Mythic Delirium launched two books in 2020, and from our perspective their appearance was mostly buried by the tumult of the pandemic and the political landscape. Our books were hardly alone in facing that predicament, and a lot of cool things still came to pass regarding our experimental anthology, A Sinister Quartet, and my own story collection Aftermath of an Industrial Accident.

Nonetheless, to me as publisher (and also as author) gaining attention for these book felt like an uphill struggle at all times.

And so it came as as not just an honor but a surprise and relief to learn that Mythic Delirum Books managed to achieve a sweep of sorts, when we got word that both A Sinister Quartet and Aftermath of an Industrial Accident had been selected for the 2020 Locus Recommended Reading List.

Congratulations to my fellow Sinisters, C. S. E. Cooney, Jessica P. Wick and Amanda J. McGee! And, you know, congratulations to . . . me!

I’ve appeared on the Locus list twice before, but as an editor, for Clockwork Phoenix: Tales of Beauty and Strangeness and Clockwork Phoenix 5. (Several stories from the Clockwork Phoenix anthologies have made appearances, though, which has been wonderful in its own way.)

The appearance of Aftermath on the list marks the first time the panel of advisors has picked me for something I have written, and that feels like a major accomplishment. And I suppose I am double-dipping with A Sinister Quartet, as I am an editor of that book and I also wrote one of the four stories.

Especially wonderful, Claire Cooney’s contribution to Sinister, “The Twice-Drowned Saint: Being a Tale of Fabulous Gelethel, the Invisible Wonders Who Rule There, and the Apostates Who Try to Escape its Walls,” made the list on its own in the “First Novel” category.

This probably going to confuse some folks, because people who see A Sinister Quartet is comprised of four long stories naturally assume all four are novellas. (In the case of Jess’s “An Unkindness,” Amanda’s “Viridian” and my own “The Comforter,” that is correct.) And it’s a testimony to how well “The Twice-Drowned Saint” is written that even people who have read it think it’s a novella.

But no, as I have had to explain more than once, “Twice-Drowned Saint” is longer than 60,000 words, a novel by pretty much every definition! I’m definitely grateful that the folks at Locus found a way to keep calling attention to this amazing piece after learning it didn’t fit where they originally planned to put it.

Back to that notion of a sweep. Well, 2020 will be the first year that Mythic Delirium put out two books and both books made the Locus list. I call that evidence of at least one small thing going right in 2020.

The inclusion of all these items on the list, by the way, means folks will be able to vote on them in the Locus Awards poll, yay!

I intend to do something special to celebrate this milestone and yes, it will involve a sale. But that’s not quite ready yet, and I wanted to make sure I got the word out! Not to mention I wanted to give anyone clicking through the links posted by Locus some guidance on what these books are and how to get them!

And did I mention it’s also my birthday today? What a terrific present.