Take a Breath Cover Reveal
A look at our upcoming anthology
Summary
Dive into the deep end with eighteen tales of claustrophobic horror, where each page turn is an attempt to surface for air. From sinking ships, underwater creatures, and cave exploration gone wrong to the isolation of space travel, these stories explore confinement in all its restricting dread. Discover where the boundaries of reality begin to collapse, trapping protagonists in nightmares both physical and psychological. With contributions from independent authors around the world, this collection promises to make every narrowing inch feel like a mile in the darkest corners of speculative fiction.
Featuring stories by:
Edward Ahern, Warren Benedetto, Rose Biggin, Clark Boyd, Matthew Christian, Sam Crain, Elana Gomel, Rachel Henderson, Juliette Jarabek, Ilan Jones, Hamish Kavanagh, C.R. Langille, Winston Malone, Angus McIntyre, Tom Paul, Leigh Parrish, Pip Pinkerton, Nidheesh Samant.
To receive a signed/numbered hardcover of Take Me There: A Speculative Anthology of Travel and Take a Breath: A Collection of Claustrophobic Horror delivered in an XPress Book Box, upgrade to an annual subscription. You’ll also get all of our eBooks and future releases. Thanks for supporting independent writing and publishing!
About the cover
When I commissioned Eoin Ryan for the cover of our second anthology, I had no idea what to expect. Even pitching the somewhat vague theme to authors, I wasn’t sure of the outcome:
This year, we’re delving into the deepest and darkest locations with a focus on stories that evoke a sense of confinement, lack of breath/oxygen, and the desperate need for escape. “Take a Breath” will have you turning the pages faster and faster, not only from the desire to discover how each story ends but because you’ll be holding your breath.
Many submissions contained water or the ocean, which were some of my favorites. But I hadn’t intended to publish an underwater anthology… yet. Therefore, I did the hard thing of turning away many great stories because I felt that variation was necessary to keep the book interesting.
Eoin’s early cover drafts also featured water, which evoked the breathless nature of the book, but not the confinement. Then, his illustration of a woman wrapped in plastic, with her mouth open and one eye peering out, terrified me to no end. It was so striking, hard to look away from, and hard to forget. It… took my breath away, and I knew it had to be the cover.
Working with Eoin has been such a great experience. His style has given these anthologies an identity of their own, and I hope to commission him again to close out the “Take” series.
About the production
This collection features 18 indie authors who have worked hard on their stories and dealt with my edits over the last 4–5 months. It’s not easy to have your work tampered with by some guy running a small, unknown press, but every author in this book has been a treat to work with, and I hope they will be proud of the final product.
Your support is crucial to our book’s funding. The estimated publication costs will likely exceed $5000. That includes the cover art, author payouts, printing, shipping, marketing, and book box supplies. Each new annual member brings us closer to covering these costs, and you’ll receive every new release in a premium book box.
As the editor and publisher, I aim to gain your patronage by bringing you entertaining fiction and the quality of our product. Traditional publishing may still have an edge, funding-wise, but I’ll continue to put everything I have into these books to satisfy both authors and readers.
If you want to read fast-paced horror stories about face-sucking monsters, deadly caves, haunting mazes, drug-induced paralysis, underwater terrors, medical experiments, hypnotic serial killers, endless staircases, faulty elevators, and more, all with a generous dose of claustrophobia mixed in, then Take a Breath is for you.
Very creepy! That should grab some eyes!