Nature Triumphs: a Charity Anthology of Dark Speculative Literature has recently received two five-star reviews. Scroll down the Amazon page to read them yourself, or read them here:
Avid reader called the anthology “Fun, Appealing, Scary, Thought-Provoking Eco-Horror Fiction–And Just in Time for Halloween)“
“I loved this wonderful, big, entertaining, appealing, fun book –scary AND heartfelt eco-horror anthology. Exceptionally well-edited containing many varietal, well-written, vivid, horrifying stories and poems by diverse, established authors. Innovative concept/environmental/ecological/nature theme masterfully executed. I especially like stories “Yard Work” by Michael Errol Swaim, “Blood Rose” by Alison Armstrong, “One Side of a Conservation with Mother Nature” by Kyle Heger, “A Reversal of Fortune” by JG Faherty, and “last Call at the Garden of Eden” by Lamont A. Turner. I like that the money goes to The Nature Conservancy. Great book/gift for Halloween and for lovers/readers of horror, sci fi, dark speculative, ecological/ nature fiction and poetry.”
Jordan Francis called it “A beautiful and haunting Anthology for a great cause“.
“A beautiful and haunting Anthology. This collection of short stories and poems is amazing. It is at turns haunting, funny, and beautiful. This has introduced me to a multitude of great writers that i need to go back and check out their other works. Definitely worth the price of admission.”
Recall that my story, “The Bees,” is about a geneticist/beekeeper who, fed up with the world’s indifference to the dying off of the bees, does genetic alterations of the many bees he takes care of. He weaponizes them, making them bigger, stronger, smarter, and more lethal, capable of stinging their victims many times until they die. Can he be stopped, or will his enhanced bees multiply and tyrannize the world?
I really hope you’ll all go out and get yourselves a copy of this collection. It’s all for a good cause, and you’ll love the stories and poetry! 🙂
Infinite Ocean 
Authors and filmmakers have for the most part struggled to incorporate environmental and ecological themes in a socially responsible way, often conflating environmentalism with ecoterrorism. (Ready Player One and its sequel are two of the most appallingly misanthropic dystopian novels I’ve ever read, positing the world is f**ked beyond repair… but at least we’ve got Reagan-era pop-culture nostalgia to anesthetize ourselves as everything goes to hell around us!) Now more than ever, we need imaginative cli-fi and ecofiction — self-preventing prophecies like Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Soylent Green, etc. Looking forward to checking out Nature Triumphs…
Well, I’m afraid ‘The Bees’ might be deemed ‘ecoterrorism.’ After all, it IS a horror short story. In any case, I hope you like it when you read it. 🙂
Well, you know, these things always come down to the creative intention of the storyteller. Soylent Green is not a particularly optimistic or uplifting movie, but it’s intention — I believe, anyway — was to shock audiences into greater awareness of the post–Silent Spring issues it raises: ecocide, global warming, resource scarcity, etc. Contrast that with, say, the Mad Max movies, which are a hell of a lot of fun, but sort of celebrate ecological disaster and societal collapse, presenting a future in which it’s every man for himself, there’s no problem that can’t be resolved with a firearm, and you never have to pay taxes again. (This is true of The Walking Dead, as well.) In that sense, Fury Road is a much bleaker film than Soylent Green! (As is Ready Player One and Two.)
If the intention of “The Bees” is, in part, to make readers aware of colony collapse disorder — because it’s one of those ecological issues that should be getting a lot more attention than it does — then it’s the kind of ecofiction we need right now, regardless of whether its beekeeper protagonist is justified in his actions or not. Horror fiction and dystopian fantasy are unique in that they often serve as morality plays anchored by an unsympathetic protagonist, from Psycho to The Twilight Zone to Watchmen to Tales from the Crypt. Either way, I can’t wait to check out “The Bees”!
Well, I’d say your last paragraph here aptly describes my intentions with my story. Again, I hope you like it! 🙂