Armand Rosamilia is the owner of Carnifex Press, a small press dedicated to fantasy and horror. One of Carnifex's goals is to give fresh, new writers a start in the tough world of publishing. Carnifex recently released a new chapbook anthology, Clash of Steel: Book One—Reluctant Hero, collecting together five stories of heroic epic fantasy. Mr. Rosamilia is himself an avid reader of fantasy and horror, and has kindly agreed to share some of his thoughts about sword-and-sorcery in general and the workings of Carnifex Press in particular with our readers.

—Ryan Harvey (4/17/2005)

Tell us a bit about how Carnifex Press came about. Did it have some kind of "mission statement" when it started?

To get the entire picture, I have to go back to 1995. I was editing a small-press magazine called Black Moon Magazine. It contained a half-dozen horror stories as well as Heavy Metal band interviews, reviews, poetry, etc. I wanted to go darker, get into Death Metal music and darker horror and fantasy stories. The associate editor didn't agree, so I sold him the magazine and started a new one called Carnifex, which lasted only one issue but contained some great band interviews, reviews, and two very graphic and bloody fantasy stories. I don't even own a copy of the issue anymore, having been destroyed in one of my many moves over the years.

Ten years later, I'm still a huge fan of fantasy and horror and writing sporadically, creating a fantasy world that I had begun using back in the mid-1980s while playing Dungeons & Dragons. I wanted to release a collection of my short stories on my own. I didn't want to do the P.O.D. route, so I looked into pricing for printers and accessories. With the cost I decided that if I wanted to justify that amount of money to my wife, I needed a game plan. I have been a big fan of small-press zines and books for years, buying a bunch every month to add to my collection. I was especially enamored with some of the chapbooks out there, like from Yard Dog Press and D-Press. I decided that this was the way to go: 50-70 page stapled chapbook collections. I wanted to do a line of Epic Fantasy theme short story collections (which is where the "Clash of Steel" series came from) and a line of Horror chapbooks, the first called Revenant: A Horror Anthology. I don't want to compete with the Big Boys and release professional-looking books, although I will eventually while still releasing the chapbooks.

(Editor's Update 7/26/06 - Armand now states that he is no longer doing side-stapled chapbooks. He is now doing novella-length (50,000 word) trade paperbacks, but will do an occasional lesser-count book as a chapbook, but with an actual cover and title panel on it.)

I just read and accepted stories for the second "Clash of Steel" chapbook, with Assassins as the theme. April 1st through June 1st I will be reading another Horror collection called Florida Horror, looking for stories set in Florida. In the coming weeks I will be releasing my first Horror serial book, Hammond Beach: White Rose. I have a group of writers together right now putting a Shared World project together for Epic Fantasy, using the world I had thought up back in the 1980s. It would be the same idea as "Thieves' World," where each writer brings a character to the table and we use each other's characters to move the overall plot along. We have a Yahoo group and we're always looking for fresh ideas and faces. There are about a hundred messages up there filled with ideas and world-building tips for the stories.

In August I will begin reading novella suggestions form writers again. In the beginning I was swamped with submissions and had to take a break. I would love to publish 20,000 word Epic Fantasy and Horror chapbooks from other writers, too.

How would you describe the difference between the type of fantasy fiction you want at Carnifex Press and the 'standard' fantasy see on bookstore bookshelves?

I read most of the fantasy out there, either by going to the library and picking up authors I've never heard of or buying certain authors as new work comes out. Even reading three to five books per week, I'm still missing out on so much. I know what I like to read and that does impact what I'm looking for to release. I'm not a big fan of magic, which you might find odd. I prefer the hack and slash hero to the guy with the pointy hat tossing fireballs. I don't like reading too much about elves and dwarves unless it is an R. A. Salvatore book at this point, and don't get me started on the amount of stories submitted to me with orcs in them. I guess I'm looking for action in the story but not where it becomes the story. Fancy names and spellcasting, to me, is such a cliché in fantasy. I'm looking to read something a bit different. If you look at the first "Clash of Steel" chapbook, it contains only a few spots of true Fantasy action. I want to see characters first and foremost. Conan the Barbarian is the ultimate character to me because this one-dimensional warrior has so many layers and dimensions because of above-average writing and characterization.

