Tales of Wonder and Dread: A Collection of Science Fiction and Horror Tales

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On September 4th, 2018 Tales of Wonder and Dread was born. That's the day the first three books under that nameplate were published. It seems really appropriate to me that this book, sharing that name, is published five years later as part of the celebration of that anniversary.
So, what is Tales of Wonder and Dread? Well, the publishing imprint was created to put out books that fall into the science fiction and horror categories, which is precisely what we have in this book. In fact, I made sure that there are an equal number of both genres of tales here. Of course, some of the stories encompass both sides of the coin in one package.
Three of the writers included here have multiple stories in the collection. One of those is myself. Under the "wonder" category, I have one that's a newly published piece . That story is "Prelude to War," which is intended to serve as a prequel to a couple of vintage pieces , tying them into a united fictional universe.
The rest of my stories that fit as science fiction are "The Wind," "The Stars" , "Rest in Peace, Jeremy Crandall" , "The Quest of Alice" . "Altered Reality" and "Grief." All of those have been previously published. I also have two reprints under the "Dread" category - "A Visit with Grandmother" and "The Passage."
One of the other writers with multiple stories here is Elizabeth Lynn Blackson. Hers all fall under the horror heading. They are "All My Demons Come Round," "The Weight of a Feather," "Bodies of Rot" and "The Smell." None of those have been published previously in a Tales of Wonder and Dread book, although I think some might have been published elsewhere.
Author Heath D. Alberts is the final contributor with more than one tale included in this tome. Both of his are in the science fiction portion of the book. I have previously published both of them, but one of those was in a pre-Tales of Wonder and Dread collection "Dark Dreams and Weird Worlds." That story is "Know It All." His other story here is "The Battery Man."
Under the science fiction half of the book we also have "A Time To Die" from Frank Coffman. I believe this is the first publication of that story. "The Dead Planet" by E. Eggert is being simultaneously published in Spooky Space.
That brings us to the rest of the "Dread" tales. "300 Feet Under Allenville" is provided by David W. Pedersen. M.K. Davis weaves a tale called "What We Give" "The Rooms Have You Now" is a story from Eric Danhoff. Patrick J. Murphy III tells us about "The Beast," and Adam R. Crump's "Eat, Sleep, Snack, Repeat" is the remaining horror story.
I think that this book is a fitting celebration of all that Tales of Wonder and Dread the publisher is meant to be. I also think it's a particularly interesting and varied book. I hope you feel the same way.

Gary Hill