Improbable Press Blog

By Dannye Chase "I went home," Pearl said. She knew she had a sharp mournful cry, and struggled to keep it out of her voice. "Your old home." "Enfield," Jessica said. "Oh, my dear, I haven't lived there in twenty years." My story of cryptids emerging focuses on the lifelong romance between a human woman, Jessica, and a swamp creature named Pearl, who is based on the legend of the “Enfield Monster.” In the story, Pearl’s memory has started to weaken with age. I based Pearl’s experience on a very good friend whom I lost to dementia. His name was...

By Neethu Krishnan I had never written a story featuring a fantastical creature before – that is, before my story "Fireflies and Thieves." My first impulse at the submission call for the Cryptids Emerging, anthology was to sigh and self-sabotage, citing the following reasons: * I was scantily, if at all, informed about the cryptid universe. * I stood no chance against excellent high-fantasy writers, who I pictured plucking a bunch of just-perfect drafts off their towering desk pile and sending them out into the world of sure-fire acceptance. * I could de facto eliminate the possibility of rejection by...

The thing we want to do with the cryptid books is what we want to do with all our books – tell adventure-mystery-eerie-cool stories about everybody else. You know who I mean by everyone else, so I'll say little other than across volume blue and volume silver we have a siren in a wheelchair, an autistic sea monster, a trans shapeshifter, gay characters, disabled characters, minority characters – these two books (and a pending third) are filled with adventure tales about people who are these things but not just, not only – and half the time simply incidentally. Breathing Deep...

By Ali Coyle I am excited to have a short story in Volume Blue of Dark Cheer Cryptids Emerging, IP's new two-volume anthology. Why write about cryptids? Why not! Mythical creatures fascinate me, especially shapeshifters. I never quite felt comfortable in my skin as a human until I learned the words 'agender' and 'nonbinary' to describe part of my identity. As a child (and teen and adult), brought up with strict certainties about gender, in my imagination I was a shapeshifter who could choose to be male or female or both or neither, human or animal or alien, whatever made...

Doing a live reading or discussion of your work is something most new authors dream about long before publication. However, when the time comes, it can also be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if you’re not accustomed to public speaking. I was recently lucky enough to talk to the Romancing the Gothic group about my first novel Ghost Story, and I’d like to share some things I learned with other new writers who might find themselves scared of the prospect of talking in front of friends and strangers alike. So here are my five tips for live readings: Practice – it...