2010: Year in Review (and 2011: Year in Preview)

We know these Year-In-Review things can be tedious, but looking back over 2010 we had to pause to think about how far we have come in a year.

What Happened in 2010?

New Faces

When we started 2010, it was just Sandra, Brett, Erik and Matt. During 2010, we welcomed onboard Helen, Laura, Clare, Sam, Gemma, Colleen, Halli, Barry, Corey, Kari, Chris and Kim. We now have an honest to gosh editorial, marketing and technical teams.

Cities of Night Photo Contest

In March, we launched a contest to promote Philip Nutman's short story collection Cities of Night, where people could post night-time urban photos to our Facebook or Flickr pages for a chance to win a custom-written story based on their photo, with the photo and story printed on postcards.

The winner was Ania Bibulowicz's "Dark Passenger," photographed in Queens, New York.

We received 77 entries, some love from Fangoria and even had the contest mentioned in a book of 45 innovative contests.

Bankruptcy and Resurgence

Do you believe that? Really? What have you been smoking?

Sandra & Brett World Horror Convention Guests of Honor

In July, we learned that CZP co-publishers Brett Alexander Savory and Sandra Kasturi had been named as Editor Guests of Honor at the 2011 World Horror Convention to take place in Austin, Texas.

Fresh Blood Contest

We wrapped up the Fresh Blood Contest with the limited edition hardcover publication of Aaron Dries's House of Sighs. House made it through multiple rounds of judging by editors and voting by fans to win the contest.

People Live Still in Cashtown Corners Trailer + YouTube

Working together after adapting Pontypool Changes Everything for the big screen, writer Tony Burgess and director Bruce McDonald shot a trailer for Tony's new book People Live Still in Cashtown Corners, which we used to official launch our YouTube channel.

The trailer has received over 1,500 views and was mentioned by Rue Morgue and The National Post.

SpecFic Colloquium

We sponsored the Toronto SpecFic Colloquium in October, 2010. Gathering some big names in Canadian speculative fiction, authors lectured on diverse topics with readers and Q&A in the evening.

Brett Edited Tesseracts Fourteen

Beginning with a submission process in 2009, Brett co-edited Tesseracts Fourteen with Robert Colombo, which was released by EDGE Publishing in 2010. Though not a CZP book, it features a number of CZP writers (Tony Burgess, Brent Hayward, Claude Lalumière, David Nickle) and staff (Sandra Kasturi, Matt Moore), making it as close to the first CZP anthology as you can get (for the present, at least). In his Afterword, Brett says, "I would have gladly published this collected volume under the CZP imprint."

Pontypool Screening

Speaking of Bruce and Tony, we did a special screening of Pontypool at the Toronto Underground Cinema, featuring a Q&A with Tony and actors Stephen McHattie and Lisa Houle.

More than that, we published an author-signed, limited edition hardcover of Pontypool Changes Everything, which is the first time the book has appeared in hardcover. Our thanks to ECW (which owns the rights) for letting us do that.

First Globe and Mail Reviews

2010 saw us break into the Globe and Mail reviews section with Sarah Court (Craig Davidson) and People Live Still in Cashtown Corners (Tony Burgess).

Thirteen Days of CZP-mas

Starting December 13 (fittingly enough), we kicked-off the Thirteen Days of CZP-mas, where each day we gave out discounts, free stuff, and other curios.

So What's to Come in 2011?

SpecFic Colloquium 2

We're still in the early planning stages, but we will be putting on a second SpecFic Colloquium. Keep watching the site for details.

Imaginarium

In partnership with Tightrope Books, we'll be publishing Imaginarium 2011: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing in May 2011. A reprint anthology, it will be the first collection of purely Canadian speculative fiction and poetry.

More Big Name Authors

2011 will see the publication of Tim Pratt's Briarpatch and Mike Carey's (along his wife, Linda, and daughter, Louise) The Steel Seraglio.

The Hexslinger Series Continues

Gemma Files's Hexslinger Series continues with A Rope of Thorns, the second in the trilogy. The third and (what is now) final book, A Tree of Bones, will be released in 2012.

World Horror Convention 2011

We will be out in force at the World Horror Convention this May in Austin, Texas. A number of our staff and authors are planning on attending and we will post more details as we get closer.

Thanks to You

Lastly, in 2010 we got to meet—in person and online—some of the most enthusiastic, passionate, thoughtful, and demanding (and we mean that in a good way) dark fiction fans ever. Thanks to all of you who bought our books, spread the word, contributed to contests and said, "hi."

You guys rock.