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I will be teaching a fiction workshop at 7PM on Wednesday April 6th, 2011 at the main branch of the Guelph Public Library. The topic is “Busting the Myths of Publishing”. You do not need to register. Everyone is welcome.

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Barbara Martin has reviewed Animythical Tales here.

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I will be teaching a workshop on Story Structure at 7PM on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 at the main branch of the Guelph Public Library. There is no need to register and anyone is welcome to attend.

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Jon Fear at The Record has reviewed Animythical Tales here.

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Tangent online has given Animythical Tales a glowing review here.

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My short story, “Malleus, Incus, Stapes” is online at Fantasy Magazine. You can read it here.

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On October 28th (4:30-6:00) 2011 I will be at the University of Guelph McLaughlin Library for their Campus Author Recognition Program Ceremony. Animythical Tales will be one of the featured books.

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On October 16th, 2010 I will be at The Downtown Bookstore in Owen Sound, Ontario for their “independents day” event signing copies of Animythical Tales

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I have a short essay about Alan Garner’s The Owl Service at The Mark News here.

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Rich Horton reviews the Belong anthology, and has some nice things to say about my novelette, “Song of the Blackbird”

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My short story collection, Animythical Tales, was published in 2010 by Fantastic Books, an imprint of Gray Rabbit Publishing.

The collection contains ten short stories (7 previously published in such venues as Realms of Fantasy, Fantasy Magazine and Writers of the Future XXII). One of the stories was the Regional Winner (for Canada & the Caribbean) in the 2007 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. Another placed third in the 2005 Writers of the Future Contest and a third won a Black Quill Award (Editor’s Choice: Best Dark Scribble category). The Introduction is by World Fantasy Award-winning editor, Forrest Aguirre. My editor, Douglas Cohen has posted the news on his blog here. SFScope reported the news here.

To see the Table of Contents, along with a brief description of each story and its publication history, click here.

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Animythical Tales is now available online at: Chapters, Barnes & Noble, and Powell’s and in brick and mortar stores at: The Bookshelf (Guelph), The Downtown Bookstore (Owen Sound) and Roxanne’s Reflections (Fergus).

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Reviews:

Jon Fear at The Record says: “From playful fairytales to dark dramas and just plain amusing fantasy yarns, Sarah Totton offers something for everyone in Animythical Tales”

Tangent Online says: “Even when set in what is ostensibly the ‘real’ world, Totton’s writing is gifted with this intangible but lovely quality of transformative fantasia that reminds one of a child’s imagination and perspective (both dark and light), lensed through an adult’s language.”

Yagiz Erkan reviewed Animythical Tales at Speculative Book Review here. He says of the stories, “They are surreal and dark, and some of them stay in a corner of your mind for quite some time.”

Michele Lee at Dark Scribe Magazine says, “The stories in Animythical Tales are lyrical and off-beat, betraying a near trademark British precision evocative of masters like Ramsey Campbell.” The full review is here.

Peter Tennant reviews Animythical Tales in Black Static Issue 18. In part, he says, “ten stories by Totton, each one of them distinguished by a fresh and idiosyncratic
approach to fiction, often sinister in tone, challenging intellectually, and informed by a keen sense of humour….If you need proof that modern fantasy is about more than emo vampires and boy magicians, then Totton provides it in spades, with a collection that should appeal equally to readers of horror, science fiction and fantasy.”

Tyson Mauermann reviews Animythical Tales at State of the Review here. In part he says, “Every story in the collection is terrific and nearly every one of them has a twist.”

The lovely Chris Howard has given Animythical Tales a glowing review on his blog The Stuff As Dreams Are Made On. He says of the stories: “They’re beautiful in their own way, each of them. Some are beautiful in their desperation, some beautiful because of the melancholy portrayed, some because they leave a tear in your eye in the end and take your breath away in the last few sentences.” The full review is here.

Simon Petrie at the Australian webzine Specusphere says about Animythical Tales: “If you’re looking for a collection of straightforward and pleasantly dependable fantasy stories, then you would have picked up the wrong book in this case. Totton’s prose is challenging, confronting, elusive and darkly allegorical, redolent with themes of loss, yearning, and incomprehensible otherness.” The entire review, with detailed comments on each story in the collection is here.

Rick Kleffel at The Agony Column has this to say about Animythical Tales: “There’s an almost festive feel to this collection even though many of the stories are chilling or disturbing. Totton knows that some readers at least, like to be disturbed. Her unusual take on the world is bracing and entertaining.” Full review is here (scroll down).

The Midwest Book Review calls Animythical Tales “Entertaining, clever, and thought provoking”. Full review here (scroll down).

Lois Henderson reviews Animythical Tales over at Book Pleasures.

The first review for Animythical Tales, is up at The 1% Club here.

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My flash fiction piece, “If You Enjoyed This Story…” published in Tales of the Unanticipated #30 has received a very favorable review on the Fantastic Reviews Blog here.

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My short story, “Malleus, Incus, Stapes” has been accepted for publication by Fantasy Magazine.  Editor Sean Wallace cryptically alludes to the story in his blog here.

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The folks at Writers of the Future give my short story collection Animythical Tales a shout-out here (scroll down to the April 12th entry). My short story, “The Bone Fisher’s Apprentice” in Animythical Tales won third place in the 2005 Writers of the Future Contest. Writers of the Future is a contest for new and emerging short story writers of speculative fiction. More information about the contest is here.

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My short story, “Match Point” published in the hardcover anthology Love Stories: A Literary Companion to Tennis received a glowing review at The Book Foxes blog.

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My short story, “Flatrock Sunners” just received an honorable mention in Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, Volume 2.  “Flatrock Sunners” appears in my short story collection Animythical Tales and also recently won a Black Quill Award.

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My novelette, “Song of the Blackbird” appeared in the Australian anthology Belong (edited by Russell B. Farr), released on April 1st 2010.

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My short story, “Flatrock Sunners” has won a Black Quill Award (Editor’s Choice, Dark Scribble Category). Thank-you to everyone who nominated and voted for my story. “Flatrock Sunners” will be appearing in my collection. More on the Black Quill Award winners here.

My short story, “Choke Point” was published in Fantasy Magazine on December 28th, 2009.

Fantastic Books will be publishing my short story collection, Animythical Tales in 2010.  Aquisitions Editor, Douglas Cohen reported the news on his blog here.

My short-short story, “If You Enjoyed This Story…” will be published in Tales of the Unanticipated Issue #30 coming out in April 2010.

My short story, “Flatrock Sunners” appeared in Black Static Issue #12 in August.