A Dissecting The Editors Special
Welcome back to the Black Hare Press Dissecting Author Interviews.
Today we step out of the operating theatre and into the examination room to chat with our new patients, Dean Shawker and Janet Wright, co-editors of Emerald, the latest anthology to escape the BHP burrow.
Dean and Janet have spent the last few months traipsing the long and treacherous path to publication. With release day imminent, let's dive into Emerald with them and see where the contributing authors took their stories and what lies at the end of their roads.
Emerald by Various Authors
Compiled & Edited by: Dean Shawker & Janet Wright
Launch Date: 14th November 2026
There are places that call to us.
Places hidden beyond the edge of memory. Places reclaimed by nature, shaped by ancient magic, or transformed into something wholly alien. They shimmer with the promise of discovery, yet every step deeper carries a cost.
Within these pages, forgotten kingdoms, haunted forests, impossible worlds, and crumbling civilizations await. From horror and dark fantasy to science fiction and the uncanny, each story explores an emerald place where beauty and terror grow side by side—and where survival is never guaranteed.
Some places change you.
Others make sure you never leave.
MEET THE EDITORS
Tell us about yourself and about your role at Black Hare Press.
Janet: I’m a North Yorkshire writer whose beloved childhood toy was a fluffy rabbit and who grew up watching Hammer House of Horror films—clearly my progression to becoming an editor with Black Hare Press was inevitable. I write under the pen name Rosetta Yorke.
Dean: I’m Dean Shawker, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Black Hare Press, an independent publisher based in Melbourne, Australia.
We started BHP in 2018, and somehow what began as a rather modest venture has turned into an alarming number of books, thousands of stories, and a frankly unhealthy amount of time spent contemplating the worst things human beings can do to one another.
I oversee most aspects of publishing, from submissions and editing through to production, distribution, and occasionally talking authors down from the ledge. Or pushing them closer to it, depending on what the story needs.
We specialise in dark fiction, horror, and speculative fiction, and I’m particularly fond of giving emerging writers an opportunity to traumatise complete strangers.
It’s a rewarding career. My search history is probably a police concern.
What sparked the idea for this anthology?
Janet: You’ll have to ask Dean Shawker. The first I knew of it was early in 2026 when he dropped the idea in my lap and asked if I fancied co-editing it with him. “Love to,” I said. How naïve I was!
Dean: The original idea dates back to 2020. We were exploring the concept of an Emerald Place, somewhere beautiful, alluring, perhaps even magical, but with something decidedly unpleasant lurking beneath the surface.
Of course, being Black Hare Press, we weren’t terribly interested in the sort of emerald paradise where everyone lives happily ever after. Where’s the fun in that?
The project sat on the back burner for years while other books demanded attention. Then, in early 2026, I dragged it back into the daylight and suggested to Janet that we finally do something with it.
I don’t recall her putting up much resistance, which was fortunate. Or possibly a sign that she’d already lost her sense of self-preservation.
You are the driving forces behind many BHP publications. What did you enjoy the most about this anthology?
Janet: This is the first time I’ve been involved with every nerve-racking stage of a BHP anthology. I suspect I’ve aged about twenty years in the process, but I wouldn’t have missed the experience for the world.
Dean: Working with Janet, obviously. Although she’ll probably want that in writing.
Seriously, one of the things I love about putting together an anthology is watching different writers tackle the same premise and arrive at wildly different destinations.
Give twenty-six stories a common theme, and you’d think there would be a certain amount of overlap. Instead, we ended up with everything from environmental horror and twisted fantasy to sentient cities, murderous greenery, and some spectacularly unpleasant places to visit.
I also love that moment when a submission takes me somewhere I genuinely wasn’t expecting. I’ve read an awful lot of horror over the years, so surprising me isn’t always easy.
And there is a particular satisfaction in finding a story that makes you stop reading, stare at the wall for a moment, and think, What the actual fuck did I just read?
(That’s generally a compliment.)
Emerald’s submission guidelines were strict on theme but with allowances for a wide variety of stories. What were the deciding factors when selecting stories for this anthology?
Janet: There were two key factors: the pieces we chose had to be on theme and had to tell a great story—the kind that sticks in your mind long after you’ve finished reading it.
Dean: First and foremost, the story had to belong in Emerald. Not just have something green mentioned somewhere because the author realised, three paragraphs from the end, that they’d forgotten the theme.
We wanted emerald places to matter. The setting, the colour, the atmosphere, or the concept needed to be integral to the story, rather than something decorative slapped on at the last minute.
Beyond that, we were looking for strong writing, originality, compelling characters, and stories that stayed with us.
