they’re looking for a broad range of stories:

“Original manifestations of horror, dread, grief, fear, and anxiety. Embodiments of mania and displacements of faith. Harrowing ecstasy and debilitating hope. Consuming, relentless love. Transgressions of the body, the spirit, and the community. Quiet, creeping absurdities. Unique and terrifying alien mythology from the future. Weird and unsettling folklore from secondary worlds. Quiet contemporary techno-panic.

The book will only be released as a paperback through the Kickstarter campaign (and an accompanying pre-order for those who don’t want to use Kickstarter)—it will be released as an eBook in 2022. eBook editions run for $15 on the Kickstarter, $30 for the paperback and eBook together, and some higher tiers include additional perks like original art and story critiques. The book is anticipated to release in July 2022.