Introduction
The Penny Dread Tales series can be traced back to a single conversation at MileHiCon in Denver in 2010. I’d just set my feet upon the path of becoming an author and was looking for writing gigs. The de facto leader of the local steampunk community was promoting both AnomalyCon (Colorado’s primary steampunk convention) and her Internet radio show RadioSteam. We talked, and as a result of that conversation, she let me write what turned into two episodes for the show.
My interest in the burgeoning steampunk sub-genre was born. I’d grown up loving steampunk, even before the term “steampunk” had been coined. The old Wild Wild West TV show as well as works by Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells were all things I could claim as writing influences. But this was something new. Steampunk as it is today put a lot of interesting new twists into 19th century sci-fi, modernizing it into a palatable form of both aesthetic and social commentary that encourages all manner of cross-over.
That’s probably what intrigued me most. I love cross-genre fiction. It’s like they say, “There is nothing new under the sun.” However, crossing sci-fi, paranormal, horror, mystery, western, historical, and everything else with the steampunk aesthetic is commonplace today. For a writer, I consider it to be fertile ground.
Add to that my desire to have another book on my table at conventions, and producing a steampunk anthology seemed like a logical course of action. I think Six-Guns Straight from Hell, published by David B. Riley in 2010, contributed to my decision as well. It’s a mashup of paranormal and horror stories set in the Old West. I figured that if weird westerns could make up viable anthologies, then there was no reason steampunk couldn’t. I sent out calls for submission, went through a surprisingly large number of stories, and was able to compile the first Penny Dread Tales, which was released at the first AnomalyCon in 2011. I must admit, I had no idea I would end up producing a second volume, let alone a fourth, but when I saw the interest, there was only one thing to do.
I really had no idea what I was doing, but as a result, a new PDT volume has hit the table (and the Internet) each year, with more and more people asking about the next edition. The books have garnered increasing interest over the past four years, so when Kevin J. Anderson asked me about letting WordFire do one of them, I was ecstatic. It was validation. I’ve been bumbling along in this writing career of mine for five years now, and to have someone like Kevin take notice was worth its weight in gold. During our initial conversation, I suggested a Best Of collection to him, which is what you’re reading now.
The PDT series has been, and I hope will continue to be, a labor of love. It has also been one of the best learning experiences I’ve had since I set out to become a writer. PDT has allowed me to meet some amazing new people and extend my “writer’s tribe” literally across the globe. It’s been a most amazing experience.
I wanted to take an opportunity to thank each and every writer and artist who ever had enough faith in Penny Dread Tales to work with me. Not all of them made the Penny Dread Tales volumes, and only a short list made the Best Of collection, but every one enhanced my understanding and appreciation of what steampunk is and can be. I also wanted to thank Laura Givens for the first PDT cover, Nathan Lee for what was the original second cover, and Kathryn S. Renta for the new look of the PDT series as well as the covers for volumes III and IV. Finally, I can’t thank Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta at WordFire Press enough for helping make the Penny Dread dream (among others) come true.
I am supremely grateful and monumentally humbled by what Penny Dread Tales has become. I owe everyone who has ever been involved a debt of thanks I can only repay by continuing to do what I do. I’ll try not to falter along the way.
— Quincy J. Allen