Ante Mortem

Introduction BACK FROM THE ABYSS Jodi Lee

Much has been made in the past months of editors and publishers that don’t continue and follow through on contractual obligations, or that don’t even stick around long enough to see their vision through to the end. This has become far too common-place in the last while, too many small presses or one-off groups popping up over night, and then disappearing just as fast. Sometimes, writers are lucky and retain their stories. Other times, unscrupulous people go ahead and publish the stories anyway, without contract, without payment, without permission; in the worst cases, stories are stolen outright and published in someone else’s name.

Those of us who were accepted to a particular anthology, one that did not materialize, were lucky enough to keep our rights, to keep our stories intact. While the ‘publisher’ may not have been real, using a pseudonym and drop-box to conduct business, at least for this, he was honest. All rights were returned to those who wished to retain them.

I was angry when I was first told of the deception, and while I’d stewed over it, steamed and waited for my contract to run out, I thought about the other authors, some of whom I’m proud to say are more than ‘table of contents acquaintances.’ I’m very proud to call them my friends. What of their stories? I then contacted as many as I could, with the seed of an idea.

Belfire was in its infancy, we hadn’t even released a single book yet, and I had two other projects on the go besides Belfire proper, but I didn’t care. Something about these stories and these writers thrilled me, there was a spark. Within a week, we’d germinated the seed and Ante Mortem became a reality; within a month, everything was set. The hideous project from the past would not haunt us evermore: we had turned back the clock, and re-entered pre-death.

Each of these stories has something in common. Each has either been accepted to an anthology or a magazine that subsequently, for whatever reason, did not publish the piece. For this, that we have been able to give these stories a new home, a proper home, we are very, very grateful. We all hope you enjoy the selections in our own life before death – Ante Mortem!