by Silver Webb I’m delighted to announce a new book, Delirium Corridor: A Dark Anthology, published December 2020 by Borda Books. Details are fuzzy as to the origins of this anthology. Curator Max Talley is either slightly to blame or entirely to laud, depending on who is telling the tale. But trust me when I say that a baby alligator, a bloody Mary, and a mishap with Ashtanga yoga were certainly *not* involved in the (immaculate) conception of this dark anthology. Not. Involved. But if now is not the time for surreal stories, I don’t know when is. Delirium Corridor was planned before the pandemic brought true delirium to our world, but the anthology was also delayed because of it. Lit Jo has adapted, and we're moving on with bringing compelling stories into print. And Delirium Corridor certainly delivers on the surreal, the noir, the strange. Two-hundred and forty pages of it, in fact. Why obsess over a grim reality when you can escape into a fictional world of the bizarre and unexpected? Unlike life, when finished, you can shut the book and shelve it.
When I started the SB Lit Jo, it was with the intention that stories considered "genre" can be written with a level of mastery on a par with literary fiction. Luckily, Associate Editor Max Talley, aside from being a fine writer in his own right, knows plenty of high writers in low places…no, scratch that, he knows serious writers in strange places…well, you understand. He shares the same standards I do, usually exceeds them, and has a distinct vision in his own stories and paintings that he brought to this anthology as curator and editor. I could not be more pleased with the results.
So, what will you find if you walk down the corridor? A man-eating plant and a homicidal kitchen appliance? Why, yes. A transference of reality via electric handshake? Mmm hmm. A haunted subway running far beneath Manhattan, not to mention a happening party in the underworld of the Los Angeles sewers? Yup. Got ‘em. And that’s just a few. We have a tortured screenwriter plagued by pan-dimensional task-masters, a serial killer loose in the mall, maybe even a grieving wife looking to outer space for deliverance from sanity. I'm sorry to say we don't have a single dragon in this anthology. I was told a dragon would've been overkill. But we do have, and I'm proud of each of them, twelve amazing stories:
“Delirium Corridor” by Max Talley "Scavenger” by Jesse Krenzel “Oh Yes, Dr. No” by Silver Webb “Ruthless Efficiency” by Trey Dowell “The Mole Train” by John R. Reed “Comafornia®™” by Genna Rivieccio “White Page” by Stephen T. Vessels “Rainy Season” by Zane Andrea “City of Illumination” by Jack Eidt “Visions of Art” by Shelly Lowenkopf “Offline” by Sacha Wamsteker “Man with the Acid Handshake” by Max Talley
Add in abstract and surreal art by Stephen T. Vessels, Grace Rachow, Vergvotre, and Max, and prepare for a one-way ticket down Delirium Corridor. For once entered, return is improbable.
If you would like to give or receive Delirium Corridor in time for Christmas, please order via amazon here.
To read story excerpts from Delirium Corridor, visit our book description page here.