What's the biggest obstacle you must overcome when operating a small press?

Money. I do all of the printing at home, then the collating, then stapling, then trimming, etc. etc. Trying to push chapbooks is tough, and then once some people find out I'm doing Fantasy they pass unless it has cute Hobbits in it. I don't have the advantage of a stream of cash coming in but it's starting to grow, one reader at a time.

On average, how many submissions do you receive for your anthologies? What kind of system do you use to get through the submissions? (Writers are always curious about the process!)

I get many more Horror submissions than Fantasy, which bums me out. For the first "Clash of Steel" I received over three hundred and for the second about two hundred-fifty. For the "Revenant" book I received over five hundred. Add another eighty to one hundred inquiries about novellas…I'm glad I like to read and read fast.

I get the bulk of the submissions to my e-mail address and the rest via snail mail. I hand-catalog each sub as it arrives in a notebook by title, author, word count, date received, and then a blank spot for comments. A good ten percent (especially the Fantasy ones) are rejected after the first page because of poor characters or bad cliché spots. I will reject it as I read them. Usually the first day of open submissions I will get in about forty percent of the total subs thanks to great sites like Ralan posting my guidelines. I go through as many as I can and make notes in the comment area. Once I start rolling I try to read at least five stories during the day, either taking them to work with me, reading them at night or in the early morning. If I like it I pass it along to the second round of reading. About twenty-five percent make it that far, but they are graded as either "A" or "B." The last reading period, for the second "Clash of Steel", I had eight stories that were "A" stories. I had to choose five for the chapbook, which was tough.

I have no problem with writers sending me a brief e-mail wanting to know where they stand, but with so many stories coming in I don't want to skip anyone. I want to read every story and pass judgment fairly.

I will let those passing to the second round know that they are still in the running and to have patience. I usually start that phase once the actual two-month reading period is over and I have all stories in. I want to accept those stories that are "perfect" to me; I am not the kind of editor to "suggest" new endings or changing characters, although in the first "Clash of Steel" there was the opening story, "A Duel of Fathers and Sons" by Patrick Weekes that I asked him to change a character from an elf and he came up with a better title for the story. Otherwise, I just worry about spelling and grammar mistakes and hope the accepted story is good enough to stand on its own.

After the book is filled I send out the contracts and give them the information like release date and answer any questions they might have.

It's almost conventional wisdom that sword-and-sorcery is currently in a lower phase of its popularity. Do you agree or disagree—and why?

I would love to say that you are off-base, but you're not. I read most of the trade magazines and websites, I can't wait to get my Publisher's Weekly or read the current Locus, and it doesn't look good. I think traditional S&S has been moved off to the side and I see more historical-type fantasy and female leads in long novels, which is fine but it's getting away from what I grew up on. I don't see enough new product out there today except by the major authors in the field. I am a huge Speculations reader, and it gets discouraging to read all of the aspiring writers with unpublished fantasy stories trying to get into a limited number of venues.

Regardless of its popularity, why do you think a core fan group continues to seek out heroic fantasy? What do you think the appeal is?

For some, it is what we grew up on. I am thirty-five years old and I still collect the new Conan comic books and have a complete run from the Marvel days. It is the ultimate escape from your day-to-day blahs. Someone once remarked that I like Fantasy because it's this "macho man" fiction, but look at all of the great women writers in the genre today. I see more women on the shelves than men when I go to the library. I was twelve when I picked up The Hobbit and read the entire book in two days at my Nanny's house. I was amazed that something this rich was out there and had been for so long.

As a gamer, you know the close links between modern fantasy and RPGs—but you also mention in your guidelines for what you want at Carnifex Press that you would rather not see material based on somebody's gaming session. What effects do you think RPGs have had on fantasy literature, both positive and negative?

