Disturbing The Beast: Weird Fiction by Women

Do you like speculative fiction? How about an anthology that explores lesser talked about female centred topics including sexual abuse, pregnancy issues and body image? If the answer is a resunding yes (and why wouldn’t it be?) Boudicca Press is keen to unearth these subjects in a healthy and respectful way, something that they and STORGY feel is not often considered in mainstream, contemporary literature. It’s their debut collection, so we’re really keen to get this project off the ground, publish some great stories and pay all those involved fairly.

If you want even further convincing, Daniel Carpenter interviewed Boudicca Press to find out a little more about their goal:

DC: First of all, what is Boudicca Press, and can you tell us a little more about your debut anthology, Disturbing the Beast?

Boudicca Press is a brand new literary press that aims to celebrate the strength, courage and literary talents of women.

We love strong female-led stories filled with breath-taking prose, in the genre of weird, literary and relationship fiction. Stories that stay with you. Stories that are reflective and deep. Stories that empower women. We publish short stories from women or people who identify as women, of all ages in the UK. We particularly love pieces that address lesser talked about female centred topics such as sexual abuse, pregnancy issues and body image.

Disturbing the Beast is our debut collection, featuring weird fiction stories by some of the best women writers in the UK, including Aliya Whiteley, Kirsty Logan and other up-and-coming writers.

It features fictional tales that explore lesser talked about female centred topics including sexual abuse, pregnancy issues and body image. We’re keen to unearth these subjects in a healthy and respectful way, something that we feel is not often considered in mainstream, contemporary literature. We’re currently raising funds to pay all involved including the authors and you can support the project on Kickstarter here

Weird fiction is quite a nebulous genre, and everyone has their own personal definition of it. What is your definition of weird fiction?

I love the kind of weird fiction where it feels like our world but something is not quite right about it, something you can’t put your finger on – a more subtle kind of weird fiction. Something that leaves you thinking and stewing over trying to figuring out what you’ve just read.

The two authors in the anthology so far, Kirsty Logan, and Aliya Whiteley, approach weird fiction in different ways. What about their writing made them ideal for inclusion in the anthology?

Aliya Whitely is awesome at writing stories that are subtly weird, where you think everythings going one way and then suddenly everything is not what you thought it would be.

I love Kirsty Logan’s folklore/fairytale style with often female-led stories, and very, very imaginative ideas.

The anthology and press is focused very much on issues affecting women. What makes weird fiction the ideal genre in which to explore these issues?

Weird fiction enables you to look at an issue in a less intense/triggering way. You can side-step something and explore it in metaphor which I believe is an important method to hosting these conversation. I’m also a firm believer of the fiction coming first, and weird fiction enables these very important topics to be explored in a lesser trite way.

What are your plans post Disturbing the Beast?

To keep publishing! We’re reading through all the fantastic submissions to Disturbing the Beast now and we’re keen to showcase and make a big splash about all the talented writers in this collection. We’ll then look to the next project to showcase more amazing women writers.

Twenty-four short stories, exclusive afterwords, interviews, artwork, and more.

From Trumpocalypse to Brexit Britain, brick by brick the walls are closing in. But don’t despair. Bulldoze the borders. Conquer freedom, not fear. EXIT EARTH explores all life – past, present, or future – on, or off – this beautiful, yet fragile, world of ours. Final embraces beneath a sky of flames. Tears of joy aboard a sinking ship. Laughter in a lonely land. Dystopian or utopian, realist or fantasy, horror or sci-fi, EXIT EARTH is yours to conquer.

EXIT EARTH includes the short stories of all fourteen finalists of the STORGY EXIT EARTH Short Story Competition, as judged by critically acclaimed author Diane Cook (Man vs. Nature) and additional stories by award winning authors M R Cary (The Girl With All The Gifts), Toby Litt (Corpsing), James Miller (Lost Boys), Courttia Newland (A Book of Blues), and David James Poissant (The Heaven of Animals), and exclusive artwork by Amie Dearlove, HarlotVonCharlotte, CrapPanther, and cover design by Rob Pearce.

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