Geri Meyers is an LGBTQIA+ fantasy fiction writer. Growing up in New Hampshire, Geri wandered the woods fighting off enemies and rescuing princesses, crafting homemade bows and arrows from downed tree branches and absorbing the magic of the mysterious lady slipper flower. Geri has carried that need for wondrous adventure into adulthood and strives to share it with others through writing and storytelling. Currently living in New Jersey, Geri works full-time as a library clerk preparing books for circulation while dreaming of one day opening a fantasy-themed book store. Geri has a passion for writing stories full of vibrant characters, magic, sparkling things and intelligent dragons.
About the Anthology
Q. What inspired you to create Into the Dark?
We started our anthology line because we wanted to begin producing physical manuscripts, to be
able to hold what we created in our own hands. We initially thought of four different themes we
wanted to explore at that time. Our first two ideas became Through Other Eyes, and Prismatic
Dreams. Into the Dark was meant to be a blending of our two favorite genres, fantasy and horror.
Dark fantasy is my absolute favorite genre to read, and so I’ve been looking forward to Into the
Dark since we first began planning All Worlds Wayfarer’s anthology line.
Q. What do you think makes this anthology stand out from other speculative fiction
collections?
I think that Rowan and I have an interesting blend of taste. We seek out stories specifically that
cause us to feel deeply, that allow us to become fully immersed in the characters and their
environment. I hope that the journey we’ve curated within the pages of this anthology will be a
unique and thrilling experience for our readers.
Q. How does Into the Dark fit into the mission of All Worlds Wayfarer?
“We celebrate stories that take readers on tours through wonderful and terrifying realms,
evocative visions, and eye-opening new lives. When our readers come home, they should return
ever so slightly changed for having made the journey. After all, the most powerful stories
transcend, enlighten, and entertain at once.” Each of these stories is a glimpse into a dark and
terrifying world, and I hope that, having made the journey with these characters, our readers will
feel better equipped to transcend the horrors of their own worlds.
Selection & Story Choices
Q. What were you looking for in submissions—what makes a story a perfect fit for this
anthology?
My choices are incredibly subjective, so the first thing I do is just look for a story that draws me
in. I like to be fully immersed in the viewpoint character, to experience with them, to know why
they make choices. I love vivid imagery, powerful voice, and characters that I can understand
and empathize with, even if they are the villains. The next thing I look for is whether the story
fits the theme of the specific call. For Into the Dark, I needed the atmosphere, the thrill, the edge
of darkness. What makes a story a perfect fit for me is when all of these things come together
into something breathtaking.
Q. Were there any common themes or surprises that emerged naturally from the
submissions?
One of the things that surprised me when we first began running open calls but is now just an
exciting thing I look forward to is that every call seems to have one particular theme of stories
that we get a significantly larger amount of submissions for. Each open call I go into now I can’t
wait to see what the running theme will be. For Into the Dark, we received a significant—more than half our submissions—amount of stories centered around female rage and revenge. This
worked out for me because I love these types of stories. We ended up with so many incredible
ones that even after we had to make cuts we still have a significant amount in the lineup. I’m an
absolute sucker for stories where the oppressed are able to rise up and fight back.
Q. Was there a particular story that made you think, “Yes, this anthology is going to be
something special”?
I hate to pick favorites, no story makes it into our anthology without multiple people agreeing the
story is “something special,” but the stories we choose to open and close the anthology with are
always chosen with extra care. The first story sets the theme, while the final closes with—we
hope—light at the end of the darkness.
The Editing Experience
Q. What was the most rewarding part of putting this anthology together?
At the moment, the most rewarding part has been hearing authors’ responses to their acceptance
letters. There is no better feeling than being able to tell a fellow writer that their work spoke to us
so much that we want to see it in print as much as they do. But our publication process isn’t yet
complete. In the end, what will be the most rewarding will be hearing reader responses and
hoping that this lineup we curated will speak to them as much as it spoke to us.
Q. What was the most challenging part?
The most challenging part is always sending declines. Whether a story is right for us or not, I
respect how much time and care authors put into their work. I don’t like having to tell people
their story isn’t the right fit, but I hope that their stories will all find their home someday.
Q. How do you balance giving feedback while still preserving the writer’s voice?
Our aim here at All Worlds Wayfarer isn’t to develop people’s work, it’s to publish work that is
ready for publication already, so we don’t often need to suggest anything that could significantly
alter voice. With that in mind, whatever we do suggest is just that: a suggestion. (Unless it’s
formatting for uniformity). So authors are able to decline our suggestions if they feel it alters
their voice or they simply disagree with our thoughts. One thing that we do try our best for in
stories from authors who write in British English is that we change to the American spellings of
words but we do our best to keep British phrases and word choices intact.
Behind the Scenes
Q. How did you approach sequencing the stories—was there a method to the order?
When we’re placing stories in our lineup, we try not to group too many of a similar theme
together. We keep in mind genre, theme, emotional impact, and whether the story ends on a
negative or positive note. When I begin a tentative lineup, I start by separating the stories by
genre first. In the case of Into the Dark, I aimed to intersperse dark fantasy with fantastical
horror. I then choose the story I think would best open the anthology, and the best one to close it.
Once I have those anchors, I look at the themes of each story. We had a significant amount of
female rage and revenge stories, so I did my best to make sure there were stories of other themes
between them. It would be unbalanced if all those stories were clumped up at the beginning or
the end. The last thing I do is look at the emotional impact of each and how they end. I don’t
want the readers to become weighed down by too many negatively themed stories at once, so I
try to place some lighter themed stories after the especially dark ones. Then I send the tentative
lineup to Rowan, who goes through it with the same thoughts in mind, and makes suggestions if
anything could use some shuffling around. There’s something incredibly cathartic about seeing
the finalized TOC.
