DEATH IN THE MOUTH: Original Horror from the Margins is an illustrated horror anthology showcasing BIPOC and other ethnically marginalized writers and artists from around the world.
DEATH IN THE MOUTH: Original Horror from the Margins is the second installment in our horror anthology series showcasing BIPOC and other ethnically marginalized writers and artists from around the world. It will feature 20 stand-alone prose stories spanning from the mythic past to the far future, cross between real and fictive worlds, and explore unique and unsettling manifestations of horror. Each story will also be accompanied by an original black and white illustration by a unique artist.
We've excited to say we’ve invited authors like Sascha Stronach, Jeeyon Shim, Richard Van Camp, Erika T. Wurth, Nadia Bulkin, JAW McCarthy, Ana Hurtado, Paula D. Ashe and more to contribute stories.
A few of the artists you can look forward to seeing illustrate these nightmares include Anand Radhakrishnan, Max Banshees, Rosío Airén, Eli Minaya, Tiffany Turrill-Gourdin, Julie Benbassat, Daylen Seu, Sloane Hong, Leslé Kieu, Makoto Chi and more!
Makoto Chi
Rosío Airén
Max Banshees
Anand Radhakrishnan
Tiffany Turrill-Gourdin
Leslé Kieu
Sloane Hong
Daylen Seu
Julie Benbassat
We will also welcome many new or underrepresented authors and artists through our open call once the campaign is funded!
This project is led, curated, and edited by Sloane Leong and Cassie Hart, two mixed heritage storytellers who’ve grown up embracing a wide variety of narrative traditions that exist outside of the cultural mainstream and who have an appreciation for the weird, transgressive, and experimental.
DITM Volume 1: Art by Angie Wang, design by Darius Ou
Our first Kickstarter proved that not only are there numerous BIPOC authors and artists whose stories and art need to be shared, but that there is a demand from readers for such stories as well! The literary horror scene in the Western world has a long history of being prohibitively focused on white storytellers. Because of this narrative homogeny, not all editors are informed as to what non-Western narratives look like and haven't necessarily cultivated an appreciation for stories from those cultures and traditions.
That's where we–Sloane and Cassie–come in. We want to continue to hold space and foreground the storytellers that have been pushed into the margins because of their niche narrative forms or because of the content itself.
PS: You’re probably wondering about our subtitle change from Original Horror from People of Color to Original Horror from the Margins. This is to reflect our desire to spotlight authors from all over the world, many of whom don’t use the term BIPOC or POC in their culture or for whom the dynamic of race is not necessarily linked to colorism. No language is perfect but we thought this change would lessen the confusion and be more inclusive of the storytellers we want to include.
DEATH IN THE MOUTH will be a ~250 page, 6x9" B/W trade paperback with a full color cover. It will include 20 original prose stories and 20 original illustrations. We will have the book available in eBook format for use on your reading and mobile devices (EPUB and PDF.) As a thank you for your support, all campaign contributors will be listed in the end matter of the print and digital versions of the anthology.
The only way to guarantee yourself a paperback copy of Death in the Mouth is through this campaign. The print edition of this anthology will not be made available to the mass market outside of the few bookshops who will host our book tour events. However, there will be an eBook available in all online bookstores for sale later in 2024.
Our call for art and fiction submissions will open after we reach our funding goal. We will pay the SFWA professional rate of US $0.08/word for stories and $350 per B/W illustration.
We’re dedicated to making sure everyone involved in making this book is fairly compensated. Because we want to feature a mix of established and new authors, we are soliciting a small number of stories, but the majority of stories included in this anthology will come from the open call. There will be no submission fee and pledge status will not influence acceptances.
For further details on our submission guidelines, please go here: https://deathinthemouth.com
“Death in the Mouth delivers stories I’d never heard but that I recognized in my marrow. The anthology crawled under my skin from the first page, but I welcome this haunt—it’s too raw and true to resist.” - Emma Mieko Candon, author of The Archive Undying
"Editors Sloane Leong and Cassie Hart have put together a phenomenal collection with Death In The Mouth, and one that I recommend adding to your horror library immediately. The variety of artwork and writing is outstanding; after every story I was driven to see what the next would bring, what chilling illustration would get its teeth this time (and insistently pull me forward), truly making this a book that is difficult to put down once you begin. A fantastic anthology that matches dreamy, horrifying, haunting and razor sharp stories with illustrations that heighten the horror every time." - Emily Carroll, author of Through the Woods and When I Arrived at the Castle
“Each story offers a unique experience as we travel through vividly realized locations. Unsettling and thought-provoking.” - Pseudopod
Estimated shipping charges will be listed with the backer level you've selected but may change between the project and fulfillment. During fulfillment, BackerKit will calculate any shipping that may be required when you fill out your delivery address. Shipping costs will not be assessed and billed until then.
You are only being charged for your pledge amount at this time. This will assist in keeping the cost of shipping down due to current fluctuations in domestic and international shipping costs. The editors, BackerKit, and our fulfillment partners are not responsible for any VAT, duty, or customs charges any packages may incur. BackerKit surveys will be sent once books arrive at our fulfillment partner.
Sloane Leong is a cartoonist, artist and writer of Hawaiian, Chinese, Mexican, Native American and European ancestries. She’s written and drawn two acclaimed graphic novels, Prism Stalker and A Map to the Sun, and has short fiction credits with Fireside Magazine, Dark Matter Magazine and Entropy Magazine. She's also co-edited the anthology Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales: Oceania Edition. Sloane is currently living on Chinook land near what is known as Portland, Oregon.
Cassie Hart is a Māori/Pākehā author and editor from New Zealand. She has been an Australian Shadow, Hugo, and Sir Julius Vogel award finalist across the years, co-winning an SJV for Best Collected works for the anthology, Tales for Canterbury, and was a finalist for Best Edited Works in the Australian Shadow Awards 2021. Her supernatural suspense novel, Butcherbird, released from Huia in 2021 and won an award for Best Novel.
