Well it’s Friday the 13th and casting all omens aside, we are pulling the dustsheet off our Bark & Bone anthology. It was an absolute pleasure to work with our cover artist, Sally Barnett, to arrive at this design. Look at this deliciously spooky cover art!
Sally read the material first and developed her sketches organically from the writers’ work. Which is a perfect example of why we wanted to collaborate with a commissioned artist rather than rely on stock art or worse, AI generated art. This process has led to a design with many Easter eggs hidden in the forest which our writers and readers will have fun spotting.
Back blurb:
In Bark & Bone, thirty-three writers venture into the woods in search of refuge, enchantment and buried secrets. They find the forest a site of mutation, throwing up a continual translation between the human and the arboreal. While some travellers thrive in the backwoods, others lose themselves entirely. Mushroom pickers, witches and eco-activists stalk the undergrowth, alongside all manner of creatures. But whether spellbound, synthetic or alien, these trees call to the wilderness within us all. Light your lamp before you enter.
When you get in close, you can appreciate the delicacy of those mycorrhizal threads from the forest funghi and the green spotting of lichen and moss. Peer into the shadows under the canopy and you’ll also discover an array of forest creatures staring back at you. But above all, there’s the mystery of what is happening to that human body half concealed by the ferns. To solve that, you’ll need to get yourself a copy when it goes on sale* and read the stories and poems inside. All the secrets are buried in there.
We’ll be heading off to BristolCon next Friday (20th October) but, as promised, we’ll post our Preface blog before we go. This will introduce all thirty-three pieces and give you a flavour of the diverse themes and tones of the anthology. See you then. And if you’re at BristolCon for the convention, do pop over to the Dealer’s Room to say hi.
* Bark & Bone publication dates *
Friday, 27th October (ebook) and Saturday, 25th November (paperback)
Space Cat Press 