Janet and I also wanted variety. There’s little point assembling an anthology where every story follows the same path, even if they’re all individually excellent. We wanted different interpretations, different voices, and different kinds of horror.
And an ending that matters. I don’t necessarily need a happy ending—in fact, I rarely expect one—but I do want an ending that feels earned.
I don’t mind being left disturbed, disgusted, or thoroughly miserable. I just don’t want to be left wondering whether the author ran out of time.
What surprised you the most about the stories selected for Emerald?
Janet: Whether microfiction or ten thousand words long, the stories we selected surprised and delighted me by revealing just how twisted and inventive their authors could be. I kept finding myself caught off guard by the unexpected directions they took—ideas that felt both wildly original and somehow inevitable by the time I’d finished reading.
Dean: How many writers took something traditionally associated with beauty, life, renewal, and prosperity and turned it into something utterly dreadful?
Green is supposed to be soothing, right? Nature. Growth. Fresh beginnings. All that lovely wholesome nonsense.
Our authors apparently looked at those associations and thought, Yes, but what if it ate people?
And they didn’t all take the obvious route, either. Some of the most unsettling stories are quite subtle. There’s no great monster leaping out from behind a tree. Just a growing sense that something is terribly wrong, and by the time you work out what it is, it’s too late.
I was also pleased by the range. The collection moves from deeply personal horror to enormous, almost cosmic ideas, sometimes in the space of a few pages.
I don’t think I’ll ever look at a peaceful picnic quite the same way again. Especially if the grass starts looking hungry.
What was the most shocking or bizarre fact you stumbled across in this anthology?
Janet: Now that I’ve discovered the hitherto unsuspected side effect of drinking coffee—it’s a spoiler, so you’ll have to read the story to find out what it is—I thank my lucky stars that I’ve been a lifelong tea drinker!
Dean: I think the most wonderfully deranged concept has to be the weaponised wallpaper in Kara Race-Moore’s Green Walls of Death.
It’s not every day you read about a decorating trend that can effectively destroy an entire wealthy community, tank its property values, and ultimately solve a housing crisis.
There’s something gloriously horrible about the idea that the rich can survive environmental collapse, civil unrest, and the complete disintegration of society, only to be brought down by their own desperate need to have the latest fashionable wallpaper.
And the truly frightening part? I can absolutely believe people would buy it.
Limited edition, darling.
Of the stories selected, if you were forced to live inside a fictional universe, which world would you choose?
Janet: My favourite real-world location is Venice, so La Donna Dolce’s glittering Venetianesque city would entice me with ease, seducing me into becoming a willing victim of its dark viridian canals.
Dean: That’s a spectacularly cruel question. Have you actually read this book?
I’d probably take my chances in Shawn M. Klimek’s Meadowsweet and the Eldritch Codex.
There’s magic, witches, strange creatures, and a truly questionable approach to personal safety. But at least there’s a certain amount of humour amid the impending catastrophe.
I rather like the idea of disappearing into a forest, becoming a thoroughly antisocial witch, and only dealing with people when absolutely necessary.
Come to think of it, that’s not terribly different from my current lifestyle.
I’d just need to acquire a raven and develop a more creative approach to unwanted visitors.
What can a reader expect when diving into Emerald’s pages?
Janet: Emerald offers the reader twenty-six stories from writers across the globe in which green—in all its facets—betrays, bewitches, hypnotises, and smothers, warping the mind and breaking the heart. Genres include sci-fi, fantasy, dark speculative fiction, dystopian, and of course horror. This is a dark, atmospheric collection that shows just how unsettling—and dangerous—the colour green can be. I’m thrilled to have been a part of it.
Dean: Twenty-six stories from writers around the world, each offering a different interpretation of what an emerald place might be.
There are cities that shouldn’t exist, landscapes that are far less welcoming than they appear, things growing where they have absolutely no business growing, and people making some spectacularly poor decisions.
You’ll find science fiction, fantasy, psychological horror, body horror, and plenty of other unpleasant surprises. Some stories are sprawling and immersive; others are barely a page long and still manage to leave a mark.
What ties them together is that sense of something beautiful concealing something dangerous.
I hope readers come away entertained, unsettled, and perhaps a little suspicious of anything described as lush, verdant, or idyllic.
Particularly if it’s breathing.
And a final word of warning: don’t get too attached to Tock. I’m still not speaking to Avery about that one.
Thanks for chatting with us, Dean and Janet!
Look out for Emerald and add it to your TBR list. Perhaps you'll find your next great read!
Want more? Read all the Dissecting Author Interviews on the Black Hare Press website: blackharepress.com/