I spent about ten years playing Dungeons & Dragons, going entire weekends and summer vacations Dungeon Mastering long campaigns. I've had the chance to play with dozens of great players. I've been a subscriber on and off to Dragon Magazine since the mid-1980s (and I just got the new issue yesterday in the mail), so I've seen just about every type of scenario there is to use. I don't like reading a submission that just reads like a group of different characters enters into a dungeon/forest/town and gets set upon by the dragon/undead/city watch and that runs five thousand words filled with swordfights and fireballs. To me that isn't a story, that's a lazy D&D scenario that I've played out fifty times.

When I went through the stories for the Clash of Steel: Book Two—Assassin there were so many stories that started with a quiet assassin following his prey, followed by the attack, followed by the assassin being the real target. Dozens of stories in a row like this. You want something new and something fresh and I think I got that when I accepted stories from Ramon Rozas III, Erin Hartshorn, Drew Karpyshyn, Lawrence Weinstein, and Dayle Dermatis. I'd like to think that someday these five writers will be at the forefront of the new age in Fantasy and I can say that I helped them in my own small way.

You mention your connection to heavy metal music and how it moved you into publishing fantasy and horror. A number of other fantasy and horror writers, such as Stephen King, Karl Edward Wagner, and Michael Moorcock, have cited similar interest in rock music and its connection to their writing. What do you think the heavy metal/death metal link to fantasy is? Do you know others from your background who also found their way into the kind of fiction you like?

I grew up in the mid-1980s listening to anything Heavy Metal and took so many song lyrics and made them into Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. For me the music was just such an inspiration on so many levels. I was (and still am) that annoying guy who can't listen to a song without wanting to know who wrote it, why they wrote, it, every little fact. It drives my wife crazy. The details were as important as the song to me. In fact, one of the projects I am working on for Carnifex Press is a non-fiction chapbook about Heavy Metal from a fan's perspective. I asked a bunch of fans to give their ideas on bands, concerts, etc. and I plan to someday write it all out and release it, along with some quotes from bands, too.

Heavy Metal imagery and lyrics go hand in hand with fantasy, especially some of the great ones like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Queensyche, Slayer…the greatest Fantasy band of all time, in my opinion, is still Manowar. With songs like "Kings of Metal," "Hail and Kill," "Into Glory Ride" and "Black Wind, Fire & Steel" you can't go wrong. I've listened to them while writing a battle scene and it helps.

To be truly a dream, these five authors would write a Shared World set of stories based on my world…gotta dream, right? R. A. Salvatore, Lisa Smedman, George R. R. Martin, Dean Koontz (all-time favorite author, sure he could add some weird stuff in there…read "Odd Thomas"), and Robert Jordan. What a group of characters that would be, skulking around Begis Marsh or Deaxa, trying to fight off the White Lions.…

I would certainly want to read that! Okay, you can now include one dead author in the anthology (a new story from a dead author!). Who do you pick and why?

It would have to be R. E. Howard, my favorite Fantasy writer. I'd like for him to write one more Conan story, just one more…or I could publish a letter from him about what he really thinks of all of these writers adding to the Conan mythos.

Finally, is there a fantasy book that isn't very well known that you want EVERYBODY to know about and read?

I would love for everyone to go to their local library and pick up anything on the shelves they can find in the fantasy section. I get to see some great books each month because I also write a monthly column on EpicSFF called "Swords & Scribes" and do some reviews each column. The work of Laura J. Underwood from Yard Dog Press is my favorite this week, having just finished her excellent collection, Chronicles of The Last War. I respond to the small press books because they're not so polished and "homogenized" to what some Big Company thinks is what the reader wants. Carnifex Press isn't the only Fantasy publisher out there, and we're glad for that, but we want to become the best of the small-press there is. That's the goal.

Thanks so much, and good luck your further projects. The small presses help keep the sword-and-sorcery hearth fires going!