Q. What do you hope readers take away after finishing Into the Dark?
I hope they feel like they read a bunch of incredible stories, and that they find new authors they
love and will support in the future.
Q. How do you see this anthology contributing to the future of AWW and speculative
fiction at large?
To speculative fiction at large, I don’t know—I just hope it’s remembered as an incredible read.
For AWW, this is the first publication that we’ve attempted a Kickstarter for. We are so
incredibly hopeful that it’s successful because it will open up a way for us to fund a line of
novellas we’ve been desperate to start. It’s also the first time we’ve brought in outside first
readers or hired an artist to create a cover from scratch for us, so over all this experience has had
a lot of learning curves that will help us significantly with future publications.
Q. Do you have any advice for authors hoping to publish in future anthologies?
My best advice is always to read the open call listing, but don’t self decline. Whether someone
has been published before or not doesn’t matter to us, the story does. Anyone who puts time,
work, love, and passion into their story deserves to share it with someone. Even if we decline, we
are still honored to read every story that comes to us. We do our very best to never be harsh to
any author so I hope we’re not scary to anyone, and we publish a lot of first time authors.
Vision and Direction
Q. How do you envision All Worlds Wayfarer evolving over the next few years?
Our goal is to branch into publishing novellas, and to eventually become a pro-paying market.
We want to pay authors fairly for their work but we need the sales to back it.
Q. Are there any themes or ideas you hope the anthology series will explore in future
editions?
The last theme from the original four ideas that we came up with is an anthology with disabled
viewpoint characters. Disability means something different to every person, but showing that we
are here in all our myriad beauty and that we deserve to be visible in fiction is a statement that
cannot be shouted loud enough. Not every hero is energetic and able bodied. Some heroes are
tired and hurting but they’ve still got to get out of bed and save the world. Sometimes the villain
is just at his wits end because he can’t handle needing to twirl in a circle just to open a door left-
handed—good reason to burn a city down and start from scratch. I want to see how people with
different disabilities function and survive in fantastical and futuristic worlds. How they struggle,
how they thrive—show me their lives. I’m also hoping we’ll put together an anthology like Into
the Dark but blending sci-fi with horror. Dark sci-fic and technological horror.
Q. What excites you most about where All Worlds Wayfarer is headed?
I love physical books, so the more we can publish the happier I’ll be. I’m so excited to work with
more authors, engage more with readers, and to build our community.
Editorial Approach
Q. Have your goals as editors changed since the first issue? If so, how?
My goal has always been to bring great stories to a wider audience. We started very small with
our magazine issues, and we’re now aiming for novellas, but we still believe in character-and-
theme-driven stories.
Q. Are there new storytelling styles or voices you hope to include in future
editions/anthologies?
I always want to hear more stories from marginalized voices. I want to see into as many different
worlds as possible.
Q. How do you decide which stories or contributions fit the vision for future editions?
There’s really no definite say to that, the story has to hit me the right way when I read it, and it
has to fit the theme of the edition. Then I evaluate each story on its own, does it need editing, are
there spots in it that don’t work for me. It’s more of an in the moment decision than a thing that
can be pinpointed beforehand.
Community & Audience
Q. How do you see the reader experience evolving as the magazine and anthology series
grows?
I always hope our readers will have a great time, and find authors who speak to them enough that
they will seek out the authors’ other works. I’m hoping that as we grow and move into
publishing novellas, we will be able to produce more merchandise and maybe even attend events
as a team, to get to know our community better.
Q. Are there ways you hope to engage with the speculative fiction community or involve
readers in the future?
I think it would be awesome if we could arrange trips for our team and our authors to attend
events and do signings. It’s always been a dream of mine, especially if we are able to
successfully launch our novella imprint. I would love to give our authors a chance to speak and
engage with their audiences.
Challenges and Opportunities
Q. What challenges do you anticipate as the magazine and publishing house develops?
Our biggest challenge is finances. Providing fair pay to our staff and our authors is essential for
this business to move forward, and for that we rely on the support of our readers. We hope that
we are providing an experience worth supporting, and are so incredibly grateful to everyone who
has and will continue to do so.
Q. Are there opportunities or directions you haven’t explored yet but hope to in future
issues?
I have a personal obsession with special editions. Some day I dream of being able to publish
books with sprayed edges and gilt covers, but such a thing is pretty far off in our future right
now.
Personal Perspective
Q. If you could see one big change or achievement for All Worlds Wayfarer in the next few
years, what would it be?
My biggest goal is to move into at least being a semi-pro paying market, which is why we’re
running this Kickstarter. We, of course, want profit for AWW so that we can fund future issues
and our novella imprint, but most importantly we want our authors to get the money they deserve
for their work.
Q. What keeps you inspired to continue working on All Worlds Wayfarer?
All I need to do to feel inspired is to look at previous issues of the AWW magazine, and our print
anthologies. Each one is a piece of art that we carefully curated, and I can’t wait to see what
we’ll be able to create together with our authors in the future.
Q. Are there any major projects coming down the pipeline?
Our next projects are to bring the AWW magazine out of hiatus, to begin work on the next
AWW anthology, and to find the funding to launch our novella imprint. AWW is a piece of my
soul and a community of authors and readers, and I hope to see it continue to grow and thrive.