Posts Tagged: Unveiled

Grim Oak Press has announced that Unveiled, the highly anticipated follow-up to Unfettered, has been canceled due to a conflict between its publisher and editor.

“[Unveiled] will not be happening,” revealed Shawn Speakman, publisher at Grim Oak Press. “And it’s important to say, through no fault of my own. After waiting for more than six weeks for the simplest of work to be done on the anthology, editor Roger Bellini asked me to renegotiate the contract. In the renegotiation, he asked for 17.5% of hardcover and ebooks sales—less than originally in the contract, true—and his name still on the dust jacket. In return, he would not be editing the book. This would give Roger large royalties for effectively doing what I consider very little work on the book,”

As of the time this was written, Bellini, who was attached to the ill-fated Neverland’s Library anthology, has not commented on the cancellation of Unveiled.

“After talking with my book agent, I decided it best for Grim Oak Press to terminate the contract,” Speakman announced, spelling the end for this iteration of Unveiled.

This is disappointing news for readers and the authors involved in the project. Given Grim Oak Press’ success with Unfettered, readers can hope that the anthology finds a new editor before long.

Speakman discusses the cancellation in more depth on the official Grim Oak Press website.

EDIT (Nov. 3rd, 2014 – 7:05pm): Speakman confirmed on Reddit that he’s working on a different anthology. It won’t be called Unveiled or feature the same lineup of writers, however.

EDIT (Nov. 4th, 2014): Turns out that Bellini owns rights for the stories, so Grim Oak Press and Speakman are unable to use the collected stories in a new iteration of Unveiled. It’s unclear what Bellini intends to do with the anthology, but he, theoretically, could sell the it to another publisher.

EDIT (Nov. 4th, 2014): Having spoken with several of the authors announced for the anthology, none of them were under contract yet for their stories (though some had already submitted them), suggesting that Speakman and Grim Oak Press might be able to reassemble the stories under a different title.

unfettered-art

Earlier this year, Grim Oak Press announced Neverland’s Shadow, edited by Shawn Speakman and Roger Bellini, a follow-up to the publishers successful first anthology, Unfettered. “All of the stories are told from the point of view of the villain/antagonist,” said Publisher Shawn Speakman of the new anthology. “I’ve always felt like the villain doesn’t get enough time on the page from his/her/its point of view. Well, now we will have an entire book and I simply can’t wait to bring it to you!”

And now, Neverland’s Shadow has a new name: Unveiled.

(Oh the deliciousness of the pun I was able to use in the title of this post.)

“After asking for suggestions from the internet(s),” Speakman says on the Grim Oak Press website, “more than 1300 titles were sent into the website. I culled them down to 10 favorites. Editor Roger Bellini did the same from those 1300.”

“I am tired of heroes winning and writing history the way they choose,” Speakman said. “The stories within Unveiled are told from the point of view of villains and, finally, their stories will be “unveiled” for all to read. No matter what the heroes think!”

“I am tired of heroes winning and writing history the way they choose,” Speakman said.

Honestly, I’m not crazy about the new name. Neverland’s Shadow was punchy and interesting, though it’s difficult to separate the connection to Peter Pan’s youthful island. Unveiled is thematically on point, and pairs nicely with Unfettered, but I can’t help but feel like it loses a bit of the impact, a bit of the mystery. Also, a theatre background just puts images of raising curtains in my head. Because, you know, everyone has the same cognitive patterns and connections as this blogger, right? Read More »