Stelliform Press - Publisher Spotlight!

We are privileged to be able to host Setlliform Press, again this year at dReadCon! We are honoured to be able to promote so many amazing Canadian Publishing Houses.

How has the dark fiction or horror writing community supported your publishing journey?

Stelliform Press publishes speculative environmental stories. We started the press in 2020 with the goal of publishing books focused on environmental justice and using the speculative or the fantastic to explore those issues on multiple levels. Obviously, focusing on heavy topics such as extinction, ecosystem die-offs, climate change disasters and their impact on human cultures, we knew that not only would we publish horror, but also that horror would be overlapping into most of our titles regardless of whether they were literary, science fiction, or fantasy. What we didn’t anticipate is the enthusiasm with which our books have been embraced by the horror community and how much we have been welcomed into that space despite the fact that we publish stories on a spectrum from horror to optimistic solarpunk. Horror readers, horror booksellers, and other horror industry professionals are some of the kindest people and have really helped this small press persevere through the challenges of running a small press.

What inspired you to focus on publishing dark fiction as your niche?

Stelliform Press doesn’t only publish dark fiction, but it is a big part of our catalogue because of our overarching focus on climate change and environmental issues, which are increasingly terrifying. The influence that those issues have on individual humans and their communities is profound—from the devastating effects of increasing natural disasters, the horrors of military conflicts that arise from resource scarcity (real or not), the prevailing dread that overshadows modern life and changes how we relate to one another and the future. Obviously we couldn’t publish only utopian fiction and seriously engage with any of these issues. Simiarly, we couldn’t publish only dystopian fiction as that undermines the ways that many cultures have prevailed for generations under similar conditions. So while we publish books on a spectrum from hopeful to devastating, there is always a little of both in every book. We pride ourselves in publishing nuanced, complex books, though we do often find that nuance and complexity in horror and in dark SFF.

What challenges do small indie publishers face?

Small press publishers are facing so many challenges right now, and publishing has been a difficult industry to succeed in for a long time. I could go on about the impacts of COVID-19, supply chain issues, increasing production costs, tariffs and the American trade war. These are all very real challenges, and one of the most difficult things about them is that they are fluctuating, unstable issues requiring publishers to reevaluate and make quick decisions with very little information. Similarly, we are still figuring out what impacts AI is having on publishing. One impact of AI is exacerbating an already difficult issue for small presses and that is visibility and audience reach. Even in these early days, AI is already flooding the market, making it more difficult for readers and booksellers to find relevant and valid presses in the sea of AI-generated slop. Web searches are less and less effective, social media posts have less reliable reach. Many small presses are trying to circumvent these crowded channels and invest more time and resources into their own newsletters and local events, becoming more physically present in their communities. I hope the reciprocal response from readers too is to become more rooted in the local to escape the AI barrage. Stelliform Press has committed to continuing to support human labour in our book production process, supporting human artists, refusing AI tools. Supporting human creativity is crucial to creating the kind of world we want to live in.

How do potential authors connect with you?

We open for general submissions every few years, typically from September to December. In 2023, we extended our submissions window specifically for BIPOC authors, and we hope to continue making space in that way. Outside of our open calls, I’m always open to queries from BIPOC Canadian authors, even if the project isn’t finished yet. Sometimes we also participate in online pitch events, so the best way to stay in the loop is by following us on social media or signing up for our newsletter. That’s where we post all updates about submissions, events, and opportunities to connect.

What role does Canadian culture or landscape play in the dark fiction you publish?

As a press focused on climate and other environmental issues, the Canadian landscape is incredibly important to everything we publish, but the Stelliform catalogue pushes past the ways that this landscape has appeared traditionally in Canadian literature. We’re not so interested in stories of survival as they have proliferated in CanLit in the past, where the conflict was “man” vs. “wilderness.” There is no longer any wilderness in Canada or anywhere else, if there ever was (and certainly the idea of wilderness is based on misconception), but we are interested in fresh takes on the idea such as algorithmic wildernesses or the reverberations of colonialism in so-called “wild” spaces, or unintentional transformations of Canadian and other landscapes and how those transformations influence individuals and their communities. All of these ideas express a loss of control that can be quite terrifying; that loss of control is what has kept the colonial project alive for so long, and has enabled that project’s shift into neo-liberalism and consumerism. Stelliform has published some books that approach these ideas (Green Fuse Burning, Arboreality, Zebra Meridian and Other Stories, and The Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens) and we would love to publish more that similarly grapple with the Canadian landscape’s darker history and influence.

How do you handle sensitive or controversial topics in dark fiction?

Stelliform Press welcomes stories that address controversial topics, as long as they punch up, not down. Dark fiction is one of the most powerful genres for exploring uncomfortable truths, but it has to be done with care and responsibility. That means never using marginalized people as targets or props for shock value. Stelliform books focus on using character-driven stories to give life to difficult subjects. Through character, readers can live through complex issues, confront uncomfortable questions, and experience the world from a perspective they might never otherwise encounter. Controversial themes can challenge readers to think more deeply, to feel empathy, and to examine their own assumptions. That’s the power of dark fiction—not just to disturb, but to illuminate.

What trope do you secretly love, even if it’s cliché?

Nature’s revenge is a well-worn trope, and it comes with a lot of baggage. The feminization of nature often leans into tired gender essentialism, where "Mother Earth" becomes this vengeful, emotional force that punishes humanity. That framing can be reductive and problematic. Also, I don’t actually believe that violence or revenge accomplish much in the real world; they often create cycles of harm rather than resolution. But as a metaphor, the nature’s revenge trope has teeth. It becomes a way to dramatize our deep disrespect for the environment. It can show how we overstep, exploit, and ignore warnings until the consequences become unavoidable. The horror in these stories isn’t really the monstrous tree or the tsunami or the animal uprising—it’s us. It’s the echo of our own arrogance. So yes, it’s cliché. But when handled with care, it can still feel like a reckoning and in that be quite satisfying.