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Making Monsters book launch at the ICS

Written by Gabriel Bodard |

Last night (Thursday Sept 6th, 2018) was the launch party for the Making Monsters anthology, edited by Emma Bridges and Djibril al-Ayad, a mixed anthology of speculative fiction and accessible academic essays published by Futurefire.net Publishing and sponsored by the ICS. Half a dozen of the authors and contributors briefly presented their works in front of an audience of 40 or so, and then signed copies of the book, which was available for sale from the press.

Copies of Making Monsters (Futurefire.net Publishing 2018) on sale at the ICS

Some of the authors preparing to present of read from their work. Shown: Liz Gloyn, Tom Johnstone, Rachel Bender, Hûw Steer, Annegret Märten. (Also present were Catherine Baker, Valeria Vitale and George Lockett.)

Authors preparing to read from their work.

And if the cover art were not beautiful enough (that’s a painting of a lonely gorgon by the very talented Robin Kaplan, by the way), essay contributor (and ICS research fellow) Valeria made it even more delicious by sculpting it into the frosting of a chocolate, ginger and marzipan cake!

Valeria Vitale with the frosted Making Monsters cake.

Among the audience at the launch party were several visiting monsters, including Cerberos (centre left, centre right, right) and an anonymous Werewoolf (left).

Cerberus and Werewoolf

More of the guests and audience visible in this panoramic image. (All photographs here courtesy of Simona Stoyanova or Martin Steer.)

making monsters audience
Panorama of the audience, guests, book table and contributors at the Making Monsters book launch

For ongoing activities in the promotional campaign for this book, follow the #MakingMonsters hashtag on Twitter, or search for it on other social media. If you missed the chance to buy the book in person, there are sales links for online booksellers at the Press page. Or better yet, ask your local independent bookstore or library to order a copy, and of course it is held by the Institute of Classical Studies library!