Like all good things, the A is for Apocalypse blog train had to eventually come to an end. This is the caboose on our train, and I’m sorry to see it happen but it’s been a really good run so far. If you’ve missed any of the posts, you can check them out here:

A is for Apocalypse Blog Tour:

Rhonda Parrish ~ Apocalyptic Blog Train
Pete Aldin ~ How Will The End Come?
C.S. MacCath ~ Car #3 on the A is for Apocalypse Blog Train
Simon Kewin ~ A is for Apocalypse: The Blog Train
Milo James Fowler ~ A is for Apocalypse, C is for…?
Sara Cleto ~ A is for Apocalypse Blog Train
Alexis A. Hunter ~ Apocalyptic vs Post-Apocalyptic
Alexandra Seidel ~ A is for Apocalypse Blog Train
BD Wilson ~ Car 9: It’s the End of the World As We Know It
Samantha Kymmell-Harvey ~ A is for Apocalypse Blog Train – All Aboard!
Rhonda Parrish ~ Caboose on the A is for Apocalypse Train

I feel like, as the final participant in this train I ought to have something fantastic, something mind-blowing and world-shaking to share… but I haven’t. All the people who blogged before me and talked about the appeal of apocalyptic stories, defining apocalyptic stories and gave sneak peeks at the process that went into their A is for Apocalypse story? Well, they all pretty much nailed it. I could blog about those things, but I’d largely be repeating them.

Instead, let me tell you about something that scared the crap out of me.

Some people are scared of the end of the world (or the things that cause it like natural disasters, war, climate change) and I’m not immune to all those fears but let me tell you, they don’t scare me nearly as much as editing this anthology did.

I have control issues. Big ones.

I’ve been working on them pretty hard over the past few years; handing over control of the online version of Niteblade to BD Wilson for example, or making Alexandra Seidel our poetry editor — these were very big things for me. But neither of those things came anywhere close to how I felt when it came to this anthology. I was picking 26 authors, giving them the topic of ‘Apocalypse’, a letter from the alphabet and a titling structure for their story (Letter is for Word) and then promising to buy whatever story they produced as long as it wouldn’t send me to jail.

A guaranteed acceptance.

Dude… that was tough.

Even though I had only offered spots to writer’s whose work I loved and respected, even though I would be able to edit their stories with them before they were published, even though…

It was scary. Difficult.

And it wasn’t just scary for me. I have several contributors send me notes to tell me they were finding it scarier, more difficult to write their story for A is for Apocalypse than any other thing they’d written because they knew it would be accepted. Knowing that made them put extra pressure on themselves to make it as good a story as it could be.

The results are phenomenal. I don’t think I could have gotten the variety of stories, the high-quality of stories, that are in this anthology in any other way.

Twenty seven of us were brave together and the result is A is for Apocalypse. I’m so very proud of it and of us. Every one of us.

 

Praise for A is for Apocalypse:

“In A is for Apocalypse, the world ends in both fire and ice–and by asteroid, flood, virus, symphony, immortality, the hands of our vampire overlords, and crowdfunding. A stellar group of authors explores over two dozen of the bangs and whispers that might someday take us all out. Often bleak, sometimes hopeful, always thoughtful, if A is for Apocalypse is as prescient as it is entertaining, we’re in for quite a ride.”

– Amanda C. Davis, author of The Lair of the Twelve Princesses

“A is for Apocalypse is a clever anthology that I’d recommend to anyone who is a fan of hard science fiction.”

– Astilbe, Long and Short Reviews

A is for Apocalypse

Available now at:
Amazon (Kindle)
Amazon (Paperback*)
Kobo
Smashwords
CreateSpace Paperback
And also at Goodreads

If you’ve read and enjoyed A is for Apocalypse, please consider leaving a review for us at your favourite review site (Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing…) or if you’re not a fan of writing reviews, even just giving a star rating would make us happy. Every little bit helps.

Thank you!

*If you purchase the paperback from Amazon you ought to be able to get the Kindle version for free.