Undertow Publications

Pickering
1905 Faylee Crescent

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Undertow Publications publishes unique, literary genre fiction. Our goal is to prove – through exceptional literary writing – that genre material is not a pejorative, and that the scope, breadth and quality of Canadian genre fiction is boundless and equal to its literary brethren in Canada and throughout the world. Our focus is mostly the short story – the perfect, precise art forum.

Founded in 2009, Undertow Publications is renowned for its award-winning single author collections and anthologies. We’re a five-time nominee for the World Fantasy Award. We’ve also won the Shirley Jackson Award, and the British Fantasy Award. Dozens of the short stories we’ve published have gone on to be reprinted in various ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies; been short-listed for awards; and placed on year-end recommended reading lists. One of our titles, “Helpmeet,” by Naben Ruthnum, made the Globe & Mail Top 100 list, and has been optioned for film.

Our anthologies and magazines have always been a diverse and eclectic forum for writers, whether in terms of gender, nationality, sexuality, or race. We know that to bring awareness of culturally diverse writings you need to publish diverse voices and viewpoints. We’ve always strived to do just that. Our focus this year and next year are marginalized and / or writers of colour. In 2022 we published books by Canadian writer Naben Ruthnum (Indo-Mauritiian), and Malaysian writer Cassandra Khaw. Our 2023 line-up has titles by Canadian author Premee Mohamed (Indo-Caribbean), and African author Tobi Ogundiran.

It's 1900 and Louise Wilk is taking her dying husband home to Buffalo. Dr. Edward Wilk is wasting away from an aggressive and debilitating malady. But it's becoming clearer that his condition isn't exactly a disease, but a phase of existence that seeks to transform and ultimately possess him.

Here there be gods and monsters - forged from flesh and stone and vengeance - emerging from the icy abyss of deep space, ascending from dark oceans, and prowling strange cities to enter worlds of chaos and wonder, where scientific rigor and human endeavour is tested to the limits. Premee Mohamed's debut collection of contemporary cosmic horror and dark fantasy heralds the arrival of a new and vibrant voice on the cutting edge of modern speculative fiction.

It's 1916, during the First World War, in an alternate world where resurrection is possible. Anne Markham, the daughter of a celebrated neurologist, is reusing the bodies of the dead, combining them into new forms and sending them back into combat, building creatures so complex, and so enormous, that they can encompass all of the fallen. It's not life as you or I live it. It's not pain or thought as we know it. It's a different order of existence, and what arises is no longer man.