Les Oiseaux du Mal – Birds of Evil

Dear Writers,

First and foremost, we want to thank you for participating in the writing and art contest for our inaugural anthology, Les Oiseaux du Mal – Birds of Evil.

As a young publishing house, only four months old, we had no idea what to expect. 50 submissions would be amazing, we thought.

But not only did we receive over twice that amount, your work has left a lasting impression. We had an absolute blast reading your chill-inducing poems and twisted stories and were entranced by the incredible art you’ve sent us. We were mesmerized. We were appalled. We wanted to dissect those morbid, fascinating brains of yours. This is all praise to you and your art.

Unfortunately, we only have so much space in our anthology, so we forced ourselves to make a selection. We made this selection with ceremony and we thank you for your patience. Your stories and poems were blind read and studied by our team of five, without knowing the writers behind them, so we could judge without bias.

Writing Contest

So, without further ado, these are our shortlisted submissions for poetry and short fiction (in no particular order):

• Flowers by Scar H.C.
• The Spare by Glen Creed
• Cutting Teeth by Daniel Altenburg
• We the Putrescent by Gregory Blair
• The Banality of Evil by Barry Charman
• The Three Headed Flying Werewolf by Raquel Rocha
• Morning Star by Thorgeir Wintermere
• Flores de Alcatraz by Rowan Hendryx
• A Taste of Love in Hearts and Minds by E. H. Lau
• Corpse Flower by Ray Imgrund
• Der Tod by Quain Holtey
• The Third Gift by Ren Crewell-Fuerst
• Like Father Like Son by Ricardo A. Martagón
• Autobiography of a Bad Idea by Chris Dunne
• Can’t Take it With You by Gordon Brown
• The New Metamorphosis by Amy L Bernstein
• Paperweight Eyes by Shannon Weston
• A Bold Choice by Rebecca Spelman
• Everybody Loves a Dead Girl by Ben Nardolilli
• The Hunger Before the Mouth by Sandolore Sykes

Congratulations to everyone who has marched on to the next round! The final selection will be announced later this month, so keep an eye on your inboxes. In the meantime, please continue to let us know if your work has been chosen elsewhere so that we may make timely room for other contenders.

Art Contest

The artworks we’ve received were astonishing and we had a hard time selecting only one. Nevertheless, we want to congratulate the winner of our art contest, whose artwork will grace the cover of this anthology:

• Amelia Nestler with her painting of Ravens spilling out of a Cage

We will get in touch with you separately to discuss further steps!

If you were not named above, we look forward to cheering your work out in the wild. Please know the margins were thin–we are lucky to have gathered you here, and we see your talent. Let’s stay in touch.

And of course thank you, everyone, for trusting us with your work. Now that we’ve tasted you, we insist that you don’t be a stranger.

Dreadfully yours,

Nightingale