Looking for a new fantasy anthology to keep you warm during the colder months? Look no further, Winter Enchantment might just be the book for you! And I’ve had the pleasure to interview its editor, Malina Douglas!
This wonderful anthology is available as paperback and eBook.
About the anthology
What is the first thing you want readers to know about the anthology?
This anthology features stories from all over the world by an international range of authors. Some are chilling, some uplifting, some melancholy, but all are related to winter and contain an element of magic.
Why did you decide to publish an anthology?
I was looking for an anthology of magical winter stories but couldn’t find one, so I decided to create one myself.
How did the story/author selection process happen?
I put out a call for submissions and as the stories arrived, I began reading, feeling for what would work for the theme I had in mind. I feel lucky to have found so many magical stories that fit perfectly to the anthology concept!
What kind of stories can readers expect?
While all stories have some connection to winter magic, they represent a wide range, from inspiring to chilling to high fantasy to fabulist. Ghosts in the Snow is historical fiction set in the 1800s and Paths in the Snow blends Finnish folklore with historical fiction and steampunk, a blend both thrilling and chilling.
The Dream-Stone and Wish Spider have a fairytale quality, with original stories. Frozen Tears is dark literary fantasy set in Japan while the Bridegroom’s Verse has a contempory urban setting, but both stories draw on myth and folklore.
Where do the stories take place?
Winter Enchantment has stories set in a variety of real-world locations, from wintertime Japan to a magical Arctic village to the Isle of Mull in Scotland to the snow-covered forests of Kajanaland, Finaland and a waterfall in Iceland.
Some settings are more mysterious, like the misty forest in Needle and Thread, a snow-covered city in A Bridegroom’s Verse and a wintertime setting sometime long ago in Winters’ Widow. The Dream Stone is set in a snow-covered kingdom.
In The Other Side, portal in the Eldras Woods leads to a snowy wonderland filled with creatures both dangerous and enthralling.
What kind of creatures will readers encounter?
Within these pages, readers will find frost-sprites, three magical horses that pull a sleigh across the sky, elusive beings that dwell deep in a winter forest, and ghosts.
They will meet Chione, goddess of snow, Yuki-ono, the snow woman of Japanese legend, Melinoe, a goddess from Greek mythology and her legion of ghosts, Spinnaret, a woman who spins creations from the mist, a snow-dwelling spider with the power to grand wishes and fierce fae beings that dwell in an enchanted forest.
About the authors
Tell us something more about the authors? Who are they? Where do they come from?
We’ve got a wonderful range of authors from Italy, Australia, Canada, the US, the UK and one author living in Iceland.
Eve Morton, Valerie Hunter, Ryan Gibbs and Kathryn Reilly teach writing as well as write.
Paul Wilson, Angela Nolan, Sergei Palumbo and Marisca Pichette write horror as well as fantasy.
Marka Rifat writes stories, poems, plays and articles from her home in the northeast of Scotland. She was commended in the Saki, Toulmin and Janet Coats Memorial prizes and has published in many anthologies.
Sergio Palumbo has published in numerous sci-fi, fantasy and horror anthologies including a Steampunk anthology called Steam-powered Dream Engines from Rogue Planet Press. He also published a Fantasy RolePlaying illustrated Manual, WarBlades and builds sci-fi scale models.
Michele Dutcher is the editor who works with Sergei Palumbo. She’s been writing Science Fiction stories for a decade from her carriage house in Old Louisville Kentucky.
Paul Wilson is the author of a the horror novel Hostage and a fantasy western called Cassidy Smith, as well as short stories published in Theatre Phantasmagoriaand Dream of Shadow.
Angela Nolan is primarily a horror writer. She took a ghost story writing course during the lockdown and has published short stories with Sins of Time & Jolly Horror Press.
Marisca Pichette is a writer of speculative fiction with work in Strange Horizons, Fireside Magazine, Fusion Fragment, Uncharted Magazine, PodCastle and more. In spring 2023 she published a poetry collection called Rivers in your Skin Sirens in your Hair.
R.A. Goli is an Australian writer of horror, fantasy, and speculative short stories with a short story collection called Unfettered and numerous publications you can find on her website
Eve Morton lives in Ontario, Canada and teaches university and college classes in media studies, academic writing, and genre literature.
Toshiya Kamei writes fiction inspired by fairy tales, folklore, and mythology, and won the Apex Microfiction Contest in 2022.
Valerie Hunter teaches high school English and has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
S. J. C. Schreiber lives with elves and trolls, cats and horses in Iceland. She was shortlisted in Furious Fiction and has published in Flash Point Science Fiction, The Quiet Ones, and Land Beyond the World Magazine. She has a collection of stories based on Icelandic folktales called Tröll, Álfar, Hestar.
Sofie Wilkes is working on a PhD about drone swarms to explore other planets and pursuing her interests in jigsaws, tutoring mathematics, paleontology and philosophy.
Ryan Gibbs writes poetry, fiction, and non-fiction and is based in Canada. Find his work in Words Gathered, Paper Lanterns and the Turning Point.
Kathryn Reilly teaches by day and by night spins speculative tales, resurrecting goddesses and ghosts. Her writing has appeared in Shadow Atlas, Blink Ink, Seaside Gothic and more.
Plus debut writer Sienna Vijh has published her first short story, The Other Side, in Winter Enchantment! She is a student of business in London.
About the editor
What did you like best about editing this anthology?
I enjoyed discovering these stories, then reading them all again months later and rediscovering so many lovely details. The editing process was intensive, but definitely worth going through. I look forward to sharing the magic with you!
What was the biggest challenge?
One of the biggest challenges was getting the manuscript perfect before publishing. Finding just the right cover image was challenging too. I worked with a cover designer and the first images she came up with didn’t fit what I envisioned. One issue was that the woman on the cover was wearing a sleeveless dress that would be too cold in a winter setting! Then she landed on perfect image and the cover came together.
What is the next project you are working on?
I’m currently writing a novel of speculative fiction set in a secondary world, with three viewpoint characters, four contrasting cultures that clash with each other and plenty of exciting original creatures. Stay tuned… I’m also preparing a course on writing short stories.
Find updates on my writing and workshops here: https://citrinesunstream.wixsite.com/iridescent
Or on twitter @iridescentwords.