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Back in the summer of 2019–oh how long ago that seems!–The Pillbug and I were lamenting a dearth of SF that was… not stressful. SF, particularly now, is full of Chosen Ones and Saves The Universe and Deaths to Show It’s Serious and lots of other great, tension-building, page-turning action. It’s escapism, sure, but… what if you want to escape into something less stressful?

Literary fiction, on the other hand, often eshews such tension to gently meander through a garden of metaphor. And it’s much more relaxed, but… maybe too much so. There are, of course, novels that straddle that divide, but short stories? Hard to find. Probably hard to sell.

So we decided to test that hypothesis. We put out a call in December for what we term “Low-Fi”: low stakes fantasy and science fiction. Cosy, warm-sweater, mug of tea fiction.

And now that anthology is launching.

Coming July 1st, from Grace&Victory Publications, is our new anthology, A Quiet Afternoon, featuring 13 low-fi stories from a great group of authors. Magic ink? Yes. Magic robots? We got ’em. Dragons? Fairies? Strigoi? Oh yes. And more. Edited by Liane Tsui and Grace Seybold, and the stories selected by the Pillbug and me, A Quiet Afternoon is a peaceful break from a stressful world, and I hope you’ll check it out.

The cover of the "A Quiet Afternoon" anthology

Published in blog News

vfeistner

Victoria Feistner is a novelist, a graphic designer, and an artisan in equal parts, although some of those parts are more equal than others. She resides in Toronto with her husband and two fur children, also known as cats.

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